Play for Keeps by Maggie Wells

Mixing business and pleasure is a dangerous game...

Tyrell Ransom, the new men's basketball coach, is ready to whip his team into shape and start winning some games. But when compromising photos of his soon-to-be-ex-wife with one of his players go viral, everything comes crashing down. With reporters thick on the ground, Ty and his team need some serious damage control—now.

When public relations guru Millie Jenkins arrives in her leopard-print cape to save the day, things really heat up... Soon they're going to have to work double time to keep their white-hot chemistry out of the headlines.

Book 2
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
Millie has had a thing for Ty Ransom since he became the head basketball coach at Wolcott. She just couldn't act on it with him being a married man. When rumors of his wife's extramarital affairs began to surface, she quietly cataloged. As the PR person for the athletic department, her job is to manage flow of information coming from the University about its coaches and players and to turn any bad press into good press.

As Ty slowly gets his feet back under him after his painful and public breakup, he realizes that he's not all that devastated about the end of his marriage. He'd known for a while that his marriage was on life support, had a feeling that Mari was seeing other guys, he just didn't realize it was one of his players and that she was documenting it on social media.

Millie wants Ty, and Ty wants Millie. The problem is that Millie has set an end date on their relationship without consulting him. Ty doesn't understand why Millie is dead set on keeping this casual, especially since this is anything but casual to him.

I enjoyed this story, the way that the characters knew each other, had established a friendship before the romance began. I also enjoyed reading about older characters, people who have experienced the good and bad that life has thrown at them and are still willing to give love a chance.


Sarah – ☆☆☆
I loved the first book in this series but this one doesn’t work quite as well for me. I think the difference is Millie and Kate. I loved the fiercely competitive coach and I struggled to like the character whose fashion and beauty obsession makes her blur into every other chick-lit heroine. Millie is tough and she is a survivor, but she is too girly for me and she’d be more convincing as a 25 year old than she is as a 45 year old.

Ty is wonderful but I struggled with parts of his story. I hate the way his ex-wife is villainised as a gold-digger while he gets sympathy for choosing a much younger trophy wife and not a life partner. After the uplifting feminist messages in the first book, I was dismayed by the slut-shaming undertones in this second story.

Ty and Millie are fun together and there are some sweet moments here. For me, there were too many mind games and too much miscommunication for two middle aged adult professionals. I also missed the sport and the competition that I loved in the first book.

Finally, why is there a white guy on the cover? Ty was black when he was first introduced in Love Game – and I’m pretty sure he stays that way.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆☆
This is the second book in the series – and is an excellent follow on to Love Games, but would be good as a standalone too. We did find out quite a lot about the two leads in the first book, but there is enough here to give us a fantastic romance.

Millie is a mystery wrapped up in an animal-print enigma, but Ty is a man who is prepared to go the distance. There has been chemistry since the first time they met, but with him being married, neither would act upon it. However, now that divorce is in his future, there is a chance that they may just explore what makes each other tick. Millie's past has made her wary (understatement of the year!) but it is very difficult not to love her along with Ty. I love it when she, Kate, and Avery get together – they are just really great fun friends.

Ty has a lot to deal with in this installment, from betrayal to hope. There is such great attention to detail in the book, and of things that both matter and will stick with me for a long time. For example, him counting down how many times he can rely on his knees in a jump... little sob from me at that point. He is such a totally caring, reliable, and centred man, that he has to win the day (and the lady).

There is a lot going on in the book. It is funny, sad, moving, and sexy, along with a good dose of college sports issues and politics thrown in. I definitely recommend this book to you as a fabulous read. Thank you, Ms. Wells, and I look forward to the next installment!

Also Available in the Love Games Series

Book 1
Buy Links

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For reviews & more info, check out our Love Game post.

By day, MAGGIE WELLS is buried in spreadsheets. At night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, you only have to scratch the surface of this mild-mannered married lady to find a naughty streak a mile wide. She has a passion for college football, processed cheese foods, and happy endings. Not necessarily in that order. She lives in Arkansas.

Connect with Maggie

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Play for Keeps (Love Games #2) by Maggie Wells to read and review.

Love Game by Maggie Wells

She's earned her position

Kate Snyder is at the top of her game. She scored her first national championship at Wolcott University in her undergrad days, and now she's the coaching legend of the #1 college women's basketball team. No one knows the meaning of the phrase "work your way up" better than Kate. So when the university hires a football coach trying to escape scandal—paying him a lot more than she earns—Kate is more than annoyed.

He just sailed into his

Danny McMillan had hoped for a smooth transition at Wolcott, but the fiery Coach Snyder made that impossible. Every time he and Kate are in a room together, snark and sparks fly. Danny gets her frustration, but her pay grade isn't his problem, right? When Kate and Danny finally see eye to eye, their sparks turn into something even hotter... and they need to figure out if this is more than just a game.

Book 1
Buy Links

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I enjoyed this well-written and gender-equality challenging read. I thought that the injustices in recognition and pay between the super successful Kate Snyder, and the scandal-bound Danny were played out very cleverly. We are set up to hate on Danny from the beginning and yet, if you have faith in the author, she does not let you down, and in fact, his behaviour is far more forgivable.

The chemistry between the two leads is undeniable, and it is highly entertaining watching them give in to the desires they cannot fight. It works particularly well because term is out, and they are not busy with their usual routines. Touches like that are important to me, as they make the plot work so much better.

Although most of the focus is on the couple, there are some good side characters too – which maybe will feature in future books in the series. Kate's friends are fun, and instrumental in the resolution of all the issues keeping these two people apart. Mike is rather hampered by his position, but in the end, he is a good friend to both Danny and Kate.

I found this a super easy book to read and enjoyed how it played out. Thank you, Ms. Wells.


Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
Wow! I have a huge girl crush on Kate Snyder! I love strong women in romance writing and the Olympic basketball star turned award winning coach has to be one of my all-time favourite characters. She’s smart, she’s quick, and she’s also very funny.

Kate’s love interest, Danny, is also a retired sports star – but his life post retirement has been a little bit messy. I love the chemistry between these two. I love that Danny is attracted to Kate’s strength and to her successes. And while Danny and Kate both might take their sports a little bit too seriously, their relationship is fun and the banter between them is brilliant.

I really appreciated some of the feminist themes that run through this book. Kate wrestles hard with the salary difference between herself – a coach with four national championship titles – and Danny – an unproven coach with a murky past. Sadly, equal pay for women’s sports seems to be a long way off for players and staff alike but I really like the way Kate fights for her contract without compromising herself or making any compromises to appease Danny.

I loved the courtship moments as Danny attempts to win Kate’s attention. The chemistry between these two is crazy hot and there are some scorching scenes in this story. But while the courtship phase is long and very satisfying, the race from bed to happily ever after felt like a breathless race. The end comes a little too quickly for me. I wanted to see these two settle into a relationship but instead I’ll have to trust that they’ll sort themselves out.

This is the kind of romance that I want to see more of. We need more ‘warrior’ women in romance. We need to be able to read about women that we can look up to and be inspired by. We also need more relationships between equals in romance. I loved this story and I will be looking for more by this author.


Mary Jo – ☆☆☆☆
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s not about people just starting out, it’s about people who have lived their dreams and what happens after the dream has ended – whether by injury or retirement. About how your life is not only impacted by your dreams but what happens after the dream fades away. How you conduct yourself and make new dreams.

Riding the wave of glory then defeat often tells the true story of a person's character. The aftermath of destruction of those dreams comes with a hard price and oftentimes, the price is paid with scars to a person's soul. Protecting the truly guilty is a price paid for those protectors and only those carrying the burden know the true cost.

Learning to live and love again isn't easy, but for these two, it’s a dream worth fighting for.

By day, MAGGIE WELLS is buried in spreadsheets. At night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. The product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, you only have to scratch the surface of this mild-mannered married lady to find a naughty streak a mile wide. She has a passion for college football, processed cheese foods, and happy endings. Not necessarily in that order. She lives in Arkansas.

Connect with Maggie

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Google+  ~  Instagram

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Love Game (Love Games #1) by Maggie Wells to read and review.

A Bolt from the Blue by Maggie Wells

True love, like lightning, never strikes twice—or does it?

As a free-spirited young woman, Hope Elliot was desperate to escape her snobbish high society family. So she ran off to Paris, where she lived for twenty-five years. Now widowed, she's come home to settle her family's massive lakefront estate. But before she can put her mother's house on the market, it needs a major renovation. Enter master electrician Mick McInnes, a traditional guy who's about to turn her life upside down...

Aside from the fact that Mick is hopelessly attracted to his latest client, Hope represents everything he doesn't want in a woman. She's ridiculously rich and adventurous, yet she doesn't seem to know much about the real world. Besides, his policy is to never get involved with clients. But he can't seem to resist the Chicago heiress's sizzling advances-and soon enough finds himself in her bed, feeling like a teenager once again. And like teenagers, the two of them will just have to convince their families that opposites can not only attract, but they can also make the perfect match...

Book 2
Buy Links

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Lyrical Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 stars

This is the second in the series and the first I have read, but I will be going to find the first, as this is a well written book, which I read in one sitting.

Stories of second chances at love can become a little maudlin, or dismissive of the first relationship. That is avoided here by a few very subtle references and one scene which brilliantly gets into Hope's head and gives us her thoughts, which are very much off topic at a crucial moment. So insightful, honest, and very effective at bringing her feelings to the fore.

There are some painfully humorous moments when she re-engages with the society that she ran away to avoid, and her sister is pretty beastly too. But her interactions with Mick are at times funny, sexy, and poignant. It would be difficult not to laugh at some of her adventures, but there is a lost quality to her life that only she can resolve – and Mick is both aware of that and fearful of what it will mean too.

I really enjoyed how this story developed and would definitely recommend it to you.

Maggie Wells is a deep-down dirty girl with a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. By day she is buried in spreadsheets, but at night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. Fueled by supertankers of Diet Coke, Maggie juggles fictional romance and the real deal by keeping her slow-talking Southern gentleman constantly amused and their two children mildly embarrassed. They are the food purveyors to a demanding dog and an impertinent house rabbit she claims is the love of her life. Shh. Don’t tell her husband.

Connect with Maggie

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of A Bolt from the Blue (Worth the Wait #2) by Maggie Wells to read and review.