Playing Nice: A Novel

4.5 stars. Playing Nice by JP Delaney is an absolutely riveting novel that is breathtakingly suspenseful. Pete Riley is a devoted stay at home dad to two year old Theo. His partner Maddie Wilson works long hours at an advertising agency. Young Theo is full of energy and Pete has his hands full trying to convince him to be kinder to his nursery mates. Having completely recovered from the tumultuous early days and weeks of Theo’s premature delivery, Pete and Maddie’s world is upended when a stranger shows up and announces Theo is his child. Two premature babies were somehow switched at the NICU and Miles Lambert and his wife Lucy are raising Pete and Maddie’s son David. Believing they can peacefully resolve this complicated situation, the two families begin spending time together. But Pete and Maddie are stunned when Miles takes extraordinary steps that could destroy the life they have created together. Will they be able to stop him before they lose everything? Pete is a warm and loving dad who is very patient with his impulsive and active little boy. Although he never planned to give up his career for fatherhood, he is happy with their current arrangement. A former journalist with a newspaper, Pete is disappointed he has not managed to get his freelance career off the ground. Pete and Maddie have very different personalities but she is content to let him make the decisions regarding their son. She loves Theo but she thrives on her high stress career. Maddie is not as trusting or even keeled as Pete, so she has a few reservations as they try to work out a compromise with Miles and Lucy. When Miles changes tactics, will she and Pete find a way to keep their family together? With chapters alternating between Maddie and Pete’s points of view, Playing Nice is a taut domestic thriller that is multi-layered and utterly compelling. The storyline is well-developed and rife with tension as Miles steadily insinuates himself into Theo’s life. With pressure building as the story hurtles to an uncertain finish, JP Delaney masterfully brings this gripping story to an edge of the seat, stunning conclusion. A deliciously unpredictable novel that I loved and highly recommend. I received a complimentary copy for review.

This was a great story. What would you do if you found out the child you've loved and raised for 2 years is not yours? This is what Maddie and Pete have to deal with when they find out their biological Son was switched at birth. I couldn't put this book down and I followed closely through all the twists and turns until the shocking ending! JP has done it again! I highly recommend this book. Thank you to #Netgally for giving me an opportunity to read this before its released. #PlayingNice

My Review: Hands down the best book of the summer!!!!! You are not going to find a better read than this one. You will not be able to put this one down. You will read it in one sitting. This is my first book by this author and I can’t wait to read more. This book was about two couples who babies got switched at birth but didn’t find out until two years later. That alone had me hooked. What a storyline it was!!!!! How were these couples going to resolve this? Can they resolve it peacefully? Does the courts need to intervene? Who switched the babies? Was it on purpose? Was it a horrible mistake? You find out this and so much more. I can’t say enough good things about this book. I loved the whole entire book. There’s not a bad thing I can say about this book. I just loved the storyline and all the characters were just right. All of it meshed so well together especially the characters. Each of them had a specific trait to them that matched perfectly to make the whole book great. Let’s talk about the ending. Wow, wow, wow, it was so unexpected and through me for a loop. It was definitely the perfect ending to the perfect book. Between the plot, characters and all the twists in this book it made it an easy and fast read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️