Clara’s Verdict
I approach college sports romance with mild wariness as a rule – the genre has a persistent habit of substituting competitive banter for actual character development, treating emotional growth as a decorative finishing touch rather than the story’s engine. CE Ricci’s Playing Dirty, the fourth book in the Leighton U series, is more thoughtful than that pattern would predict. The premise is deliberately provocative on multiple levels: Theo and Madden are not only rivals between two university baseball teams but have also become step-siblings through their parents’ relationship – a layer of complication that lesser writers would simply exploit for tension without interrogating what it genuinely costs. Ricci interrogates it with care. Theo’s gradual bi-awakening is written with real honesty: slow, uncertain, and entirely free of the narrative shortcut of sudden certainty that collapses character arcs in weaker examples of the trope. The book takes the time the story needs rather than the time the genre typically allocates.
This is explicit content, clearly not intended for readers under eighteen, and the author states that plainly. Within its genre and its adult audience, it is notably well constructed for what it is attempting.
Rated 4.5 out of 5 from early reviewers, published in April 2026.
About the Audiobook
Published by Deserted Press LLC, the audiobook runs to 11 hours and 39 minutes – a comfortable length for the genre that allows both the romance and the character development proper space. This is Book 4 in the Leighton U series, structured as five standalone novels centred on different couples. You do not need the earlier books to follow Theo and Madden’s story, though returning characters from the previous three books will carry more resonance if you know them. The central conflict is carefully layered across three registers: the baseball rivalry operates as external pressure and social identity; the stepbrother dynamic introduces familial and moral complexity; and Theo’s internal reckoning with his own feelings is the actual heart of the narrative. Ricci handles all three without letting any single strand collapse the others, which requires more craft than the premise might suggest.
The decision to write Theo’s journey as gradual and uncertain rather than instant is the book’s most significant structural choice and its most meaningful one. Bi-awakening narratives in MM romance too often accelerate past the uncertainty for the sake of narrative momentum. Ricci resists that acceleration, and the result is a more believable and more emotionally resonant story.
The Narration
Brandon Francis narrates, and the performance fits the material well. Single-narrator MM romance lives or dies on the narrator’s ability to differentiate the emotional registers of two male protagonists convincingly, without resorting to caricature. Francis manages the distinction cleanly, giving Madden a confidence and steadiness that contrasts with Theo’s more volatile, searching quality. The more intimate passages are handled with directness rather than self-consciousness, which is exactly what this genre requires from its narrators – anything coy or awkward undermines the story’s emotional commitments. At nearly twelve hours, the pacing is comfortable without being indulgent.
What Readers Say
Reviewer Montys_bookera called Madden and Theo their favourite CE Ricci couple to date, singling out Madden as ‘so incredibly thoughtful, loyal, patient yet dominant’ and describing Theo’s growth across the novel as ‘a joy to read.’ Reviewer Terri appreciated specifically that Theo’s bi-awakening was ‘hard-fought and built up to him trying all the things without just diving in straight away’ – a note that identifies precisely what makes the characterisation work, and why it stands above the genre average. Ashleigh declared it the reason for ‘bags under my eyes this week,’ which is among the most unambiguous endorsements available in this genre. Reviewer Dan found the emotional temperature ‘much lower-angst than expected and actually pretty sweet’ – honest feedback that may disappoint those who come in expecting sustained suffering before resolution, but serves as a genuine preview of the book’s register.
It is worth noting that this is the fourth book in a series that has been building its readership since Book 1, and the reviewer responses here reflect readers who already have a strong relationship with CE Ricci’s writing and with the Leighton U world. That context matters when reading the enthusiasm – these are invested fans, not neutral first-time encounters. That said, the specific details they praise – the pacing of Theo’s internal journey, the quality of the banter, the balance between warmth and heat – are consistent across different reviewers, which suggests the praise reflects the book’s actual qualities rather than simply pre-existing loyalty to the author. A new reader coming in cold may need a chapter or two to calibrate to the series’ register before the dynamic fully clicks.
Who Should Listen?
For adult listeners who enjoy MM college sports romance with stepbrother dynamics and want a genuinely earned emotional arc constructed with care rather than formula. The series is described as five standalone novels, so you can begin here without prior investment, though starting at Book 1 will enrich the wider cast. This is strictly adult content and not appropriate for younger readers. Listeners who require high-angst drama maintained into the final act may find the resolution gentler than they prefer – that is a taste question rather than a quality one. Listen on Audible UK.
