Title: Two Can Play
Author: Ali Hazelwood
eBook (but paperback and hardcover are available, there’s even large print!)
Pages: 208
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
ISBN: 9798217192342
Release Date: 02/10/2026
Book Details: I read the eBook version, so I was able to customize my reading experience.
Where To Find It: I got my copy from Libby but it looks to be for sale everywhere you get books.
Time that the story takes place? Current day
POV? First Person
What caught your eye? I saw this on the Barnes and Noble website and I don’t what exactly caught my eye . . . but after reading the sample chapter, I had to read more. Shockingly my wait was short as I was the second one in line to get the book next on Libby.
Did you enjoy it? I really did. I wasn’t sure if I would, because I famously hate, loathe, and despise first person narrative, especially in a romance. But this worked. It was great.
Was it predictable? Not really, no. I was kind of in unfamiliar waters here. But I was a bit shocked how things played out and then how it ended. Awesome!
Was it sexy? Tame? I found it rather sexy. Charmingly sexy.
Did you find it funny? Entertaining? I did. I actually did laugh out loud at many of the descriptions.
Would you read it again? I would.
Is this part of a series? It doesn’t appear to be.
Would you add this to your home library? I think I would, yes. Absolutely.
Okay, first off, if you know me, one of the things I dislike most in a romance is a first-person narrative. Followed very close by first person alternating viewpoints*. However, as it always happens, by some odd quirk of luck and curiosity, I read the sample chapter and was all, “I HAVE to know what happens next!”
And promptly put my name on the wait list at the library via the Libby app.
And another fun fact about me, I seldom, if ever, actually read anything that just came out. Some people are book influencers who read everything the weeks before it hits the shelves. While I have done that as I used to work in a bookshop, I can’t live like that any longer. I sometimes don’t read a new book until it’s been on my home shelf or out in the wild for months, usually years.
So, the fact that this just came out? Progress for me.
The book is pretty straightforward. We have two rival game designer firms/companies, I don’t know what you call them, all you need to know is, these two companies DO NOT like each other. Hate is too soft a term for the emotional feelings of both groups.
However, both companies have been tapped to work on this super amazing new game based on a book series that is deeply personal to our Leading Lady, Viola Bowen.
Viola needs to work on this game. This is her dream job, what she’s been working for. She’s also pretty darn good at her job.
As this is a first-person story, she’s our lead everything. However, Viola is never boring. She’s charming, she’s normal, she feels real. Yes, she’s into games and gaming, she’s got a healthy and hefty nerd flag to fly, but as she’s quick to point out at several points in the story, not all nerds live in a basement like trolls never to emerge into the real world.
I felt so seen.
Our love interest is Jesse Andrews. A few years older, certainly the most imposing figure in the room and also the smartest. He is the true enigma that Viola cannot get a read on.
They first meet when she’s interviewing with some company (I forget the name) and the CEO is a complete and total ass. Jesse who is sitting in on the interview, chases after Viola when the CEO insults her during the interview and she storms out. Jesse talks with her, assures her that her portfolio is awesome and then suggests another company that is going to be hiring very soon and that she should totally apply.
The two meet off and on again throughout a five year history that we don’t see all of, Viola only tells us the highlights. They do have some mutual friends which is always bringing them together in hopeful yet unfulfilled meetings.
In fact, Viola is absolutely, 100% certain that Jesse hates her. Especially after one disastrous meeting at a family engagement party and right up until that point, Viola had been fostering a serious crush on Jesse. But after this incident? Not so much.
Jesse now works for a kick ass game design company . . . the rival company that has been tapped to help design this super amazing game. However, the main company is hesitant to hire the two indie firms to work on this as the beef between the two is well documented.
Viola and Jesse are the lead designers at the respective companies, and both have personal reasons for wanting to work on this particular project.
So, the two rival companies are to go on a five day retreat up in the mountains to see if they can get along. However, things don’t go smoothly at first, as one would expect. No one wants to talk to each other; no one wants to be around each other.
And this is where our Viola finally gets a chance to ask Jesse, “What’s your deal?” As every meeting that she’s had with him in the last five years has been met with some underlying hostility. Viola is shocked as when they first met, he was so nice and charming, so helpful and thoughtful, that his behavior now is downright rude.
What was great about this story is that it isn’t just Viola and Jesse, other relationships are mentioned and seen through Viola’s eyes and they’re all charming and endearing.
One of my biggest complaints about first person narratives is that they never seem to be done well. When I was a kid, most of the stories I read were in first person and I never really noticed. It didn’t bother me. It’s only been in the last decade or so that the number of romances told in first person has been overwhelming, so much so that it’s nearly put me off all romances as so many tried and true authors I follow suddenly started doing it.
And not doing it well, I might add.
Ali Hazlewood is very good at what she does. In fact, she’s awesome at it. She’s able to construct fully rounded characters without us seeing a single thought from their heads, their spoken dialogue combined with what Viola tells us, really fills in the gaps nicely. The story feels fully formed and enjoyable. I’ve read a few other things from Hazlewood and I’ll be honest, all of them have been enjoyable. But I think it’s also from the fact that Hazlewood is that girl, you know? I think she’s a bit of a scientific nerd girl who gets that not all of us nerds look like what is being portrayed in the media.
We’re normal. Mostly.
This was a lovely story. It was funny, charming, relatable, adorable, and I’d even say rather true to life. It felt real and yet it felt like a lovely fairytale.
If you like Ali Hazelwood books and haven’t read this one, absolutely give it a go. And if you’re a gaming nerd, I think you’d really enjoy this as well.
*I’m sorry but these alternating viewpoints have got to stop. Not all of us get to finish a chapter before putting in the bookmark, and it’s so annoying to come back and try to figure out which head I’m in. Especially if I’m reading an eBook. That’s seriously the second thing I look at when I read sample chapters now, right after seeing what POV we’re in. When I see those alternating chapters . . . nope, nope, nope. Sorry, I can’t do it.
