The Dating Playbook - Review

The Dating Playbook (The Boyfriend Project, # 2)

By: Farrah Rochon

Narrated By: Rebecca Lee

Publication: August 17th 2021 by Forever

368 pages

Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Sports

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--When a personal trainer agrees to fake date her client, all rules are out the window in this delightful romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Boyfriend Project!

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle.

And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There's just one catch -- no one can know what they're doing. But when they're accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor's game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win . . . or is he playing for keeps?

I have already discussed this season of life that has me in the car for so long each day. And what better way to pass the time than an audiobook. So I checked out the ones available on NetGalley and requested The Dating Playbook. I ran into a problem though. Shortly after I got this audiobook, my son started wanting to ride with me to pick up Little Girl from school. So instead of having 30 minutes one way and 45 minutes another trip on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and 45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, I was losing that 45-minute trip every day. And thus my listening opportunity severely dwindled again. And one thing I've noticed over the years is that the length of time it takes me to finish a book does influence my overall opinion and enjoyment.

That being said, I was enjoying The Dating Playbook okay. Taylor is in a bind financially. She made some bad business decisions and racked up a good bit of debt that she needs to pay off. She's got ideas on how to take her business to the next level, but she's stuck in the daily grind to just make ends meet. Jamar requests her to take him on as a client with her being his personal trainer. She is really skeptical at first, but eventually, she agrees. The description says that the two are accidentally outed as a couple. Well, that's not exactly how things happened. To avoid spilling the beans that Jamar is training again in hopes of returning to the NFL, Taylor redirects the reporter with the story that the two are dating. And then they begin the fake dating trope.

I don't mind fake dating books. Even though I usually know exactly what's going to happen, I still enjoy going on the journey. And things were bee-bopping along just fine with Taylor and Jamar. And then Jamar makes a little trip home to visit his parents and I actually laughed out loud listening to this book. Twice. This bit of humor took my enjoyment level up from 3.5 to 4 Stars. Although, I do have to say that if I prefer my books less descriptive, I doubly feel that way about audiobooks. I do NOT enjoy descriptive scenes narrated out loud. Gives me a severe case of uncomfortableness. Anyway, The Dating Playbook gets 4 Stars. Have you read (or listened to) The Dating Playbook? What did you think? Let me know!