This is not what Cameron had planned for the summer. He put his professional soccer life behind him, taken the invitation from an old friend to hide away in her small North Carolina town, and gotten conned into coaching the local girl’s recreational soccer club. He’s surrounded by young girls who can’t figure out how to run downfield, one keeps calling him the wrong names, and another is….in a pink tutu?? The girls really don’t have a hope of winning a game, but they aren’t the girl who has him most aggravated – that honor belongs to very grown up and very driven Adalyn Reyes who’s running from her own mixed-up past. Will they be able to get on the same page to take the team to a championship?
New York Times Bestselling Author Elena Armas delivers a quirky small-town sports themed romance story in The Long Game that pits a busy Miami sports team executive against a soccer superstar playing for more than just instant gratification. This is Armas’ third book, following The Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Experiment, and was an instant Best Seller when released in 2023. This is a book about the power of our anger and the long-lasting effects of our actions in a digital/social media age.
I give The Long Game 4 out of 5 stars. Before this year, I don’t think I realized how many sports-themed romance novels are out there! I like the way Armas uses the fame both of the main characters are trying to hide from to help push them together in unexpected ways. I also appreciate the way she shows Cameron as a highly intelligent and sensitive man, not just an athlete or hunk. However, something changed in the last few chapters of the book, and this wasn’t as fun to read as it had been early on. Without giving away too much, there were decisions made that felt disingenuous to Adalyn’s character.
If you are a fan of this new athlete-romance genre, you will love this for so many reasons. Similar to other books we’ve read recently like Just Don’t Fall from Emma St. Clair, or Tessa Bailey’s Fan Girl Down, this gives a little bit of the behind-the-curtain information on running a sports team while showcasing some of it’s more problematic social media and fandom aspects. With light sex scenes, I would direct this book to audiences over 16. I would also caution this book for readers who may be triggered by physical violence or parental bullying.
I chose The Long Game for the US States reading challenge prompt “North Carolina”. I had originally planned a different book for this prompt, but after some heavy reading the past few weeks, needed a different direction. With some family drama, a beautiful enemies-turned-lovers trope, and lots of steam, this was the perfect mental release. Are you a fan of the new athlete-romance genre? What’s your favorite?
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: TBD
- Current audio book: Confronting the Presidents, Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
- Book I’m most looking forward to: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Fredrik Backman
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