🩵 Her POV
🎮 Gaming Nemesis
🩵 Banter
🎮 Nemesis to Lovers
🩵 LOTR References💍
🎮 Diversity
🩵 Best Friend's Brother
🎮 Supportive Parents
🩵 Likable Side Characters
🎮 Closed Door Romance
🩵 Slow Burn

Rose and William always bickering with each other that Shaun told them to Play Nice during his proposal. They ended up continuing the game afterward.

It seems like they have this chemistry between them and fireworks when they share kisses. William gave Rose a nickname of calling her Hobbit. Rose is definitely short. However, she dressed up as Frodo a few times. It made sense with the nickname.

It was sweet that William helped Rose with her board game she created. William wanted to show his new game he was creating until it was ready. When she took care of him while he was sick, such a sweet moment.

This book had me gushing over William and Rose's love story! Especially the Comic Con memory about certain Gandalf and Hobbit. I was hoping that it was who I thought it was. It made me happy when it was revealed. It was a cute and quick read! I love this story so much!🫶

Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel is the perfect rom com for gamers and geeks!

The book follows Rose, a Lord of the Rings nerd who loves gaming and making life plans and created her own intricate fantasy board game as a teenager. She has a weekly game night with her friends, and a longstanding rivalry with William, her best friend’s brother.

William is a tall, dark and brooding video game developer. And although they’ve always competed, their rivalry starts to turn heated when they begin playing a new game, Playing Nice.

I loved the tension and banter between Rose and William! At first I didn’t know where the story was going to go, and was nervous it might stray into some tropes that I don’t enjoy. But the book really took off around the 30 percent mark and I was completely sold.

There’s great tension and conflict in the book, not just between our two leads but also in Rose’s professional life. I love her work plotline and where she ends up!

Playing Flirty is a fantastic story of growth, a really endearing friend group and a swoony romance!

I’m not always a romance reader, but when I do pick one up, Playing Flirty is exactly what I want. This book has the perfect blend of nerdy fun, tension, and chemistry that kept me hooked from start to finish. The romance is a slow burn, and the closed-door/fade to black spice kept the focus on the build-up of their relationship, which was exactly what I was looking for. The chemistry between the characters is palpable, with plenty of tension that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I absolutely loved the banter between the FMC and MMC. Their playful exchanges were the perfect balance of fun and flirtation, making the tension even more electric. And let’s talk about the nerdy vibes—this book is a geeky dream come true. From video games and cosplay to Lord of the Rings references, the shared love for all things nerdy made their connection feel so authentic and fun. William, the video game designer MMC, is definitely my new book boyfriend. There’s just something about a gamer love interest that checks all the boxes for me.

The FMC is curvy, smart, and maybe a little too organized, but I loved how relatable she was. She’s the perfect balance of strength and vulnerability, and watching her come into her own throughout the story was such a rewarding experience. I really enjoyed the side characters as well—they brought depth to the story and added some great moments.

I also appreciated the light South Asian representation in the book. As a fan of South Asian fiction, I found that element of the story particularly appealing, even if it was subtle. It was a nice touch that added a bit of richness to the characters and their backgrounds.

This book wasn’t just a romance—it had plenty of depth beyond the relationship, with characters and moments that made me want to keep reading. I ended up reading it in a single sitting because I couldn’t put it down. The “fated”/we meet again dynamic added a layer of magic to their connection that made it feel even more special.

If you’re into a slow-burn, opposites-attract romance with witty banter, nerdy references, and just the right amount of spice, Playing Flirty is a must-read. Thank you to the author, Forever Grand Publishing, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own!

Rose Jones (27) loves her weekly game night with her best friend. Even if it means putting up with her BFF’s half brother William Ashdern. The friend group is great as is Rose’s family. Rose is stretched thin working a demanding job while trying to get her MBA. William is a game designer and Rose’s dream is to create her own board game. She created a game when she was 18 and asks for William’s help to develop it further so she can enter it into a contest. It gives them even more reason to spend time together.

This is a cute story with lots and lots of Lord of the Rings references. I love that the heroine is curvy, organized and smart. I wasn’t as connected to William and didn’t understand him till almost the end of the book. Spice level is kissing and fade to black. Overall it is enjoyable but not overly memorable. (3.5 Stars)

First, I'd like to say that I really enjoy Patel's writing in this and definitely would give another book by her a chance. I also think that this story was a wonderful idea, I just think it could have been executed better. I did end up DNF'ing the book at 40%, but I gave it two stars due to the writing, wonderful set up of the story, and the fact that it was a great story idea.

My hang up with the story, and the reason that I ended up deciding to DNF, was due to the fact that I started to really dislike Rose. And once you no longer like the narrator, it's difficult to continue reading.

The things I think could have been better:
1. Her relationship and ultimate fall out with Patrick. While I can appreciate that Patel wrote a very realistic relationship, where you just slowly fall out of love and drift apart, I do think for the purposes of this story, the relationship lasted too long, the conflict wasn't clear enough, and I didn't dislike Patrick enough to be okay with her immediately moving on to William only days after the years long relationship ended.
2. As stated above, I think Rose got together with William way too fast after the breakup, and in general, way too fast for the book. Having them already together by 40% didn't give me the slow burn that this book should have been.
3. From the premise of the book, it read like they were going to be working on her game together a lot, and that portion wasn't shown much in the book at all. He took a ton of notes, but we really only heard of two of them. And then it was a lot of "we spent hours working on the board game". And then the game was just... done... at 40% through the book. And there wasn't any sort of excitement around it. It was just, "And now Overpower was ready."

With those 3 things in mind, it wasn't worth continuing the book for me.

I do hope other people enjoy this book more than me, and I hope that Patel writes more stories for me to check out. (Please note, I will not be reviewing this publicly, since I DNF'd)

Much of this review is gonna be hidden behind a spoiler tag - because I don't know how to talk about the issues I had with this without specifically mentioning some spoiler-y details.

I do think this book had a lot of potential. I loved the embracement of nerdy culture - video games, board games, cosplay. And this had fantastic friendships - including one of the best male/female friendships I've read in ages. They were all so supportive and clearly loved each other deeply.

And while I thought the pacing of the romance was slightly off (it felt like it would suddenly jump to stronger feelings out of nowhere), I thought tension of their scenes was done really well.

However, I had major issues with the way 2 of the plot lines were handled - one with the heroine's work and one with the hero's father. If you don't want any spoilers I'll leave you with this: 1. the heroine's work situation was a completely unnecessary addition to the story. It wasn't well developed, discussed, nor did it add to the story/character arc/etc in any way. 2. The way the hero's trauma was so easily tied up in a bow felt almost offensive.

Now if you want specifics here we go

1. There is a sexual harassment plot line thrown in here between the heroine and her boss. He continuously comments on her clothes, body, and alludes to her "deserving" his unwanted advances because of how she acts and dresses. But I truly do not understand why this plot line even existed. What did this add to the story? It's not used in any way other than to add conflict and it only ever made me feel uncomfortable and gross. It felt like the book "lacked conflict" and this was added in. Because it impacted nothing and was never discussed or truly handled.

2. The hero's troubled relationship with his father was offensively wrapped up in my opinion. He spends the entire book alluding to his father being neglectful and emotionally abusive. He was sent to boarding school, insulted, and blamed for all of his father's mistakes from childhood. And it's magically fixed when his dad shows up at the wedding, apologizes, and they HUG IT OUT. WTF.

I'm getting mad all over again typing this.

To wrap up a plot of abuse with a single apology and group hug is not okay. I'm sorry but it felt so belittling and demeaning to a very real and deep trauma. And it quite honestly ruined the entire book for me.

I'm on the fence about whether or not this is an author I will try again. While I enjoyed parts of this book, the issues I had run deep and leave me with a pretty negative feeling about this as a whole.

3.25 ⭐️

Playing Flirt was a very calming and welcoming read for me, which I suppose is because of all the gaming references. I myself "nerded" out a bit because of the mc's love of video/board games and cosplays. The mmc is also a gaming developer, which... HOT!🥵

The overall plot of Rose creating her own board game was such an interesting and unique storyline. The way her friends were so supportive of her ideas and motivated her to do what's best for her was incredibly wholesome, especially with how William was so quick to want to help her.
There's immediate banter and tension between Rose and William, which created a lovely slow build-up to the perfect sizzling chemistry. William has always been waiting for Rose, and the way he listens and cares for her is so insanely sweet! He's definitely book boyfriend material🤭
It takes some time for the mc's to get together as Rose is already in a relationship, but the waiting all pays off in the end (no cheating).

As much as I adored the story and loved the mc's, I have to admit that there isn't a lot of depth to it. At moments, it was difficult for me to truly see their love for each other because they've hardly had alone time for emotional intimacy; they're always surrounded by people or sneaking off. The sneaking around also caused a lot of back and forth, which became a bit repetitive.
There was also some family drama that could've created more depth to William's character arc, but it was unfortunately swept over and wrapped up quickly and happily.

These aren't the worst things if you're just looking for something fun, lighthearted, and quick to get through, which is exactly what you'll get from Playing Flirty :)

I'm definitely keen to read more from the author!

Read if you like:
🎮 found family
🕹 gaming nemesis
🎮 geeky references
🕹 best friend’s older brother
🎮 cosplay
🕹 sneaking around
🎮 gaming (video and board)

*𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

Hello! It's me, the marketer/publicist for this book. Just leaving a review to keep up my NetGalley ratio.

Rose Marie Jones is working on her MBA in a job she doesn't really love with an icky inducing boss who gives her the heebeegeebees. Her boyfriend is disappointing. She's grateful for her two best friends and game night. Rose loves board games, video games and cosplay. Her best friend's brother is her gaming nemesis.

This audio book was fantastic. I loved the narrator and enjoyed the gaming romance. This video game nerd was enchanted. Rose's parents were hilarious. I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to see what else the author writes.

I thought this book sounded like it was going to be a fun read but I only made it a few chapters in before it lost my attention. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters, even with the tension between Rose and William.

I have decided not to finish the book for now but may return later in the future. Thank you to NetGalley, Shameez Patel, and Forever Publishing for sending me an early copy!

Hmmm where do I begin with this book? This one was the perfect pick me up after a book hang over. It's fun and nerdy what more could you want?

I loved the idea of a weekly game night and this friend group was perfect! I loved the banter and fun little pop culture references. I was looking forward to what games were going to be played. Also, the dynamic between Rose and William 🔥🔥🔥 There is brief mentions of spicey moments but they're not graphic and pretty much closed door.

Also, there is mentions of sexual harassment within the work place. Which here comes William defending Rose's honor and honestly made me fall in love with his character more!

Thank you to @netgalley @readforeverpub and @shameezwrites for the gifted earc

This was a good and light read with a charming board game theme and delightful friendships, especially between Rose, Sean, and Neema. Rose’s lists and spreadsheets added a relatable touch, and Sean and Neema’s love was a sweet highlight. However, the romance between Rose and William felt surface-level, lacking depth and proper development. William didn’t quite give “book boyfriend” vibes, though he had his moments, like dealing with Rose’s toxic boss. Some unnecessary plotlines, like workplace harassment, distracted from the story’s focus, but the banter and lighthearted tone made this an enjoyable read.

Wow. I absolutely adored this book! Rose and William’s story was truly a joy to read. From start to finish (and in one sitting) I enjoyed every second and was totally hooked. As a gamer and self-proclaimed nerd and lover of all geeky things, this was not only relatable but also just truly gave me little sparks of happiness with each page. Rose is beautifully written, vibrant, kind, and brave. Her energy is so light and I wanted her to “get her happy” so badly in this story, and I’m so glad she did! And William- what a man! His love for her was truly just next level (see what I did there!) and dedicated in a way that was so much more than the game she thought they were playing in being flirty and fun… it was love. Shameez Patel has a voice that leaps off the page and I will definitely be diving into more from her! Thank you to Forever Pub and NetGalley for my free copy of this eARC!

The way that I DEVOURED every word of this book! I lost sleep over reading this because I didn't have the strength to leave the plot and put it down for the night!!

I absolutely love a good secret romance and this was so cute and nerdy- I was kicking my feet the whole time! I really enjoyed Rose's journey to follow her dreams and grow into her best self!

This was really cute! I enjoyed the focus on gaming, which we don't often see in romance. I found myself frustrated with the actions of the two leads at times, but it was a fun read!

Cute story about Rose and her best friend’s brother William. Other tropes include rivals to lovers and secret dating. I would suggest checking for trigger warnings- Rose’s boss makes her uncomfortable and there’s some inappropriate behavior there.

Overall I thought it was cute- I like that Rose is making a board game. I love that William is protective of her and he helps her make her game amazing.

Here's the thing, I really tried with this one and I just didn't like it at all. I was annoyed the first 20% her trying to make it work with a man that clearly was not interested in her, then get pushed into a fake dating-forced proximity scenario that was okay, I was just bored... the whole time.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rose is a gamer and has a friend circle full of gamers. Once a week they meet up for game night to connect and compete.

Rose loves the evening because she gets to forget about her horrible, creeptastic boss, her increasingly inattentive boyfriend, and the fact that she’s very behind on her Life Goals binder (with a full milestone chart!). She also loves that she gets to compete with her best friend’s half-brother. William is a sexy nerd, a professional gamer, and they enjoy sniping at each other as much as they enjoy competing.

I won’t spoil the in between but William (I love him!) has been in love with Rose since forever ever and he proves it over and over the second she got a chance. Rose gets her confidence back, not just in being desirable but also in finally pursuing producing her board game.

Aww, I love them so much. Rose spent her childhood traveling the world with her parents and seeks stability which sometimes looks like holding on past the expiration date. THat’s just one of the demons they struggle through together. William holds all of his demons close to his chest but seeing him unravel is a breath of fresh air you don’t realize you need.

I love that all the while they weren’t perfect humans, they had a safe place in their weekly game night.

If you want a quick read with an amazing found family group, eccentric parents, an Indian FMC, and messy hot people, Playing Flirty is perfect for you.

Thank you to Forever for this gifted copy!

This is a super cute geeky romance with a strong found family that I absolutely adored. Normally I’m all about couple time but the strong relationships and distinct personalities among the friend group really added an extra sparkle.

The only thing I didn’t love was the reconciliation scene towards the end with a toxic family member. While I understand the urge to wrap everything up nicely, not all things can or should be forgiven with a quick apology. Words are just that and it’s actions that count.

I started reading this in print and switched over to audio. The narration by Nirvi Shah is very good.

**I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This book fits perfectly in the world of gamers, influencers, and tech - seeing love stories develop in geek circles really enhances the broad representation of romance novels! The enemies-to-lovers, with a taste of the secret dating, makes this one a fun bit of tension!