PLAYING THE PART by Robin Covington portrays the difficulties inherent in having a genuine relationship while under intense scrutiny by paparazzi. Intense attraction and invasion of privacy make this a HOT romance - bordering on erotic romance - with a heat level rating of 4 for how often and how graphic the sex scenes are. Sex scenes aside, this was a well-written book, and I give it 4 stars.
In PLAYING THE PART, romance novelist Piper James is tasked by her publisher to consult on the film adaptation of one of her best-selling novels. The assignment is mandatory after a difficult year in Piper's personal life - she nearly had a very public breakdown after her fiancé cheated on her with her best friend. The problem with her assignment is that she must work with the hottest Hollywood hunk, Mick Blackwell, a man who will never settle down with one woman.
Afraid of having her heart broken, Piper does her best to keep from falling in love with Mick, but she fails miserably. Meanwhile the paparazzi has been following Mick, and when one of them publishes extremely personal and graphic photos of them, the money trail leads back to Mick. Is Mick just like Piper's ex-fiancé, or is someone else trying to sabotage Mick and Piper's relationship?
From the outset, PLAYING THE PART captures and takes the reader on an intensely emotional rollercoaster. The pace is quick and the dialogue believable. The novel only occasionally slips into the melodramatic repetition of hyperbolic narration that plagues typical romance novels. The characters' backgrounds supported their actions, so there was no question about their motivations.
I would have liked to see more of what Piper calls "ordinary, in between times." While there were a few of those scenes that helped establish a more credible romance, the sex scenes were so much more frequent and explicit. Sex scenes aside, I enjoyed the book.
*Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=9854
