Duke: Faking the Play by Kayley Loring

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Celebrity Shenanigans + Single Dad Softness

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💜💚❤️🩷
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋😀😛😘
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration – Multicast

🎧 Audiobook Review: Duke: Faking the Play (The Boston Tomcats, #3)

Author: Kayley Loring and Connor Crais
Genre: Sports romance
Narrators: Connor Crais, Desireé Ketchum, Mackenzie Cartwright and Evan Parker

🦸🏻‍♂️ The Hero: Callum “Duke” Duquette

Duke is a single dad to Chloe and the long-suffering kicker for the Boston Tomcats. Lately, he’s been enduring the team group chat’s newest obsession: finding him a date for Dash Taylor’s wedding. The wives and girlfriends have joined the mission, and suddenly everyone has an opinion about Duke’s love life.

On top of that, he’s nursing a quiet heartbreak — Chloe has officially entered the “Dad is uncool” phase and now prefers the company of a puppy at her grandparents’ house. With his weekend unexpectedly free, Duke wanders to his comfort place: Rebel Books, a cozy indie shop specializing in British authors.

🦸🏼‍♀️ The Heroine: Millie Darden

Millie is a world-famous actress best known for playing Arabella Peacock in the beloved Quizzlemoor Academy films — a role she’s held since childhood. Hoping for one blissful day of anonymity on Newbury Street, she dons a questionable disguise and an even more questionable Southern accent (not ideal when you’re very much British). She just wants a coffee, a stroll, and a few hours where no one recognizes her.

📚 The Plot

Duke spots Millie outside the bookstore and is instantly intrigued — not just by her beauty, but by the way she seems to be hiding from the world just as much as he is. Millie notices him too, and when a photographer appears, she ducks into the bookstore after him, clutching a giant book to shield her face.

A pair of young fans quickly recognize her, and Duke realizes why she seemed familiar: Chloe has had Arabella Peacock posters on her wall for years. He watches Millie charm the girls with genuine warmth… until one mentions a movie scene that strayed from the books, prompting Duke to mutter about Hollywood ruining “the good magic.”

Then the paparazzo bursts in. Millie thinks he’s after her; Duke thinks he’s after him. In the scramble to hide, Millie trips and grabs Duke’s backside at the exact moment the photographer snaps a picture — and suddenly, they’re the internet’s newest “caught in the act” couple.

🌟 Strengths

• Kayley Loring and Connor Crais continue to be an unbeatable duo. Their writing is sharp, funny, and emotionally grounded, and their collaborative rhythm shines in this series. Add in Connor’s narration — already one of my favorites — and it’s an instant-buy situation.
• The fake-dating setup is executed with charm. It gives Duke and Millie the perfect excuse to peel back their public personas and discover the real connection simmering underneath.

💔 Limitations

• Millie’s early characterization didn’t land for me. She comes across more posh and rigid than the “sunshine and rainbows” as promised in the blurb, making it harder to warm up to her until later in the story.
• The emoji gag overstays its welcome. I usually love text-message banter, but the running joke about using emojis like a tween felt forced and repetitive.

🎙️ Narration

The duet-style, full-cast performance is a standout.

• Connor Crais delivers with that deep, magnetic voice that could make a grocery list sound seductive.
• Desireé Ketchum brings a pleasant tone and a serviceable British accent.
• Mackenzie Cartwright and Evan Parker round out the cast with strong supporting performances.

The production is polished, immersive, and elevates the story — exactly what you want from a romance audiobook.

💬 Final Assessment

This audiobook delivers a fun, chemistry-filled romance with standout narration and a premise that plays beautifully into the fake-dating trope. While Millie’s early stiffness and the overused emoji humor kept it from being a perfect hit, the charm of Duke, the warmth of the supporting cast, and the stellar audio production make it a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Fans of celebrity-meets-normal-guy romances — especially those who love a grumpy/sunshine dynamic with a twist — will find plenty to love here.

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