Playground Games

De: Lily Morton

Narrado por: Joel Leslie

School trips are hell on the teachers.

Auguste Patterson’s happy place on a winter holiday would involve a seat by a fire, a good book, and alcohol. Which is why he’s horrified when the headmaster at the primary school where he teaches demands he accompany a group of young students to France on a skiing trip. Gus believes snow should always be viewed from inside a warm building and never encountered while flailing on skis.

The holiday’s single perk is also the one reason Gus has for liking sports—the school’s PE teacher, Doug Henshaw. Doug is Gus’s secret crush, and sharing a room at the ski chalet with him almost makes managing forty school children bearable. But Gus doesn’t stand a chance with Doug. A handsome, funny ex-professional football player would never fall for a hopelessly unathletic language teacher. Would he?

Playground Games is a 25K word novella that first appeared in a promotional giveaway. No new content has been added.

©2021 Lily Morton (P)2026 Lily Morton

A Delightfully Entertaining Story & Listen🎧

Lilly Morton pens a delightfully entertaining novella, a fun holiday romance you can enjoy anytime of the year. A secret crush, opposites attract romance, two teachers who work together and are away on a school trip with their students. Auguste “Gus” Patterson, an adorable and quirky character you can not help but fall for, and Doug Henshaw, former professional football player now the P.E. teacher, and the one Gus crushes on. Gus’s mishaps were hilarious, and Doug turned out to be his rock while on their school trip. I enjoyed watching them get to know each other better and seeing their relationship morph into something so much more.

This sweet story flies by, and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook because Joel Leslie’s fabulous performance makes it even more enjoyable. He does an amazing job voicing the characters and delivering a perfect portrayal of each. His accents for the characters are always spot on, and his expressive performance conveys all the characters’ emotions, making you feel each one. Joel Leslie is an entertaining storyteller, and his captivating performance keeps you glued to the story.

This novella is a delight!

I loved Gus and Doug when I first read it back when it first came out. Now, Joel Leslie narrating it gave it that something extra special that turned the story into a proper delight! Not that our Gus needs anything to add to his fabulous self!
I adored how they both turn into babbling fools when they are near each other, and yet neither of them realise, or even consider, that the other may fancy him too.

Quick & Cute

I absolutely loved listening to the audiobook for this. Joel Leslie brought so much life to characters as he always does and the story was so much fun. I liked Auguste and Doug for each other.

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion

“Oh, God. He’s going to make me do something I’m patently not suited to again, isn’t he?”

I remember reading this story several years back when I became a newsletter subscriber and now it's been brought to life in audio. This was a quick fun listen at 2 hours and 46 minutes. As always Joel Leslie did a fantastic job with the narration.

I love Gus, he's a dorky snarky loveable character that carries the entire story. Lily Morton has a way with snark like no other.

This was also my first introduction to Charlie, from Charlie Sunshine, book 2 in the Close Proximity series.

Athletic/non-athletic, unrequited crushes on both sides, Gus has no business being a chaperone at a ski resort, anything sports related is a big old nope for Gus, vomit and shot-puts should both be avoided

Cute short story

Very short story about two teachers with secret crushes on each other. Loved the skii resort setting