A review by bribreez
The Wrong Game by Kandi Steiner

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gemma didn’t imagine her life ending up the way that it did from the things that occurred with her husband, there was a lot that Gemma had gone through. Eight months later, as Gemma and Belle (Gemma’s best friend) were leaving a Chicago Bears football game, Belle encouraged Gemma to get back out onto the dating scene and just have some fun. Cut to the ladies hanging out at a bar where they meet the handsome and charming Zach. Somewhere in the time Gemma was at the bar, she found herself agreeing to Zach being her practice date to the next Chicago Bears games, seemed like a good idea at the time, and oh boy did it make for a good start to this story.

I genuinely wasn’t expecting the prologue to reveal all that Gemma went through with her husband and just how much of an impossible situation she found herself in. Gemma was in an impossible situation, but being the good woman that she was, she was there for her husband when he was sick with Cancer. Even with the knowledge that Carlo had been cheating the whole time prior to his Cancer reveal, Gemma truly was a good person. 

Anyways, cut to a few months later and with Belle’s crazy yet kind of genius plan for Gemma invite a different guy to take to each Chicago Bears games, it seemed like an easy enough plan right? Except there was the part of actually finding someone to take with her. Enter Zach, the bartender at the bar Belle and Gemma were at, and he happened to hear majority of their conversation and took it upon himself to be Gemma’s date… as a practice round to help her be comfortable for future dates. Except once Zach went with Gemma to that one game… it was game over for Zach because, he wanted to spend more and more time with Gemma. 

From the beginning, I liked seeing how Zach was able to get Gemma to relax and have fun especially on their first practice date. For Gemma, she was always about wanting to have control, making lists, and planning things out, whereas Zach was just going with the flow, casual. Zach’s laidback personality was a nice change for Gemma since he helped her see that while her making lists and staying organized was good, she also could let loose and have fun on her own terms still. Zach’s attention towards Gemma was insightful and he could tell that despite not knowing the full story of how Gemma was hurt, he just knew how to approach her and make her feel at ease as opposed to her tending to sometimes feel anxious or nervous.

For Gemma, having control was important to her because, it meant she had the ability to dictate how things went as opposed to the time in her life where she didn’t have control. With the passing of Carlo, his infidelity, and his Illness, it changed a lot of aspects in Gemma’s life, and parts of her changed. Gemma had her mind set that she would never fall in love again nor let anyone hurt her again. So when Gemma met Zach, she was adamant on not letting things progress despite feeling attracted to him and having such an ease with him that she hadn’t ever experienced. I felt bad for Gemma because, it was clear she was still dealing with the aftermath of everything from her husband, but she kept things bottled up, and tried to move past it without fully addressing it. I could understand why Gemma had trust issues and why she didn’t want to have a relationship, but it still hurt me to see her in pain. 

Initially I was expecting a lighthearted story with sports at the center of it, but with the level of heartbreak and sadness that both Gemma and Zach went through made my heart ache for them. This story had both some light and sad moments from the betrayal and loss of Gemma’s husband passing and his affair to Zach leaving behind his dream in order to help his family and his little brother. Each circumstance that Gemma and Zach wasn’t exactly the same, but they had similarities in that those events from their lives changed them and their approach when it came to love. I would say Gemma was the one who was more apprehensive to truly give Zach a chance with her lack of trust coming again in the forefront of her mind after discovering the letter Carlo wrote her. I had some inkling there might be some sad parts in this book since I read, “The Right Player” (stand alone book centered on Belle) before this book. While Gemma had to endure and relive some moments of her past, I truly believe that in order for her to truly give Zach a chance, she had to work through her issues and see that Zach wasn’t Carlo. Zach was such a sweet and understanding man that I loved seeing his vulnerability and sensitive side come out throughout the story, and with that he was able to understand Gemma  on a level no one other than Belle could ever see.

Overall, I really liked this story and how it was a mixture of lighthearted and some sad bits. I feel like the romance was a variety of fun, passionate, loving, and endearing. Zach was a sweet, charming man with his confident side coming out every now and again. Gemma was the organized, fun loving woman with a sad past, but was able to find in love in the most unlikely place possible. Together Gemma and Zach had such a natural ease together that they were able to build upon their initial practice dates as well as friendship. I loved seeing how Zach was both a masculine man and also proud of embracing his sensitive side as well. The spice was pretty good and omg the chemistry between Zach and Gemma was pretty hot. For football fans this book definitely will pique your interest or even if you’re not, with Kandi Steiner at the helm of writing this story, you’ll immersed into the story and feel like you’re in the stands with Gemma and Zach watching the Chicago Bears battle it out on the field for victory. This book had a little bit of everything and I adored Gemma and Zach, not to mention the humor, romance, and heartfelt moments too. 
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