4 'I love you, Mal' stars!!!! 
 He spun on his heel to face me, arms out wide. "Life's a song, Anne. Let's play." 
 After reading Lick I was hooked but while reading 'Lick,' I fell in love with Stage Dive's drummer, Mal. So, when I found out the second book was his story I nearly died of a heart attack and couldn't wait to continue to fall for the hilarious Mal. 
 In Play, we have Anne. Anna gets ditched by her bitch of a 'friend' leading Anna being roommate less, moneyless and practically homeless. Anna was in a hell of a situation, but that wasn't going to stop her from going to a party she was invited to. And yes, the party was no other than Ev and David Ferris' house party (I didn't realize how much I missed them until they would come in scenes! *sad face* )! Anne, was a fan of Stage Dive and had the biggest crush on of course my boyfriend, Mal (seriously who doesn't?). The only thing was that, her attending that party indeed ending up changing her life, forever. 
 "The point of me telling you my name, even when you already knew it, was so you'd give me yours. That's how these things go." 
 "You knew I knew?" 
 "The crazy eyes kinda gave it away." 
 "Oh." 
 A moment later, he groaned. "Never mind, this is taking too long. I'll just make one up for you." 
 "Anne." 
 "Anne, what? 
 "Anne Rollins." 
 A brilliant grin lit his face. "Anne Rollins. See, that wasn't so tough." 
 The party changed her life in much more ways than one. The biggest one was the fact that Mal gave Anne a deal, and the deal was for her to be his fake girlfriend and in exchange, he will pay her rents and anything else she needed. Anne was nothing more than baffled that her last long crush wanted her to be his fake girlfriend but Anne wasn't dumb, she knew something was up, and she was willing to take the deal but also try and figure out why Mal wanted her as his fake girlfriend. 
 "Yes, pumpkin," said Mal, his face deadly serious. "I am moving in with you." 
 I cringed at the horrid nickname but chose to focus on the real concern for now. "When did we talk about this exactly?" 
 "Actually, you might have left by then. But it doesn't change the facts." 
 Side Note: 
 Dear Mal, 
 Anne is a sweetheart and a helper. All her life she's always had to be an adult and take care of her mother and her younger sister. She's strong, independent, witty, worries a lot but also knows how to go with the flow. She's someone I could see myself being friends with in real life (clearly wouldn't happen because she took my man). But, what made me adore her was the plain fact that she wasn't a typical whiny heroine and that she stood by Mal's side through their downs. She handled every situation maturely and wasn't petty whenever she was angry or hurt. She said what was on her mind and managed everything as it came. 
 "Promise me something," I said. 
 "Sure." 
 I stopped, smiled. "You didn't even hesitate." 
 "You're pissed about something." He leaned down, making our conversation private despite the packed room. "What's wrong?" 
 "Promise me you won't sleep with her." I nodded to the beast in question." 
 "I won't sleep with her," said Mal. 
 "And you won't have sex with her either." 
 He rolled his eyes. 
 "Just to clarify." 
 "What'd she do to you, Anne?" 
 "She insulted me. But it's fine." I just needed to know she'd never get near him. Now my soul was at peace. "Carry on with your partying." 
 Mal.. my crazy lovable don't take too seriously Mal. He was the highlight in 'Lick' for me and to be completely honest I was going to rate this a '3.5', but Mal (& David) are the reason why it was bumped up to a 4. I felt like the author didn't write this story to its full potential and it gets me a tad bit mad because, it's MAL but looking past that, I still adored the hell out of this story. Mal, made my heart melt and had me rolling on the floor with every crazy thing he said. We get to see Mal's problems get told, and I just want to hold him because when Mal's sad, I'm sad. I'm happy he had someone like Anne by his side. OH! Before I forget! What I loved about Mal in this story was the fact that we got to see his serious & jealous side. I was surprised to see it during this story because I just couldn't see Mal being serious or jealous but both of those sides were sexy. 
 The slow curl of his lips made something hot and delicious unfurl deep in my stomach. 
 "Pumpkin, I'm always serious when it comes to you. Even when I'm messing around, I'm still serious as shit. Whatever you need, whatever I have to do. It's been that way since we met. Haven't you noticed yet? We're fucking destined or something. I can't help myself. It's pathetic, really." 
 Now let's talk about Mal & Anne together!?!? They had me smiling and laughing the whole book. They balance each other out in every way and that's why they just meshed together. Anne was everything Mal wasn't, and Mal was everything Anne needed. I LOVE the fact that Anne was able to change Mal's moods and have him going crazy for her, and I LOVE how Mal allowed Anne to live life and loosen up. What they needed all their lives were each other. What they had was inspiring and heart warming AND hilarious. 
 "I FUCKING LOVE YOU, ANNE." 
 "Yeah, okay. Shut up now." David tried to slap a hand over Mal's mouth. "AAAAAAANNNNNE!" My name was a long, drawn-out howling kind of noise, muffled at the last when David managed to cover his mouth. Muted grunts and snarling came next. 
 "God damn it," swore David. "He just fucking bit me." 
 "My love shall not be silenced!" 
 Oh my god. Oh my god. Can we talk about David for a second????? Whatever I'm going to anyways! I promise on everything I did not expect to miss David and Ev until they showed up in the story. He and Ev play a good amount of role in the story, and I'm so happy they do. I knew they'd appear in it but I thought it would be 'hi' & 'bye" type appearance but NOPE, they were in a lot of scenes being cuter than life itself. You even get to STILL see how much they are in love and how much David truly loves Ev (fuck it, I'm rereading 'Lick'). 
 "Love you, baby." David kissed her back. "Love you too." He whispered something in her ear. Something that made her giggle. 
 "We can't-my parents are here. Later." 
 David's mouth turned downward. 
 That's another reason why I was going to rate this story a '3.5' because my mind kept switching to wishing it was Ev & David's story (I know I felt like I was cheating on Mal but David is still my husband so...). I LOVE how David was still a bad ass and Ev was still a darling. David appears a lot in this story because of course he's David, and he can do what he wants - he's Mal's best friend and just like Mal was there for David in 'Lick', David was there for Mal even though David wanted to punch Mal a few times. Their bromance is probably the cutest thing I've ever read, and I say that confidently. Mal, felt lonely because his best friend was married but no matter what, David was there for him even at his darkest times. 
 I pulled out my phone then hesitated. Ev had pissed me off, holding me up, but these people were also his family. They deserved to know he was still in one piece. 
 Anne: He's at the practice hall 
 Ev: Thank you 
 David Ferris strode in not fifteen minutes later. He nodded to me, then picked up a guitar and plugged it in. As the first strains of noise rang out Mal opened one eye and saw David standing opposite him. Nothing was said. Time moved by, both sluggish and swift at once. The two of them played for hours. 
 All in all, this was a fast read for me since I can't get enough of Mal and his humor. I'll probably end up rereading this in a few weeks and end up giving it '5' stars to be completely honest with you. Even though I've only read 2/4 of the books in this series, I am HIGHLY recommending everyone to read it! This book will have you laughing your head off at every single page, and I promise you that. Give it a try and thank me later (no but seriously, thank me later because I know you will) ;) 
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