Skip to content

CARITA GARDINER

What to Read When You're Avoiding School Work

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • “Why”…Wednesdays
  • GrammarLove
  • Contact/Subscribe
Menu

NetGalley Review of Play to Win

Posted on March 10, 2023March 11, 2023 by caritagardiner
Play to Win cover

[Obviously, I can't keep up this pace, but it's vacation and NetGalley gave me three books at once.]

Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter (320 pages, St. Martin's Griffin, coming out 11 July 2023): I liked reading this three-pepper book. It's a fun idea that someone poor could win the lottery on her first-bought ticket (Jennifer E. Smith's Windfall does something similar) and not have the $220 million change her life in any negative ways. Slaughter creates a nice balance of showing the main characters (MC) with their family and friends and creating a compelling reason why the MCs struggle to believe they can make things work.

As far as the tropes:

  • second-chance romance
  • enemies to lovers
  • winning the lottery
  • small-town romance

So if you want a book where they're pining for each other physically but perhaps carrying too much baggage to make a go of things, you could give this one a try.

Overall: 3 of 5 stars

2 thoughts on “NetGalley Review of Play to Win”

  1. Richard G says:
    March 10, 2023 at 1:11 pm

    I liked both reviews.
    It would be helpful if you indicated what the maximum star rating would be.

    Reply
    1. caritagardiner says:
      March 10, 2023 at 1:16 pm

      Thanks for the nice note and the good suggestion. Three of three stars would be a rave and three of ten thousand, not great. I’ve added “of 5” to my reviews and will use that scale when moving forward. As always, I appreciate the feedback.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

WHAT I DO

I teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I read AP English Literature and Composition exams and serve as a teacher mentor for the University of Pennsylvania Teaching Fellows program. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU

Teach                    Tutor

Revise                   Edit

Entertain             Enlighten

Follow Me

  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Contact Me

  • cgardine@hotchkiss.org

Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • NetGalley Review of In the Case of Heartbreak
  • 222. Why Enter
  • Book Review of While We Were Dating
  • NetGalley Review of The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen
  • NetGalley Review of The Matchmaker
© 2023 CARITA GARDINER | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme