CBR Square- Smash
I liked Well Met, and Well Played is the next book in the series by Jen DeLuca set in a small Maryland town called Willow Creek that has it’s own Renaissance Festival. We even see the wedding of the first couple, at the Festival but not in costume, Simon and Emily. Emily and Stacey, the main character in this book, are wenches at the Faire. Stacey is cosplaying at being happy in her life, she feels stuck in the town and stuck in her not exciting job and even a bit stuck at the Faire. She had a summer fling last summer with Dex MacLean, one of the singers in the Dueling Kilts and in a fit of drunken loneliness writes and email to Dex and then a text, but it isn’t Dex who is writing her, it’s his cousin and manager of the band, Daniel.
I liked this one as well, but I think the author boxed herself in a bit here when she had Daniel pretending to text her as Dex for eleven months and then after two encounters in person is forgiven. I feel like maybe he should have had to work a little harder to earn that forgiveness. Especially if the person you are writing to reveals very intimate details about themselves. The pacing just felt a little off. Then when Daniel and Stacey have another bigger conflict and break up, he doesn’t do much to fight for her, again. It’s hard to believe two people are going to be happy when you have established that he gives up on their relationship pretty easily twice.
I also enjoyed the contrast with the Maryland Renaissance Festival, which I try to get to annually and is huge in comparison to the small festival in Willow Creek. It was fun to see all the work and planning that goes in to running one. I like this series and will probably read the next one at some point. Although honestly, the idea that two people are writing each other long distance and keeping it PG is pretty funny to me.