Photo credits: AlexZel, Larisa Koshkina (pixabay) Edited by Vaishali Title: Playing Dirty Series: Ballers #1 Author: Mickey Miller Publisher: Self-published Year of Publication: 2016/2020 Format: E-book copy Genre/Themes: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Sports romance R E V I E W
Playing Dirty is my second book by Mickey Miller, and though it didn’t near the winsome quality of my first, as many a reader loves to say, I’m inclined to digress that it won’t be my last. My first foray was Five Day Fiance, which is the third volume in Miller’s Brewer Brothers series - I remember being taken in with unobstructed ease; curiosity struck beyond a passing once-over, I was cajoled by the cover, tantalised by the holiday destination, pleased by the premise and the story itself played with an elemental assortment of a few favourite tropes; colleagues-to-lovers, fake fiance role-play and love forged overseas. Alternatively, we have a slow-burn small-town girl meets bad boy city boy sports romance with Playing Dirty. The further I made my way into book, the more I started to reflect upon the publication status out of little more than just sheer curiosity. While I had a semi-good time between the pages, Playing Dirty certainly had the fresh, finding-my-feet debut feel in some respects as much as it didn't quite hit the same calibre as my one-and-only other Mickey Miller romance. My hunch was validated upon a quick search when I realised that this book was not only released a handful of years apart from Five Day Fiance, but that it is in actual fact Miller's first romance release. Debut accounted for, I think Miller actually exacts a solid, if not wholly faultless, sports romance. There's a plethora of available debut material in the wild that doesn't quite perform to this standard so firstly, I dip my head to the author for this feat - the endeavour is perceptible. And secondly, drawbacks in tow, the slow-burn consistency was very thoughtful. We have a bold-on-the-field, shameless-off-the-field pro-baller in Jake Napleton. He's got a fan base as large as his star-studded athletic prowess, a profitable arm and a victorious balling record that compensates for his lack of propriety on and beyond the field. The league sees him as a misbehaving, below-the-belt sportsman who’s more adolescent than adult. Jake doesn’t see the error of his ways, but more than that he doesn’t believe there’s any damage to control. A few weeks into her first job and Andrea talks herself into taking on a big project, big as in pro-athlete big. As notoriously dismissive and evasive Jake is known to be with image-fixers, Andrea hadn’t anticipated how much of a challenge it would be to engage with someone who really doesn’t want to be engaged with beyond a passing distraction. Or what a conflict of interest it would be to act beyond pure professionalism. With an underhanded boss breathing over her shoulder, a controlling parent who reduces her to a mother-pleaser and a hot-tempered, cocksure man child who’s both a worry and a wonder, Andrea at least has a new friendship and a new life to wear in. The author kneads into themes such as media misrepresentation, command of social media and deprived, disadvantaged communities which gives this book some weight. Jake’s backstory reflects a history of threat, abandonment and slim pickings growing up in the poorer, self-fulfilling ends of Chicago - making choices to survive the menace - which reinforces who he now is. And that’s a man who’s headstrong but inflexible and bends for no one but his trusted. If there’s anything I can say about Jake, he’s the antithetical opposite to a pushover and liberally sticks to his guns. But there’s still a strong affection for the city that made him. Perhaps I’m peaking too early in sensing a theme with Miller’s heroes but cocky, presumptuous and boisterous Jake would make an excellent ‘bro’ to Five Day Fiance’s Jocko - I think all his heroes might be young at heart, cavalier in spirit and utterly laddish with heart beyond the bluster. The author creates well-defined character profiles for his leading personalities, even if Jake’s characterisation was stronger (and perhaps more prioritised) than Andrea’s. While I favoured Jake for not walking in the same resistant-to-the-heroine shoes overindulged by heroes prone to the pathological leanings of anti-love, small-town Andrea certainly holds her own against him, measured though she is. She was reserved, smart and judicious - perhaps the consummate middle child she’s said to be. Definitely trigger shy, worried that her new life might amount to a short stint that’s over before it really begins. This was a big independent move for her and I hoped that she’d step into the newness of it more than she actually did. Taking her repressed background into consideration, there’s opportunity aplenty for her to settle into her own arc but I felt as if was waiting for bold moves which never quite came from her. If there’s any motif that signals the warning toll for me, it’s the celibate/promiscuous trope. It’s something I evade with sizeable artistry because it doesn’t work for me without true character agency. Power play between two protagonists is such a powerful thing; an exciting, thrilling stand-off that pays off like true poetry when executed with equal footing and counterweighted by each MC’s ability to give and take like a contemporary dance duo, where one taunts as the other takes the challenge, one spotlights as the other supports, ebbing and flowing with dramatic synchronicity, until both twine into an endless waltz of power, force, frisson and surrender. If the power is pulled against and pushed back by only one MC, what you have is one who dominates and one who is dominated against, pulled by the strings of their maestro. And this is usually the case when a protagonist is characterised as a virgin. Authors forget to give them agency. The heroine’s celibacy is usually used as a device to entice her hero with the purity myth; ‘she’s fresh, she’s new, she’s unused, she'll be my prize and I want her’. The heroine’s modesty and virtue exploited as something of a trophy which she’ll play into with doe-eyed timidity, forced into the role of victim, and thereafter ensues a succession of excessive victimisation. It’s usually represented in a way where misogyny backs female volition snugly into a dark corner. I naturally struggle with the extremity in one who is too experienced versus one who is inexperienced so I held back from reading this because I knew it toyed with a characteristic that triggers my flight complex. I took a gamble though, and surprisingly enough, I felt comfortable with the way the trope is covered by Miller. Andrea makes decisions based on her preference and Jake takes it in stride without treating her as an experimental anomoly for her choices. Playing Dirty is a very slow-burn, slow-paced romance with slow developments and I did struggle with the imbalance of abundant inner-speech to actual dialogue and activity, which does give way to some repetition. Something that feels a lot like biting into a huge chunk of bread when you’re hungrier for the filling. There is some side drama in the form of an evil ex, and some parts of the story did feel a little drawn out and naive. In terms of the professional image-fixing angle, it takes a long while to see this through (until the near-end) because our impulsive hero ignores the possibility of accepting that even a few things can be righted. But all in all, I liked this book as one would enjoy a snack in between meals - it wasn’t quite the main even but it carried me through a few hungry snack sessional bouts. While this book wasn’t in the realm of reverential romance and I wasn’t bewitched by a pull to pick this up when I had a new day of reading to look forward to, as mentioned, Playing Dirty was still a considerably likeable, if not a lovable romance read. Not saccharine, not impersonal, but Mickey Miller manages to deliver the sentiment, the heat and the story. As I refocus on our main couple, Jake and Andrea’s chemistry was high-heat and as natural as the author’s delivery. A suspension and various warnings later and this tough, tatted and fiery sportsman still manages to be a menace to his own reputation. But a few lessons are to be taught when Andrea sees more of the misunderstood good guy in the bad boy, beyond his dazzling career and heedless reputation. The question to really ask is is the person really the persona? It’s not the best statistic when one can only recall a grand total of two male romance writers out of a swarming infinity of their female counterparts, but in a genre where female writers dominate the calling craft and lay a comitted claim to reader intrigue, Mickey Miller is the one male author that reflexively comes to mind when I think about worth-your-while contemporary romance novelists. He supplies with a great getaway between the pages, and I’d openly, honestly love see a stronger visibility of ‘the male creator’ in this generous, grand-for-all genre. I gave this book 3 stars -C O N T E N T W A R N I N G: Swearing, violence, a few descriptive bedroom scenes. References gang violence, child abuse and domestic violence. --------------------------------------- M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- _________________________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● Book Review: 'Five Day Fiance' by Mickey Miller' _________________________________________________ E X T R A T H O U G H T S 1) I won't lie, the smutty epilogue was fun and I think I enjoyed that office smut scene better than any other sex scene in the book, but the epilogue itself doesn't really accomplish anything except how wonderfully indecent these two can be. Again, no complaints but it seemed a bit pointless to offer the smut without highlighting some future developments alongside it. 2) In a few closing chapters, the author uses the reference of ‘eyes being the windows to the soul’ a few too many times. 3) I noticed that Jake uses Andrea’s name a lot, even when it's suitably appropriate to use ‘her’ as a pronoun. 4) Also, there’s a continuity error in that scene when Jake goes to Andrea’s apartment. He’s said to be walking out of her bedroom and she follows him, but then she’s being pressed up against her dresser (which I’d assume would be in her bedroom not her living room). 5) I would have loved for Jake’s sister and Andrea’s brothers to have made some on-page appearances. We only hear about them, and with the exception of one phone call Jake has with his sister, their respective families don’t play a major part - except for Andrea’s controlling meddling mum, that is. 6) I know that Jake’s supposed to be misrepresented in the media but there’s some dissonance in his characterisation. He’s thought to be a womaniser by the wider public but he confesses to Andrea that while he’s had a fair share of bedmates, he never wanted to be the womaniser that his dad was, which lets us assume that he didn’t immaculately follow in his father’s footsteps. He gives the ‘appearances can be deceiving’ talk but then it’s implied that he has womanised so there’s some conflict in that portrayal, and it’s not easy to deduce whether it’s an either/or situation. On the flips side, I also found Andrea’s choice to head home after everything comes to a head to be a strange choice when she’s supposed to be building this new (independent) life for herself. 7) So, i think a meet-nude might be my favourite thing of the moment...and while i did enjoy it, i have to admit that the first conversation between our hero and heroince was a tad cringeworthy on Jake's part. With boisterous heroes comes the sometimes-adolescent dialogue and it can be a bit off-putting. I love interacting with fellow readers, reviewers, bloggers and writers. Hearing about reader opinion is the fuel to my reader appetite, so get in touch and comment below! SHARE ON FACEBOOK Leave a comment and let's talk about |
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