Play to Win

This week, Jodie Slaughter releases her newest romance, Play to Win. Set in the same world as her 2022 book, Bet on It, this novel is a second chance at love between two estranged spouses, all thanks to a winning lottery ticket. But will that ticket bring them back together… or at long last finalize their separation?

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’ Press for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Eight years ago, after marrying young, Miriam and Leo separated and haven’t spoken since. They’ve never divorced, but neither sees a reconciliation in their near future. But when Miri buys a lottery ticket on a whim and wins big, her new financial advisor recommends that she get in touch with her ex, offer him some money, and officially divorce him. Thus Miri calls Leo and beckons him home. But Leo isn’t keen on divorcing Miri. Rather, he hopes to win her heart back. While he remains in town, rebuilding his late aunt’s dilapidated but beloved home, Leo and Miri are faced with either a second chance at love or the overdue dissolution of their marriage.

Review

The premise of Play to Win is what first caught my attention. As someone who grew up poor, with a dad dedicated to buying lottery tickets in the hopes that one could change our entire reality for the better, I understand where Miri and her mom are coming from. But while millions of people lose each day, Miri has the good fortune to win… big! As in, 220-million-dollars-big. And while such a huge amount of money will certainly improve the lives of herself and those close to her, it can also bring undesired people out of the woodworks. In this case, it’s her long-lost husband. But Miri actually calls Leo before he has any idea that she’s won, and he doesn’t want much. She offers him money in exchange for a long-overdue divorce. He tentatively agrees, but what what Leo really wants is to regain Miri’s trust and love.

Early on, I loved the writing style in Play to Win. It has beautiful and heartfelt prose, but it also feels like real people living real lives. Miri’s character shined through right away: She’s self-assured and hard-working, but a bit beaten down by how life has treated her. Once we meet Leo, he’s also likable, despite his cowardly way of leaving Miri years before.

This is one of the more realistic second-chance romances I’ve read. By that I mean that both characters are complex, having their desires as well as their reservations. They want to be together again (perhaps to different degrees), yet hesitate for reasons that are fully valid. Moreover, their reunion takes places over time—a few months—which feels important for the nature of their relationship. It’s not instant, and it shouldn’t be!

Although the lottery winnings are central to the story, the new riches don’t really arise too much during Play to Win. (At least, not until the end.) These characters live in an economically depressed area, have lived a life of hard work and little pay, and won’t change their mindsets around money right away. The value and discussion of money play a major role in the book, and I very much appreciated that theme. With my personal background, it felt authentic and relatable.

Mental health and sexuality, family and friendship, and community are all recurring themes in Play to Win, and combined with the heartwarming romance, it makes for a book that feels completely satisfying.

Final Thoughts

Play to Win is sweet and real, with characters you can root for and a premise the feels surprisingly authentic despite the odds ever against us in the actual lottery. If you enjoyed Kennedy Ryan’s Before I Let Go or Sharon C. Cooper’s Business Not As Usual, this is a romance you’ll surely love, too. I’ll be reading more from Jodie Slaughter soon… probably starting with Bet on It, since it exists within the same world as Play to Win!

Get the Book

You can buy Play to Win here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Romance
Setting	Greenbelt, South Carolina
Number of Pages	320
Format I Read	ebook (NetGalley)
Original Publication Date	July 11, 2023

Official Summary

Jodie Slaughter’s latest rom-com, Play to Win, is a sizzling romance where a winning lottery ticket is meant to be a new start but instead becomes a second chance at love.

Miriam Butler’s life is going nowhere in the slowest, most excruciating way possible. Stuck in the same barely-paying job she’s had since she was sixteen and spending every night sleeping in the spare twin bed in her mother’s house, her existence might be hilarious if it wasn’t so bleak. One trip to her favorite corner store upends everything when she finds herself the winner of a Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot. Unfortunately, not even life-altering roses come without their painful thorns. Hers just so happen to be in the form of an estranged husband who has the right to claim his share of her money.

It’s been eight years since Leo Vaughn has had a conversation with his wife. When she calls out of the blue, practically begging him to come back to Greenbelt, the last thing he expects her to tell him when he gets there is that she’s come into a whole heap of money. She offers him a life-changing proposition of his own. Take a lump sum, finally sign the divorce papers, and be done with her for good. Only, a forever without her is the last thing Leo wants. So he gives a proposition of his own. One that won’t cost her nearly as many millions, but will buy him the time to do the one thing he’s been hungry to do since he left — win her back.