Thank you Netgalley and HQ Digital for a copy of Playing for Love in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book checked off many boxes for me. Gaming, romance and nerdy fun! This was a fun read and I enjoyed the POC representation in it. I also enjoyed the author touching on the sexism that is very prevalent in the gaming industry.

Lovely, sweet romantic book. It did take a while to get into just because the characters don’t interact for a while but once they do… its perfect. The gaming premise is so fun and engaging, and the characters are warm and easy to love and root for. Thank you so much to the publisher for the chance to review this ARC.

I liked the concept of this book and a gaming competition as a plot device, it was a bit different from what I have read before. It touched a bit on the sexism involved in the gaming industry. However I didn't feel particularly attached to the main characters and the chemistry wasn't all there. I would give this a 2.5⭐.
Thank you to Netgalley for the for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I thought this book was cute but it wasn’t super memorable. I’m not often a fan of the secret/mistaken identity trope and I felt like that was present in this book.

I did like the two main characters but the relationship between them felt rushed at times.

This was SO cute. It reminded me of "You've Got Mail" for this generation, and it was adorable! I haven't read any books (particularly rom-coms) centred on the gaming world and it was very refreshing. Thank you for the ARC!

The inner geek and gamer girl inside of me loved every second of this book, even more than the rom com fan part of me. And the two alter egos and the complicated situation is utterly delightful and amusing.

But it was the descriptions of SyrenQuest this new video game that Blaze and Bravura are playing that had me completely hooked. I couldn't get enough of it, and it was so well described that I could see it so clearly in my head, and almost wanted one of the Syren 3 Headsets in order to play it myself!

And then there is Luke and Sam, who work in the same building and whose paths keep crossing as Luke is helping Sam with her handbag insert business, in trying to get it off the ground.

I loved both sets of interactions but it really was the gaming side of it that captured my imagination. Especially the fact that Blaze is a well known gaming youtuber, and I've been known to watch gaming streams myself, and then the whole gaming convention with cosplay elements. Well I've been to a ComicCon so have a good idea how all of that works too.

This book was just a sheer pleasure to read, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in my garden, with these fabulous characters, and it is so refreshing to read a book where women are allowed to be a bit more geeky than they are often portrayed as.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I loved this book and always love the secret online identity trope if I can call it that.
It was a fun read which I read in a couple of days, would definitely recommend and will be looking out for more from this author

Unfortunately this one didn't live up to expectations for me - I read just under 30% and just didn't feel like it flowed well.

I normally like the 'secret identity' type trope but I really struggled to engage with either character. The gaming aspect sounded cool, but it was at times a bit technical which wasn't for me.

DNF at 29%

This book was a fun read. There is a lot of gaming talk/scenes, which I expected and I’m exposed to gaming via my husband, however, it could be a lot for non-gamers or individuals who haven’t been around gaming or game quests.

I enjoyed the friendship and romance element. Rounding up to 4 stars.

This was a fun read. I love how the plot went between the main characters.
Tho I found myself a little bit slow when I read this (cause my schedule is soooo tight) but I find it cute, sweet and fun when I read this.

To Samahdi, Blaze is more than a popular gamer, he is the voice that bonded her to her brother, who got her through the toughest time in her life. She may even admit to being half in love with him.

When Blaze is part of a video game competition that rookies can enter and be matched with a pro, Sam goes for it and is chosen! To make it even better, she’s paired with Blaze! Everything would be perfect except for the fact her start-up business is going nowhere…

In comes Luke, whose company is down the hall from her office and who offers advice and assistance to improve the business. Luke, who goes to work early, yet takes time to build her website, get her coffee, and listen to her pitch. Luke, who is sweet, anxious, awkward, and the opposite of the confident, competent, and handsome (at least his character was), Blaze. Little does she know that just as she has a secret online persona, Bravura9, Luke does too and it’s Blaze.

As Sam and Luke work together at work, Bravura9 and Blaze work together during the competition, each falling more for the other. The only issue is, Sam only has eyes for Blaze, and Luke only has eyes for Sam.

I love the cinnamon roll hero and Luke is such a sweetheart! Get you a man who would do half of what he does for Sam!

At first I didn’t love Sam, but she grew and became a much better person! Luke and Sam help each other become their best selves and you know this is only the beginning to their love story.

This was a sweet, light read with a closed door romance.

4 star

A sweet, easy to read romance that hits all the right marks and is tied up nicely at the end. I rooted for Luke throughout the book (I've never been into the Blaze types myself) and liked the modern take on the "boy isn't who he appears" storyline.

A lovely romance read! I read this in a one day and couldn’t put it down. It was a great concept for a story and not something I thought I would enjoy but it surprised me.

This book is perfect for a nerdy romantic like me. Sam and Luke are the cutest characters and you cheer for them to get together during the entire book. As a female gamer myself, I loved that Sam wasn't the stereotypical gamer girl. She grew up with her brothers gaming, and then during the book she enters a gaming competition to win money that will help her launch her small business. I absolutely devoured this book and can't wait to read more from the author.

I am a huge fan of the "I'm in love with your other identity, but don't know it's really you" trope, because there is so much potential for funny misunderstandings and getting to know the main characters on different levels. Even though I love this trope, I'm very picky with it and I think it needs to be done well. The main character being in love with the love interest's other identity often makes it difficult for both identities to be likeable and for the main character to actually like both sides and come to terms with the fact, that she/he has actually been talking to the same person. In my opinion this book couldn't fully manage the first part.
Sam is in love with Luke's online personality "Blaze" but initially struggles to like Luke himself. While I like the slow-burn of getting to know the real Luke, it wasn't executed super well. Sam continually says she is in love with Blake even before they "meet" and over-interprets every little thing he does, which becomes annoying pretty quickly, because it reads more like a YA book, while trying to make it logical in an adult's eye. Blaze "himself" is not very likeable at all and while Luke is adorable, he falls in love with Sam so quickly it also seems unrealistic. Infatuated, sure, but they spend so little time together actually getting to know each other, I don't really understand how he can be in love with her.
While the romance was a little lacking to me (it is VERY slow burn, i.e. they don't kiss until the second to last chapter), I really liked the set-up of the game and competition. I think the book would have done better, if it was a YA romance of two students doing a project together. The misunderstandings and overall pacing just don't make sense for people in their late twenties/early thirties.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Playing for Love follows follows Sam and Luke, who work together by day, and end up unknowingly paired together in a gaming tournament by night. I really enjoyed this book, it was funny and sweet and I couldn't wait to see how it ended.

This was a different type of story I haven’t read too much before, where there is a parallel relationship building happening both online and in person but where the woman doesn’t know it’s the same person. I enjoyed that novelty as well as the gamer geek rep.

Playing for Love is about 30 something Sam, who after being made redundant from her last job decided to use the money to start her own business, creating inserts for handbags to make changing over handbags easy. But she isn’t alone, business owner, Luke comes along to help her out with the technical and marketing side of the business.

But she has a secret, in her spare time she loves watching infamous gamer, Blaze play video games on his online channel. After entering a competition to play the latest rpg with some pro gamers including Blaze she has doubts as the person she speaks to doesn’t end up to be the same person she watches each week. You know what they say you shouldn’t meet your heroes. If only she knew who Blaze really is, maybe things would be different?

The book has a reasonably slow start as we meet Sam and the scene is set. We get to know her as a hardworking, ambitious woman who is scared of her parents finding out the truth about what she is doing.

As the story progresses we meet Luke, a cute, quiet guy who works in the same office block and likes to help new businesses out. However, he has troubles of his own, in his spare time he is the infamous, Blaze and he needs to win this competition for his company. But being paired up with a relative newbie to gaming, he becomes frustrated and a different side to him comes out online.

This is your typical will they won’t they scenario, as the two characters don’t meet as gamers until near the end. Even then they are both dressed as their alter egos, Blaze and Bravura and with contact lenses, wigs and body paint they become entirely different people to their day to day personas.

It was fun, it was emotional and it was full of so much gamer geekery (yep I just created that word) that any gamer will relate. From almost dying against your first creature to solving puzzles against the clock, the competition isn’t easy and tested the two characters to their limits.

I also enjoyed the fact that several issues with the gaming community were highlighted in this book including how tough women often have it on online games. It’s sad but true that women still get hassled on online games in 2022, and i can’t tell you the amount of messages I often get from boys.

I really liked the fact we had a woman pro gamer in the book to raise awareness that women are breaking through in this industry but are still experiencing inequality. Whilst the other gamers are being interviewed about their strategy or technique, she is being asked about her dating or relationship or her costume, showing the complete disrespect for the female gaming community.

Playing for Love is a book which although at first glance is your typical rom com, also breaks the boundaries with female gamers and various issues discussed from family beliefs to sexism. I loved every minute of this and also made me want to game straight away, haha.


Overall this was a fun, geeky, gamer read which I really enjoyed!! If you are a gamer and love your rom coms I highly recommend it!!

This is a story set in the world of gaming – a world I know absolutely nothing about, so in theory would not expect to enjoy it, but I really did. Sam and Luke work in the same office building and Luke would really like to go out with Sam. Sam and Luke are both gamers with Luke being well known as Blaze and Sam, a newcomer, going by the name of Bravura. Sam is madly in love with Blaze and has been for years. She has no idea that Luke and Blaze are the same person though and doesn’t want to go out with Luke. Likewise Luke has not realised that Sam is Bravura. As the story develops it appears both Sam and Luke have problems in other areas of their lives so there are other story lines in this book which make it more interesting. What I really liked about it was that I could actually visualise the characters and everything that happened to them which isn’t always the case. The games that took place were easy to follow and actually quite interesting. Both Luke and Sam are easy to warm to and although the ending is quite predictable it is exactly how I wanted it to end. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this book.

A massive thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy!

I love how this book is set out. It is set along two timelines: one in the real world, and then one in a parallel gaming world.

I really loved Luke. He is super shy, but it really adds to his character. And Sam! She loves Luke and doesn’t even know it!

Sam fell in love with Luke’s gaming character, Blaze, and now they get to meet in real life; and she is totally unaware of who Blaze is.

This was a super cute book, and a quick read. I highly recommend!

I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️