This book was so damn cute. Cute. Cute. Cute. I loved every single second of it. I'll recommend this to everyone I know.

4.3 rounded down to 4/5.

"Playing for Keeps" by Jennifer Dugan is a delightful YA sapphic romance that hits all the right emotional notes while delivering a captivating story of love, friendship, and pursuing one's dreams.

At the heart of the novel are June and Ivy, two dynamic characters whose initial clash as baseball pitcher and student umpire evolves into a deep and meaningful connection. Dugan masterfully navigates their relationship, portraying their journey from enemies to friends to something more with authenticity and warmth.

While the romance between Ivy and June develops quickly, the emotional depth of their connection shines through, making their bond feel genuine and heartfelt. Ivy's selflessness and June's vulnerability add layers to their characters, making them relatable and endearing to readers.

Dugan skillfully tackles themes of grief, mental health, and the challenges faced by athletes, grounding the story in real-world issues while maintaining a lighthearted and engaging tone. The exploration of the rules prohibiting players and umpires from dating adds tension and complexity to the plot, highlighting the sacrifices and risks the characters must navigate in pursuit of their dreams.

Although the pacing may feel slow at times, Dugan's adept storytelling keeps readers invested in the characters' journey, rooting for them every step of the way. The inclusion of sports lingo is seamlessly woven into the narrative, ensuring that even readers unfamiliar with baseball can easily follow along.

Overall, "Playing for Keeps" is a winning combination of heart, humor, and romance that will leave readers swooning. Jennifer Dugan delivers a home run with this heartfelt and engaging tale that celebrates love in all its forms.

As a general rule, I try not to DNF any ARC that I read because I want to give them a fair shot, but boy was I close with this one.

I understand that this was YA but it was infuriatingly childish. The main characters were horrible to each other, selfish, and allowed their shared traumas to make them into terrible people.

I was not rooting for anyone during this because they both made me angry. This was miscommunication at its worst.

I love an lqbtqia+ romance. I am always looking to diversify my books. This was definitely a fun lighthearted read and I’ve been really into sports romances recently!! So this was perfect. There were times it was a bit slow, but overall it was a sweet lil read.

I wanted to love this one and have previously loved this author's work, but unfortunately this did not work for me. The instalove feel left me with little investment in their relationship, plus a lot of the dynamics and conflict were just hard for me to find believable. I also found it difficult to differentiate between whose POV I was reading.

I will say that I like the representation of a female official/umpire and a female baseball player. Beyond that and the cover, there was little else that truly worked for me.

I applied for this arc, because I thought this book was suitable for my students. And I wasn’t wrong.
I enjoyed this book, although for me it was too slow and too predictable. But I do think my students will love it. I already added it to my list with recommendations in my class.
I definitely think this book younger readers will adore this one.
Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I received an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I really didn’t like Playing for Keeps. The romance was too insta- love for me and the conflict was kind of ridiculous even for teenagers. I really enjoyed a lot of Jennifer Dugan’s early books, but the last few books, adult and YA have been misses for me.

3.75 Stars

Thank you to NetGally for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

I was excited to see a sapphic sports romance from Jennifer Dugan. I think she did a fantastic job of capturing the pressure that young adults feel from not only their friends/family but also from themselves when you have big dreams that you’re pushing yourself towards.

I thoroughly enjoyed June and Ivy’s story but I was really nervous that in order for them to work out someone was going to have to give up on their dream. At times I felt like I could see a train wreck coming in slow motion and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

While things did work out in the end I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I think I was just left wanting more? Overall I think it was another great book from Jennifer Dugan.

4.5 stars rounded up

Playing for Keeps is Jennifer Dugan at her best.

Sure, the characters sound/act a bit too mature for their age, for a dual POV romance, their voices are similar, and their enemies to lovers arc was a bit rushed.

But there's depth to this swoony love story: Ivy and June's growth was meaningful both individually and as a couple, their romance was sweet and modeled good accountability, and the book's treatment of grief and all its aftershocks and ripples was poignant.

A must read for sensitive sports saphhics.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I often like Jennifer Dugan’s work, but I had mixed feelings about Playing for Keeps. I liked it for the most part, but it’s definitely not one of her better books.
I did enjoy the characters for the most part.. I liked the romantic dynamic between them, starting with a rivalry and developing into friends and more. Things escalated rather quickly, and the conflict was rather dramatic, but it makes sense from a teen’s perspective. And I really liked how they were ultimately able to connect over the common bond of reckoning with grief over losing a loved one to cancer. I am a little concerned at how increasingly common cancer subplots are, but here, it at least was a bonding point for the romance.
I did feel like their POVs and voices weren’t distinct enough, so I would often forget whose head I was meant to be in. The pacing also lagged at times, and I found my attention occasionally flagging throughout the book.
While this was a bit of a letdown, it has enjoyable moments. Provided the issues I mentioned aren’t issues for you (especially the cancer bit), I recommend giving this a chance.

Ivy and June are opposites of the same coin. One has dreams of being a professional game official, while the other has dreams of being on the field. They are destined to cross paths, and tension runs high as both are women absolutely dominating their respective fields (pun intended).

I loved the dual perspectives and getting to see the same interactions take place from a different angle. Playing for Keeps is a love letter to sports, women, and queerness. There were many times throughout the course of the book I was brought to tears as Ivy and June each process their grief and how it affects them day to day. Definitely started off as a light hearted, star crossed lovers, but ended as a story that tackled a bunch of tough topics.

My only hesitation with the book was with a side character and Ivy. It felt...odd, out of place, and not fully wrapped up. However, I'm willing to forgive that and move past it because of how I felt during every other scene in the book.

This book was a bit heavier than I expected. They are both dealing with so much pressure from their parents and they don't know how to handle it. I liked Ivy and June together, they just fit so well. They didn't fully know how to be together but as 18 year olds, that made sense. I liked the ending of the book and how they were both able to figure out what worked for them.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Ivy and June are girls on a mission - a mission to conquer male-dominated sports professions - it's just a shame that they are on opposite sides of the sports fence. Ivy wants to be a referee for the NFL and June is the star pitcher of the school's baseball team. Both are driven; both are talented; both realize that a relationship between a player and a referee is a huge breach of ethics, but can they keep it a secret?

This was an interesting twist on a romance for teens, because despite how Ivy and June feel about one another, their relationship grows quite toxic. To retain her partiality, Ivy begins trading games so she doesn't make calls for June's games, putting her own future at risk. June meanwhile, is so focused on playing through the pain that she doesn't even notice that Ivy is making all the concessions and threatens to walk away when Ivy tries to discuss things. I'm always glad to see books where teens advocate on their own behalf even if it causes them pain. I won't give away the ending - but this one is a roller-coaster of feels.

⭐️ 𝔸ℝℂ ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎 ⭐️
Playing for Keeps by Jennifer Dugan
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you for the advanced reader ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

sᥡᥒ᥆⍴sіs:
June is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she's a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.

Ivy isn't just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead.

The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.

As June's shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls' secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?

mᥡ rᥱ᥎іᥱᥕ:
This was my first sports romance novel and I enjoyed it! The story was a little slow to start for me but by the end I was really invested in the characters. I was honestly rooting for Ivy and June the entire time, they just seemed to be a match made in heaven…or on the baseball field.

I read a lot of heavy plotted books so this was a perfect light read. I laughed and smiled throughout the entire thing, it was just what I needed!

DNF at 40%
i could not care less to know what happens to be honest. i have no idea what kind of personalities ANY of the characters have. their personal problems are a bigger plot than the actual romance. i also hate insta love and the characters get together 1/4 into the book.

Playing for Keeps by Jennifer Dugan is an adorable young adult queer romance. Two young women have dreams of breaking into predominantly male professions—Ivy dreams of being a professional referee and June dreams of pitching in the major leagues. Their first meeting on a baseball diamond goes about how you would expect from a pitcher and an umpire…they seem to HATE each other. But then a chance meeting in the changing room after the game leads to some conversation and obvious chemistry. The more they talk, the more they realize they actually really like each other and they have to keep their relationship a secret—because how would it look for a player to date an umpire? But this isn’t easy for either of them as they try to prove themselves to all the people around them, both on and off the field.

I loved the character development in this story. We learn a lot about both June and Ivy and how they came to the places that they are in. I enjoyed their cute banter and their discussions about how stressful it is to be 18 and trying to figure out your future. I also loved a queer romance mixed with baseball! A cute read but be prepared for some emotional chapters too, as both characters are dealing with the loss of loved ones.

Coming from opposite sides of the the sports world, June, the player, and Ivy, a ref, find themselves falling for each other and in a forbidden relationship. While they navigate this new love, they each have to navigate the impact the death of a family member had on them and their parents, June, losing her softball-player mother, and Ivy, losing her brother.

Though the deaths are old, the pain is very fresh, and is what at first bonds them together. But, personalities, and a bit of ethics, clash, and girls find their relationship tested.

June is left facing possibly years worth of letters her mother left, for many milestones in her life, and coping with the weight of those expectations, while her father pushes her harder and harder, in spite of an injury. Ivy has to face her parents trying to form her into a mini version of her brother, to fulfill all his dreams, though all she wants to do is ref. Both girls, through each other and through work on themselves, have to find a way to stand up for themselves and grow.

I also have to say, it's a bit nice to have a forbidden sapphic romance that isn't centered around their queer identities. It was a nice change of pace that I was quite happy to have.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel, though at times I found myself very frustrated by decision making. But then again, they're women in love, hell if I'm not familiar with that feeling.

A really, really cute sports romance! Ivy (a selfless gal with a heart of gold and big dreams of being a professional sports ref) & June (a bad-ass with a heart of steel and one hell of a pitching arm) easily begin this story as enemies that you can’t help but root for!

This book showcases raw emotions – grief (of losing a parent or sibling), heartbreak, despair, and hope. (And love, OBVIOUSLY!)

A must-read for sports romances with a dash of miscommunication!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC! Publication Date: April 30, 2024

I love Jennifer Dugan and as a lesbian reader, I will always feel so seen when i read her books. This book is no different. I have been destroying books that include sports once again -thanks all for the game reread. This delivered on that itch. easy to read, and truly enjoyable. there was slow moments but they were also enjoyable. Thank you for the chance to arc read for a un-bias review. 3.5/5 stars

I wanted to love this, but it just fell short in too many ways. There was so little time w/ the two characters actually "together" v. them each dealing w/ the relationship separately. I wish she was a softball player. I mean, this was a great chance to boost women's sports. But, I get it. Player and Ump forbidden love was cute. Locker room spice is never wrong. haha