Rules of the game:
1) Never underestimate your opponent
2) Avoid personal fouls
3) Score early and often
4) Play or get played
Coach Marcus Leon has always played by the rules…until he meets Addaline Grace, the seventeen-year-old senior transfer on his Oak Crest High water polo team. Addie changes all the rules, mostly because she doesn’t play any games. But as off limits as she is, the more Marcus discovers about Addie, the more he finds himself…and the more he questions whether Addie might just be worth risking everything for.
For Addie, water polo is anger management. She’s driven and focused because it keeps her mind off other things…like the fact she destroyed her family. Her game plan is to keep her head down and graduate so she can leave her father and the crappy town he dragged her to in her wake. But when what starts as friendly completion with Marcus turns into more than a game, Addie has to decide if she’s willing to face down her demons…and possibly ruin the man she may or may not be falling in love with in the process.
What happens when the only thing you need is the one thing you can’t have?
About the Author:
Mia Storm is a hopeless romantic who is always searching for her happy ending. Sometimes she’s forced to make one up. When that happens, she’s thrilled to be able to share those stories with her readers. She lives in California and spends much of her time in the sun with a book in one hand and a mug of black coffee in the other, or hiking the trails in Yosemite. Connect with her online at MiaStormAuthor.blogspot.com , on Twitter at @MiaStormAuthor, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiaStormAuthor
My 5 star review of Getting Played
My second book by Mia Storm, and I was not disappointed- now
a short disclaimer….
Are all books written the EXACT same way, same story line, and
same amount of steam- sexual tension, same amount of happiness or sadness? No.
I should damn well hope not, because WHY read?! Boy meets girl, they have a
relationship, they have ups, they have downs, in the end they remain together-
that old chestnut. And it totally happens a lot more than you think- but EVERY
story isn’t going to be like that and I am PERFECTLY happy with that. So while
this story isn’t as steamy as Getting Dirty, and its an older man with a younger
woman, this story is NOT Getting Dirty. And that makes me SO happy. Why? Because
why the hell would I want to re-read the same story over? No, it’s not as
steamy, not as “dirty,” but it is meaningful, it is profound, and it is very
well written- oh, and it’s got the man’s prospective DOWN PAT! On to my
review!!
I freaking love this series! I love forbidden books, and
this series is starting off fantastically. It centers on Blaire’s- from Getting
Dirty- brother Marcus. He is actually a little older than Blaire- and this book
happens after the epilogue of Getting Dirty. So we actually got to see more of
Caiden and Blaire, which was AWESOME, and a glimpse into the older brother. There
was also some loose end tie ups with Marcus’ friend when he was in a
relationship with Blaire that I thought was needed and was definitely spot on.
Marcus is the coach of the school’s water polo team- and he
just witnessed an event in Graffiti Park that he needs a break from, he goes to
his favorite bench- and finds it taken. By an incredible looking woman. It doesn’t
take the ladies’ man long to swoop in and strike up a conversation and he
basically asks her out- when to his sheer horror, he discovers he already has
met her, in his high school coaching job. Addie is on his team.
Addaline Grace is seventeen years old, and has transferred
for her senior year to Oak Crest High, and she has rules. One of the biggest is
to not stand out, to blend in as often as she can. She avoids friendships and
stays to herself. When one day, she sees her water polo coach coming over the
hill, and while he is dreamy- he is off limits.
Until he isn’t.
I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the plot and where Mia
took Addie and Marcus in their relationship. I enjoyed how he was protective
over her, that he looked out for her. And I also enjoyed how Addie was around
him. I loved the characterization that she put into the people in this story. I
definitely loved the crossover from getting dirty- obviously because I loved
the story so much. I loved the secondary characters. I liked how Addie’s father
evolved over the course of the story too, props for admitting there was a
problem and he set out upon fixing it. And I certainly enjoyed where the story
was heading- I can’t wait for more- and I hear Bran is getting his story next
which I am uber PUMPED about, he is a fab character and he deserves a little
jail bait of his own. Kudos Mia, I love your writing!! Please keep up the
fantastic work. I am counting down the books in the series because I can’t wait
to find out your alter ego!! It’s probably just as killer as this one!
EXCERPT
She glances down the hill in the direction I came from. “So, what’s going on down there, anyway? Someone’s birthday?”
My gaze follows hers. “My sister’s wedding reception.”
“In a public park?” she asks, her eyebrows raising in surprise.
I nod. “Graffiti Park is special. We spent a lot of time here as kids.”
“Graffiti Park? That’s really the name of this place?” she asks, looking around.
“I have no clue what the real name is. That’s just what we’ve always called it.” My thumb brushes over where Nate carved my name into the back of bench we’re sitting on at least ten years ago.
She squints toward the shelter below and shades her eyes from the last of the afternoon sun. “I don’t see a bride.”
I point to Blaire. “The one in the bright blue dress.”
“That sort of flies in the face of tradition, doesn’t it?” she asks, still watching.
“That’s my sister. She’s never cared much about social conventions. If you search YouTube for her valedictory graduation speech from Oak Crest High four years ago, you’ll see what I mean.”
Her eyes snap to mine, wide and curious, and her gaze knocks the wind out of me. “What did she say?”
“She basically told the whole world off. But that was because her now husband,” I say with a jut of my chin at the gathering below, “had just been arrested for statutory rape.”
Her eyes widen even more. “Oh my God!”
“She’s always insisted they were in love, and the age difference shouldn’t matter. It was her giant ‘fuck you’ to society.”
Her head cocks to the side as she watches the party below. “I like her already.” She turns back to me. “Won’t they miss you?”
I press myself against her shoulder. “I’m disturbing you?”
A sardonic smile ghosts over her features as she lifts the book. “I was in the middle of reading the thoughts of a dying giant bug-person and not thinking that was at all weird, so I’m obviously already very disturbed.”
I can’t stop staring, because she’s suddenly stunningly beautiful. Her eyes flash, looking momentarily more black then gray, and there’s a long, deep dimple in her right cheek, which is the only one I can see because of the angle of her head. I’m dying to know if there’s a matching one on the other side.
The smile fades under my scrutiny and when she drops her gaze to the book between us, a cascade of strawberry corkscrews hide her face. “Sorry. Stupid joke.”
“No!” Damn. A little too eager there, tiger. I work to lower my voice. “I mean, it wasn’t stupid. It was funny.”
I just forgot to laugh because your smile knocked me senseless for a sec.
She lifts a knee to her chest, hooking the heel of her sneaker on the edge of the bench. Her knee pokes through the long crosswise tear in her jeans. “It’s okay, my sense of humor’s pretty dry. Not too many people get me.”
“Your sense of humor is refreshing,” I say. “And as for people getting you, most people don’t pay enough attention to anyone but themselves to ‘get’ much of anything.”
“Marcus!”
I look down the hill at Deanna’s voice. She’s at the shelter waving her hands over her head to get my attention. There’s a sudden cramp in my stomach at the thought of her coming up here.
“Looks like you have to go.” I’d swear a catch a hint of disappointment in her tone.
“Looks like.” I stand and shove my hands into my pockets. “My name is Marcus, by the way.”
She smiles and something roguish flashes in her eyes. “I know.”
Fuck. I do know her. Everything felt so relaxed and comfortable between us. I hate that I might have just fucked that up. Before it gets totally awkward, I blurt, “I’d be up for maybe getting a burger at Sam Hill sometime, if you’re into that.”
She nods, but that wary glint is back in her eyes. “Yeah…sure.”
I fish my phone from my pocket. “Can I get your number?”
She reels it off and I type it in. “Girl who stole my bench,” I say with a cocky grin as I type it into contacts. I turn my amusement on her. “Or is there something else I should call you?”
He gives me a questioning tip of her head. “Addie.”
I know that name. Someone I went to high school with, maybe? My brain chugs harder trying to put the pieces together as I type it in. “Got it,” I say, holding up my phone. “I’ll give you a call.”
She squints at me. “Okay.”
I start backing down the path. “Enjoy my bench,” I say with a wink.
She lifts the book in a wave. “See you Monday, Coach.”
Suddenly I see her face under a navy blue swim cap with the Oak Crest Cougar on the side. The jolt of electric panic almost knocks my legs out from under me and I stumble, just catching myself before I go down.
Because she’s on my fucking team.
I ran tryouts Wednesday and Thursday. Practices just started yesterday. I’m still trying to get the new girls’ names. She said Addie, but my roster says Addaline, I think. All I can remember for sure is she’s a senior transfer and mostly keeps to herself.
“Fuck me,” I mutter, then hear myself. I hold up a hand. “I mean…” I trail off in a cringe. “Sorry for the language.” Because I’m not supposed to swear in front of a fucking student.
But fuck. My mind reels, replaying everything I said and did and trying to figure out how to backpedal out of this. “So, we’ll talk about a…team dinner…for bonding and whatever…at practice on Monday.”
Just shoot me now.
She tips her head and bites her lips, fighting a smile. “Sounds good, Coach.”
After what feels like a small eternity, I shake myself loose from her gaze and start down the hill without saying anything else. I can only dig myself deeper at this point. But the whole way, all I can think about is that, as shitty as my life is at the moment, it might have just gotten shittier.
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