ARC Review: The World is a Stage by Tamara Morgan

Highland Games athlete Michael O’Leary is famous for his ability to charm a woman right out of her pants. Maybe a little too famous. When he’s sidelined with a knee injury, his wingman pounces on the chance to take full advantage of Michael’s idle time.

Trying out for the local adult-themed Shakespearean production seems simple, but there’s a catch. Michael must woo the notoriously demanding lead actress, Rachel Hewitt, thereby freeing his friend to pursue a courtship of Rachel’s sister.

Rachel hates the thought of handing over the lead role in her admittedly scandalous troupe to someone so wholly uneducated in the ways of the Great Bard. But she’s in a bind, and the only one who can step up is a man who looks way too good in a codpiece - and knows it.

To add insult to injury, he refuses to take the role until she agrees to take his place in some barbaric warrior race. She’ll do it, but not with a smile. Unfortunately, the hardest part isn’t antagonizing her Scottish foes. It’s resisting the one man who seems determined to line and cue her heart - forever.

Review:

The World is a Stage is the 2^nd book in Tamara Morgan’s Games of Love series and just as a absolutely loved the 1^st book, Love is a Battlefield, this book was no different.

Michael O’Leary, looooove him! He has such a laid back personality and he uses jokes (often crude jokes) to lighten a tense situations. He is easy going, is able to enter into a situation with his eyes open and doesn’t seem to miss anything. He is very easy to like and fall for J He is part of a team that competes in The Scottish Highland Games, but struggles with a bad knee. But there is much more to Michael then his joking personality and being an athlete.

Rachel Hewitt, her sister Molly are members of a production team that performs adult-themed Shakespeare, as Michael refers to it. Rachel is a pretty hoity person at first glance. She doesn’t seem very approachable and scowls a lot (well, at Michael anyway lol). Rachel didn’t grow up with a very good role model for relationships. She carries a lot of guilt for not being home to help her sister through a difficult time. Therefore, Rachel has made it her duty to prevent Molly from getting into potentially bad relationships, and Molly is currently dating Michael’s friend Eric Peterson. And Michael is recruited to help distract Rachel from interfering into their relationship.

I’ll be honest I really wanted to smack Rachel, often. Now, she has a history that has led her to take the actions she does, and even though she opens up more while hanging out with Michael, I feel Tamara did a great job portraying how easy it is to resort to impulse decisions and take backward steps when scared. Rachel definitely redeemed herself by the end, thankfully. Michael is such a giving person, always helping his friends out and very good at seeing the good in people. Michael takes challenges and is able to turn it around into a positive, such as when he destroys his knee and can’t participate in competitions anymore. I really just can’t get over how much I love his character. I really like how the characters in Tamara’s books are “real”. Now I do normally tend to read paranormal/fantasy genres but I find that these books are refreshing, light, and realistic with the characters she creates and the conflicts they encounter.