This was my first Elena Armas book and won’t be my last! Aside from the slow burn nearly killing me, I devoured this book. Cameron is absolutely incredible and I loved his maturity. He was mysterious, blunt and everyone’s dream. The pets, the side characters and small town in general were just the cherry on top that really made this book.

Such a great dual POV with enemies to lovers. This book had incredible banter and tension. I was definitely a bit frustrated with Adalyn as I felt her being stubborn and rude to Cameron was dragged on for a bit long and the book could have been a bit shorter in general but overall it was a great read and I will definitely be recommending! Thank you so much for the opportunity of reading this ARC Elena!

WHEN YOUR MOST ANTICIPATED READ BECOMES A NEW FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR. THE FEELING IS UNMATCHED.

Slowww burn sports romance, grumpy x grumpy, dislike to lovers (done RIGHT😩), small town, forced proximity (neighbours🤭), dual pov, mental health rep.

Cameron and Adalyn (I love an unbothered boss queen) are chefs kiss perfection🤌. AMAZING CHARACTERS, AMAZING PLOT. I love couples that annoy the living shiza out of each other. They drive each other up the wall, like ok? Just make out. Straight up POWER COUPLE. They’d do anything for each other and they’re such a good team😭. The banter, total nuttery, protectiveness, nurturing comfort, the effort, chemistry, JAILLL TIME SHMEXY SWOON WORTHY build up. Holy mother of god🪦. Adalyn was drooling? Honey no, I WAS. I was also sweating. And laugh crying😮‍💨. I feel like we all want to be loved for who we truly are, they deserved the world🥺. AND THEY GOT IT. EACH OTHERS SAFE SPACE, HOME🫶. It’s such a green flag to feel that kind of love and support🩷.


Full review on Goodreads.

Okay, I like a slow burn but this was a sloooooooow burn. Overall I enjoyed the chemistry and the banter between Adalyn and Cameron. Plus, Josie, Maria and Matthew all made excellent side characters. But everyone else in Adalyn’s life were the absolute worst, my heart truly broke for her and how she was treated by her father and David.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This was really good! It’s a small town romance, with forced proximity involved between the characters. I enjoyed it so much! The romance was wonderfully written, a real slow burn romance. Some stuff was slightly silly to read about or downright cheesy, but I found it charming nevertheless. The only thing is that I found the ending incredibly rushed.

This book is described as It Happened One Summer meets Ted Lasso and I cannot agree more! The book has the same small town, enemies to lovers vibes as It Happened One Summer, but within a soccer setting. Another book that this reminded me of was Kulti by Mariana Zapata, which is another favourite of mine!

The book is a slow burn romance, like Elena Armas' other books, but the relationship development felt more natural to me in this book versus The Spanish Love Deception. It didn't feel like the author was trying to drag out their romance for dramatic effect, but rather, the characters actually needed time to figure out their feelings and what they want.

I also have a soft spot for children as side characters in romance books, and I loved that the two main characters coached and managed a kids soccer team together. Their interactions with the kids were very cute and led to some funny moments.

Definitely my favourite from Elena Armas so far!

3.5 stars!

Small town romance with forced proximity and slow burn? Sign me up!

This was my first Elena Armas book and I will say it was an enjoyable read. I did find some aspects cheesy but loved the community that the small town had and fell in love with all the characters! I do feel like the beginning was drawn out and then the ending was rushed. I wish the pacing had balanced these out a bit better but overall I enjoyed the story!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

A slow burn romance that you will love - especially if you enjoy sport romances. What I enjoyed most about this story was seeing a woman slowly come into her own with the encouragement of someone who sees her strength and encourages it. I could not help rooting for her and cheering her on. Also - loved the British accent :)
Armas did not disappoint with this title. The book is definitely worth adding to your collection.

I am not usually one for slow burn romance novels, but oh boy, this one was worth it. I LOVED this novel!!

Adalyn and Cam have the perfect chemistry. The banter, the swoon, they have it all.

I loved the small town, the secondary characters and the ending… I won’t write any spoilers, but it definitely ended on a high note!

I highly recommend this one to all my romance-loving friends!

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Elena Armas for the advanced ebook in exchange for my honest review!

The Long Game by Elena Armas

5/5⭐️

Review:
The way this book had me smiling and kicking like a little school girl!! I’M OBSESSED!

•Big city girl goes to small town
•A+ Banter
•Forced Proximity
•THE NICKNAMES
•Tension filled slow burn

I absolutely loved this book! It felt like such a breath of fresh air and I seriously can not wait for a possible Josie and Mathew book!

A huge thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me an ecopy of this title!

3.5

Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.
But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team's mascot goes viral.

Rather than fire her, the team's owner-who happens to be her father-sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she's tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players are nine-year-old kids.

To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter, he's also set on running her out of town.


I’m not a soccer fan at all, so I was a little hesitant to read this. But the soccer part was basically just the background to the story, there wasn’t as much soccer as I thought. I really loved the kids’ nicknames for Cam, they made me chuckle.

I thought this book could have been much shorter. It went on a little too long for me and I wasn’t racing to pick it up every second I got.

It was an ok rom-com read. This was my first book from this author. I did like the strong female lead and Maria’s sassiness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for a DRC. The Long Game is available September 5.

I was skeptical about the premise of this book, but I LOVED Armas’ past 2 books so I wanted to read it because of that, and it did not disappoint!

Firstly, tell me why I pictured Cameron as Gerard Butler for some reason? Haha it made me think of the movie “Ugly Truth” just in their banter and sabotagery, not on the story clearly.

I’m not a soccer fan but I didn’t mind it in this case as it was a quirky story and I really liked the slow burn in the book.

I’m loving the men characters in books lately where they’re genuinely nice guys and not douches that need to revindicate themselves, and Cameron is definitely one of the sweetest most badass characters out there. I would say he’s like a pitbull: looks mean, might even have a bark, but secretly just a little teddy bear inside.

The one thing I didn’t like (okay two) was how short she made the part where she finally confronts her dad, there could’ve definitely been a couple more paragraphs to it. And obviously THE ENDING whyyyyyyyyyyy end on that cliffhanger 😩😩

Like, I get why, but still why!!!

All in all, 4.5/5 it was a very enjoyable read, made me laugh and I found the secondary characters like Maria & Josie VERY endearing, especially Maria. I also really liked the addition of latin@s and spanish in the book. Would definitely recommend and I hope I’m not mistaken in saying this’ll probably be part of a series? I’m hoping we either get a Matthew book or a Josie book cause they both were hilarious.

Note: received an ARC for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! I've liked Elena Armas' books before but something about this just hit a little more for me. It was cozy and cute, and I loved the small town setting. I think the characters were well written and I loved the relationship within. The side characters were all interesting and multi-dimensional, and kept me interested. I definitely want more from Armas that is like this!

The Long Game was a total binge read for me and just what I needed.

Adalyn Reyes is the daughter of the owner of the soccer team the Miami Flames. She’s worked hard in hopes to one day take over for her dad, however, that all goes up in — well, flames — when she loses her temper and decapitates the teams mascot. Becoming a viral sensation, her father chooses to send her to Green Oak to manage the Green Oak warriors until the press dies down, but it’s absolutely the last thing she expected. A team of adolescent girls with a coach she recognizes, retired soccer star Cameron Caldani.

Of course, Cam and Adalyn have less than an ideal first meeting which involved a rooster and a minor run in with a car bumper. From there, their relationship only escalates until that fiery banter ignites into something else.

With an incredible supporting cast, A plus banter, a rural setting, and a few goats, cats, and one pesky rooster—The Long Game made me smile ear-to-ear and laugh out loud!

Thank you Simon and Schuster for the arc-I absolutely loved this one!

This book you guys!!!! It was such a delicious sweet slow burn! This was my first book by Elena and I am in love!!! Cameron Caldani is a frickin treat!

I was glued to this story and the characters. Elena wrote such a beautiful book.

There was so many things I enjoyed about this book! The banter! The little girls soccer team! The meddling! The goats! And when the spice finally hits, it is page melting! I absolutely loved the hate at first sight between Cameron and Adalyn! His grumpiness and her boss lady attitude made for some hilarious times! Watching them slowly start to adore each other and become protective of one another really made for a lot of foot kicking!

And I could not get enough of when Cameron called Adalyn "Darling" or "Love"!!!

I can not wait to read more from Elena! This book has left me smiling from ear to ear!!

"𝓢𝓱𝓮'𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓪 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝔃𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓷. 𝓢𝓱𝓮'𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓪 𝓰𝓪𝓶𝓮."

I have now read all 3 of Elena Armas books. I really like the Spanish Love Deception, and thats it. None of her books do anything original. She seems to take the plot of a very popular rom com and rewrite it a bit, the problem with that is it makes her stories very easy to compare to the source material. The Spanish Love Deception worked because it was just as good or better than The Hating Game. The Long Game, does not fair as well.

The set up of Cam and Adalyn being forced together required me suspend my disbelief and embrace the alternative reality where the owner of a professional sports team is deeply involved in a small town, low budget, youth team that they do not market or advertise at all to the point where their own daughter was unaware. The owner then forces is very unqualified daughter to go work for that team, said team which already has a team manager and overly qualified passionate coach making Adalyn's presence redundant.

I understand the spoiled rich girl in a small town is supposed to be quirky fish out of water, but to do so required the main character to be still likeable deep down, which Adalyn was not. Whereas in Schitt's Creek and It Happened One Summer the leads appear immature and uncomfortable in their new situation, Adalyn just comes across from the start as the worst.

Honestly, this just wasn’t for me. I found the characters quite stale. I didn’t feel drawn to either of them. I didn’t feel any exciting tension or romance between them at either. I managed to get 25% before firmly accepting I wasn’t enjoy this and didn’t see any point in continuing. I wasn’t particularly interested in seeing where the story headed either. For those reason, this is regrettably a DNF for me.

Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! Cam and Adalyn ♡♡♡ i did not expect such a slow burn but i thoroughly enjoyed it. The last half of the book had be hooked, I couldn't put it down! The moments when Cam was taking care of Adalyn and when they finally kissed 😭 I would have enjoyed if more was happening in the first half of the book though, to me it was a bit of a slow start but i still really enjoyed it!

If you are a fan of the Spanish Love Deception series, I would highly recommend giving this book a try as well!!

Pub date: September 5, 2023 - PREORDER YOURS NOW!

Wow, 5/5 stars! I couldn’t put this book down and has hooked from the very first chapter. I have read all three of Elena Armas books and have thoroughly enjoyed them all but hands down The Long Game is my favourite. Thank you so much to Elena Armas and Simon & Schuster Canada for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

✨ARC Review✨

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for The Long Game by Elena Armas

First thoughts upon reading this arc: I'm seriously obsessed with this book, and I'm in love with Cameron Caldani. The absolute fiery chemistry between Cameron and Adalyn was jumping off the page, it was funny, it was swoony, it was spicy, it was everything I wanted and more. Cameron is the best MMC I've come accross in a while; he's tattooed, grumpy but secretly a cinnamon roll, loves cats (Daddy! IYKYK), and he calls Adalyn "Darling"...I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Adalyn is also grumpy, but it hides her anxiety and people-pleasing tendencies, because she's secretly strong and a badass and I loved her. You also get enemies-to-lovers excellence and some caretaking thrown into the mix, plus a "good girl" might have slipped in there too. I preordered my copy, and cannot wait to add a physical copy of this gem to my trophy case. Thank you so much to Simonandschuster and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you simon and shuster Canada and netgalley for the ARC :)

rounding it up to a 3.5 stars!!
I really loved the first half! the banter was great! the enemies to lovers trope is my fave and I thought it was really enjoyable to read. I definitely see why people were saying it had ted lasso vibes and I really loved that about it! My only issues were some parts were a little unrealistic and had me eye rolling a bit. Also I felt like the female main character made some ridiculous choices in the end that weren't necessary. Other then that though, I thought the town its based in was super cute and I loved the fall vibes the book had!