Review: Play with Me by Piper Shelly

Play With Me by Piper Shelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads summary:


Ryan Hunter's parties are legend. And tonight she's going to be there.

Liza Matthews anticipates the return of her best friend and only love since kindergarten from soccer camp. But when Tony finally shows up, his mind is more focused on another girl. And worse, she's a soccer player. Fighting for the attention Liza craves, she's just a hairbreadth away from making a very stupid decision. But when extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, she's prepared to play ball to get her man.

The tryouts are hell, the first match ends bloody, and the morning after the selection party she wakes up in the worst place possible—in the arms of the captain of the soccer team. The hottest guy in school. Ryan Hunter.

My review:


Hmm.

I'll admit it, when I saw this on the "Customers who bought this also bought..." list after I finished Catching Jordan...I was drawn straight to the soccer ball and clicked "Buy" without blinking. As a former player and current soccer mom, I do love anything and everything soccer.

Unfortunately, because I am immersed in the soccer world, and especially at the high school level, the lack of correct technical details really drew me out of the story. High school soccer is a competitive thing and unless the high school team is more club than team, it's rarely a walk-on sport. Especially for someone who's never played. Or can't run half a mile without gasping for breath. (Serious issues with the one player asking if she was going to get a "soccer dress" or play in sports clothes, and Liza's statement that she wouldn't be wearing cleats.) Also, soccer is very rarely a fall sport at the high school level. Tryouts would have been in the late winter/early spring.

Okay. Rant finished.

That said, the love story itself was incredibly cute. I absolutely loved Ryan, I wanted to throttle stupid Tony and Liza herself was adorable. Then again, I am a sucker for stories when the heroine misses what's right in front of her. That part of the story kept this review from dipping down into 2 stars and I think it's because I read it literally back to back with Catching Jordan. The underlying romantic conflict was the same and to my mind, it was executed better in this story. There were hints of the crush that we, the reader, could see even if Liza couldn't.

Very probably a re-read for the great scenes between Ryan and Liza, even with my initial issues with the soccer stuff.