Games We Play
by Dana Isaly
Jack is a faceless gamer known as The Joker. He makes a living playing video games and using his gravelly voice to bring people’s sexual fantasies to life. When the top gaming site on the West Coast sends someone out to interview him, Quinlan walks into his apartment with her auburn curls and thick curves, and they’re instantly drawn to each other. Quinlan has no idea of the monster that lurks beneath the surface of his calm demeanor. Jack is quicksand, pulling her down into the dark underbelly of his desires. To get out unscathed, she’ll need to give into the hunger she has always tried to deny.
Spice Level: 4/6 | Story Score: 6/10 | Rating: 3.75/5 |
I wasn’t going to jump on this bandwagon because I have an... (what's the opposite of a kink?)... an aversion to masks, but I went through an episode of being unable to focus on anything, so I read several novellas trying to get myself out of it, or through it. I read this book based on the innumerable recommendations made on one (maybe several) of my Facebook book groups.
If you’ve looked at my Trope Challenge, then you know I’ve got like 170 of them. A lot of them are subcategories of a larger concept. This story didn’t make any particular trope jump out at me, so I created a ‘Gamer Hero/Heroine’ one just for it. I didn’t really want to use this one on the ‘Alpha Hero’ or ‘Possessive Hero’ spots.
There’s something about knowing a story is only a few pages (90 in this case) that allows you to grant it certain liberties. You aren’t going to get a complex plot or characters. There isn’t time. I feel like this book did a good enough job giving us a “how they met” story to be satisfied. Overall, I enjoyed this book. In fact, I’ve read it twice. It’s smutty, it’s quick, it’s fun.
BONUS: The audible is utterly delicious and takes it up a whole nother notch.
-SPOILERS-
More specifically, I enjoyed several scenes in it enough to override what I didn’t like. I didn’t find the opening to be catching, but it was so short that it was easy to push through. I do not enjoy “pet play” and I do not enjoy slaps to the face between my main characters. Degradation is not something I enjoy, even if you sprinkle some praise after it. I hated that the Hero didn’t take care of our Heroine when she hurt her ankle. In fact, he even says that he can tell it’s hurting her and that he should be kinder to her for it…yet he doesn’t. That irritated the piss outta me. If you know you should be better, then be better. Instead, he punishes her for something out of her control. I feel like it moved through certain things too fast just because she was trying to fit so many ideas into one book: introductions, shower, game room, pool, shower, club, home, more…
Regardless of all of those things, I still enjoyed the overall story. I loved the ‘good girl’s and the chemistry and being in the guy’s head instead of the girl’s. I enjoyed the playfulness of a lot of it. The sexy scenes were tingle-inducing which I feel like was the whole point.
Book #1 in the One Night Series | 90 Pages | Trope Challenge: Gamer Hero |
"Put me inside you, Princess," I demanded. “Ride my cock like the good little girl you are. And when I finally let you come, I want you to scream my name so loudly everyone in this fucking club hears you. Do you understand me?”
- Jack, Games We Play by Dana Isaly
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