Plays Well with Others

By: Lauren Blakely

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Erin Mallon

Am I fake dating my best friend? Hear me out....

So I'm throwing myself a breakup party, a glittery fete where I envision I'll lift a glass and celebrate being free and single again. What I actually do: drink too much champagne and blurt out to my best guy friend that I'd really like to get back on the horse. But what I truly don't expect is Carter's answer—he volunteers as tribute.

With his sinful brown eyes and too-good-to-be-true body, it'd be no hardship for me to say yes, though I certainly don't want him to feel obligated to, um, service me, just because my failed, loveless marriage was an s-e-x desert.

But since the charming and confident pro football star owes five public dates to his dating-app sponsor, we make a deal to help each other out. Pretty soon, our public how-to-date lessons turn into, ahem, very private ones. And I'm a star student, graduating quickly from flirty banter and lingering looks to toe-curling, sheet-grabbing, mind-blowing hours of physical education.

The problem? Turns out learning to date again feels a lot like the real thing. Can our friendship withstand all these late-night bedroom sessions? Especially since I'm suddenly longing for my best friend, and there's nothing fake about my feelings...

©2023 Lauren Blakely Books (P)2025 Lauren Blakely Books

Plays Well With Others

I loved Rachel & Carter! Lauren you have done it again! The characters you create are so hard not to love. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, your readers! ❤❤

Steamy, flirty and fun friends to lovers!

A steamy friends to lovers romance written by Lauren Blakey that hits all the right spots. “Plays Well with Others” is a fun, steamy and a flirty delight that I could not stop listening to as Carter and Rachel realized how perfect they were for each other.

I loved Rachel and Carter and they were so much fun to listen to. Their friendship was so genuine and I loved how it progressed from friends to lovers. It was the perfect flirty pace and never felt rushed or fake. I was laughing one moment and swoony the next. They had great banter and I could totally be friends with them in real life. I love that Rachel was a business owner and took the chance of expanding her business after her divorce. Carter is so genuine, fun and will do anything for Rachel. The steamy scenes were so good and the dates that they went on were so sweet and perfect. The ADHD rep in the story was so well written and respectful to those that have it and were always told it wasn’t real. Rachel and Carter’s story was so great and I can’t wait to listen to it again.

Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton were so perfect as Rachel and Carter. Erin brought all of Rachel’s spunkiness and genuine personality to life perfectly. I loved Teddy as Carter who brought all of this loyalty and sweetness to life. Erin and Teddy are two of my favorite narrator combos and I know I’m in for amazing narration with both of them.

Loved it

Best kind of love story. They form a relationship early on in the book without tormenting angst, so you can enjoy the book. There was a little redundancy of the does he/she or doesn’t he/she feel the same toward the end but tolerable.
I liked that the story didn’t focus on Carter being a football player and he’s not the same old “manwhore” storyline. He was sweet, lovable, romantic and hot… good amount of spice.

Performance was perfection. Mallon and Hamilton can do no wrong and did a phenomenal job being in the story to life.

Read it!!!

It’s Dual Narration. It is beautifully told & it’s spicy. If you love, best friends to lovers. If you love HEA. If you love Spicy!!! You will love this book.

Drove Me Crazy

Lauren’s stories definitely take on a life of their own. Rachel and Carter absolutely drove me crazy. Every character in the story around them could see that they loved each other but neither could admit it.