Review: The Flirting Game

Book: The Flirting Game by Lauren Blakely

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 5/5

๐“๐“ž ๐“ข๐“Ÿ๐“ž๐“˜๐“›๐“”๐“ก๐“ข
โšœ๏ธ๐”ป๐•–๐•ฅ๐•’๐•š๐•๐•–๐•• ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ ๐• ๐•—- The Flirting Game

โšœ๏ธโ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค-
๐Ÿ—ฃ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟs Sean masters and Brooke Bloomingdale โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ (out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐Ÿ“š ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ / 5
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ/ 5 -๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ 
Which books have I also given this same rating? (๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›)
5โญ๏ธ Fourth wing / Bound by inked flame / Anathama / The Lies of Lena / Of silver and Curses
4.5โญ๏ธ Bitten / The Female / Quicksilver / Bride / Lights Out / A Bargain so Bloody
4โญ๏ธ Spellcaster / One Dark Window / From Blood and Ash / Phantasma / Butcher & Blackbird
3โญ๏ธWe Who Will Die / The Wolf King / Daughter of No Worlds / The Ex Hex

โšœ๏ธ๐•‚๐•–๐•ช ๐•€๐•Ÿ๐•—๐• :
Genre- Sports Romance
๐ŸŽง 8๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€ 28๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ (I ๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š˜๐š— 1.45 ๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š)
๐Ÿ“– 368 ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€
๐น๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› Dual ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฉ / # DUET ๐šŠ๐šž๐š๐š’๐š˜ ๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐šŽ ๐š—๐šŠ๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—
๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ- Sep 2025
๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ or ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ driven? ๐’ž๐’ฝ๐’ถ๐“‡๐’ถ๐’ธ๐“‰โ„ฏ๐“‡
๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ & ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ- Standalone book 6/7 of interconnected series love and hockey (this was my first read in this series)
๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ on ๐—ž๐—จ? โŒ๐’ฉโ„ด.
๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ- โ„ฑ๐’ถ๐“ˆ๐“‰ ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐’น ๐“Œโ„ฏ๐“๐“ ๐“…๐’ถ๐’ธโ„ฏ๐’น ๐’ปโ„ด๐“‡ ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ˆ๐“‰โ„ด๐“‡๐“Ž
๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ? โœ…๐’ดโ„ฏ๐“ˆ! โ„ ๐“Œ๐’พ๐“๐“ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐“‚โ„ฏ๐“‚๐’ทโ„ฏ๐“‡ ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“‹๐’พ๐’ทโ„ฏ๐“ˆ ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐’น ๐’ปโ„ฏโ„ฏ๐“๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘”๐“ˆ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐“โ„ฏ๐’ป๐“‰ ๐“‚โ„ฏ ๐“Œ๐’พ๐“‰๐’ฝ!
๐€๐ง๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...)โœ… Green Earth/ Up cycling
โ„ณโ„ดโ„ด๐’น๐“ˆ; ๐‘จ๐’…๐’—๐’†๐’๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘ณ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’‰๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’•๐’†๐’…, ๐‘ช๐’–๐’•๐’†๐’”๐’š, ๐‘น๐’๐’Ž๐’‚๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’„, ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’š, ๐‘ณ๐‘ถ๐‘ณ ๐‘ฏ๐’–๐’Ž๐’๐’–๐’“, ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’‘๐’†๐’‡๐’–๐’
๐’Ÿ๐’พ๐’น ๐’พ โ„ฏ๐“ƒ๐’ฟโ„ด๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒ๐’พ๐“๐“ ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ƒโ„ฏ๐“๐“‰ ๐’ทโ„ดโ„ด๐“€ ๐’พ๐“ƒ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐“ˆโ„ฏ๐“‡๐’พโ„ฏ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒโ„ด๐“Š๐“๐’น ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐“Ž๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘” โ„ฏ๐“๐“ˆโ„ฏ ๐’ท๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐’ถ๐“Š๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ด๐“‡?โœ…
๐–‚๐–๐–” ๐–œ๐–”๐–š๐–‘๐–‰ ๐–Ž ๐–—๐–Š๐–ˆ๐–”๐–’๐–’๐–Š๐–“๐–‰ ๐–™๐–๐–Ž๐–˜ ๐–™๐–”? Anyone that loves romance stories with feisty females and swoon men! The hockey is a side piece in the main story so no need to be a sport enthusiast to love this one!

โšœ๏ธ๐•Š๐•ก๐•š๐•”๐•– ๐”ฝ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•ค:
๐Ÿ’ฆ๐“๐š๐›๐จ๐จ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ฌ/ ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ
๐Ÿ”ฅ๐’๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง
๐Ÿฅต๐’Ÿ๐’พ๐“‡๐“‰๐“Ž ๐’ฏ๐’ถ๐“๐“€
๐Ÿ˜Iแ‘ŽีTแ—ฉ แ’ชOแฏแ—ด แ’ชแ‘Œแ”•T
๐Ÿ’˜แ–ดแ—ฉKแ—ด แ—ชแ—ฉTIแ‘Žแ˜œ
๐ŸซฆOแด˜แด˜แดsษชแด›แด‡s Aแด›แด›ส€แด€แด„แด›
๐ŸŒก๐•๐•–๐•’๐•ฃ๐•Ÿ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐”ธ๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค๐•ฅ, ๐•‹๐•–๐•Ÿ๐•ค๐•š๐• ๐•Ÿ

โšœ๏ธ๐•‹โ„๐•†โ„™๐”ผ๐•Š
๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐•Š๐•–๐•”๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค
๐Ÿญ๐•Š๐•ฆ๐•Ÿ๐•Ÿ๐•ช ๐• ๐”พ๐•ฃ๐•ฆ๐•ž๐•ก๐•ช
๐ŸงAษขแด‡ Gแด€แด˜
๐Ÿงฉneighbour to lovers
๐Ÿ’ˆ แ—ทแ—ฉแ‘ŽTแ—ดแ–‡
๐Ÿงจ๐•Š๐•’๐•ค๐•ค๐•ช ๐”ฝ๐•„โ„‚

โšœ๏ธ๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐‘น๐‘ฌ๐‘จ๐‘ซ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’๐’“, ๐‘ณ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘ต ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’•?โšœ๏ธ
(๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก- ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘œ?)
A.U.D.I.O!!! OMG AUDIOBOOK!

โšœ๏ธ๐”ธ๐•ฆ๐••๐•š๐•  ๐”น๐• ๐• ๐•œ โ„๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ:
Ok this DUET audio was amazing! These two narrators need to work together on more books because the chemistry was real and flying โ€˜off the pagesโ€™. They both performed exceptionally well, making believe every emotion, thought, feeling and act. I felt like I was watching a movie play out in my head because everything was so clear and believable. I could hear the smile in their voices and feel the sadness through their words, the awkward parts were so darn funny because they were acted out in such a way that it felt the narrators were genuinely living those moments then and there for real! I can not recommend this highly enough!

๐ŸŒ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฃ๐•๐•• ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•š๐•๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐•จ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜:
This was my first hockey romance, my first sport romance in general actually, and I loved it!
I donโ€™t follow any sports, Iโ€™m not interested in the slightest but this one hooked me!! I get it now! There was only a little bit of hockey in this so it made it simple for someone like me to follow along with. I loved all the spying and sneaking glances, the hot tub scene and spice in general was brilliant, but the best parts for me- were the true romance and swoon worthy passion that they emitted for each other.

I enjoy a fake dating trope and this was very well done, I also love a strong independent FMC so I liked that she always had her head held high and refused to beg for anything, just worked hard at herself and at her business.

The pacing of the book was easy to follow, everything happened naturally and flowed smoothly. The world building was simple and effective- I loved the catio and the bird watching momentsโ€ฆ

This was also my first book by this author and Iโ€™m off to get more of her work now!

๐Ÿงโ€โ™‚๏ธ โ„‚๐•™๐•’๐•ฃ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ฃ๐•ค:
So I have to start with Simon the dog- what a genius little animal sidekick!
I want a Simon side eye cup! I love this dog!
To be fair the cat was pretty amusing also.

The hockey player was down to earth, hard working, romantic, loyal and hurtโ€ฆ. The FMC was strong, independent, intelligent and so sassy she made me laugh constantly. Her witty remarks and comebacks were perfect!

๐น๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ;

๐•‹๐•š๐•œ๐•‹๐• ๐•œ
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*

๐•„๐•ช โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•Š๐•ช๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ž๐•ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!

๐Ÿ”ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!

SPICE SCALE:
๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ segsual language and a little on-page action

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities.

Read full review on ARC Library