Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter

e-Audio, 07:51:23
Narrated by: Lacy Laurel
Release Date: July 11, 2023
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: July 12-14, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Spousal Abandonment, Grief
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, LGBTQ+, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Audio

      Jodie Slaughter’s latest rom-com, Play to Win , is a sizzling romance where a winning lottery ticket is meant to be a new start but instead becomes a second chance at love.   
     Miriam Butler’s life is going nowhere in the slowest, most excruciating way possible. Stuck in the same barely-paying job she’s had since she was sixteen and spending every night sleeping in the spare twin bed in her mother’s house, her existence might be hilarious if it wasn’t so bleak. One trip to her favorite corner store upends everything when she finds herself the winner of a Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot. Unfortunately, not even life-altering roses come without their painful thorns. Hers just so happen to be in the form of an estranged husband who has the right to claim his share of her money.
     It’s been eight years since Leo Vaughn has had a conversation with his wife. When she calls out of the blue, practically begging him to come back to Greenbelt, the last thing he expects her to tell him when he gets there is that she’s come into a whole heap of money. She offers him a life-changing proposition of his own. Take a lump sum, finally sign the divorce papers, and be done with her for good. Only, a forever without her is the last thing Leo wants. So he gives a proposition of his own. One that won’t cost her nearly as many millions, but will buy him the time to do the one thing he’s been hungry to do since he left — win her back.

*MY THOUGHTS*

When I saw there was a new Jodie Slaughter I knew I needed to get my hands on it. But AGAIN, this proves that I really need to read the synopsis before I request anything. Because if I had read it, I would have known this was going to give me the ick lol

The plot of this was interesting. She won the lotto and then we find out she has an estranged husband. One who also won the lotto because of her lol You see, because they were still married, once she won the lotto, whether he was around or not, if they were to get a divorce, it would be counted as community property. And let me just tell y’all the way I was plotting on this fictional dude who hadn’t even been introduced in the story yet lol I was mad at them for not just saying it was her mom’s. Like BFFR. You already buy them for your mom. Why not just say this was her ticket? Thankfully he SEEMED to be ok, but even still. I felt hella weird the whole time I was reading it because it just felt gross to me.

The romance would have been hella cute and hella spicy….. If it had been with someone else. Like I said, I just couldn’t get past him trying to get her to stay with him. Idk how to explain it. The scenes were hot enough for me to use the book to fan myself, and one of them still lives rent free in my head. But I still keep thinking about the weirdo behavior of the husband. I just really think she should have divorced him and let them find themselves back to each other organically if they were meant to be.

The writing style was still authentic to Slaughter, so I think that’s why I was able to overlook the weird stuff. I was hella mad at Miriam for a lot of reasons, but I just couldn’t stop reading. I just KNEW she was going to come to her senses. But alas. I just wanted her to be safe. And, I was really interested in the research she was doing to write this. Do all the states have different rules? Does she play the lotto? All the things lol

This was weird, but in a good way. The characters were weird, but it still had the signature charm that all Slaughter’s books do. It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I also liked the journey it took me on. I can’t wait for more of my people to read this so we can talk about what we might have done had the places been traded.

Overall, I give this