Played

By: Naima Simone

Narrated by: La'Rey Aris, Sean Bassett

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

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.

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

I could not stop!!!!

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.

Played

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.

Loved it

I really enjoyed this story, showing forgiveness, hope and love in black people is amazing. The story was lovable, relatable and hot!

Slow Burn 🔥

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

An amazing read!

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.

Second chance romance

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

Great performances that made me fall

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.

Grief can take hold and never let you go

This book has all the feelings. There were moments when I could feel the MFC’s pain. And by the next sentence I was laughing so hard until I was crying. This is a great story.

Yes!!!

I absolutely loved this book. I was drawn in from the beginning and didn't want to put it down. Adina and Solomon were supernova hot together. The narrators brought this book to life. I wasn't ready for their story to end and want more.

Loved all the characters

Sports
Single dad
Widower
Firefighter MFC
Enemies to lovers
Grumpy MMC



Adina - working in a make dominated field is hard enough as a black woman but when your father and brother were working stationed in the same house, it didn’t make it easier. When she lost her fiancée to a fire, her job was what kept her going. She was at a standstill in her grief until she found a journal of another person’s story of grief.
She personally returned the journal but instead of being grateful, the owner was rude and offensive.

Solomon Young - widowed NFL player with a young son and in laws that like to cross boundaries. He has a hard time expressing his feelings so, the journal was his way of letting things out. When he realized Adrian read his journal, he did not react well. After two years he is still struggling with his loss.

As the story continues and Adina and Solomon grew closer they had to deal with the guilt of moving on and the fear of getting hurt again. I loved the realness of their feelings. They didn’t just jump in, even though the chemistry was smoking. Not only do they have to struggle through their own emotions, but there are others who try to get in their way.

Both characters were great. They both made some bad decisions that caused unnecessary hurt. Solomon let Adina down more than once. She held her own with him and cut him loose when it got to be too much. She felt like she had to handle things on her own. She had a great support system but didn’t use it. Her job situation almost caused her to lose her life.

And the side characters were great. They added a bit of lighthearted humor. Solomon’s son was adorable. Everyone needs a friend like Monie!!!