Power Play by Tiffany Snow

Narrated by Laura Hopatcong

If you listened to or read the Kathleen Turner series by Tiffany Snow, you will not be surprised by the subject matter of her new series, Risky Business. Having fallen in love with her prior series, I thought I would give Power Play a shot. Well, I am somewhat saddened to say that while I’m sure you will enjoy Power Play if you missed her prior series, for those of you who didn’t, the romantic lovers’ triangle arc and constant element of danger and suspense will seem remarkably similar to the prior series.

The main difference is the rival heroes for the heroine’s attention in the Kathleen Turner series are a lawyer (who employs the heroine) and an assassin for hire who is his brother, while in Power Play you have ex-best friends, one of whom is an investment banker (who employs the heroine) and the other a police officer. In both cases, you have a clear favorite for the heroine’s attention to begin with, with the underdog constantly striving to steal away the heroine’s attention. But like in the Kathleen Turner series, listeners should also be forewarned that while there is a soft ending at the end of the first book, the battle to win a HEA is by no means over and will continue in the next books in the series. In order to get the full romantic arc, you will need to commit to listening to the entire series. Remarkably, however, the blurb for this first book neglects to warn listeners that this is a sequential series that must be read in its entirety prior to learning the romantic resolution.

Sage Reese is in love with her boss, Parker Andersen. In fact, she is so in love that she refuses to see that he monopolizes her time to the extreme. Every relationship she attempts ends the same way, as she rarely has a free moment when she is not working. Nonetheless, Sage frequently finds herself missing Parker even when she gets the odd day off. The fact that at times he sends her mixed signals further encourages her romantic daydreams.

Then Parker finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation, and Sage meets the strikingly different and yet appealing Detective Dean Ryker. It’s clear from the beginning that there must be some history between Parker and Ryker, and that that history has led to a definite tension between the two men that transcends the current murder investigation. But when Ryker offers Reese what she believes to be an opportunity to clear Parker’s name, she jumps on the opportunity and as a result finds herself front and center as the object of Ryker’s romantic pursuit.

Sage, while enjoying Ryker’s attentions, remains equally torn over the hot and cold signals that she is receiving from Parker. Who in the end will be the right man to possibly give Sage a HEA?

Laura Hopatcong delivers a relatively solid performance in Power Play. Her naturally somewhat submissive voice rendered a completely character-appropriate Sage. Just from Ms. Hopatcong’s voice I could easily envision the love-lost executive assistant who remained pining for her boss even after Parker delivered some strong messages against the possibility of the two ever having a romantic future together.

Ms. Hopatcong was also able to deepen her natural voice a bit to deliver relatively convincing male voices for Parker and Ryker. The difference in her intonation allowed for easy differentiation between Sage and the other characters in the book. Where I had a little more difficulty was in distinguishing between Parker’s and Ryker’s voices. As a general matter, this really didn’t create too much of an issue as Parker and Ryker rarely spoke in the same scene. However, it did at a few points cause me to have to listen to dialogue tags in order to determine which male was speaking.

All in all, if you are looking for an action-packed, love triangle themed, romantic suspense title, then Power Play is likely to fit your need. In fact, had I not already listened to the Kathleen Turner series, I likely would have rated this story much higher (in the B range). However, the constant similarity to a story I had already heard definitely dampened my enjoyment of Power Play, especially when it became clear that the story would end in a HEA cliffhanger.

BJ

Narration: B-

Book Content: C-

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: Fighting

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Power Play was provided to AudioGals by Hachette Audio for a review.