These comments are reflective of being 1/6 of the way through the 8 hr audiobook. I like the way the series continues with characters I've met in Book 1, Noah, the trust fund kid whose father is a politician, and Matt, the football player dropped after he was outed as gay.

Trick Play has a similar humour/feel to Fake Out. And since it is part of the Fake Boyfriend series, not surprisingly, the trope is the same.

The narrators, too, have the same style - unserious, with suppressed humour.

The series is read by Alexander Cendese (Noah) and Iggy Toma (Matt). It's no wonder the two books seem the same.

This is what I'm getting at by pointing out these similarities, after my early bite of this novel!

Why would you have every book in a series with very similar stories read by the same narrators!! It runs the characters together, whereas each should have their own sound - it's obvious to me.

And that's before I get to another obvious thing - Cendese and Toma have the same style of reading, even if their tone is different. More ways for the listener to get confused as to who's who.

Thanks NannyOgg13 below for also commenting on the narrators, who are such a giant part of how we experience a book. Almost as big a factor as how one experiences a book through its movie version.

At first I didn't enjoy Iggy Toma as an audiobook narrator, but I came to appreciate him and even started looking for books narrated by him. However, I would not have cast him as Matt, ie he's not the voice I expected Matt to have.

Alexandre Cendese has the same kind of exaggerated, heavily coloured voice as Toma, but so far, he hasn't annoyed me - he has been cast in roles where the fit is right. But to hammer home the point, after feeling he did a great job with Maddox in Book 1, how am I supposed to turnaround in the next breath and hear him as Noah! ( )

More of a 3.5 to be honest. Both Men were over the top but I enjoyed them regardless. Matt's parents should burn right next to Noah II. ( )

3,2 stars

wanted to read something easy, smutty, fun and light. this was all of that, if not all that well executed. the beginning was very lackluster and i powered through on simple stubbornness. the most disappointing aspect was the smut, which was boring and awkward and somehow inauthentic. the romance was a bit better, but even that wasn't all that convincing. the second half got a bit better and a little more humorous, which is why this is a three star review, in stead of a two star one. ( )

I really enjoyed this! This were definitely some slow spots and some parts of the story struck me a little funny but mostly I had a good time with it.

I read the first book in this series a while ago and I really enjoyed it but I didn't feel the need to immediately read the next book. However, when I was trying to come up with a romance book to read that I was confident I would enjoy, this series came to mind and I'm glad I read this next book. In many ways, it's easier to me to read football sports romance than hockey because I know less about football as an industry so I'm less nit-picky. I think that really helped me with my enjoyment of this story.

I liked the characters of Matt and Noah. I thought that they worked together well though they weren't the most original I would say. That's not usually a problem for me when I read romance so I was still able to enjoy them. I thought the development of their relationship was pretty good though a bit jumpy at certain parts. Without giving too much away, it felt like there were times they should have been on the same page but they weren't just for needless conflict.

I also enjoyed the interaction that both Noah and Matt had with the other people in their lives, whether that be family members or teammates. I don't really want to read about aggressive homophobia too much in my romances because it hits a bit too close to home but I also don't love when authors brush over the issue entirely, especially in MM sports romances when I know that mens professional sports can be incredibly toxic. I thought Finley did a good job discussing the conflict between teammates and family without lingering too much.

This book definitely got me interested in the next couple of books in the series so I will probably pick those up soonish. I'm especially excited for Miller and Talons book. I would recommend this book as a good followup and continuation of book 1. ( )

This was so much fun... Matt is too grumpy initially for my taste but Noah is such an interesting character. I loved the development of their relationship. The angst factor is also perfect and I can’t wait to read many more books in this series. ( )