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Play by Kylie Scott

“Life’s a song Anne. Let’s play.”

Why oh why did I let this book sit on my kindle for as long as I did?? I LOVED Lick and devoured the entire book in one sitting and was thrilled to see Mal getting his own book… so why did I wait so long to read him? Who knows! But I am more than pleased that I rectified that. Malcolm Ericson was worth the wait.

Anne Rollins devotes her life to helping others, and by that I do not mean charity work. To put it bluntly, Anne is a bit of a doormat. She lets people take and take from her and she basically gets nothing in return. The final straw? Anne lends her roommate, Skye money and right before Anne is about to demand it back, Skye runs away, taking Anne’s money (and all the furniture) with her. To cheer her up, Anne’s neighbor, Lauren invites her to a part at David and Ev’s house. Reluctantly, Anne agrees.

Malcolm Ericson, the drummer for Stage Dive has been acting different lately and his friends and band mates have noticed. He’s tired of them constantly asking him if he’s okay. So he’s hiding a secret, so what? When he’s ready to talk about it he will.

Mal first encounters Anne when she steps outside to take a phone call from her best friend, and who she considers her future husband, Reece. Mal can’t help but over hear Anne’s conversation and wants to help. To do that, Mal moves in with Anne, and she agrees to play his pretend girlfriend. However, there can be NO SEX! No way can that go wrong!

Mal is so many things… sexy, charming, at times intense and seriously funny. They have yet to invent a proper word to describe how funny he is. It is almost impossible to find anything he says serious. I laughed out loud at him so many times and highlighted so many pages of his dialogue; almost my entire book is yellow. Anne, even if she is a bit of a pushover, has some fantastic moments of inner dialogue. I loved that even though she had a huge crush on him before she knew him, she didn’t fall at his feet. She gave him as much grief as he gave her, but she never gave up on him. They were a perfect match for each other, even if they didn’t want to be.

“His hand smacked into my ass, making me jump. Then, fingers lazily scratching at stubble, he sauntered into the bathroom. My butt cheek stung. I made a mental note to kill him later, once we were alone. Kill him or screw him, whatevs. My hormones were so confused.”

Mal can make light of any situation. He brings out the playful side of Anne. In pretending to one up their neighbors, Anne and Mal bust her bed while jumping on it. I laughed so hard at this scene I cried.

“We’ve broken my bed,” I said, stating the obvious.

“In battle, sacrifices must be made, pumpkin.”

Kylie Scott really has a gift for writing group scenes. I love when the whole band was together. Their banter and how they feed off each other feels very real. I want to be friends with them! The dialogue between Mal and Anne was equal parts serious and hilarious. They played off of each other so well, and even with only knowing each other for a short time, has a real connection. Mal is definitely the life of the party and useful when things get too heavy and a light moment is needed, but behind the scenes he is falling apart. Is Anne the only one who can pull him out of the darkness closing in on him?

5 +++ STARS!

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