First published 2024
Avery keeps to herself next door to the loudest house at Valley U. Gavin Leonard lives there, surrounded by athletes and noise. She watches Jane Austen adaptations and fills sketchbooks. He throws parties. The fence between their yards is the only boundary she needs. Then a camping trip goes sideways. Through a mix of bad luck and worse planning, Avery and Gavin end up at the same site with one tent between them. No fence. No easy exit. The problem is not just that Gavin is loud and careless and takes up too much space. The problem is that he is the last person who broke her heart. She already knows what he is capable of. She already paid for trusting him once. Forced proximity strips away the routines that kept them apart. Gavin is not quite what the party house suggests. Avery is not as indifferent as she pretends. The camping trip is short. The feelings it unearths are not. Hating the Player asks what you do when the person you have already written off refuses to stay written off.
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, contemporary-romance, college-romance
Vibes: bittersweet, character-driven, emotional, intimate, romantic
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, misunderstanding, second-chance-romance
Setting: Valley U, camping site
296 pages · Paperback · Rebecca Jenshak