Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: The Play of His Life

SERIES: MLR Shimmer series

AUTHOR: Amy Aislin

PUBLISHER: MLR Press

LENGTH: 149 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2017

BLURB:

Former best friends turned lovers Christian and Riley haven’t seen or spoken to each other in six years…is there a better time than the holiday season to reconnect with your favorite person? The last person Christian wants to run into on a visit home to spend time with his mom over the holidays is his former best friend-turned-lover-turned-ex. But there Riley is, in all his tall, chiseled, blondness. The same guy who walked out on him six years ago, breaking his heart in the process. Who knew he’s still in love with the jerk? (Oh yeah, he did. What? Who says denial isn’t healthy?) Two years ago, Riley was injured out of the NHL, but he’s got his own bakery now and a quiet life selling quiches and cupcakes to his customers. Then Christian unexpectedly walks back into his life, forcing Riley to question his choices. Especially that one choice he made six years ago that walked him out of Christian’s life. Now if only he had the courage to tell a boy how he really feels about him…

REVIEW:

I love a good second chance love story and a good sport story so this seemed like the perfect choice.

Christian comes back home for the Christmas holidays to visit his mom. When she sends him on an errand to get a loaf of bread, in the freezing cold, he runs into his ex, that conveniently owns the bakery, who disappeared after sleeping with him the night of his father’s funeral! After a drink of some suspicious hot chocolate, Christian feels chummy and questions why the two men are apart. “The Play of His Life” is the story of the two men reconnecting and examining where they are going in their lives.

Several things really bothered me about this book. The first being that this is part of an author call series and that was never mentioned but discovered when looking for links from the publisher. I never understood the whole mysterious alcohol “Shimmer”. How is it even possible to serve something like this stuff legally and where did Riley even get it? A mysterious alcoholic beverage, that depending on what you mixed it with or served as a shot, got you all cuddly or horny…I mean what the heck??? Then there was the whole “T” side story. Don’t go teasing me the entire story and then never solving the mystery! You can’t end a story, with the tease the entire book, and then never address it in the end…at least and get a positive review! Then to the biggest pet peeve!!! I absolutely HATE when an author makes me go to their website to sign up for their newsletter to get the final chapter of a book! I mean really, you make me buy your book and then you pull this so you can keep trying to sell me more! How about you give me the entire book you sold! Then I might be more likely to try you again! I don’t want to feel forced to join something to get what I rightfully deserved in the first place! Also, why is a Christmas story being released in late April?

All that being said, I liked the story and the two men. I never understood where the whole “ghost” angle came from or was going. But these two men, who really need to learn the art of communication, were meant to be together.

The story, what we got of it, was a bit cute and sweet…long lost love reconnected. The big positive I can say is that I actually laughed out loud several time! Not something I do often in a book. But I really felt like it was a bit like it was pieced together scenes and we were missing a lot of what was needed to make it flow. Also, please, if you tease with something, like the whole “T” mystery, then you need to resolve it by the end or the reader just feels gypped! Not a bad story, I liked the premise, just not for me.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

MLR Press

Amazon