Book Review: Playing for Keeps
In her debut novel, Playing For Keeps, author Tristen Crone offers up a love story much like the the honey lemon twice-baked croissant at the heart of her characters meet-cute: fluffy and sweet, with a hint of zest and crunch to keep things interesting. Now that I’ve made myself hungry, let’s dive in.
The story follows Farren, a boardgame and tabletop game enthusiast and substitute teacher, and Sebastian, a man a little too married to his work. When the two get into it over the last of the aforementioned honey lemon twice-baked croissants, Farren proposes a deal: if Sebastian beats her at a board game, the croissant is his, if he loses, he has to come back to the café the next week for board game night with her friends.
After that the two fall into an easy friendship built on the back of mutual attraction, but what stops them from fully committing to giving this relationship a go is their respective personal baggage, giving us lots of that sweet, sweet angst. As well developed as that side of things is, I found myself wishing the book was just a touch longer, if that meant we could explore a bit more of their relationship as a pair, watching it grow and blossom. The story was there, it was clear what was going on, but I would have liked a little extra time just to linger in their world.
Really, the highlight of the novel is watching Farren and Sebastian work to overcome their individual damage, with the support of a caring - if occasionally misguided - partner. The two are stuck in that all-too-relatable late 20s/early 30s place of questioning why and how you ended up where you did, and considering how that makes you feel. It’s a scary enough place to be but luckily they aren’t there alone.
Playing For Keeps is out June 27, 2023. Special thank you to NetGalley and Lake Country Press for the advance copy for review purposes.
