Played by Naima Simone-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 3, 2024

Being a firefighter isn’t easy. Especially for a Black woman. Working with family helps a little. But when somebody from your company doesn’t come back from a call, it’s brutal—as in, “How’m I supposed to go on?” brutal.

And one death took me to a really dark place.

A year later, I’m at the Pirates’ hockey training facility. Just another day on the job. Until I find a charred journal. I look inside for the owner’s name, but the words on the page punch me in the gut. It’s like reading my own thoughts. Reliving my own pain.

The journal belongs to Solomon Young, left-winger for the Pirates—a father and widower. When I return it, I’m racked with guilt for the invasion of privacy. The look Solomon gives me is cold as ice.

But damn if that man isn’t hot as hell.

Now he’s stuck in my brain. And fate seems intent on making us face off.

••••••

REVIEW:PLAYED by Naima Simone is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, POC, erotic, hockey / firefighter romance focusing on thirty year old professional hockey player and single dad Solomon Young, and firefighter Adina Wright’s story line.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Adina and Solomon) PLAYED follows the building but reluctant romance and relationship between our story couple. Solomon Young has loved and lost, and struggles to move forward especially when he is has become co-dependant upon his in-laws for support in the wake of his wife’s death but his father is the team owner, and Solomon is about to cross a line as far as his former in-laws are concerned, a line that involves our story line heroine. Adina Wright is a firefighter, as are most of her family and siblings but Adina has also loved and lost knowing the pain of which Solomon continues to hide. A perceived act of betrayal threatens any hope of friendships, pushing Adina to the side, until a young boy discovers there is more to life than waiting on the sidelines for his father to come home. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between our story line couple, and the potential fall-out as emotions get the best of everyone including our story line hero.

The world building follows several paths. Adina is struggling with harassment at work: Solomon is battling his own guilt ; someone else is targeting our story line couple, and the fall-out is affecting Solomon’s play and his private life.

The relationship between Solomon and Adina begins acrimoniously as Solomon accuses Adina of a horrible betrayal. Not only does Adina feel threatened and abused but vengeance will come in many forms, threatening our heroine’s personal and work life. As Solomon and Adina begin to build the relationship, someone else give Solomon reason not to trust the woman with whom he is falling in love. The $ex scenes are provocative and impassioned.

The secondary and supporting characters include Solomon’s teammates, his son Khalil, as well as his in-laws Nate and Caroline; Adina’s siblings Malik, Malcolm, her mother professor Viviane Wright, her father Captain Nolan Wright; as well as her best friend Noni Crawford, and several other members of the Providence Firefighters squad including Matt and Jared. I hope the author has plans for several more stories.

PLAYED is a story of power and control, grief and guilt, family and friendships, relationships and love. The thought provoking premise is captivating and engaging; the romance is seductive but struggles with issues of trust and guilt; the characters are dynamic, determined and animated.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy