Product Description

In this follow up to The Name of the Game, Seth and Clay's friend Anthony decides to cater his happy friends' wedding. Problem is, he can't cook, so he signs on to take lessons, willing to do whatever it takes to help out. Anthony bumps into the most amazing man at cooking school, a guy named Roan, who seems more edible than anything on the menu during class. Roan thinks Anthony is quite a dish, too, and sets out to demolish Anthony's defenses, captivating and seducing. Happy to play around, Anthony allows himself to be seduced, but Roan starts to push for something more. Unsure that he wants to make such a commitment, Anthony backs away, but Roan has a reason to live life like there's no tomorrow, and he doesn't want to take no for an answer. Like a game of fire and ice, Anthony and Roan come together and split apart, trying to find a middle ground. Can they find a way to be as happy as Seth and Clay?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #974352 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

The sex is better in this volume, but I didn't like the characters as much
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 5/10

PROS:
- Continued snatches of Clay and Seth's story, which was told in The Name of the Game. There are some unexpected developments in their relationship, given where their story left off, but I still find the characters cute.
- Some of the sex scenes in this book are torturously slow and as a result, very hot. (Some are a little too exhibitionist for me, but hey, different strokes...)

CONS:
- The characters are realistic in that they're complex, but neither one is terribly likeable...not all the time, anyway. Roan is pushy and inconsiderate and seems to thrive on others' discomfort much of the time, and Anthony is so emotionally closed off (a quality that's never fully explained, by the way) that I admit to having skimmed a few of the scenes in which he ponders the harmfulness of long-term relationships.
- Roan falls for Anthony very quickly. Like, they meet and rub off together a couple of times, and Roan's already talking about the possibility of a commitment ceremony.
- The book toys with the idea of being borderline light BDSM ("The harder stuff is fun..."; "...padded handcuffs, silk blindfolds, and drippy candles would feel right at home"; "I know how much you want someone to take control..."; etc.), but in the end nothing ever comes of those hints/discussions. I'm not particularly into BDSM; I just felt that I was being set up for something that never happened.
- The writing is more jumpy in this than in The Name of the Game or Café Noctem, the only other stories I've read by Okati. There are comments throughout this book that seem to come from absolute left field.
- No condoms. And no "are you clean?" conversation either. I know books aren't reality, but the characters' decision to have unprotected sex without so much as a thought toward safety dropped my level of respect for them several notches.

Overall comments: I didn't hate this, but I didn't particularly like it either. I had to force my way through to the end and found myself wishing I could set it aside and start on another book, but I'm the sort of person who always wants to finish a book I start. There's a lot more sex in this volume than in the first one, so if you're looking for well-written erotica, you might like this.

It's How You Play the Game
Clay and Seth are about to celebrate their civil partnership, and to help out Anthony has offered to cater the party. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to cook! In order to fix that little problem, he signs up for a class called Coastal Cuisine. Once there, he meets sexy, outspoken Roan. Roan clearly wants Anthony, and he's all for it at first. Then Roan begins to want more. Can Anthony get past his issues, or will he lose Roan for good?

It's How You Play the Game follows The Name of the Game, and although it would stand alone quite well, I enjoyed finding out what happened with Seth and Clay after the first book ended. When I finished the first book, I was hoping Anthony would get a book. Anthony is quite a character, with his flighty, flirty nature, interesting fashion sense, and fear of commitment. I wasn't sure if I liked Roan at first. His force of nature personality and quick certainty of what he wanted bugged me at first. As the book progressed, though, he began to seem like just what Anthony needed. It's How You Play the Game is a very different book from The Name of the Game, but I still enjoyed it. The love scenes are incredibly hot, and there's a lot of emotion here. The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of Roan's point of view. Understanding where Roan was coming from would have deepened the story for me. That said, this was a well-written book with emotion, hot sex, and plenty of crazy Anthony-ness that made me smile.

Cassie
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Game Over


It's How You Play The Game is the follow up to Willa Okati's, The Name of the Game. In this standalone sequel Anthony, Clay's and Seth's best friend and confidante, has decided to cater their wedding. However, he can't cook worth a darn so he signs up for Coastal Cuisine for the Beginner and, in doing so, changes his life when he meets Roan at cooking school.

Roan is a lot of man in a compact package. He is brash, confident, charming, sex on a stick, the essence of cool, knows who he wants and that is Anthony, in a forever kind of way. But Anthony, afraid of commitment, is running scared.

The class turns out to be Erotic Cooking 101. Roan can't wait to start his campaign and seduces Anthony during the habanera pepper demonstration. The air between them is hotter than the peppers and you can almost see the sweat dripping and running down their bodies. This is quickly followed by another escapade in the back alley outside the building where Roan ravages Anthony because he is too impatient to wait until they get home.

This couple is funny, bawdy, rip roaring sexy as all get out, and hot enough to fry your hard drive or your brains. Roan in seduction mode is driven, hard to resist, and to Anthony he's like an adrenaline rush. Watching Anthony with all his eccentricities and flamboyance melt and fall in love with Roan is comical and Roan plays him like a fiddle. Roan is focused, with one goal in mind - having a permanent relationship with Anthony. But he has his work cut out for him. You really feel for him in his hot, single-minded pursuit and love for Anthony who you want to knock some sense into so that he would stop running and not lose the best man he will ever have. The story is so hilarious that I was laughing uncontrollably with tears running down my face.

It's How You Play The Game is even better than its predecessor which was a fabulous read. Willa Okati has outdone herself with Anthony and Roan. In addition to being funny and clever with dialogue that is airy and breezy, the book is also heartwarming and tender at times and is one of Willa's best. This one will grace any bookshelf with pride.