Plays Well with Others

De: Lauren Blakely

Narrado por: Teddy Hamilton, Erin Mallon

Am I fake dating my best friend? Hear me out....

So I'm throwing myself a breakup party, a glittery fete where I envision I'll lift a glass and celebrate being free and single again. What I actually do: drink too much champagne and blurt out to my best guy friend that I'd really like to get back on the horse. But what I truly don't expect is Carter's answer—he volunteers as tribute.

With his sinful brown eyes and too-good-to-be-true body, it'd be no hardship for me to say yes, though I certainly don't want him to feel obligated to, um, service me, just because my failed, loveless marriage was an s-e-x desert.

But since the charming and confident pro football star owes five public dates to his dating-app sponsor, we make a deal to help each other out. Pretty soon, our public how-to-date lessons turn into, ahem, very private ones. And I'm a star student, graduating quickly from flirty banter and lingering looks to toe-curling, sheet-grabbing, mind-blowing hours of physical education.

The problem? Turns out learning to date again feels a lot like the real thing. Can our friendship withstand all these late-night bedroom sessions? Especially since I'm suddenly longing for my best friend, and there's nothing fake about my feelings...

©2023 Lauren Blakely Books (P)2025 Lauren Blakely Books

Plays Well With Others

I loved Rachel & Carter! Lauren you have done it again! The characters you create are so hard not to love. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, your readers! ❤❤

Steamy, flirty and fun friends to lovers!

A steamy friends to lovers romance written by Lauren Blakey that hits all the right spots. “Plays Well with Others” is a fun, steamy and a flirty delight that I could not stop listening to as Carter and Rachel realized how perfect they were for each other.

I loved Rachel and Carter and they were so much fun to listen to. Their friendship was so genuine and I loved how it progressed from friends to lovers. It was the perfect flirty pace and never felt rushed or fake. I was laughing one moment and swoony the next. They had great banter and I could totally be friends with them in real life. I love that Rachel was a business owner and took the chance of expanding her business after her divorce. Carter is so genuine, fun and will do anything for Rachel. The steamy scenes were so good and the dates that they went on were so sweet and perfect. The ADHD rep in the story was so well written and respectful to those that have it and were always told it wasn’t real. Rachel and Carter’s story was so great and I can’t wait to listen to it again.

Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton were so perfect as Rachel and Carter. Erin brought all of Rachel’s spunkiness and genuine personality to life perfectly. I loved Teddy as Carter who brought all of this loyalty and sweetness to life. Erin and Teddy are two of my favorite narrator combos and I know I’m in for amazing narration with both of them.

Loved it

Best kind of love story. They form a relationship early on in the book without tormenting angst, so you can enjoy the book. There was a little redundancy of the does he/she or doesn’t he/she feel the same toward the end but tolerable.
I liked that the story didn’t focus on Carter being a football player and he’s not the same old “manwhore” storyline. He was sweet, lovable, romantic and hot… good amount of spice.

Performance was perfection. Mallon and Hamilton can do no wrong and did a phenomenal job being in the story to life.

Read it!!!

It’s Dual Narration. It is beautifully told & it’s spicy. If you love, best friends to lovers. If you love HEA. If you love Spicy!!! You will love this book.

Drove Me Crazy

Lauren’s stories definitely take on a life of their own. Rachel and Carter absolutely drove me crazy. Every character in the story around them could see that they loved each other but neither could admit it.

A must read!

I just love the characters of Rachel and Carter. Funny, heartfelt and swoon worthy. Excellent narration. Thank you for another fabulous book Lauren!

Friend Zone

This is a super steamy romance. Carter and Rachel have the dirty talking down to a science. The narrators do a fabulous job.

ummm Wow 🌶

So, i wasn't really expecting how spicy this book actually was. It's sweet, and a good listen for sure. And of course, Teddy's and Erin always knock it out of the park with the narration. But, the story was honestly great. It was sweet, and just different enough to feel like a "new" FTL story. But again.... the amount of 🌶🌶🌶 3.5 chillies out of 5. LOL

Carter is a dirty talking teddy bear! Love him!

When Rachel returns home after a very tough breakup with her cheating husband, she heads back home to be near her friends and family. Her best friend Carter, a professional football player, gives her all the support and silliness she needs. And her girlfriends are also wonderful. When Carter has to fulfill his obligation of documenting his dates with a team sponsor who manages a dating app—even though his girlfriend dumped him before the dates were completed—he and Rachel have the great idea to help each other out. He can honor his date mandates, and she can get her confidence back and ready herself for dating after her divorce. Yes, they’re best friends, but what they don’t expect is for the dates to go as well as they are. The dates expand to a limited time friends-with-benefits situation. Quietly, they admit (only to themselves) to feeling certain things about each other. But it doesn’t mean anything, and their friendship is more important than a one-sided crush on their best friend.

Even though you already know the ending, I love how Lauren Blakely takes you on this wonderful journey of a strong friendship evolving into more. The chemistry between Carter and Rachel was off the charts. Carter has quite the dirty tongue, and I loved every minute of it. After both of them dealing with their breakups separately, it definitely affected how they wanted their next relationship to be. Because there was already so much love and respect for each other, Carter and Rachel made the best lovers, then something much more.

In her books, Lauren sometimes drops something about a character that is something people are dealing with in their own lives, sometimes quietly, sometimes not. Even though it’s important to the character, you aren’t given a heavy topic to deal with in addition to the couple finding their way to an HEA, but enough that people recognize what’s being discussed. No spoilers on it, but I really admired how it was handled and seamlessly woven into the tale.

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and Lauren doesn’t disappoint. Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon did a wonderful job narrating, and they make a great duo.

Carter and Rachel

𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬, 𝙨𝙚𝙭𝙮 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙜𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬. 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 is the second book in the How to Date series by Lauren Blakely, which is Carter and Rachel's story.

Carter and Rachel are best friends and are both done with dating after some bad luck. So when Carter needs to fulfil a contract obligation about dating, he asks Rachel to help him. A few nude accidents and a few confessions later, Carter and Rachel move out of the friend zone into more, and as the dates start to dwindle, Carter needs to figure out how to keep Rachel as more than a friend.

Carter and Rachel are fun, flirty and smoking hot together, making me wish I could have what they have with each other. I loved how they moved from best friends to lovers so seamlessly that it never became awkward between them. I always love getting glimpses of other characters as it gives mini updates about them.

Audio... Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon do a great job bringing the characters and story to life.

Get ready for...

🏈 Sports (Football)
🩷 Best Friends
🏈 He Falls First
🩷 Fake Dating
🏈 Cinnamon Roll Hero
🩷 First-Person, Dual POV

Content... Disability (ADHD)

4 Maple Leafs | 4 Flames