Title: Playing for Keeps
Series: Glasgow Lads, #2
Author: Avery Cockburn
Genre: Contemporary/Sports
Length: Novel (327 pages)
Publisher: Avery Cockburn (17 June 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts
Blurb: Rule One: No Drama!
Fergus Taylor is damaged goods. Reeling from a brutal breakup, he’s determined to captain his LGBT soccer team out of scandal and into a winning season. For that, he needs strict rules and careful plans. He does NOT need a brash, muscle-bound lad messing with his head and setting his body afire.
John Burns has a rule of his own: Don’t get attached. Boyfriends are for guys with nothing to hide. Nobody—not his university mates, not the men he beds—knows his family’s shame. Now his double life is starting to unravel, thanks to a certain Highlander whose storm-riddled eyes turn John inside out, who wears a kilt like he was born in it.
Fergus is the first man John wants to share his secret with—but he’s the last man who could handle it. John knows the truth would shatter Fergus’s still-fragile heart. But how can he live a lie when he’s falling in love?
Note: The Glasgow Lads series contains dirty talk with a Scottish accent, naughty bits of a gay nature, and characters who call soccer “football.”
Approximately 95,000 words/325 pages
– Play On (novella), May 2015
– Playing for Keeps, June 2015
– Playing to Win, September 18, 2015
– Play It Safe (short story), November 2015
– Playing with Fire, January 2016
ASIN: B00ZY6REAY
Product Link: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Keeps-Glasgow-Lads-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZY6REAY
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is my first book I’ve read by Avery Cockburn and OMG, I loved it. Playing for Keeps is the first book of the Glasgow Lads series. It is actually shown on Goodreads as book 1 but there is a prequel, as it is though Playing for Keeps can be read as a standalone book.
Okay, I’m going to admit bias on my part. I love a Scotsman, I love reading the Scottish brogue – Highlander or Lowlander, I won’t discriminate. And like many readers/viewers of Outlander, I am suffering a severe lack of Jamie Fraser so anything Scottish is appealing to me.
Onto the actual story, the Glasgow Lads series follows a LGBT friendly soccer club (obviously) in Glasgow which means that it is an almost entirely gay/lesbian/trans team which is playing in just a normal soccer league. I like this because it seems to be a greater celebration of diversity than basing the stories in a purely LGBT league. It’s just guys, for the most part, being guys and having fun.
The team captain is Fergus. He’s only new to position and he’s intent on the team winning. After a horrible breakup he’s channelling all his energy into the team and an upcoming charity match. This is how he meets John Burns (though I kept thinking of the poet Robert Burns the entire time!). John is at university and works with a local charity that aims for equality. It’s John that is going to help the club organise their charity event. But John doesn’t want a boyfriend despite being attracted to Fergus because he has many dark secrets.
If that was just the entire plot, the story would be very different to what it really is. This is because John’s secrets are not entirely simple. Not only do we get a wonderful story of John and Fergus getting to know each other. Fergus has to do his own fair share of healing as the guys prepare for the charity match. Fergus is feisty but he is an absolute sweetheart, he seems to be the perfect counter balance to John’s more brash ways after you go past his secrets.
Fergus is the type of character that I think is absolutely adorable and yet I know that if he were real he would be pissed off to know.
However, it is John’s side of the story that is most intriguing. We get a bit of a basic guided tour of Scots nationalism and how proud the nation is. Certain parts of country are more proud of particular historical events, and then throw into this the savage rivalry between football teams.
For me it was fascinating to read since I had a vague knowledge of some of the historical events referenced – the continual fights between Protestants and Catholics (Papists) probably the most obvious.
I really loved this book and it should appeal to a number of different tastes. This is first and foremost a sport-based romance. Add into that anyone who, like me, loves just about anything Scottish. If you can’t read the Scots brogue, this would be a difficult read, there is a lot of dinna, aye, ye, ken, etc. that may prove a bit difficult for us sassenachs. Also people who have at least an interest in Scottish history will probably also like John’s part of the story, much like I did.
In short: I really, really, really, really, need to read the rest of this series.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *