Welcome Back Booklovers! I've been in a Kindle reading mood and a backlist romance reading mood lately. But most important I've been in a Reese Ryan reading mood. So I once again dipped into the Kimani backlist via Hoopla to check out Playing with Desire. If you're interested in backlist Black romance there's a lot of Kimani romance available in the ebook format.
Unlike my previous Reese Ryan read this is a multiracial and multiethnic romance. The lead leading lady Maya Alverez is an Afro-Latina and leading man Liam Westbrook is a mixed race Brit. One aspect Reese excels at is writing sexy and charming millionaire and billionaire heroes that instantly suck you in. And I was intrigued from the first two chapters with this one.
Liam is the usual millionaire playboy who can't see himself being tied down. We find out he is still hurting because he felt his brother betrayed him by getting with his ex girlfriend and his family relationships have been fragile ever since. I think he's fleshed out well enough where you see the him embracing this fantasy life with Maya and growing to have genuine feelings for her.
Maya is a mother of two and divorcee trying to find her groove again. Her daughters are away with their father for the summer and she's ready to discover herself outside of just being a mother and wife. So she purposely hides that she's a mother and instead plays the role of a single woman with no baggage letting go of her inhabitations for the summer. I liked reading about her exploring her sexy side that her ex husband never liked her to embrace. And Reese writes steamy somewhat erotic sex scenes so perfectly.
That being said the chemistry inside the bedroom wasn't enough to make this a top romance read for me. Where the story ended up falling apart for me was that the not telling Liam about her kids plot was dragged out too long so the bonding time with her daughters was rushed into one chapter. And I just couldn't gel with how overly comfortable these girls were with this strange man. Them sitting on his lap, rooting for him to kiss their mom, and falling in love with him in one day was too much. Especially when Maya and Liam didn't know each other well outside of the facades they put up during their fling. I needed to see those interactions eased into. He met the girls and instantly seemed to let ago of his feelings towards kids and being involved with a single mother. I needed to see more of Maya with her girls as we're told she's very devoted to them but we don't really get to see it on page. I just couldn't root for them to come together as a family of four.
Keep in mind this is one of her earlier books having been released in 2017 and she's more settled now into the Harlequin formula and has discovered a better balance between the plot and the sex scenes to give fully fleshed out stories.
Enjoyed the review.
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