Playing for Keeps Review (Alexandria Bellefleur)

Updated on October 9, 2026

Verdict: A glossy, steamy rival-publicists rom-com with sharp banter and a commanding older love interest, held back by a celebrity subplot that takes over the book, a premise that reads to many as real-person fan fiction about a famous pop star and her football-player boyfriend, and a third-act breakup some readers could not forgive.

Best for: Readers who want a workplace enemies-to-lovers rom-com with an ice queen, a secret relationship and explicit heat, and who enjoy celebrity gossip as part of the fun.

Heat level: ★★★★☆ (4/5 — romance.io: explicit open door)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5/5 — a 3.72 Goodreads average across 3,634 ratings, discounted for a subplot that crowds out the couple and an advance-copy-heavy set of top reviews)

Tropes: Rivals to lovers, enemies to lovers, workplace romance, forced proximity, secret relationship, ice queen, age gap, celebrity world, single POV, standalone.

Playing for Keeps is a standalone contemporary sapphic rom-com by Alexandria Bellefleur, published by Avon in January 2026, in which Poppy Peterson, publicist to rising NFL quarterback Cash Curran, is forced to work with Rosaline Sinclair, the formidable publicist of pop star Lyric Adair, when their clients start dating in public.

It is a well-promoted book that divided its readers. Goodreads shows a 3.72 average across 3,634 ratings, with 62% of them at four or five stars, and Amazon carries 4.4 stars from 407 ratings. Readers who love it praise the banter and the heat; readers who do not mostly agree on why, and it has little to do with the central couple themselves. Both sides are worth knowing before you start.

What Is Playing for Keeps About?

This is rivals-to-lovers romance set in the publicity machine around two celebrities. Cash makes an impulsive public pass at Lyric, Lyric turns out to be interested, and their publicists have to manage a romance that the whole country is watching. Poppy is the newer, scrappier publicist and Cash’s childhood best friend; Rosaline is the older, polished, intimidating one who took a teenage Lyric under her wing years earlier.

The book stays in Poppy’s point of view, in the third person, and readers who expected to hear from Rosaline directly noticed the absence. Around the central couple, the celebrity romance gets a great deal of page time. Seventeen of the 30 most-read Goodreads reviews mention the resemblance between Cash and Lyric and a real-life pop star and football player, and at least six say the clients’ story competes with, or overshadows, the romance on the cover.

What Makes This Sapphic Rom-Com Work

The banter: Even critical readers say they enjoyed the sparring between Poppy and Rosaline, and one two-star reviewer still saw real chemistry on the page.
Rosaline: The ice-queen publicist is the character fans single out, with one reader comparing her to Mr. Darcy.
The heat: romance.io’s readers place it in the explicit band and tag praise kink and fem-dom, and readers who mention the scenes mostly enjoy them.
The premise: For readers who enjoy the celebrity parallel, the idea of the publicists behind a famous romance falling for each other is the book’s main draw.
The audiobook: Eight of the 30 most-read reviews mention listening, and Avon’s edition is narrated by Lauren Sweet.

Book Synopsis

Poppy Peterson finally has her life on track. She is the publicist for the NFL’s most promising young quarterback, who also happens to be her oldest friend, and she is good at her job. Then Cash makes a very public pass at Lyric Adair, the most famous pop star in the country, and Poppy braces for a disaster.

Instead, Lyric is interested, and her notoriously exacting publicist, Rosaline Sinclair, wants to talk strategy. As Cash and Lyric’s romance plays out in front of millions, Poppy and Rosaline are forced into constant contact, managing photo opportunities, headlines and the occasional crisis, and discovering that the friction between them has another side.

Keeping their own relationship quiet while running the most watched romance in the country is not simple. The question the book sets up is whether two women whose careers depend on controlling a story can let themselves have one of their own.

My Review

The banter is the best thing here, and it survives even the harshest reviews. Bellefleur is good at two clever women needling each other, and Poppy and Rosaline’s early scenes have real snap. Rosaline, polished and unapologetically in charge, is the kind of love interest fans of the ice-queen trope come for.

The second strength is heat. romance.io’s readers rate it a 4, and the explicit scenes are a draw for readers who loved Bellefleur’s earlier books.

Where it struggles is consistent enough to call it a pattern, and it comes in two forms that feed each other. The first is balance: at least six of the 30 most-read reviews say Cash and Lyric take up too much of the book, with one three-star reader saying she kept forgetting who was on the cover and a two-star reader arguing that the central romance falls flat because it is driven by the clients’ storyline. The second is the premise itself. Several readers describe the book as real-person fan fiction and say they were uncomfortable with it; one two-star reviewer wishes public figures were kept out of romance altogether. A third, smaller complaint is the third-act breakup, which one two-star reader calls the most frustrating she had read in a while.

The expectation to reset is the focus. The cover and the title promise Poppy and Rosaline, and they are the couple, but this is as much a book about celebrity publicity as about them. If you enjoy the gossip and the parallel, relax. If you want the love story centre stage throughout, calibrate.

It is also worth knowing how the evidence is weighted. Roughly half of the 30 most-read reviews mention an advance or review copy, and those reviews are more critical than the overall average, with thirteen at three stars or lower. Long-time fans are split too: one says she loved the author’s earlier series, another says she has outgrown her work.

My honest note: A four-star couple in a three-star book. If you love Bellefleur’s banter and do not mind the celebrity parallel, you will have fun; if real-person fan fiction makes you uneasy, start with her earlier books instead.

Element	In Playing for Keeps
Central relationship	Poppy Peterson & Rosaline Sinclair — a quarterback’s publicist and the older, formidable publicist of a pop star
Core tropes	Rivals to lovers, workplace romance, forced proximity, secret relationship, ice queen, age gap
Setting	The publicity machine around a celebrity couple, in California and Oregon
Heat level	4/5 — romance.io: explicit open door
Series	Standalone, told in Poppy’s third-person POV
Content notes	Past child neglect, alcoholism, mental trauma, queerphobia

How Spicy Is Playing for Keeps?

A 4 out of 5. romance.io places it in its “explicit open door” band, from 27 reader ratings, and tags praise kink and fem-dom among its themes. Heat is not where the arguments are: the critical reviews focus on structure and premise, not on the scenes.

The element worth knowing in advance is the secret relationship. Much of the tension comes from two women who cannot be seen together while managing a couple who must be seen everywhere. For comparisons, Bellefleur’s own Written in the Stars pairs a fake relationship with similar banter, and The Fiancée Farce is another of her rom-coms.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you love rivals-to-lovers banter, you want an older ice-queen love interest, you enjoy explicit heat in a rom-com, and the celebrity premise sounds like fun.

You may want to skip it if: you dislike fiction modelled on real celebrities, you want the central couple to dominate the page, third-act breakups frustrate you, or you want both leads’ points of view.

In short: a sharp, steamy workplace rom-com, at the cost of a celebrity subplot that many readers wish were smaller.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

Playing for Keeps was one of the most anticipated sapphic rom-coms of early 2026. It came out in January from Avon and has built to 3,634 Goodreads ratings and 1,075 written reviews as of October 2026. Amazon’s listing carries notices from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal. I could not check Reddit or TikTok for this one. Avon released an unabridged audiobook narrated by Lauren Sweet on publication day, running 10 hours 18 minutes.

Prefer audio? Listen to Playing for Keeps on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The banter and the chemistry, above everything. The second theme is Rosaline, whom fans adore. The third is the premise, which delights readers who enjoy the celebrity parallel.

What readers argue about and complain about: First, the clients’ storyline, which at least six of the most-read reviews say overshadows the romance. Second, the resemblance to a real celebrity couple, mentioned in more than half of those reviews and a dealbreaker for several. Third, the third-act breakup and the single point of view. The disagreement is less about whether the book is well written than about whether its premise works for you.

The standalone question worth asking first: Playing for Keeps is a standalone with no required reading. If it is your first Bellefleur, readers who love her earlier work often point to the Written in the Stars books first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Playing for Keeps based on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?

Not officially, but more than half of the most-read Goodreads reviews compare Cash and Lyric to the real couple, and some readers are uncomfortable with it.

How spicy is Playing for Keeps?

A 4 out of 5. romance.io places it in its “explicit open door” band.

Does Playing for Keeps have a third-act breakup?

Yes. Readers mention a third-act conflict, and at least one found it especially frustrating.

Is Playing for Keeps dual POV?

No. It is told from Poppy’s point of view in the third person.

Is there a Playing for Keeps audiobook?

Yes. Avon’s unabridged edition is narrated by Lauren Sweet and runs 10 hours 18 minutes.

If You Loved Playing for Keeps, Read These Next

For more of Bellefleur’s banter with a fake relationship, try Written in the Stars. For another of her rom-coms, go to The Fiancée Farce. For a slower, tenderer ice queen, In the Lonely Hours is a strong match. For more like this, browse our enemies-to-lovers reviews and the rest of our book reviews.

The Bottom Line

Playing for Keeps sets out to put two rival publicists at the centre of a celebrity romance, and it delivers the banter, the ice queen and the heat. What holds it back is balance: the clients’ story crowds the couple, the real-world parallel puts off a large share of readers, and the third act frustrates some. If you want a steamy workplace rom-com and the premise appeals, it is worth reading. Check Playing for Keeps on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Playing for Keeps ranks as a divisive mid-tier Bellefleur rom-com — sharp, steamy and fun at its best, held back by a celebrity subplot and premise that split readers, and best approached for the banter rather than as her strongest book.