Review:Played by Jen Frederick

She's been playing it close... 

Ara Martin and college football star Ty Masters have been best friends since the first day of school when Ty literally ran her over. She fell for him immediately, but having lived under the shadow of her famous father, she knows a relationship with irresistible Ty would only end in heartbreak. For four years, she’s kept her feelings hidden. But one drunken encounter weeks before graduation is about to expose Ara’s biggest secret and destroy her most treasured relationship. 

He’s been playing for keeps… 

Ty is about to be drafted into the NFL, but his personal life is a mess. He’s got an agent he doesn’t like, a brother who can’t stop offering his opinion, and a beautiful woman he craves but can’t have. He can fire his agent and ignore his brother, but he’s not sure what to do about Ara. Ty’s been able to run down every quarterback he’s faced, but his sexy, stubborn best friend keeps slipping through his fingers.

Luckily, he's not one for giving up, and once he gets his hands on her, he's never letting go.

Add to GoodReads

Buy on Amazon

What I thought about Played

  In this friends-to-lovers story, Ty Masters is about to hit the big time as a first-round draft pick. He's been working hard to get drafted higher than his brother Knox, who was the focus of the first book in this series. He's got the world in his hand, except social media and ex-girlfriends are working hard to derail his dream.

Ara has been Ty's best friend for four years.  She's secretly in love with him, but is so worried that moving into the love zone will damage their strong friendship she keeps her feelings to herself.  A drunken night of rolling around naked together does nothing to help her confidence here -- Ty doesn't remember any of it.

What she doesn't know is that Ty is in love with her too.  It takes pretty much the whole book for these two to get on the same page.  Ara has some other things going on in her life that damage her confidence. She's trying to find a job in the art field on her own without her artist father's help. 

I did want to slap Ara when Ty finally decides to reveal his feelings and she's still runs from him. That got a little frustrating for me, as it was clear to e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e that Ara and Ty were meant for each other.

Overall, this is a cute college romance with a nicely developed football theme.  Ty is definitely swoon-worthy and every time the story mentioned his glasses, all I could see in my mind was the delicious cover!   

There's some really nice "twin" shenangans going on too, which provided some nice humor.  

I liked Played, I like this whole series.  

An ARC was provided for review.

 Release Week Sale! 

About the Author

Jen Frederick is the USA Today bestselling author of Unspoken, part of the Woodlands series, and Sacked, part of the Gridiron series. She is also the author of the Charlotte Chronicles and has had several books on the Kindle Top 100 list. She lives in the Midwest with a husband who keeps track of life’s details while she’s writing, a daughter who understands when Mom disappears into her office for hours at a time, and a rambunctious dog who does neither.

Find out more about the author, Jen Frederick at http://jenfrederick.com/