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The Player

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The Player

By: Lily Morton
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
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About this listen

Frankie Bishop had only been married for a few months when he became a widower, leaving him with a mountain of debts, a business on the edge of ruin, and a parrot called Hank Marvin.

Three years later, the business is finally thriving, and Frankie finds himself ready to look for love again. It comes as a complete surprise to discover that he’s developed feelings for Con — his late husband’s best friend and now Frankie’s business partner.

Why did he overlook the gorgeous man who's been by his side through everything? Even more importantly, how can he tell Con about his feelings when Con seems to have suddenly found love with another man?

©2024 Lily Morton (P)2024 Lily Morton
Romantic Comedy Funny Witty Feel-Good

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What listeners say about The Player

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Really enjoyed it

Even though this is a short story it covered all the needed elements of a friend to lover story. Fun, romantic story.

Frankie is a widow and that marriage was short lived yet long enough to put Frankie in a mountain of debt. He has worked his way out and has a little breathing room. He has his nosy neighbors, a home and a parrot. He is also in business with his husband’s bff.

Con has been in business with Frankie but also has an attraction to him. When circumstances change and the two guys face the issue of attraction things change in a good way.

I enjoyed this story. It had all the elements of being able to see Frankie and Con’s lives. The ending is perfect.

I really appreciate the narration by Joel Leslie. Being an American sometimes I find the narration hard to understand or keep up with. Not so with Joel Leslie. His lyrical narration brought the story to life for me. I will listen to more by him.

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Lovely story

Con and Frankie story is my fave troupe best friend to lover.
Joel Leslie narration is still the best thing.
It’s nice to to listen to the extra epilogue.

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A wonderful renewal story

Con and Frankie have a wonderful friendship and Con is pretty much the thing that held Frankie and the business together after Frankie's husband died. Lily Morton does a great job and Joel Leslie's performance highlight Frankie slowly coming back to life after all the grief and realizing what he feels for Con and how he wants the rest of his/their lives to mesh. Just then, Con turns up with the boyfriend I loved to hate, although I could understand his frustration at finding another man with designs on his boyfriend. Morton has always been great at making me see all different sides of situations even while pulling for a certain couple. As always, Joel Leslie gets right inside these characters and brings them all to life in both the sad times and the witty exchanges.

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Sweet listen

The Player is quintessential Lily Morton, with a bunch of nosy side characters, miscommunications, missed chances, and longing. There's even a parrot who says a bunch of inappropriate things with great comedic timing.

Of course, it's all worth it when Con and Frankie finally get together with a couple of steamy scenes and a ton of sweetness. I really liked the pair and adored the cameo from my favorite Lily couple.

I had actually read this before, but it has been expanded with a new epilogue that was the perfect addition to the story.

It wouldn't be a Lily Morton audiobook without Joel Leslie narrating it, and, as always, the narration was great. The voices were distinct, and it made for an easy listen.

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Great best friends to lovers novella

I loved this. I could understand Frankie's reluctance to get involved with Con, especially when he thought Con had a boyfriend. In fact that's the only thing that annoyed me, why did Con let Frankie think he had a boyfriend.
Loved the interfering friends and inappropriate parrot.
Highly recommended.

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Super cute

Story: Typically for Lily Morton we get a lighthearted story full of all the feels, dry, amazing humor and brilliant characters. Loved EVERYTHING about this story!
Narration: Great performance enhancing the experience. Nothing surprising for Joel Leslie - the consistency in providing a great listening pleasure is really appreciated!

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Best friends to lovers!

I love Lily Morton’s books when I read them with my eyes and I love them even more when I listen to Joel Leslie’s excellent audio performance.

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes, combine that with two oblivious men and add in only one bed and you have a great story for Frankie and Con. The epilogue that Lily added to this book that was previously a promotional giveaway added the perfect touch to an already great story.

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Friends to Lovers!

I love Frankie and Con love story! A friends to lovers, so much longing, miscommunication and of course nosy side characters!
Frankie is oblivious of his feelings for Con until he arrives with someone else in town, it was good watching him realize that he was in love with him all this time, it was worth watching these two finally together after all the misunderstandings, this was sweet! Joel Leslie did an amazing job narrating this book!

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Fantastic

Another great book from Lily Morton. A lovely story following the two very likeable main characters. Plenty of snark, fun and a real love story with a happy ever after. Brilliantly narrated by Joel Leslie. Well worth a credit.

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Lily can sure write friends to lovers!

I just really enjoyed this one! The MCs are absolutely clueless, but in the best way. While this is well in the aftermath of grief, I still felt like it was incredibly realistic as to those feelings of coming back alive after you've been numb for so long. For a very short book it packed a big punch and more than expected happened! I do think that Tim was just a little too evil, but it was apparently the push that was needed for Frankie to see what was right in front of him.

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