I give this book 3 stars. It wasn't bad but it also wasn't my favorite. I liked the gaming aspect as someone who does like gaming and grew up around people who played however I found it hard to believe she couldn't recognize his voice even with an accent. One thing I did like was her slow realization of falling for Luke. I thought there was a beauty in that progression, something realistic. Sometimes you don't have instant chemistry with someone. Sometimes it takes time. I thought that was done really well. Boy, did my heart break when Luke realize who Sam really was. My heart bled for him. Because that is complicated. She liked one side of him but not the real him. I wish they had better communication HOWEVER sometimes that takes time with someone new. Everyone has their own insecurities and way of communicating.

This was a super cute romantic read. Great if you are also a gamer in real life. Enjoyed the banter and back and forth with the characters as well as the side characters. It would be great to read about Flick and Phil’s romance for instance. Just s thought.

Either way I read this in one afternoon and it was a very relaxing read.

If you take this book for what it is, its fantastic. I read it from start to finish this morning and thoroughly enjoyed, a cute, entertaining storyline with 2 lovely main characters and some heartfelt side storylines going on around them. If I'm not reading, I'm usually watching Twitch so this ticked all the boxes for me.

At the moment I'm just looking for books to make me feel happy and forget the real world for a few hours this did exactly that for me. 5/5.

What a fun story! Good love story that was well laid out with good character details that had me really pulling for the main characters. I had a hard time putting this one down till the very end! Great story!

This is an absolutely adorable romance. A pining boy, a girl obsessed, and a competition for both of their hearts. I loved the focus on video games, it's a new arena I haven't seen in a lot of romance books yet.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ, HQ Digital for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book - gamers and hidden identities. I liked how it explored the personas people present online and in real life. I liked both MCs - interesting, full-fledged, flawed, real. Their romance was sweet and liked it a lot.
My main complaint is that writing didn't work for me. It was not engaging, felt repetitious at times, it lacked the spark to make me care about these fictional characters and their story.

Playing for Love by Jeevani Charika was a feel-good, funny, engaging book with loveable characters and charming banter. Luke and Sam's story was a fun, cute, entertaining read from start to finish. I'm not a gamer, but I enjoyed the gaming element as the author's description made that part of the storyline easy to follow and understand.

This book is worth a read and perfect for when you're looking for a lighthearted multicultural contemporary romantic comedy.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and it won't be my last.

Playing for Love by Jeevani Charika is a romance unlike any other I've read before. Originally, it was the the multi-cultural background that interested me, which didn’t really figure into the story at all. Instead, what I got was a cute gaming-romance.

Sam is “in love” with the gamer Blaze, who is an online personality and YouTube star, while IRL, Luke, a colleague from her workspace, is in love with Sam. What Sam doesn’t know is that Luke is also Blaze. Blaze, unfortunately, isn’t interested in his video-game competition partner Bravura, who’s Sam in real life. You still following?

I’m not at all into gaming so this was totally new territory for me. An easy, light-hearted (and very non-steamy!) romance that kept me entertained.

I read lots of romances. After a while they get a bit samey so when one comes along that's a bit different, I'm happy to give it a try. This one has Sam, who has a handbagbag insert start up, and Luke, who has a digital services business in the same building.
Luke is also a pro gamer and YouTube known as Blaze. He has been hired to play a knockout competition with an amateur gamer partner to promote a 3D headset - and Sam wins the chance to be his partner. She's followed Blaze for ages and loves his personality.
But both have worries and secrets. Both need to win the prize money.
For a romance to work, I need to like the characters, the story needs to be plausible and the author needs to have done their research and I learn something. 3 ticks here.
A new author to look out for!

I liked the premise of the story, and Sam and Luke were both very likable characters! I do think that their chemistry wasn’t as strong as it could have been, especially with their real life personas.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this eArc in an exchange for an honest review.

I was excited for a book about women in gaming. And let me tell you its cute. While i wanted more, needed more, some really good point have been raised by the author and I appreciate it. We do need more women in online gaming and this might be a cute entry point,, why not.

But aside from that i loved the exploration of what is real what isnt, which persona is the right one when it comes to our own line lives. The fact booth of our MC got to grow as they explored and got to know each other.

Realistically a 3,5 star read, but extra points for being close to my heart with this topic!

Overall, sweet, charming and really easy to read. Both Sam and Luke are entrepreneurs working in the same building. Luke has a crush on Sam from first sight, but Sam is obsessed with a YouTuber avatar, who turns out to be Luke, although she doesn't know this. Luck would find them paired in an online quest competing against other teams.

Its completely implausible, totally predictable and quite one-dimensional. The gaming angle was cool and I enjoyed the quest scenes, They made the whole book come alive and kept me interested. So, not in the class of some of my favourite rom-com writers, but if you're looking for a quick, easy, enjoyable read, the book is a good escape.

When Sam’s not working on her fledgling business, she spends her time secretly video-gaming. Her crush is famous gamer Blaze, and she’s thrilled when she’s teamed up with him in a virtual tournament.

But what Sam doesn’t know is that Blaze is the alter ego of Luke, her shy colleague – and he has a secret crush too.

Luke has a crush on Sam.
Sam has a crush on Blaze.

How will this game of love play out?

Ok this book was utterly cute and I enjoyed reading it. You were constantly rooting for Sam and Luke. I think I may have found a book with #couplegoals

Powered by love and a drive to be close to her deceased mother, Sam starts up her own business. Torn between her passion to make a success of her business and the fear of disappointing her family, Sam seeks comfort in secretly gaming.

Blaze, Sam’s gaming saviour, has been her escape since she was a young girl. He is that familiar face that reminded her of the closeness of her siblings. Blaze is a mask Luke wears to help him cope with real life. It’s a persona that gives him strength. Most of us have a mask we hide behind, but Luke’s brought fame on social media.

A lucky draw in a gaming competition makes Sam’s wildest dream come true, meeting her gaming crush and hero, Blaze.

Like all good love stories—true love never runs a smooth path.

I enjoyed the story structure and characters of this parallel love story– she loves him in one world and he loves her in another. Playing for Love is a fun cosy read, a true modern day love story.

I think overall the flow of this book would have been better for me with more clear separation in the movement from Luke or Sam’s POV. I prefer when authors switch chapters when switching POV which makes it easier to track the change of whose inner thoughts and perspective we are getting. But I eventually got used to the flow of how the author moved between characters and after it got into the gameplay it wasn’t as distracting as it had been in the beginning.

I felt like the story was a bit slow at the start and made it difficult for me initially to get into, but then as they got into the gameplay and you got to see how Sam playing as Bravura was infatuated with Blaze who was really Luke and Luke was infatuated with Sam but not Bravura it made for an interesting mess as they fumbled through working in the same building and playing a game together without realizing who they were in their double lives.

This made for great tension as you got to see Bravura’s feelings for Blaze and Luke’s feelings for Sam playing out in the same timeline while in each timeline there were unrequited feelings.

I loved how it was predictable yet a fun story to follow along. I am not a fan of video games but that didn’t impact my enjoyment of the game as I know enough about the lingo to grasp the dialogue about the game play.

If you are looking for a new to you author I’d recommend this cute fluffy romance!

Thank you NetGalley and HQ Digital for the ARC of this book!

Rounding up to 4. This was a cute, slightly silly romcom with minimal angst. The characters are very sweet and well rounded with decent depth for a comedic story. The world building was well done - in addition to really being able to imagine the co-working environment, I found myself interested in the video game parts more than I would have expected (since I don't really play video games). And I appreciated the social commentary around women in gaming. I didn't *love* what felt like insta-falling-in-love but I can appreciate that it's a romcom and accept it. I enjoyed how the pace really picked up in the last third of the book - the writing was much tighter there too. The way the double-persona piece and resulting conflict was handled was tricky and well done. Well worth a read and I'd pick up future books from the author.

A cute romantic comedy to provide some light relief.

Sam and Luke work in the same office space and Luke is smitten. But Sam only has eyes for Blaze, a pro-gamer and Youtuber she's loved for many years.

When she's randomly picked to partner him in a competition to launch a new game, things get off to a bit of a shaky start, but they soon become a brilliant team. Getting through to a live final of the game is exciting. But not as exciting as getting to meet her idol.

But Blaze is not who she thinks he is. Just as her avatar Bravura is not who Blaze thinks she is.

Complicated twists and turns but a heart-warming if predictable ending.

Five stars simply for the sheer enjoyment I got out of reading this cute and endearing story.
As someone whose idea of gaming is playing Candy Crush on my phone, I found the VR gaming scenes to be very suspenseful and exciting. It juxtaposed very well with the mundanity of real life that Luke and Sam had to navigate. Sam is trying to develop her own business and source funding and Luke is trying to deal with the ending of a business partnership.
Luke is such a lovable guy. He's sort of a Clark Kent kind of character; awkward and shy in real life but a badass in the gaming world. His crush on Sam is cute and you can't help but feel for him when all she can think about is his alter ego, Blaze.
There is a subtle nod to multiculturalism in the story but it's not really part of the narrative. I would've liked to have read a little bit more about Sam's heritage.
Luke and Sam are both very inexperienced and innocent when it comes to relationships and this shows in their interactions. He gets flustered and embarrassed around her and she over analyses all the banter and flirting between her and Blaze.
You have to wait until nearly the end of the book before Blaze and Sam resolve their miscommunications and reveal their true identities but it's a fun read all the way. I couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed this book, I just think it could have done a whole lot more if it wasn't for the overuse of the miscommunication trope. I'm not the biggest fan of conflicts in books that could easily be resolved if the characters just spoke to one another, so I think that made the story drag a big for me.
I thought the concept was really adorable and found that I really enjoyed the romance between the two main characters I just felt that there was a lack of romance throughout because of the main characters miscommunications
I really enjoyed the gaming sections throughout this book and actually really enjoyed watching the characters complete levels and attempting to win the grand prize money.
Overall I enjoyed this one but not one I will be jumping to reread anytime soon.
3 out of 5 stars

(Thank you NetGalley and publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review)

Gaming world has always looked very intriguing to me and I finally got my hands on a book that explores it! The storyline takes place in parallel universes simultaneously without becoming boring or too disconnected from one at any point. And did I mention I love how the story includes entrepreneurship and the struggles that come with it? Finally a story involving entrepreneurs and their work struggles!

A very cute romantic read with great narration that’s hard to put down once you start reading it. Enjoyed every bit of it! A recommended read for everyone 💯