I am such a fan of all that Elena Armas writes! This book was no exception! I loved all that it had to offer. Fans of Ted Lasso will love this cute soccer romance!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I was so excited to receive this advance copy, I absolutely loved Elena’s previous books and was excited to read something completely new.

I really enjoyed the characterization in this book, especially Adalyn. Seeing her work through her issues and really come into her own was so much fun to read. I also loved all of her and Cameron’s back and forth, they are great together.

The main critique that I had was that the transitions were not as smooth as I would have liked. For example, Adalyn and Cameron are reluctant co-workers who sometimes check each other out and then all of a sudden they were obsessed with each other. Maybe I’m nitpicking l, but sometimes it felt like a forced turn without lead up.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I cannot wait for what Elena has next!

This book is great! The slow burn, the chemistry, the build up.... Every word that came out of Cameron‘s mouth had me giggling or straight up losing my mind. Definite recommend!

ARC Review

After #sparklesgate #LadyBirdinator went viral, Adalyn is sent off to a cabin in the mountains to help manage the Green Warriors - a girl's little league soccer team. It's not one bit her cup of tea, the chickens, the woods, the COACH. But it's the only way she can prove she's calmed back down and won't have anymore outbursts.
This is the total feel good rom com everyone wants to read! It's a rustic "It Happened One Summer" with every lovable trope imaginable - forced proximity trope, meets sports/celebrity romance, small town and a little grumpy sunshine, you name it. And you know Elena Armas is the queen of laugh out loud funny, sticky situations with great banter! I don't always love the kid tropes, but these kids were so funny too and definitely added to the sweetness of the story.
All in all, I ate this book up! Even having zero interest in soccer, I still found it incredibly enjoyable. The heated connection between Adalyn and Cam was undeniable, and ALL of the characters were so hilarious and lovable. I can totally see another book happening too ;)

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Adalyn works for her father's famous soccer franchise as viral moment with the franchise mascot. She quickly gets shipped off somewhere remote for charity work and comes to odds with the little girls soccer coach. Hilarity ensues.

Easy formula, quick fun, read.

This book really pissed me off. It’s marketed as enemies to lovers but it’s really insta-lust, and I thought the way that Cameron and Adalyn interact was incredibly annoying. Cameron’s this growling alpha British stereotype of a man who only thinks about Adalyn’s body and Adalyn is a spoiled entitled unreasonable woman. None of the relationship building scenes were well-paced or structured and the ending was a let-down. The Spanish Love Deception was so well-written and well-paced in comparison.

Elena Armas Has Written Yet Another Book That I Didn´t Enjoy
This Book Was Super Boring
And The Romance Just Makes Me Mad

This was not my favorite by her but I don’t know why. It just seemed to drag and I wasn’t invested in the couple or the story. I think it was well-written and probably everyone else will love it.

This was a great read. Elena Armas can really write enemies to lovers. Cam was so swoon worthy and I really enjoyed all of the supporting characters in this one.

Elena Armas books do not dissapoint. The main characters had great banter and I loved the forced proximity. This is one of the few books where I actually like the male lead more than the female lead. She has a little too classically clumsy for me. But I loved how Cam was always there to catch her and it caused some great swoon worthy scenes between the two of them. Overall a great sports romance!
Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

I quite enjoyed “The Long Game”! This was my first Elena Armas book, and I’ll definitely be seeking out other, already-published titles.

When Armas told us this book was a slow-burn, she wasn’t kidding. It was quite a fair part into the book before our main characters finally decided to stop lying to themselves (not a spoiler; that’s pretty common for most romances, no? 😂). Nevertheless, she created an interesting read.

I found myself frustrated with both characters for probably at least half the book. Adalyn and Cameron are both incredibly stubborn, and their focused determination to see their personal objectives through makes them kind of - I’ll say “jerks,” to be a little more censor-friendly. As the story progressed, though, Armas starts peeling back character layers, and I found myself mentally encouraging both to wake up and smell the coffee they both love so much.

My one criticism with this ARC is Armas’s continued usage of “the man” or “the woman” when the character whose POV we are reading refers to the object of his/her affection. While I understand she’s trying to avoid repetitiveness, I feel it comes off as somewhat cold and removed.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

I freaking loved this it was so good. I loved Adalyn and Cameron and their chemistry. I loved how they met. I also adored the girl's soccer team. Especially Maria she was my favorite I love how she looked up to Adalyn and Chelsea with her tutu. I also loved Josephine and the activities she planned in Green Oak.I also thought the whole viral video about Adalyn was hilarious. I loved the girl's team and all their comments and references.I loved how protective Cameron was. I loved the activities like goat yoga and pottery. Also, I loved how competitive Adalyn was. I also loved their banter and how Cameron made fun of her binder and organization and how he calls her darling. I love how he planned a stargazing night, helped her through her panic attack, and bought her clothes. I loved the romance between Adalyn and Cameron and I really enjoyed the small town of green oak this book was everything

Ugh, this book.

I wanted to love it, I really did, but something about the writing and the characters themselves was all just a bit too amateur to me. The setting and promise of the plot sounded amazing, but the execution was lacking. I truly believe with a little extra time and editing, this could've been everything it was promised to be, but I was just not getting the sweet, fun Ted Lasso vibes I really, really wanted.

I enjoyed this new book from the author. The characters were well written and fun. I was happy to see them together. There were a couple twists to the book which I enjoy. Loved the wit of the younger soccer players and all the nicknames. Can't wait to see these folks in a new book...

The long game was indeed, LONG.

I love nothing more than a well developed slow burn, and this delivered. Cameron and Adalyn start out hating each other, only to reluctantly work with each other, and then slowly.. soooo slooooowllllyyyy, they fall for each other. And it’s incredibly to see it happen.

If you liked this authors previous works, you’ll love this one too!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I received an email inviting me to read The Long Game, and it came at the perfect time! I had just finished reading a string of novels that were all pretty dark in subject matter, so I was in the mood for a fun, lighthearted read. I've heard of Elena Armas's previous books, but I have never gotten around to picking one up. The description of The Long Game sounded adorable: a romcom in the vein of Ted Lasso, set in a small American town, with goats, fall festivals, and cute cottages? Sign me up! This story has the foundations of a really great novel, but unfortunately, it was not executed as well as it could have been.

Adalyn Reyes works for the Miami Flames FC - a club she is aspiring to someday lead. One day, she is caught on camera ripping the head off of the team's mascot in a heated exchange. The recording goes viral, and her father (the club's owner) sends her to a small North Carolina town to work for a girls' soccer team until the drama blows over. Much to Adalyn's dismay, a grumpy former professional English football star, Cameron Caldani, is coaching the team... and turns out to be her neighbor. Can she manage to work with him to steer the team to success? Or will the romantic tension between them only further complicate everything?

This is a difficult book to rate, because it has all of the elements to make up a delightful romance. There's an endearing setting, unique side characters, fun activities happening around town, and an attractive love interest - even mischievous animals pop up here and there. So, it should be a fun read. However, I found the story to be very difficult to get through, especially through the first 60%. It does get better after that, but if this hadn't been a NetGalley book, I would have almost certainly given up on it before then. I'll try to explain my biggest issues with The Long Game, because if these were fixed, I believe the novel would have been so much better.

First, the story starts off in a rather unbelievable way. I never bought into the setup of Adalyn's altercation with the mascot going so viral to the point where she is shipped off to the middle of nowhere to work with a team of mostly nine year-olds. Viral videos occur every day; they are often forgotten as quickly as they appear. I could never really see how the video was so bad that the only way for the team to not completely fall apart was to have Adalyn physically removed from Florida. Additionally, the team of girls Adalyn is sent to manage also feels random. The team's importance is eventually explained, but I spent 80% of the book wondering why a professional Florida soccer club would care about a small town's team of children in North Carolina. Adalyn's first interaction with Cameron is unrealistic, as well, and they both react so rudely to one another. Both of the characters are whiny, quick to anger, and hate each other without much of a reason. So, it was tough to get through this when everything felt so unrealistic, with unlikable characters on top of it all.

Additionally, there is far too much unnecessary repetition. It becomes truly grating to read if you are someone who gets annoyed by repeated phrases and actions. Adalyn hates being called anything but "Adalyn." That's fine, but she thinks about it and chastises people about it constantly. Cameron immediately calls her "darling" and "love," which, naturally, she hates. No matter how much she complains, he says it in what feels like every conversation with her. The characters are also repeatedly doing the same things, way more frequently than anyone would in real life. Cam is always humming, growling, and grunting. Adalyn is extremely clumsy and falls down at what appears to be every opportunity, which is then followed by Cam constantly picking her up. I legitimately had to take reading breaks, because I was so frustrated at reading the same details over and over.

The other major problem I noticed was the pacing. This book feels so long. There is a lot going on: the characters are coaching the kids team, Adalyn and Cam sign up to attend a list of town events throughout the season, the cottage where Adalyn is staying is a wreck, so there are many attempts to fix it up... and so on. Adalyn and Cam bicker nonstop, all the while growing more attracted to each other. The author tries to shove so much into this story, but she never gives each individual chapter enough time to develop and wrap up whatever scene is taking place at the time.

I am a sucker for cute, fluffy elements in romance. I love it when the characters are breathing in the autumn air as they sip on their hot cocoa and flirt under falling orange leaves. You get the picture. I thought this book was going to contain many charming moments, but it felt like most of the opportunities for sweet exchanges (there's a fall fair, a "Beer, Barbecue, and Boogie by the Lake," etc.) were short and skimmed over, and instead, most of the development between the love interests occurred at random times, such as on the property they shared or after practice. These scenes could have been merged together to create more genuine, sweet moments and to cut down on some of the unnecessary chapters. It would have made the pacing so much faster.

There are also very strange time jumps that skip over important character development. The one that annoyed me the most was after the first time the characters truly open up to each other, they apparently fall asleep on the couch. We go from them having a serious conversation to a time skip where they wake up the next day, and it took me so long to piece together what had happened (did they kiss? Did they cuddle? Adalyn explains it so vaguely in retrospect), when we could have just read about it as it occurred. Instead of jumping ahead, Armas should have let the scenes throughout the story play out in the moment for the characters.

This book isn't all bad. I struggled with rating this two stars versus three, because the last third did actually pick up quite a bit. Once the real romance started, it was more interesting to read. I liked Adalyn and Cameron as characters after they got over their initial hang-ups with each other and opened up. I found Adalyn's struggles of being perceived as cold and forgettable to be relatable. I also enjoyed reading about her feelings of female rage after working so hard towards her career goals, only to be manipulated by men. Cameron is an appealing love interest. He gives off strong Roy Kent vibes (although, I wish he had been developed a little more - I never quite understood what made him switch from hating Adalyn to wanting to give her the world). I liked how much Cam built Adalyn up and ensured she was protected. By the end of the novel, I found myself invested in their relationship and the small town.

A strong ending does not make up for the absolute slog it was to get there, though. Some parts of the novel were, in my opinion, pretty poorly written. It also felt as if everything except Adalyn and Cameron's relationship was put on a back burner about a mile away. For example, the novel hardly focused on the girls soccer team at all. I'm not even really sure how Adalyn was helping the team, beyond organizing them a bit. When it was important to her and Cam's relationship, sure, the team appeared. However, their games and their development as a team were barely shown. I expect the relationship in a romance novel to be at the center of the story, but the other elements that help a romance story stand out - such as the side characters, the plot, and the setting - should not be thrown completely to the wayside, either.

There is some heart to this story, and if it were better edited (with some chapters rewritten to cut down on the unnecessary scenes), it could truly be a good book. Even with as many issues as I had while reading, I still felt connected to the characters by the end. There's a hint that there may be a second novel set in the town, and I would even consider reading it. However, I can't really recommend this story as it is. There is too much going on, with threads that are not connected and far too much repetition. If you're very into love stories between grumpy characters, men helping women learn to put themselves first, and romances where the two main characters are always front and center together, you may enjoy this read. I would argue there is a plethora of other romances out there, though, that tie everything together better than The Long Game.

2.5 stars out of 5 stars, rounded down because I was just too bored and irritated for the first half to make up for the positive development at the end.

Excellent, slow burn chemistry between the couple. One issue was with inconsistency with the female protagonist and her story.

I saw this compared to Ted Lasso and was like heck yes!! Unfortunately The Long Game didn't really give me that vibe, and I struggled to get into it.

I want to thank Atria publishing, Elena Armas, and NetGalley for sending me an advanced readers copy of the Long Game to read in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read this new one by Armas because I love her other books! I have to say that I had a hard time putting this book down once I got started! I was obsessed with finishing it and seeing where the story would end up! I was very excited to find out that this was essentially a sports romance, which I have been obsessed with recently! I was also very excited for the enemies to lovers trope, another positive in this book! This slow burn romance, with double POV, was extremely cute! I felt myself getting attached to the characters and the town they lived in with all their fall activities! It made for lots of laughs, especially with the goats!

However, the beginning was VERY confusing to me and there were just some parts throughout the book that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me about how the character behaved. That very first chapter you are thrown in by witnessing the video of Adalyn attacking the club mascot, finding out it goes viral, and the Adalyn basically losing her job without the opportunity to explain to the club owner, her father, while her ex-boyfriend is in the room mocking her. It definitely setup for major drama, however it didn’t feel like it flowed well at the beginning. But after a few chapters, things started to make sense and we started to get the laughs in.

Overall, I give this book a 3.5⭐️ out of 5, but I am rounding up to 4! I definitely recommend reading this book when it comes out September 5th!

Elena Armas has done it again, The Long Game will have you in your feels. It’s a slow burn enemies to lover with a retired English footballer that will have you swooning every time he says “love”.

There’s goats, cats, and a wise and funny 9 year old that will steal your heart. This small town romance is perfect to read during the fall cozied up with a warm cup of coffee.