Well Played

Jen DeLuca

Sep 2020 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.

LibraryReads Pick
 
Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it's been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she'll even find The One.
 
When Stacey imagined "The One," it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she's not sure what to make of it.
 
Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey's shock, it isn't Dex—she's been falling in love with a man she barely knows.

Ratings and reviews

Stacey Lindholm life is stuck in a rut. She had dreams of being in the fashion industry in New York City but her mom's heart attack has kept her in Willow Creek. It's been 5 years since the attack and now her mom is healthy, but Stacey still worries. At least she has the yearly Willow Creek Renaissance Faire to look forward to each year. Stacey is hoping that this year will be her year and maybe she will find someone special just like her best friend, Emily. Imagine Stacey's surprise when her summer fling for the past two years, Dex MacLean, from the Renaissance band, The Dueling Kilts, answers her drunken email. Something about his elegant words touches Stacey and this starts a 9 month correspondence back and forth really getting to know each other. As the Renaissance Faire approaches Stacey is excited to see Dex again. She thinks he may be "the One"! When Stacey realizes it was not Dex she had been communicating with, but someone else, she feels hurt that he lied to her, but at the same time excited because she knows she has fallen in love with him. Now she just has to decide is she is ready to take that chance on love. I really enjoyed this story. The characters were fun and I loved their conversations they had. I really loved the ending and how these two found their happiness.

3.5 stars — I think my mediocre rating for this one had to do with 2 things on a personal front: having expectations for who Stacey was and how I thought this story would go; and simultaneously reading a book I’m really loving so I would inevitably compare the two and notice more clearly what this story was missing for me. As far as the expectations go, I guess I just had a picture in my mind of Stacey. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she was deeper behind her happy smiley façade, but I just ant

About the author

Jen DeLuca was born and raised near Richmond, Virginia, but now lives in Central Florida with her husband and a houseful of rescue pets. She loves latte-flavored lattes, Hokies football, and the Oxford comma. Well Met was her first novel, inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire.