Review: The Play Mate by Kendall Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Roommates #2
Release - March 13, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Trope - best friend's sibling
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 3.5 out of 5
Length - 285 pages

His best friend's little sister is all grown up … and ready to play in a whole new way.

Smith Hamilton has it all—he's smart, good-looking and loaded. But he remembers a time when he had nothing and no one, so he's not about to mess up, especially with his best friend’s little sister. That means keeping Evie at arm's length … even though the once pesky little girl is now a buxom bombshell. A sexy blonde who pushes his self-control to the limit the night she crawls into bed with him.

Evie Reed knows she's blessed—with an exclusive education, a family who loves her, and a new job managing social media for her family's lingerie company. But she wants more, like a reason to wear the sexy lingerie herself. She has just the man in mind to help with that. She's crushed on Smith forever. Surely tricking her way into his bed will force him to see her in a new, adult way.

Except that when Evie's plan leads to disaster, she and Smith must decide—ignore the attraction sizzling between them, or become play mates and risk it all.

Find it here:
Goodreads | Amazon

MY REVIEW

In THE PLAY MATE, Kendall Ryan tackled one of my favorite tropes beautifully: falling in love with the brother's best friend.

Smith and Cullen have been best friends forever. Cullen's little sister, Evie, who was seven years younger, often tagged along and was sort of a kid sister to the both of them. Evie has been crushing on Smith for oh so long. Now they're all adults and after an encounter to ditch her V-card left her unsatisfied, Evie decides to seduce Smith into providing her with a do-over. Smith's a gentleman and although he finds her attractive (he downright desires the heck out of her), he rejects her advances. It goes against the bro code. Right? But how long can he resist while his attraction to Evie only seems to be gaining momentum?

The plot was predictable but the characters are what kept this story interesting. Both Evie and Smith were endearing and left me enamored with their feelings as they evolved with their relationship. I love when a connection is already established and I can believe it and that was definitely achieved here. These two shared memories and a co-existence that stood aside from what was developing between them and seemed to make what they were building that much stronger. Oh, and I absolutely adored the ending. Without giving it away, this couple was left in a lovely place and the story gave me a satisfying conclusion.