BOOK REVIEW: Playing House by Ruby Lang @rubelang @harlequinbooks #playinghouse

A sweet story and a quick read, Ruby Lang’s novella Playing House is a fun spin on romance. Centering around two characters who are both Chinese-American and both Urban Planners, I had a lot of fun with the theme of this book around architecture and pretending becoming reality!

Out-of-work urban planner Oliver Huang is on a tour of the historic Mount Morris home when he finds himself the recipient of a snuggle and a kiss from long-time acquaintance but NOT long-time lover Fay Liu. Much to Oliver’s confusion, fellow-urban planner Fay gazes adoringly at him, calling him her boyfriend Olly to deflect the attention of another man on the tour who is clearly pursuing her.

Oliver is happy to play along with Fay. She feels good snuggled up against him. But it is complicated, Oliver doesn’t know what this means. He’s up for a job at Fay’s firm and he doesn’t want to cross any lines. But then again, Fay is beautiful, smart, interesting, and funny. How is he supposed to turn that down?

Newly divorced Fay isn’t sure if she is ready to put herself back out there. She hasn’t even unpacked in her new place yet since she became single. But she can’t get Oliver out of her head… A girl needs friends, right?

As the two begin scheduling non-dates to tour luxury real estate all over Manhattan, they find themselves playing at being a couple so often that suddenly it’s not clear whether they are playing house or falling in love. Bonding over their love of old architecture, strategically-placed windows, and large closets (good for making out in), Fay and Oliver begin to fall for one another. Perhaps they aren’t playing house after all…

This one is a mix of sweet and steamy!!! There were a few scenes that made me blush on the train as I wondered if the man next to me was reading over my shoulder! This is a super fast read—more novella than novel I would guess (not sure what the exact definition is to categorize this). I didn’t worry about the length though because this is already billed as book 1, so it promises to have more to follow. I don’t think we are quite done with the theme of love and architecture….

I will say that this book could have actually been a bit longer. Not only because I was enjoying it and wanted more, but also because I did find it to be a tad jarring the way it leapt straight into the meat of the story. I like a bit of literary foreplay in my romance books! The ending is adorable but also a bit rushed. I did think we jumped straight to the HEA and I wanted a bit more depth as we wrapped up their love story!

 One of my favorite parts of the book was actually getting to read about the homes they were touring. There’s a lot of descriptive architectural language in here and I was quite tickled at the idea of touring a beautiful home as foreplay!

All in all a cute book that is a fun read-in-an-evening pick!

Thank you to Harlequin Publicity for my copy. Opinions are my own.