This was such a cute nerdy romance. And when I say this is nerdy, I mean NERDY. The book centers on the characters love of board games and video games and there are hobbit and comic con references and I absolutely adored that. A charming romance about Rose, who is a corporate worker during the day but fantasizes about getting her board game made into a real game. The highlight of her week comes during her board game nights with her delightful group of friends and of course William who always seems to have it out for her. Rose and William have a competitive and fun relationship and although she thinks he hates her (of course) the two grow closer throughout the book due to their love of games.

The highlight of this book is just how charmingly geeky it is and how well the characters get to know each other. For it being a relatively close door romance, the book is not lacking in sexual tension and once Rose realizes that William is interested in her, the book really takes off. I also loved Rose's journey through this book as someone who realizes that she doesn't have to give up on her dreams and what she wants and I admire the way she takes her future into her own hands.

Thank you very much to Forever and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This geeky romance will steal your heart with witty banter, fun loving characters and a budding romance.

Rose Marie Jones lives for game night with her friends. Her best friend's half brother is her arch nemesis. He may be fine looking, but his personality does not match his good looks. He is actually rather grumpy. William Ashdern is a game designer who is serious about life and has no time for silly things. Rose is a happy person, but she has recently gotten her heart broken. She has resigned herself to the fact that romance is not in the cards for her now, so she will just enjoy fun game nights with her friends. In this process, somehow Rose has gotten under William's rather thick skin. These two were made for each other. They just do not know it yet.

This fun romance was the perfect start for the new year. If you want a fun romance with characters that you will fall in love with, you have found the perfect book.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is my first book by this author, but the synopsis (and cute cover) had me intrigued. This is such a cute, nerdy, closed-door romance. I really enjoyed all of the characters and the dynamic of their friend group. I was able to relate to Rose in some ways so this made her a very likeable character. William is grumpy, mysterious and I do wish we had his POV. There were some things that needed to be more flushed out and I think would have given the story more depth. I read this in one sitting so I was definitely invested in the story and the characters. This is great if you are looking for a quick, cute romance and even though this is about gaming (different format of games) you do not need to be a gamer to enjoy this.

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @hachetteus for the E-ARC, it in no way influences my review.

4.5 stars!

I really enjoyed this. The characters in this book are gamers, and this is not something I have personally seen before. It's so reflective of todays society however, I think there is a huge population of people this would be true for. I really enjoyed this aspect of the story. Rose and William are great characters, and I loved our supporting cast and crew of game night as well. This is a book about finding one's self, learning to trust your feelings for others and has a wonderful happily ever after! It also features a diverse cast of characters which is important to me.

Overall, lots of fun! This is a new author for me, and I will be watching for more!

Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel was a wonderful rom-com!
The story is well-written, engaging and delightful on all levels.
The characters are realistic, funny and so very awesome you'll wish they were real.
Their banter was just amazing.

A great nerdy romance for board game fans. I really enjoyed the gaming aspect to this, and how the two main characters turned everything, including their feelings for one another into a competition. They called them getting along as the "playing nice game", and it was just really cute 🥰

🎮 Two Geeky Gamers
🎲 Rivals to Lovers
🎮 Best Friend's Brother
🎲 Found Family
🎮 Slowww Burn
🎲 He Falls First & Hard

I do have to say the beginning was a bit of a slow start. Nothing really drew me in until I hit like 15 or 20%, which is fair enough but still I could see someone DNF'ing quickly because of that slow start.

There was also a lot of storylines happening all at once, and instead of making the story complex, it sort of muddied the waters for me a bit.

The one shining star in this was the chemistry and banter between Rose and William. They really brought the TENSION from the very first moment. They both wanted to win constantly, and even at flirting with on another they constantly wanted to one up the other and it made their scenes together really fun. Also add in the fact that they were hiding any sort of romantic relationship from their entire friend group, and it just added to the saucy tension.

Rose and William's romance overall was super sweet, and honestly at a certain point I just wanted everyone else to just go away 😅. Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the found family between everyone at game night, but sometimes I just wanted everyone to leave so the two of them could get back to being cute together lol.

Now this last bit is just a personal preference thing for me, but I did not realize that this was semi closed door. Not even closed door necessarily... I honestly might have preferred that. This was like wait until 90% thinking your going to finally get this saucy moment only to get like two sentences where it sort glosses over anything that happened and you wonder if anything even happened at all 🙃. ALL THIS WORK AND WHAT DID IT GET ME, NOTHING.

I'm being dramatic and it's not the authors fault. I didn't know I signed up for, so that's on me. I have seen a few people call this spicy too so maybe it's a me thing. If you are looking for a fairly clean romance, then this honestly would be a very good one. It's just not my typically my jam.

Okay and I know I said last thing already, but I have a little gripe with some side characters that I need to get out... If you want absolute zero spoilers than just stop here and disregard the rest of this review 👍🏼

Firstly, Shaun did not get enough grief for the things he said to William. Like he RIPPED into that man on two occasions and both were highly uncalled for. Then he thought he could make it up to William in the end by bringing their dad in and having daddy say "sorry" to him? Nope, hated all of that and Shaun can fall in a hole for all of that nonsense 😡

The second thing that confused the ever living crap out of me was Claire and Lincoln. I SWORE when the book started and they came to game night that they were a couple. Then later we hear about Claire and her husband Dean?? And their marriage isn't doing great (okay fine makes sense we're gonna put her and Lincoln together in the end I assume) but NOTHING! Unless the author is planning on doing a spinoff book for Claire and Lincoln idk what the point of all that nonsense was and it certainly distracted me from the main plotline.

With all of THAT being said, this was a really cute romance, that I read in basically two days (for me these days that's quick). Nothing revolutionary, but certainly a great book to read on the weekend when you want to decompress and dive into the minds of some horny nerdy gamers 🤭. AND for a debut but Shameez Patel it was really good. I'm very interested to see what this author writes next 🥰

Thank you Netgalley and Forever Publishing for an ARC of this one in exchange for my honest review 💞

Quick easy ready which will be especially enjoyable to people with an inner nerd like me. Decent chemistry between the leads and an interesting premise. 3 🌟

Thank you to Forever & NetGalley for the arc of this book!

If you are a self-proclaimed nerd, a lover of Lord of the Rings, or a gamer (of either video games and/or board games), then you will likely LOVE this book!

A few things to note:
* the banter is top notch and the tension is HIGH
* the times when things would get spicy are fade to black, which usually isn’t my thing, but it really worked in this book and the yearning was so good that I didn’t even care
* this book does contain a workplace harassment subplot (take care while reading)
* the side characters are some of the most amazing and supportive friends ever, and I love them!

Overall, this was a super fun read. I loved the first 75% of the book but felt like the last 25% was a bit rushed and slightly over the top in my opinion. However, the banter and my love of the characters kept me invested! 4⭐️

Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel is a cute rom-com with a playfulness I didn’t expect.

William and Rose take center stage, but their romance takes a while to evolve. There’s a lot of gaming, board games, best friends, laugh-out-loud moments, and some steam, too. There’s also a lot of goal setting, plans, dreams, and details that add layers to the story and the characters but they don’t always gel.

Rose is best friends with Shaun, a coworker she shares an office with, and Neema, her roommate. Rose introduces them, and the rest is history. William is Shaun’s half-brother, and that has its own issues. William and Rose can often be found sniping at each other, but does it cover up other feelings? Their group of friends meets weekly for game night, a central theme, and they are definitely nerds.

Multiple stories were told, and some were addressed better than others. There are a few surprises along the way and lots of doubts and misunderstandings. Communication is key and was sometimes nonexistent. There is also some workplace harassment. The epilogue gives a lot of closure, but I wish it had been a little longer. There are several happily ever afters that were nicely portrayed.

Playing Flirty is a rom-com with friends who are there for each other, whether playing games or dealing with more serious situations. Sit back with your game controller or a board game and enjoy the fun.

The review is posted on NovelsAlive.

This was my first book by this author and I look forward to reading more! I loved the banter and tension in this enemies to lovers with a twist rom-com! This also definitely had the trope/s of he-falls-first/he-falls-harder, which is always a reader fave! "Playing Flirty" uses the theme of gaming to bring the FMC and MMC to work together on a novel board game idea. And although these two characters are absolutely delightful (100% cheering them on!) all of the beautiful adult friendships that surround these two are phenomenal. The author does such an incredible job of blending real-life with fiction in this one. Easy 4-star read!!! *I received a complimentary audio copy from the author/publishing company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

This was such a fun and cute book. I really loved the game design and play aspect of the story. Rose and William had such fun and flirty banter. This was relatively low on the spice front but still had a lot of longing and chemistry. I loved all of the side characters too. While this was fun there were still some serious aspects involving workplace harassment involving Rose and her boss. This appears to be a debut novel by the author Shameez Patel. It was so enjoyable that I will be keeping an eye out for what she does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ALC in exchange for the honest review.

3.5 stars. A fun, nerdy rivals to lovers story.

Rose Marie Jones has her Life Goals, with her whole future all mapped out. She ends up entering a contest with the board games she's been secretly working on her years. Her best friend's half-brother, William Ashdern, brings out her hyper-competitive side, but he's also the best person to help her perfect the game. As they spend more time "Playing Nice" and working together, their feelings start to change. Will Rose risk it all?

The concept of this book is so strong. I love that we get to read about a board game nerd, since so often nerdy gamers are into video games (although we also get that side with William). Their friend group is also very strong, and I enjoy all the secondary characters. Rose grows a lot during this book, which also helps readers connect to her.

I think to me the pacing is the biggest struggle. Rose and William start having feelings very early (this is not really enemies-to-lovers, despite how it's pitched) and the conflicts feel a bit contrived. I wish we got to see a bit more of them bantering and working on Rose's game, which also ends up a secondary plot in the story.

Overall, I did really enjoy the story and I would be very interested to see more of their world and read other books by this author. I recommend this book to anyone who loves nerdy characters and fun romances; it's a great vacation read as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks Forever for the ARC and to LIbro FM for the ALC of this one! This one really surprised me and I enjoyed it so much! All of the nerdy details were a delight and the romance was oh so sweet! I think I was expecting something super duper lighthearted but there was a surprising amount of depth and emotional detail included in the story. I read the whole thing in a few days and will definitely be looking for others by Shameez Patel in the future! If you are looking for a quick romance, this one is it!

This was such a good read! This is a new to me author that will not be adding to my list.

The banter was so good! I loved the gaming reference but some things did go over my head.

I really loved this!

This was a fun and enjoyable read. It was cosy, nerdy and romantic. This follows the story of Rose and her ‘sutuationship’ with her best friend’s brother, William.

I love the ‘multicultural’ aspect of it even though I was expecting way more than the book delivered on that aspect.

I also loved the fact that it celebrates gaming, board games and the fact that anyone can be a gamer.

I loved the found family trope and the relationship between all of the friends and the idea of games night.

It deals with some sensitive topics such as harassment at work, sexual harassment.

But I felt it lacked something that can take it up a notch. The pacing was off. It was first, slow and then fast again. Then there was so much going on with Rose and her life.

Also, the issue with William’s parentage should have been settled way earlier than it did.

If you like nerdy characters and serious gamers, then you will enjoy

3.5 stars

My first read of 2025 and what a sweet way to start the new year! I had a good time reading this book. I thought the chemistry and back and forth between the main characters was really fun. I loved the little forbidden aspect of their relationship., it brought out something really cool in their relationship. I also adored the friend group. The fmc's bestfriends are so cute and I love how they care about her.

However, I have two main issues with this story. First is the pacing. I thought the main characters started fooling around a too early in my opinion. I would have preferred to see the tension last longer. To me, it would have been more genuine and made more sense to the characters. My other issue is that the story stayed a bit surface level. Different topics would be brought up and quickly resolved or not talked about enough. It that would have been interesting to see developped more.

I still recommend this book for a sweet read!

4.25 stars

There was a lot to love in this story especially if you are a nerd and/or gamer! A little rivals to lovers and best friend's brother romance between two gamers full of tension and secrets. I loved their quick moments alone and the game they played with each other behind the scenes. I wasn't a huge fan of the FMC already being in a relationship at the beginning but I think it ended up working for the story more than I expected. However the return of the ex...wasn't my favorite. Otherwise though, I had a great time and found the story to be fun and well written!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I liked a number of things about this book, including the Comic Con meet-cute, the competitive flirty banter between the FMC and MMC, and the fun secondary characters, especially the representation of supportive female friendships.
Unfortunately, I struggled to connect for a long time as Rose willfully ignored the fact that she was being sexually harassed at work and stuck with Patrick when William was right there - just for the sake of her “Life Goals,” when it seemed like it would be more in character to look for an alternate win condition. Also, the board game references seemed very surface and didn’t hit for me as a player.
Overall, I thought this book was fine, but there are others in the genre I have enjoyed more.

Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel is a sweet contemporary romance about two frenemies who forge a bond over board games. Rose Marie Jones may not have her dream job and her relationship status is best described as lukewarm acquaintances, but she has big dreams if she’s only willing to take the risks. William Ashdern is Rose’s best friend’s half-brother, her favorite nemesis, and a game designer. When an opportunity arises for Rose to develop the board game she’s spent most of her life building, she decides to risk it all, but she’ll need William’s help if she’s going to succeed.

I really enjoyed this story. Rose is a fun, relatable character. She’s working at a job she hates because it is stable, something she never had growing up. She had plenty of love, but never a home. Her parents lived their life chasing the wind, never really settling down in one place long. So Rose measures success by stability. She has a spreadsheet of her life goals, ready to meet each one: promotion at her job, complete her MBA (which she again hates), marry her longtime boyfriend, and have 2.5 kids. You get the gist. With her best friends newly engaged and her own engagement nowhere in sight, Rose is having a crisis of the heart. Are her life goals attainable, AND are they what she really wants?

Enter William. William and Rose have a mutual dislike for each other. At least that’s what Rose believes. They bring out the competitive side in each other. With game night each week at his brother’s apartment, William reluctantly joins when they need an extra player. The banter between Rose and William is great. They truly make each other work for the win. William brings out feelings in Rose that she’d forgotten she had, like butterflies and attraction for starters.

Overall, I really enjoyed Playing Flirty. While the story focuses on Rose finding what she really wants in her life, it also deals with some heavier topics including workplace harassment. The author handles these delicately, and I feel depicted a true to life scenario. I loved the banter between Rose and William, but also their friends. If you are looking for a sweet romance, I highly recommend this one.

I enjoyed this book! The characters were really relatable, and had some real world issues. I enjoyed how serious this book was, while also lighthearted. I will definitely suggest we carry it at my bookstore, and will look out for more titles from this author.