Blog Tour Stop!! Review: Play With Me and Ryan Hunter- The Girl is Mine

Play With Me and 
Ryan Hunter- The Girl is Mine

by Piper Shelley

Genre: YA Romance

Two books, same story, different POVs

Play With Me Synopsis

 

Ryan Hunter's parties are legend.

And tonight she's going to be there.

Liza Matthews anticipates the return of her best friend and only love since kindergarten from soccer camp. But when Tony finally shows up, his mind is more focused on another girl. And worse, she's a soccer player. Fighting for the attention Liza craves, she's just a hairbreadth away from making a very stupid decision. But when extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, she's prepared to play ball to get her man.

The tryouts are hell, the first match ends bloody, and the morning after the selection party she wakes up in the worst place possible—in the arms of the captain of the soccer team. The hottest guy in school. Ryan Hunter.

Ryan Hunter- The Girl is Mine Synopsis

Ryan Hunter kissed more girls than he cares to remember. But the only one he ever wanted is in love with his best friend.

Watching Liza Matthews’ obsession with Tony Mitchell is a torture Ryan conceals from everyone. Until after a five-week soccer camp, where Tony gets involved with someone else, things suddenly take a different turn. Ryan knows if he doesn’t make a move now and grab his chance, he might never get another.

Asked by Tony to distract Liza, Ryan is only too happy. He subtly seduces her first into his soccer team and later on to his party. He does all in his power to make her see that he’s not just an insufferable playboy but a guy who really cares about her. Some one-on-one soccer training, a passionate kiss— things seem to be going the way he wants. Except Ryan didn’t reckon on his best friend showing up at the worst possible moment and destroying everything…

My Review

These are two novellas. I loved both POVs and seeing the different perspectives of the same story pretty much back to back was refreshing.

Liza is head over heels in love with her best friend pretty much since elementary school, Tony. They have been inseparable and everyone considers them a couple already. Everyone knows her feelings for her except the one person who she desperately wants to know. She has been waiting patiently for his 5 week summer soccer camp to end so she could tell him. Ryan Hunter, on the other hand, has been waiting for the last 5 weeks to finally pursue the one girl he has ever actually had genuine feelings for, Liza. What Liza doesn't realize is that while she has been pining away, Tony has been starting up with a female soccer player from camp, Cloey. Ryan, unsuccessfully, tries to warn his friend that she is the female equivalent of him: a player. But Tony doesn't listen giving Ryan a way to get past the guilt he feels for being head over heels for his best friend's "girl".

Once they get home, Liza, anticipating some one on one time with Tony gets a pretty uncomfortable awakening. She gets dragged to a soccer meeting and sees that some things have changed over camp. Mainly a nasty little piece of work named Cloey who obviously has something started with Tony. While the stare down between the two girls is happening Ryan announces he's going to start a co-ed soccer team opening it up to any girls who wants to try out. Now, Liza is about as coordinated as a bat in daylight. But she comes up with this brilliant idea of trying out in order to keep some of Tony's attention focused on her. Ryan finds this idea brilliant as well, but for an entirely different reason. He wants to get some of her attention focused on him and keep her close by. 

This sets off an entire domino effect of events. Liza's attempt to try and stay close to Tony only ends up with her seeing a side to Ryan she didn't know existed. Being the most popular guy in school she assumed he had no idea who she was. He had never even really had a conversation with her before. But now she's seeing subtle flirting, his attempts to console and help her. He even volunteers to be her own personal soccer trainer. And while she's seeing more and more of Ryan, she's seeing less of Tony and she's beginning to put the puzzle pieces together and figure out why. Tony meanwhile is trying to keep his budding relationship with Cloey a secret from Liza and asks Ryan specifically to keep it from her. And when it all comes to a head Tony, unbeknownst to Liza, asks Ryan to try and help Liza get her mind off of the situation. 

Ryan has been waiting for this opportunity for years. He gets to spend time with the girl he's in love with and she gets to see him for him, without Tony in the picture. Liza sees this guy she thought was a cocky jerk and starts thinking about him, caring about him and wanting to be with him. But of course nothing is that easy. Tony, decides he wants to be back in the picture which causes all three characters into a spiral.

These two books were perfect. I loved how you read Play With Me, got the story, felt what Liza was feeling and got totally wrapped into the story. You wanted to slap Tony and hug Ryan. Then you read The Girl is Mine and everything you felt in the previous book is intensified with Ryan's point of view. Loved it and the dynamic of both books.