"A disgraced soccer exec reluctantly enlists the help of a retired soccer star in coaching a children’s team in this small-town love story"

Soccer, rom com, enemies to lovers, cheeky kids, small towns...what could go wrong?

Unfortunately, this one just didn't do it for me. I just thought Adalyn and Cameron were waaaaaaaaaay too hard-headed, convinced the other was EVIL with no real basis for doing so. The animosity and bad behavior in the beginning was just hard to get through.

Overall, I thought this book had TONS of potential but just missed something in the execution. It was ....fine. But I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I liked to story of this book and felt that it flowed quite well. I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters and felt disconnected from them. Overall it was a fun story to pass the time, but didn’t feel particularly enchanted by anything.

A hilarious, sexy and fun read. I loved the enemies to lovers journey in this story. Cameron is a wonderful male lead with a great story and Adalyn is so funny and great female lead. Together, their story is romantic and passionate with so much fun in between. A must read for any romance fan.

This book is the perfect amount of sports, small town, and banter. I really liked the couple and how they interacted with each other. I will say sometimes I was confused about where they were as the dialog progressed but all in all I really enjoyed this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
⚽️ Sports Romance
🏡 Small Town Romance
🥵 “Good Girl”
🐐🐈‍⬛ Goats and Cats

Adalyn Reyes is an executive for a Major League Soccer Team, the Miami Flames, that happens to be owned by her father. Adalyn reveres her father and wants to follow in his footsteps and run the team one day. Her aspirations come crashing down when a viral video shows her attacking the team mascot. She is sent to rural NC to manage a local team to redeem herself, which turns out to be a girls little league team. Adalyn’s arrival doesn’t go well when she has a rough encounter with a handsome grump, who is also a retired major league goalie, Cameron Caldani. Adalyn is determined to win back her father’s approval, with or without Cam’s help.

This was definitely a fun one, Elena Armas just knows how to write ridiculously hot men. There’s a lot going on; father issues, working with an ex, enemies to coworkers to lovers, family drama, hilarious kids, and don’t forget the cats and goats. I am not a soccer fan but the sports aspect is not that important. I didn’t totally get the animosity between Adalyn and Cam in the beginning, they both just seemed to be in a bad mood, but once they started to tolerate each other I was hooked. I was also pleasantly surprised with how everything turned out in the end.

I read this book while dealing with a family member's medical emergency and let me tell you, this book had me kicking my feet and squealing EVEN while dealing with all of that and that, my friends, is how you know this book was a real win. I haven't read any of Armas's books previously, so I didn't really know what to expect. What I got was this absolutely precious book set in a small town in North Carolina about a woman who tries so hard to be like an ice queen but is actually really soft inside and a grumpy man who would really appreciate being left alone. And the two of them are managing/coaching a little league soccer team and it is just... darling. Absolutely lovely. I cannot wait for the follow up to this book because The Long Game was just perfection for me. Why is it that when I really love a book, I struggle so much with what to talk about? So, in lieu of me trying to make words and instead just rambling, I'll leave you with just this: If you're having a bad day, but small town romances with a quirky group of side characters is your jam, pick this one up.

*RECEIVED ARC THROUGH NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR HONEST REVIEW**

Absolutely DEVOURED this book. I love anything written by Elena but I think this one is possibly my new favorite.

5⭐️
2 🌶️

Daughter of soccer club owner makes news when she gets caught on camera attacking the mascot. He sends her off to a small town where she can help a small youth league win a championship. What she wasn’t expecting was to run into (literally) a grumpy former pro soccer goalie. They bicker non stop until they realize that there’s something deeper beneath their hard facades.

Cute premise, but the execution was just ok. I loved The Spanish Love Deception, & I had high hopes for this new series. But, the story left me wanting more from Armas’ writing. Too many repetitive phrases. But, it was still cute and a quick read. Thanks NetGalley for an advanced version!

(Actual: 3.5⭐, rounded up) Thank you again to the publisher(s) for granting me access to this eARC; it's my first time getting approved for an Elena Armas book and I'm such a fan. I'll be upfront: I found this story to have a really slow-burn pace to it— which isn't a bad thing; in fact, I do typically enjoy slow-burn romances, but this one was reallllly slow. That said, I enjoyed the main arc for the FMC despite it somewhat overshadowing the MMC's overall plot/personality (he just..... read a bit bland). I did also love the soccer aspect of the book though, since it's one of my favorite sports! While this book may not be for everyone in light of its pacing, I would still recommend it out to others and look forward to reading more books by Elena Armas in the future!

Thrilling delightful and sweet. Elena Armas continues to hit the ball out of the park with her spicy and adorable romances. Excited for the next one!

Thank you to Atria Books & Simon Audio for my review copies!

If you’ve read other books by Elena Armas, you know that she enjoys torturing us with slow burn romances paired with forced proximity. If that’s something that you’ve enjoyed, you’ll love this one just as much!

This slow burn was a little too slow burn-y for me after a bit - see the spoiler section at the bottom for mild spoilers. But overall I really enjoyed it.

Some things I really liked:
💖 an FMC who is hyper independent and career obsessed
💖 an MMC with some emotional intelligence (also a retired soccer player)
💖 a forced proximity project for them to work on - coaching a children’s soccer team! (The kids are TOO cute)

🎧 While both narrators were fantastic, Shane East’s voice was PERFECT for Cameron. You will love it. Promise.

Sadly this one wasn't for me. I love Elena Armas and her slow burn books, but this one felt as though the connection wasn't slow burn as much as their ability to have a rational conversation about what they needed. The pacing felt off to me and the number of errors genuinely got in the way of my ability to enjoy this one (I usually ignore this altogether in ARCs, expecting some typos, but this had them on almost every page).

It’s official, this author is not for me. The books are too long and full of nonsense that don’t have anything to do with the overall story. Bummed, but it happens

Darling. Darling. Darling. Darling. Darling.

I can't. Anymore.

It was hot for the two first times cuz the guy is British but ENOUGH.

Otherwise the rest wasn't toooooo bad. It wasnt the most compelling story ever. It was certainly better than her first two books, but it wasn't particularly good either. I wouldn't recommend.

And listen, in book one it was Aaron Blackford that she kept repeating and repeating and repeating, and in book two it was Lucas saying Rosie's name every five seconds.
Can we move on from repeating things ALL THE DAMN TIME.

Okay I'm done, thank you.

This book was not for me. There were too many storylines, the dialogue was terrible, and the romance was nearly nonexistent. It was also so drawn out that I was bored most of the time. If I wasn’t reading it with a friend I might have put it down and never picked it back up.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! As a romance read aficionado, I was thrilled to see a new book by Elena Armas being published. I thoroughly enjoyed The Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Experiment as easy comfort reads. However, I was pretty disappointed by The Long Game.

The story revolves around Adalyn Reyes, a soccer exec at her father’s company, who after a public disgrace, is exiled to a small town in North Carolina. There, she meets soccer-star-in-hiding Cameron Caldani (surprise surprise: he’s the love interest). Adalyn is tasked with helping the local soccer league reach success and enlists Cameron’s help to do so. She is surprised to find that the soccer team she has been charged with is comprised of 8-year-old girls who have very little training and discipline. She faces challenges settling into her new responsibilities and environment, and an enemies-to-lovers arc develops between her and Cameron.

The premise of this novel was exciting for me. I love big-city-girl-in-small-town romances. However, right from the first page, I had moments of confusion, and it was difficult to fall into the story. I had a hard time understanding the intentions of the characters, and their dialogue with each other left a lot to be desired. I also felt that the author did not make use of easy opportunities for Adalyn’s character growth. Her relationships with the residents of the town were flat and two-dimensional.

All in all, I believe that Elena Armas’s literary sweet spot exists in stories about culture and family, not pseudo-sports-romances.

A cute, cliche rom com. The characters fell a bit flat for me and it drug out longer than it needed to.

I loved that the female MC was an independent boss lady, the dual POV’s and the side characters. It was filled with tension and there was a funny goat yoga scene. Unfortunately, it was way too slow for me. By the time the characters got together I already lost interest in the book. If you enjoy slow burns, sport romances and the small town setting you should give this one a try, it just wasn't for me.

The Long Game by Elena Armas left me with mixed feelings. While I had high expectations going in, the book turned out to be an average read for me. The story started off slow, and I struggled to connect with the characters. However, things began to pick up around the halfway point when Cam and Adalyn started interacting more, and that's when I found myself enjoying it.

One major reason for my disconnect with the book was the soccer/football setting. I'm not a fan of the sport and lacked basic knowledge of its rules, which made it hard for me to fully engage with the story. Additionally, the general plot structure felt abrupt, with chapters that didn't allow the story to breathe.

Despite these issues, Elena Armas is known for her ability to create chemistry and tension between characters, which still shone through in this book. However, the overall plot flow felt clunky, and the story lacked depth.

One bright spot in the novel was the intriguing characters of Matthew and Josie. They piqued my interest more than the main characters did. In fact, I'd be open to reading a spin-off book about them to learn more about their stories.

In conclusion, while "The Long Game" had its moments, it fell short of being Elena Armas's best work. The book's pacing, the unfamiliar soccer setting, and the abrupt plot structure left me with a lukewarm reading experience.

I enjoyed the dual POV and I think that the characters were well developed. As a former soccer player I appreciated the references to the game. Overall I felt like there was some backstory/plot that is missing. As the tension built between Adalyn and Cam - I felt like Cam could do no wrong, he was always going above and beyond. Each of the MCs had their version of grump and it actually made me laugh at times. This was a slow burn which kept my interest and I wanted to know the next parts. The girls on the soccer team - so funny, light hearted and innocent but honest.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, this is a voluntary honest review.