The Wrong Game

By: Kandi Steiner

Narrated by: Nelson Hobbs, Virginia Rose

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Two season tickets. One genius idea. Zero interest in a relationship.   

The plan is simple: a brand-new, hot, preferably funny, definitely single male will fill one of those seats for every Bears game at Soldier Field. And I'll fill the other.    

I can't think of a better way to use the season passes I'd bought for my ex-husband. I am a woman of plans, and this one's foolproof. Until Zach Bowen offers to be my practice round.    

He's infuriating. Presumptuous and overbearing. And absolutely, undeniably gorgeous. Any woman with a heartbeat would be attracted to him, and mine picks up speed every time he speaks. But as I said, I'm a woman of plans - and I'm not backing down on this one.    

One night. One game. And then, his time's up. He can try to change the rules, but here's the truth: He can't win if he's playing the wrong game.  

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Kandi Steiner (P)2019 Tantor

Absolute torture

Spoiler review
.
.
.
.
.
I don’t give one star reviews like ever. But this was bad. And I mean REALLY bad. Cheating trope, cancer trope, and dead husband trope??? Gemma is an AWFUL FMC. Like I get that your husband told her he was dying of cancer the same day you were going to confront him for his infidelity and you ended up staying with him until he died a month later and his girlfriend was in the back row of the funeral crying harder than you were but instead of you know GOING TO THERAPY you decide that being a trash human to a genuinely good guy is the better idea.

The Wrong FMC

Okay I want to start by saying that I have thus far enjoyed every book I’ve listened to from Kandi. I love her writing and the reasons I don’t like this book are particular for my own personal preferences. I definitely don’t think this is a bad book it’s just the wrong book for me.

Now that I got that out of the way, my issues with this book stem entirely from the FMC, Gemma. Gemma was planning to divorce her husband as she found out about his infidelity and before she can he announces he has terminal cancer. She decides to honor her vows and stays with him through his final days. But after that heartbreak she decides that she’s closing her heart for good now.

Before her husband's death she brought season tickets to the Bears. Her BF hatches a plan for her to take a new guy to every home game, protecting her heart but also letting her have fun. The bartender overhears her plans and volunteers to be her practice date.

Zach doesn’t know what it is about Gemma, but he wants more than one practice date and despite her dropping him like it’s hot after the first night he’s not giving her up without a fight no matter how many times she hurts him.

Gemma is everything I dislike in a female main character. She’s selfish, childish, neurotic to the point of being annoying, and a very poor communicator. People get hurt. That’s life. Most people pick up the pieces and carry on. Not Gemma though. She decides to internalize her only hardship in life and wear it like armor against ever having joy again. She continually hurts those around her without thought for their feelings especially Zach. All this could have been forgivable with character growth, but she stays that way pretty much until the very end of the book.

Zach is the only thing that kept me invested in this book. There’s definitely an instalove vibe from his end but he’s essentially the perfect book boyfriend. He’s stubborn, determined, loyal and creative as he tried to show Gemma that he’s the one for her. I honestly from the bottom of my heart believe he could do better but maybe that’s because I’m jealous 😂

As I said before I do not think this is a bad book, but it just didn’t jive with my personal preferences so if you’re like me and you’re team strong FMC I don’t think you’ll enjoy this one.

I am excited to read Belle’s book whoever because she is giving me the vibes I live for.

Cute and funny!

Love it when a book is everything you want and need it to be. Great listen!!!

I need more!

This book was amazing!! I binged it and couldn’t get enough. Definitely reading more of Kandi Steiners books!

Beautiful and Passionate Listen - Loved it!

I absolutely loved this story. Kandi Steiner has done it again with a beautiful story of Second Chances and self discovery. This story stole my heart and had me rooting for a happily ever after.
I listened to this on audiobook and Nelson Hobbs was fantastic in his portrayal of Zach, she couldn’t have picked a better person to play this part. And Virginia Rose was the perfect compliment.
A must listen!!!

Loved it!

I thought the story was very original and it really kept me attention throughout. Another great read/listen by this author.

Cute story

This was a cute listen. Not quite as captivating as some authors I have read, but the storyline was cute and kept me engaged for this one!

Overhyped Book: Save the Credit

Even excellent narrators couldn’t save this story. I bought the book & audio because of all the rave reviews, which must have come from bloggers. The blurb is absolutely misleading! I won’t spoil it but know that the lead female’s situation is not as described and could cause triggers if you’ve been in a similar situation. The male lead was a saint. Too much time was spent rehashing her issues. We get it, we got it, yes, we definitely got it - what? No, we know, no need to repeat — here it is again.

An intriguing sports romance about 2 broken people finding each other! An easy listen and read!

SO GOOD!!! A new favorite sports romance! I will easily reread and relisten to this one over and over! The storyline of this book was so well written and incredible! I easily fell in love with Gemma and her heart breaking back story while I was also swooning over the hot bartender, Zack. The chase of this book kept me easily reading page after page! It’s about 2 broken people finding each other and so so phenomenal!

The storyline starts when Gemma is about to confront her husband on his cheating but he decides to speak first and tell her he has terminal cancer. She decides to keep it to herself and stays with him till his death. Months after his passing she is trying to move on and is at the bar with her best friend. She has these season tickets the Bears football team that she got for her husband before she knew about his cheating and cancer. Her and her friend come up with a plan to use each game to date a new guy. The bartender, Zack, overhears her plan for the tickets and the story begins….

Zack: “Under that smile, under those eyes, she had a story. And I wanted to read it.”

The narration is such an easy listen! Their voices match the characters perfectly as they effortlessly articulated the tone of the story! I will be listening to this audible over and over!

LOVE

First time to listen to an audiobook and I enjoyed every second of it!! I was so so sad when it ended and I wanted more!

Nice book

Bit slow to start took some chapters to get into the book but nice easy listening and a good ending

Love!

I really really love this story. This is my first encounter with this author and I hope they will be be many more!

sweet sports romance with a little angst

3.5⭐️ it was really cute, loved gemma & zack and the angsty aspect of it but wasn’t as gripped as i was with kandi’s other book, the concept was fun though of how they met and they were really sweet together.

tropes: sports romance, angsty, dislike/hate to love, romcom-y.

chick flick in a book, l

likeable characters, deals with some issues, good sense of humor, easily absorbed into the story

poor ending ruined the story

I was along for the ride the whole wat through despite the numerous bad decisions the female lead was making. right until the end when the male lead made the most preposterous proposal considering the "trauma" the female had been dealing with.

with 3ish mins left I stopped listening.