Playing to Win is the fourth book in Jaci Burton’s Play by Play series, Cole Riley hasn’t had any luck with longevity with his football teams. After being traded to his 3rd NFL Team, Cole needs to clean up his image. In comes Savannah Brooks, a Georgia Peach who’s an expert at making over an image. Cole doesn't think that there’s anything wrong with his image. If his image is tainted, it’s because of the media, not him. Savannah’s job is to convince Cole to knock that chip off his shoulder and to play nice if he wants to have a long career with the Traders.I really like this series. The covers are drool worthy and I love sports romances. With that being said, something was missing for me in this book. I could not connect with the characters or their relationship. I liked Cole and Savannah as individuals but wasn't completely sold on the chemistry and the attraction. What I want between the hero and heroines is hot, sizzling chemistry with a little angst thrown in. There was none of that. Cole and Savannah together was very blah. Cole wasn't happy about having Savannah underfoot, making over his image and I expected more outbursts from him and more conflict. I wanted passionate, heated arguments. There were arguments but they felt flat.I kept comparing Playing to Win to Changing the Game, which is my favorite book of the series. There was so much heat and conflict and the characters were explosive in and out of bed. Maybe that's what I was hoping with Playing to Win. Is that fair of me to expect that? Probably not. But with the previous book in the series leaving me with ho-hum feelings, I was hoping that Playing to Win would bring back that spark.Playing to Win was an ok read. Some parts were boring and I felt that we never found out why Cole closed himself off from people. Savannah's parental issues were revealed a little too late and I really didn't care at that point. Both personal issues of the characters could have been left out because it really didn't add anything to the story and didn't explain much.I'm at the point where I don't know if I'm not sure I want to continue with the series. Playing to Win was better than the previous book but I felt that it could have been so much more. I didn't dislike it but I wasn't wow'd by it. I hate reading a book where I have no strong feelings towards it whether it's positive or negative. I guess I'll wait and see what book 5 brings and make my decision then.
