Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Playing with My Heart
SERIES: My Heart (Book 3)
AUTHOR: Annabella Michaels
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 193 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 25, 2024
BLURB:
It was okay to leave pieces of your heart in the places and people that shaped you. That’s how we grow.
Travis Brooks, a carefree physical therapist in Chicago, revels in his wild bachelor lifestyle, thriving on casual hookups and spontaneous adventures. However, as he watches each of his friends fall in love and build lasting relationships, he begins to wonder if there might be something more fulfilling than just random flings.
Parker Reyes, Travis’s dedicated new colleague, is in a comfortable yet passionless relationship with his high school sweetheart, David. As Parker navigates his long-term relationship, he grapples with guilt over his growing feelings for Travis, especially as David’s demanding job creates increasing emotional distance.
As their friendship grows, so do the feelings between them, forcing both men to confront their fears—Travis must decide if he’s ready to embrace love, while Parker must choose between the safety of his past and the exhilarating possibility of a future with Travis. Will they find the courage to pursue what truly makes them happy?
This book is a low-angst, friends to lovers, workplace romance with a guaranteed HEA with no physical cheating, but some may feel like it’s emotional cheating.
REVIEW:
I have missed these men so much!
I have stated this before but there are just so many wonderful things to say about these books but the biggest is…I’ve missed all these wonderful men of Chicago that Annabella has created in this loving and caring universe. From the Souls of Chicago series, to the Hamilton Heroes series, and now the My Heart series, these books mix and blend with all the many friends and families of these wonderful and honorable men. You don’t necessarily have to read all these books but I do recommend you do. Then, when a cameo pops up it’s an extra special treat. This book explains the basic friendship of Travis and his found family/roommates/best friends. This universe that she has constructed in modern day Chicago is filled with rich and wonderful stories of men struggling but happening upon their perfect mate at the sometimes most inopportune times but that’s what makes their love even stronger. And nothing could have been more inopportune that Travis discovering that he has it in him to want something more permanent with someone for the first time in his life and that is Parker, who just moved to Chicago to live with his high school sweetheart David and is also his new employee!
I can see how some might not like how Parker and Travis’s lives became one. Parker was in a committed relationship with his childhood sweetheart but there never seemed like much spark was there when they were finally together for brief moments. Even the one time that there was a hint of intimacy it was shattered by the trill of his phone calling him back to the ER. And I do get it, ER doctors, especially brand new ones to the staff need to prove themselves to the rest of the staff and the administration. However, they also need to learn how to balance their lives so they can have love too. That is where David failed miserably and was a loud neon sign stating there was major trouble in their relationship. But I was thankful that both Parker and Travis never acted on budding feelings within themselves. There was never any cheating what so ever.
I don’t know where this book universe goes from here but I sincerely hope there is more to come.
RATING: 
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