TW: Catfishing

It’s a bad sign when I look at my list of things to read and review for the month, and think to myself, “I need to read that book next,” and then realize that I’ve already read it. Well Played  did not leave a lasting mark upon me. It was an enjoyable book to read and it gave me the chance to attend a Renaissance Faire via imagination in a year when the real Faires are cancelled. This is a cosy romance with minimal conflict, which makes for comforting but not what I’d call riveting reading.

Well Played is the second book in the Well Met series and it works fine as a standalone, although reading the first book, Well Met, will give you a better sense of the small town in which the books are set and the personalities of the supporting characters.

Our heroine is Stacey. When Stacey’s mom got sick, Stacey dropped everything and came home to take care of her parents. Her mom is better now, but Stacey is afraid to move on in case her mom’s health relapses. Stacey has an uninspiring job, but loves her summer work for the local Renaissance Faire. Last summer Stacey had a purely physical fling with Dex, a musician who travels from Faire to Faire all year. On a whim Stacey writes him a letter, beginning a correspondence that seems to be leading to love, only to have to rethink everything when Faire season brings the letter writer back to her town.

This is a gentle and obvious Cyrano de Bergerac story with very little conflict. What could, and maybe should, be addressed as major catfishing is quickly forgiven. So much abuse is possible over social media that the idea of one person using another’s social media identity to win another’s affection and trust is much more creepy than in pre-internet versions of this trope (Cyrano de Bergerac  and Roxanne, for instance). It helps that the reader can figure out who the writer is immediately and that the grovelling, once the truth comes out, is extensive.

The book is more about Stacey’s development as a person than it is about romance, especially since we don’t know who the romance is with until at least two-thirds of the way through the book. Trust me, you can guess who it is one chapter in with ease, but OFFICIALLY the reveal comes later, and whatever, it’s fine, I’m sure they will be very happy together. For me, the big draw was the sense of community both in and out of the Renaissance Faire, and getting to see Stacey resolve her sense of being stuck in life.

– Carrie S

Another laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.

Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it’s been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she’ll even find The One.

When Stacey imagined “The One,” it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she’s not sure what to make of it.

Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey’s shock, it isn’t Dex—she’s been falling in love with a man she barely knows.