After I finished Just Playing House, I immediately ran around telling everyone I knew to read it. I’m totally obsessed with this second chance + celebrity romance. It was cozy but with enough emotional twists and turns to keep me interested.
Marley is a personal stylist with two goals. She wants to convince the department store where she works to promote her to a personal shopper for the rich and famous. And she wants to get a mastectomy to reduce her chances of getting breast cancer. Marley’s boobs have felt like ticking time bombs since she found out she carries the BRCA1 gene. But things are looking up once she schedules the surgery and gets a chance to try out as a personal shopper for a mysterious celebrity.
Unfortunately for Marley, her new mystery client is Nikhil Sharma, her best friend from high school until they had sex, and he ghosted her for a chance in Hollywood. Nikhil is now an actor who’s gotten his big break as the first non-White character in a superhero movie franchise. He’s drowning under the pressure and hoping the girl he never got over can turn his scruffy Unabomber appearance into movie star material. Between her surgery and the possibility of a promotion, the last thing Marley wants is to rekindle a romance. But her heart has other ideas…
After a series of mishaps, Marley reluctantly agrees to let Nikhil move into her house as her caregiver after surgery because her friends are busy and her family is useless. The slow, sexy dance of Marley and Nikhil’s courtship quickly sucked me in. I’ve never read a book where the main character has a mastectomy while falling in love. Nursing back to health is one of my fave tropes so Just Playing House was serious catnip for me.
Nikhil has been pining after Marley since high school and he is desperate enough to reconnect with her that he will do anything she wants. Snacks? Of course. Bandaging gross wounds? Yes. Orgasms? Definitely. Marley tries to hold onto her annoyance with him, but it’s hard when he’s literally taking care of her every need.
Nikhil is a fascinating mix of grumpy + earnest cinnamon roll hero. He cooks the most amazing sounding meals for Marley, and I got very hungry reading about him and his dad. Yes, his dad also takes care of people with pakora! Who wouldn’t love a dad who can’t stop feeding everyone?
I enjoy books about actors that treat acting as a real job. Just Playing House has plenty of juicy industry drama, and I liked that Nikhil’s problems around the film are resolved through Marley and Nikhil’s smart strategy, plus found family.
Nikhil can be demanding and the studio calls him a diva. Fans of the franchise are unhappy a South Asian person was cast as the romantic lead and the studio responds by panicking and forcing Nikhil to change his name, his clothes, his personality, and even his teeth. The first time Marley meets Nikhil at the store his face is lopsided and drooling after yet another visit to the dentist and her reaction is priceless. Nikhil already has an uphill battle to get Marley to take him on as a client and his post-dental surgery look does not help.
I will admit that Nikhil is largely an asshole to people who aren’t Marley. He often ignores the power dynamics of being a relatively unknown actor cast in a big action movie. He argues with his costar, who is much more famous, and walks out of rehearsal when Marley needs him.
I didn’t mind his grumpiness because while he might be brusque when he’s refusing to go along with studio requests, it’s usually because they’re being unreasonable or he’s emotionally overwhelmed. The Canadians I read often fit the national stereotype of politeness so it was fun reading about a Canadian who didn’t seem to give a shit. Nikhil points out the double standard between how he and his White costars are treated in a way that might be rude, but was also cathartic to read. Being rude to racists is apparently A-OK with me.
While I was reading Just Playing House, Bridgerton unveiled a new Black lesbian character as a replacement for what was originally a white male character. The reaction from fans was instant and in some cases virulent, the fandom split into those who appreciated or opposed the new direction. The reaction to Nikhil’s casting in this book is eerily similar. Seeing fans of a franchise react so poorly to a casting decision was a reminder that Nik’s challenges and fears may have been intense, but they’re not unrealistic. It’s a topical issue that is handled well in Just Playing House.
This is not a grumpy/sunshine romance because Marley also has her prickly tendencies. She starts the book guarded and independent, hating to rely on others. I loved seeing her growth arc to where she sees how lovable and loved she is by the people around her. I also adored that her ambition is treated as a strength. She can see from day one that Nikhil needs a serious glow up to be red carpet ready, and she has a vision of how to style him in a way that is culturally resonant and not whitewashed.
I really loved how Marley’s bisexuality was handled with minimum fanfare by her bio and found family. Marley sneaking around and sexing up a famous actor is far more exciting to her posse than her past relationships with women.
There’s just so much collective love and healing in Just Playing House, it felt like a warm hug. This romance has squee-worthy caretaking, smart and talented main characters, and realistic celebrity antics. This book is in my top five movie star romances of all time. I loved the wholesome vibe, and can’t wait to reread it again.
