Title: Fair Play
Author: Tracy A. Ward
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 28, 2016
Publisher: Self-published
Format: eBook
ISBN: 9780997282702
Synopsis:
Who knew love could bring a playwright so much drama?
Writing three plays for a nationally acclaimed theater in Phair, Texas, was never supposed to put Ashlyn Carter’s inheritance at risk or make or break her future. And it certainly wasn’t supposed to force her into constant contact with the very guy she’s avoided since her teenage crush-gone-bad days.
Noah Blake. He’s Ashlyn’s enemy, for good reason. As her older brother’s best friend, he seems hell-bent on interfering with nearly every aspect of her life. So how then does he also seem to be her muse?
When Ashlyn reluctantly agrees to act out scenes with Noah from the play she’s writing in order to trigger her creativity, the spark of passion she’d felt for him as a teenager flares up again. But there’s more at stake than just her future as a playwright or the inheritance she never cared about in the first place. Finding out the theater she loves is in danger of closing puts everything she thought she knew and felt about Phair…and Noah…to the test. Will there be a standing ovation for Ashlyn Carter, playwright, or will the curtain drop and fade to black? Only by facing their biggest fears together will Ashlyn and Noah learn to trust in themselves and each other.
Review:
Fair Play is a cute story (older brother’s best friend! Secret crush!) with a somewhat ridiculous premise…believing that the director would strong arm Ashlyn and Noah into “improvising” scenes so that Ashlyn can write them with more feeling? Hard to buy into…though I could see him urging her to go out and experience what she’s writing about to give the story more umpf, to be that specific about the “who” to do it with is a bit of a stretch. Maybe if he were a small-town nosy busybody who’d known them since birth, I’d buy it…maybe.
But–that aside, this was an entertaining read. I liked both Ashlyn and Noah, and thought they worked well together on the page. (Better when they were being “them”–the bits where they were supposed to be their on-stage altar egos was a little strange.) Having a playwright heroine was a different twist, and one I liked. Noah’s difficult backstory and the threat from Ashlyn’s past added some interest to the story.
Overall, I enjoyed this new-to-me author and would definitely try something else from her in the future.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author:
After the birth of her children, Tracy had an epiphany: banking just wasn’t her thing. So she quit her corporate job, let her nanny go and became a not-so-desperate housewife by day, Sexy Women’s Fiction author by night. Her characters are every-day women, following their dreams, searching for that elusive happily ever after.
Connect with Tracy A. Ward: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway:
Tracy is offering one (1) lucky Grand Prize Winner a $25 Amazon Gift Card and a digital copy of Fair Play, and five (5) Runner-up Winners a digital copy of Fair Play! To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:
