Played (Book Review)

Played by Dana Davidson
Publisher: Jump at the Sun
Release Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0786836918
Genre: Fiction
Paperback: 240 Pages
Rating: 5 Stars

Synopsis

Ian Striver is popular and handsome, and all the girls like him. He is also part of a secret boys’ club called the CIA, which guarantees his standing in his school’s social elite. So when one of his CIA friends throws down a bet, Ian has to take it, or risk losing his rep. The bet is that Ian has three weeks to make a girl fall in love and have sex with him.

My Thoughts

In Played, Dana Davidson, takes the quintessential teenage love story by storm and flips the script in a believable manner. How many of us know, remember or were the “not-quite-ugly” but “not-guaranteed-to-make-a-guy’s-tongue-hang-out” girl in High School?

Dana tells the tale of initiation and unexpected love without over-the-top drama and leaves us not only with likable main and secondary characters, but with a few messages.

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
• Be true to yourself
• Even the popular people have issues
• Accountability for actions

A great read for this forty-one-year-old “teen”.

My Recommendation:

This title would make a great group discussion book to segue into teenage girls self-worth, self image, first times etc. It is also excellent for teenage boys to teach responsibility/accountability and to show both the possible outcome of giving into peer pressure

According to Amazon, customers who bought Played also bought the following:

• Jason & Kyra by Dana Davidson
• The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
• A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
• Dead Connection by Charlie Price
• Bang! by Sharon G. Flake

 

About the Author

Dana grew up a fan of romance novels, but as a kid, there weren’t many romance novels that portrayed African-Americans as the “hero.” Her desire to see successful, African-American characters in novels manifested itself in her first novel, Jason and Kyra.