I’ve heard good things about Kimani Romance, but Pamela Yaye’s Games of the Heart was the second book by them that I’ve reviewed — and the second D. I know the publisher has a number of good writers and good books; I just haven’t managed to find them yet because this book certainly wasn’t a contender.

Sage Collins is a celebrity manager, out to sign the next Kobe Bryant, a 17-year old high school student. Khari Grant is fiercely protected by his father Marshall, who only wants his son to go to Harvard and become a doctor. Sage knows the key to signing Khari is his father, so she decides to go “undercover” as a non-profit fundraiser to get close to the family. However, as she gets closer to both Marshall and Khari, she begins to regret this deception and only wants what’s best for the family — even if it puts her career on the line.

This plot set-up is one of those absolutely ridiculously contrived plots, one that never actually happens in real life. Why? Oh, yeah, because no one is actually stupid enough to think it’s okay to pretend to be collecting donations for a children’s fund when you’re actually out to make a million-dollar deal. Sage is irresponsible, selfish, moody, superficial, and just annoying. I didn’t like her at all. Marshall wasn’t that much better; he had his moments, but mostly he came across alternatively sleazy and overly principled. And not principled in a good way, but more like a crazy hard-ass of a parent that won’t accept anything less than Harvard for his son — no matter what Khari wants or needs. I also think that the two of them behaved completely inappropriately around Khari. Dating someone is one thing. Snuggling up to each other on the couch next to your teenage son and making out in public on his school trip is another.

The book was also just a bit sloppy. Writing was uneven in tone and full of head hopping, with a plethora of similes. Some were legitimately clever, while others were just weird or didn’t make any sense. I’m still puzzling over a few. And despite the fact that I don’t know of a single place in the country that still has its high school football season going in February, the author decides to send them to watch a game randomly around that time.

The one thing about the ending that made me happy was that it didn’t turn out to be one of the situations where the girl’s blamed, and then the hero has to grovel because he got mad at her. Those always make me really mad, and I thought that’s where this book was going – but at least Sage got her comeuppance.

I wanted to like Games of the Heart. The plot had promise, and the publisher is, from what I hear, usually decent. However, there were several times where I had to put the book down in disgust at the characters. At least the book was short.