NO MORE PLAYAS

In this sequel to The Playa’s Handbook (2004), a brief encounter between two sparring relationship experts changes both their lives.

Lance Montgomery’s scandalous The Playa’s Handbook is the ultimate manual of seduction, teaching wannabes how to score while successfully avoiding commitment. As a “playa among playas,” Lance lives by his own love ’em-and-leave-’em example. That changes when he meets Asia Fowler, a psychologist and successful writer with a more traditional idea of love and marriage. After a disastrous ending to their first night together, a hurt and betrayed Asia rushes out of Lance’s life, and into an engagement with her longtime friend Sean. A stunned Lance uses his relentless charm to get her back: He gets a copy of her schedule, shows up at a gala event where he knows she will be and, in a very stalker-like move, arranges to be alone with her on a tiny Caribbean island. She resists him for as long as she can, but his sincerity and their mutual passion win out. The author tries to liven up the predictable story with plenty of sex scenes, but ultimately, the hyper-successful, overly confident duo prove too hard to identify with. More interesting is the subplot involving Lance’s baby sister Carrie, who thwarts a would-be blackmailer with the help of a strapping ex-cop turned private investigator. Carrie’s combination of vulnerability, street smarts and brazen sensuality make her easier to root for.

A sexy, formulaic diversion.