Rowena’s review of Playing for Keeps (Cricket Creek Series, Book 1) by LuAnn McLane.

Hero: Noah Falcon
Heroine: Olivia Lawson

Olivia Lawson is peeved when ex-ace pitcher turned soap opera star Noah Falcon roars back into Cricket Creek, Kentucky, after all these years, to take the lead opposite her in the community theater’s summer play. Noah’s beloved hometown is having major financial woes and needs his status to turn this small-town play into a big-time hit. But Noah has bigger plans for this small town. And this time he’s determined to show Olivia he’s not just playing around-he’s playing for keeps.

This book was one of those really fast reads that didn’t take much to get into. It was cute and fluffy and perfect for one of those lazy days where you don’t want to do anything but read and you don’t want to read anything intense or deep.

This book follows Noah Falcon and Olivia Lawson as they bicker and fight their way to their happy ending. Noah is the town celebrity, having moved away from the small town of Cricket Creek to play baseball and do some acting on a soap opera. Now that his baseball career is done and his stint on the soap opera, Noah has come back to Cricket Creek to get some more acting experience by playing the lead male role in the town’s play.

Olivia Lawson rolls her eyes every time Noah’s name is mentioned around town and when he comes back, she’s not that impressed. She thinks he’s hot (she’s not blind) but outside of that, there isn’t anything about Noah Falcon that she wants to deal with. She used to tutor him in high school and his ego was more than she wanted to hang out with.

McLane does a good job of keeping the story interesting by adding charming characters that I came to love and the story was easy to follow along with which I appreciated. There were times when I wanted to bean Olivia in the nose for being such a little whiny brat but Noah Falcon brought it all back to the love for me because I really enjoyed his character.

This is the first book in a new series by McLane and I’m mighty interested to see where the rest of this series goes. This book is cute and fluffy and I’m anxious for the next book in the series. I enjoyed the secondary romance between Jason and Madison. As much as I enjoyed the book, there was a time or two when it was all too easy for me to put the book down to read something else or go and do something else but I’m glad that I stuck with it because it ended up being a cute story.

This story is filled with a great mix of characters that you will come to care for and the town of Cricket Creek will work it’s way right into your heart. I’m really looking forward to more.

Grade: 3 out of 5

This book is available from Signet. You can buy it here or here in e-format.