Review: Playing Dirty by Jennifer Echols

From Goodreads:  A public relations expert tries to prevent the breakup of a raucous country band and corral their wild—and very sexy—lead singer in book 2 of the Stargazer Series.  As an expert in public relations crisis management—that is, babysitter to the stars—Sarah Seville just spent nine months in Rio trying to keep rock singer Nine Lives out of jail long enough to record his new album…and barely succeeded. Now she needs a triumphant success so she can keep the Manhattan-based job she loves. Trouble is, her new assignment is to travel to Alabama to prevent the breakup of the raucous country band The Cheatin’ Hearts, headed by sexy Quentin Cox. As she edges closer to Quentin, she discovers layers of secrets. It seems Quentin is taking the spin doctor for a spin.  The Cheatin’ Hearts have stayed on top of the charts two years following three rules. Rule One, no drugs. Rule Two, no sex with other band members. Rule Three, no sex with record company spies. Quentin figures he’d better follow the rules, because he made them. And because if you break a rule, you’re out of the band. But he can’t resist the record company’s beautiful PR agent, and inevitably he breaks Rule Three with hot Sarah Seville. As he falls for her, he finds out that she has plenty of secrets of her own, and one of them comes knocking on her door: what really happened to her in Rio.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Jennifer Echols novel, and I was just so thrilled to be chosen as one of the "Advanced Readers", and I liked this book, I really did, but it's sitting somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me.  (Wow, how's that for a run-on!)

If I liked it so much, how come "Playing Dirty" doesn't deserve a full 4 stars?  Um, I think it went on kind of long, for one, and then everything wrapped up so quickly in the last few pages!  Mind you, I was reading an ARC, so maybe things have changed in the final edition.  Another thing that got on my nerves was how long Sarah and Quentin lied to each other.  There was a lot of back and forth on the same lies - it got a little stale.  I mean, these people are supposed to be smart!  Figure it out already!!!

Anyway, what completely redeemed this book for me, and pushes it closer to 4 stars, is Quentin!  He is just sooooooo funny!  Plus he's hot, smart, talented, and a bit geeky!!!  How great is that?  I liked Sarah, too, just not half as much as Quentin.  He's the reason I kept reading through some of the slow bits.

So, I guess that's it.  I'll definitely be reading more by Jennifer Echols in the future.

My Rating:

But you can add a half if you like!