Playing House

TEST

Playing House, a novella by Ruby Lang, is first in a trilogy I’ve been meaning to read. The best parts of this story definitely live up to the rave reviews I’ve seen on Twitter, though I found myself wishing that there was a bit more to this one.

Fay Liu has quite the meet-cute with her former classmate Oliver Huang when he rescues her from a pushy guy at an open house. Unknown to Fay, Oliver always had a bit of a crush on her so he’s happy to play knight in shining armor. While Fay is a successful partner in a planning firm, Oliver is currently unemployed and trying to figure out his life while living with his brother. Both are urban planners and even if it felt contrived, it was fun to watch Oliver and Fay set out on a series of fake dates pretending to be newlyweds touring open houses.

There’s something funny, real and earnest about the author’s voice in this novella, so I found myself drawn to her characters and their world right away. Fay is newly divorced and her insecurities felt awkwardly genuine. Oddly enough, when she and Oliver play-act their way around New York, it seemed like Fay could really be herself.

Oliver has his own issues to battle. First of all, not only is he trying to figure out his career path, but he constantly feels the pressure of trying not to be a disappointment to his family, especially his mother. That side of Oliver’s emotional story gets referenced and we do get some scenes of him with his family, but it really could have been fleshed out more. It’s clear to the reader that these issues are important to Oliver, so it would have helped to see him and Fay grapple with them a bit more on page.

Instead, there is a Big Mis buried in the story and when that comes up, much of the characters’ energy goes toward dealing with that tension. Once that plot point is resolved, matters drift off toward the ending and while I liked what I read, it felt a little thin. I enjoyed what was here, but I definitely wanted more.

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Reviewed by Lynn Spencer

Grade: B-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date: 19/01/22

Publication Date: 08/2019

Review Tags: AoC PoC Uptown series

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

I enjoy spending as much time as I can between the covers of a book, traveling through time and around the world. When I'm not having adventures with fictional characters, I'm an attorney in Virginia and I love just hanging out with my husband, little man, and the cat who rules our house.

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