Risky Play is the first book in the Red Card series by Rachel Van Dyken. What else can a virgin do when she’s ditched at the altar? Seattle heiress Mackenzie Dupont is treating herself to a single-girl honeymoon in Mexico and a desire to relinquish her innocence to a gorgeous one-night stand. But when she wakes up alone, Mackenzie realizes just how much anger is left in her broken heart. Suffering a tragic personal loss, pro soccer player Slade Rodriguez has his reasons for vanishing without a goodbye. Right or wrong, he’s blaming the beautiful and infuriating stranger he never wants to see again. They’re both in for a shock when Mackenzie shows up as his new personal assistant. And they both have a lot to learn about each other. Because they share more than they could possibly know, including a common enemy who’s playing his own games.
Risky Play was an entertaining read, with plenty of humor vand heartbreak. I liked that Mackenzie and Slade are dealing with personal tragedies and trying to move forward with their lives. While neither makes consistently good or bad choices. They are fully humanized- making good and bad choices in turn and dealing with family and relationships in realistic ways. Although I will admit to being significantly angry with Mackenzie's father more than once, I think family and friend dynamics were realistically portrayed and well written. I like that there was no magic bullet, but that every character had to stand up and deal with their issues- and that even with the proclaimed happy ending it was clear that life would be real rather than perfect and that in working things out they would be stronger. I am interested to see where the future takes some of the secondary characters and will be keeping my eye out for more from the author.
Risky Play is a solid contemporary romance with a good balance of humor, heat, and heart. I will be following up with more reads from this author.
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