Reviewed by Caroline

TITLE: Power Play

AUTHOR: Cara Dee

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 276 Pages

RELEASE DATE: January 30, 2018

BLURB:

I was my own worst enemy. For as much as I depended on order and a structured life to easier manage my bipolar disorder, fire was irresistible and indisputably my favorite toy to play with. On the ice, it turned me into a hotheaded hockey player. In the bedroom, my attitude was my last defense, a front I wanted to see tumbling down. But lately, all I got was burned.

Love sucked. Correction: it sucked when you were in love with your parents’ closest friend and he didn’t feel the same. I admitted my feelings for Madigan Monroe over a year ago, and I was still waiting for a response. Now my balance was gone. My anxiety was all over the place, my fits of rage had just earned me a suspension from the team, I questioned myself at every turn, and being home for two weeks was gonna make it impossible to avoid Madigan.

I used to be his Abel, his sweetheart, his trouble. It’d been the two of us against the world since I was a kid. I’d even discovered we had kink in common! On paper, I was seemingly perfect for him. Maybe that was why his nonverbal rejection hurt so much. Or maybe it was because, recently, he seemed hell-bent on us “being friends” again.

Whatever. I was a loser, and I couldn’t resist him for crap.

(DD/lb-dynamic.)

REVIEW:

This is my first 5 star book of 2018 for a number of reasons not least the fact that I literally couldn’t put it down from the minute it hit my kindle. I will just add that for all that I loved Power Play I can well imagine people having the complete opposite reaction – this book will be like marmite for many – you will either love or hate it. In case you missed it though I loved it!

The prologue packs a punch as we meet a young Abel who is in the process of watching his father die. Madigan, a close friend of his fathers, makes a promise to steer Abel right in life and always be there for him and I don’t think anyone could have foretold how that promise would come back to haunt them nearly two decades later. Out of their grief Abel and Mad bond and form a close friendship which grows with them as they both change over the years. Abel often jokes as a young teen that he is going to marry Mad – a thing to laugh about to those around him but not so much for the young man who is slowly falling in love with a man that has always been in his life and even as an adult still looks at him like he’s a kid.

Drunk texting is never a good plan and is the reason Abel and Mad haven’t really spoken for a year. I loved Abel. I loved how he fought every day to battle his demons and his mental illness and how strong he tried to be even when all he wanted to do was to hand over the reins and responsibility of his life. He was messed up but he had a plan. His support system wasn’t huge but the people he did have in his corner never berated him but quietly supported him and offered him what he needed. What he needed most was Mad and what Mad could offer and for all his stubbornness and fear of what he was getting himself into Mad felt the exact same way and when they finally give into their feelings this book felt crazy right. And hot!

If like me Daddy kink has never been something you were that interested in then don’t let that stop you with this one. Abel and Mad’s relationship just felt right from the start. It was a progression of their friendship and something that they both needed to make things right. It definitely isn’t just a bedroom/sex thing with them – it was who they were and how they lived. There was an added bonus involving Gray which again I loved but I can imagine some people won’t – like I said before Marmite!

Cara Dee proved once again she is a master at what she does and if you have enjoyed her previous books you are going to love this one. Hopefully Gray’s story is not too far behind as the teaser for it at the end has me biting my nails already!

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

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