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Played

By: Naima Simone
Narrated by: La'Rey Aris, Sean Bassett
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USA Today bestselling author Naima Simone heats up the page with intensity and wit in this romance between a pro hockey player and a firefighter, both struggling to move on from the past.

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.

©2024 by Naima Simone. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. African American Contemporary Sports Hockey

Critic reviews

“This touching, funny, sexy novel from Simone is a joy to read and is sure to be popular…” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Naima Simone stuns with this heartwarming romance about a woman firefighter and a hockey player. Solomon and Adina's romance is just the right mixture of humor, angst and heat. An exhilarating literacy experience.” —LJ Shen, Wall Street Journal bestselling author

“Unputdownable. I was either giggling and kicking my feet or feeling my heart squeeze at the poignancy. Maybe the best hockey book I’ve ever read.” —Kenya Goree-Bell, bestselling author
Passionate Romance • Strong Characters • Balanced Storytelling • Emotional Depth • Excellent Performances
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This was a really good story. It took a lot for me to stick with this book because it was an extremely slow burn. A lot of descriptions for the same thing. The narrators were very good.

Sloooowwww Burn!

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This was a slow burn but it made it so much better. The narration was excellent! They really encompassed the characters.

Slow Burn 🔥

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This whole book was well written, as serious as it got the way this writer perfectly balanced humor to this was top tier. The performance of the narrators was sooooo good! 100% will not be disappoint. The only thing I wish we had an epilogue or a bounce chapter of there future to have that happy ever after or a proper ending then what we were given but other than that this is a really well written, well preformed story.

An amazing read!

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I got more than I was expecting. This was a beautiful black love romance. It was depths to the characters. I was wanting more.

Beautiful 😻

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I loved the characters in this romance. Naima Simone never fails to write strong, slinky and witty women, and Adina and Noni kept me cackling throughout the book. But I really loved Solomon’s gruff and caustic delivery. He says it like it is, and I loved his dry delivery and witty comebacks. I enjoyed the banter between the characters and the loyalty between siblings and friends. I especially loved the way Naima addressed how grief can result in family members overstepping boundaries.

Along with very steamy and passionate scenes, we get to experience both Adina and Solomon’s growth and journey to self-love, romance and their HEA!!

Spunky and Smart

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Love love this storyline. Well written and executed. This definitely gives hope to love. And love the characters didn’t have ordinary careers.

Second chance romance

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October is coming in hot with all the delicious single dad romances I've been devouring.
Played by Naima Simone is a standalone, single dad, enemies(ish) to lovers, Black love, hockey romance and it brings the dang spice!
Adina is a firefighter. But not just any firefighter. She's a Black woman in a man's world. But she loves what she does and knows she deserves her seat at the table. When she is on a job and discovers a journal in the aftermath of a hockey arena fire, she can't help but read it, only to be consumed by the emotional thoughts written within its pages. She knows she must find the owner of the journal, but finds out it belongs to a hockey player that has lost love. When she goes to return it to the arena, Solomon (said owner of the journal) is immediately unkind to Adina and says some pretty hurtful things to her thinking the absolutely worst of her intentions. And this was only the beginning of his grumpy self coming to some pretty harsh conclusions that were so far from the truth. But both of these characters had pasts and they come out to play throughout the story.

First of all, I have to say that I liked Adina right away. I wasn't sure what her story was, but I liked seeing a woman that can succeed in a male dominated field. She had a good family and a good friend that really supported her. But Solomon? He was a whole other story. I knew he had lost his wife and that played into his character and his actions, but it gave him no right to treat Adina the way he did initially. Luckily, he saw the light thanks to his son. I loved how he interacted and connected with his son, but I felt some sort of way for him and his relationship he had with his in-laws. They seemed to control his life in ways that he wasn't even aware of. You could feel his inner battle and I liked how that came across when we heard his POV. His words and thoughts differed and you could feel him battling his feelings that he thought he shouldn't be. Because the way he thought about Adina was absolutely sinful (in the best way).

Played is told in dual POV and if you're an audiobook listener like myself, I would 100% recommend listening to this book. Both the narrators, La'Rey Aris and Sean Bassett were phenomenal. Sean's voice was like butter and had me swooning for Solomon, even when he was Mr Grumpy. And Adina's character had that slight New Englander accent that came through and really brought her character to life. They both gave off sexy vibes and I was here for it.

I loved the audio and I really enjoyed the journey these two characters went on to find themselves again. Even though Adina seemed to be strong, she still had something to contend with in the firehouse. And even though Solomon thought he had no room for love again, there was no doubt that he had chemistry with Adina. They had some hurdles to overcome and we got to see that as well as some sexy AF 'bedroom scenes' that leaves no room for interpretation that these two exploded in that area of their lives. The one thing I wanted more of? Adina and Solomon as an actual couple. We got the Happy For Now story, but I really needed a little more couple time.

All in all, this was an enjoyable listen with some good characters. It was light on hockey, but I was here for the relationship and two characters coming together after loss.

Great performances that made me fall

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OMG!!! The narrators are AWESOME!, especially the male narrator. His voice was panty dropping sexy!!!! Give me all the books he’s narrating !!! This book had me hooked from beginning to end. Do yourself a favor and LISTEN to this audio. It makes a huge difference, I promise!!!! It’s everything.

I could not stop!!!!

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I really enjoyed reading this author.  I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.

great read

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I really enjoyed Adina and Solomon’s story. I’m a fool for a good hockey romance and I loved that Adina was a bada** female firefighter. Both have lost their partners and while Solomon has played the field and isn’t looking for something serious, Adina is wondering if she’s ready to get back to dating. These types of books always make me think….what if? The author packed in a good balance of each of their personal lives and then getting to know each other. My only complaint was that I felt the ending was abrupt. I did flop back and forth between the book and audiobook. Overall the audiobook was performed well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the female narrator and how she accented certain words when it wasn’t written that way. Khalil absolutely stole the show.

Played

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