A big thank you to @beckywardbooks & @netgalley for my arc, I'm super grateful! This was a super cute read, I loved the London setting and enjoyed recognising places and locations. Loved the footie concept and of starting your own footie team - Crawford united, adored how the community came together to help make it happen too 🙌🏻 gave such found fam vibes! The instant connection between Lily & Ben was everything and the spice too 🔥 overall a fab read, devoured in one sitting would defo recommend!

I did not finish this one, I couldn’t get past 20% . I really loved the premise but I’m not sure if the writing or the storyline got lost along the way

Exactly what it says it is.

Playing the Field reads a bit too on the nose as Ted Lasso fanfiction, and I can't say I'm too mad about it! As a lover of Ted Lasso, I loved the similarities, but I can see why someone who just wants a fun, steamy sports romance may not be too thrilled about it. The romance falls a bit flat, but the vibes are excellent.

If you love Ted Lasso, and wished there was a bit more romance in it, this is the book for you!

If you're going into this more for the Ted Lasso vibes rather than the romance, you might be a fan. However for me Ted Lasso could sometimes be a bit cheesy and overly hopeful , and this book was very much the same.

I felt the book tried to focus so much on the creating the club aspect on top of the romance that as a result, both aspects felt slightly underdeveloped. The romance parts were pretty bland with no real buildup to the relationship, to the point that the third act breakup (which was so annoying) actually was the only interesting thing about their relationship. I would also definitely not describe this as grumpy/sunshine. On the other hand, regarding the club storyline, there was a lot of football talk, which would be fine if you were an avid football fan EXCEPT as a football fan, it felt SO unbelievable (yes I know it's fiction) that it became unenjoyable. I think I was maybe just not the right reader for this and like I said, if you liked Ted Lasso, this might be the book for you!

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC!

This is a cracking read. Yes, a lovely romance starts, blossoms and the has its long distance issues, however that isn’t the heart of the book, the backdrop of a new football team, and the effort, energy and love that gets put in to are it grow and root is great. This is a community book which comes across as kind and gentle. The new teams efforts to get through the first season with money issues, no ground and no salaried staff is entertaining and kept me hooked.

I'll admit that I went into this with high hopes. As someone who has binged Ted Lasso and fallen in love with Roy Kent a number of times, I was expecting Ben Pryce to be my new book boyfriend.

Unfortunately, this fell flat for me. Possibly because I expected so much from it but who knows? I didn't feel the chemistry between Ben and Lily at all and they seemed to go from being friends who had similar interests to suddenly sneaking around.

I wasn't a great lover of the "fake relationship" that Ben had to be part of either and felt that it was unnecessary.

Overall, some might love this book but it just wasn't for me.

I wanna thank NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review..

I did not really connect with this one at all to be honest.. the first half of the book was extremely boring in my opinion.. it started off already not for me.. I also did not really feel any chemistry between the 2 main characters.. it was all off.. all the football talk was also pretty boring..

I am a big fan of sports romance so this one definitely caught my eye! It was a cute read but could be confusing and wordy at times! However, it was a fun read and would recommend if you like soccer.

Fun, sexy and full of heart, Playing the Field is perfect for fans of Icebreaker and The Cheat Sheet as well as shows like Welcome to Wrexham and Ted Lasso.

Grumpy/Sunshine, Forbidden Romance, Secret Dating, will-they-won't-they

Unfortunately I was bored through this book. Not a lot happened and it was not something I could connect with. Maybe I am the wrong demographic, I let my teenager read it and she loved it.

Slightly (very) unrealistic, this was a fun romance that won't leave much of a lasting impression but is nevertheless enjoyable; as a football fan it doesn't always make *sense* but it's definitely something a bit different!

I thought this book was so well paced. I really enjoyed the building of the love story and was sucked in. A great romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

Based on the description I was excited to read this book. However, I couldn’t finish it. I didn’t feel connected to the characters and their relationship, the plot was boring, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

This was an easy light read and would definitely check out other books from the author.

The story begins when the FMC- Lilly Crawford, finds out her local football team is relocating further away. So her father decides to start their own club with the help of family and friends. In the midst of this she connects with a premier league bad boy footballer Ben who’s been sent back home after suspension .

I did enjoy Lilly’s relationship with Ben but it definitely felt a bit fast. Within the first meeting there’s a connection and they get together pretty soon after despite his ‘reputation’. But overall a super sweet heartwarming read and if you enjoyed Ted Lasso, you should definitely check this out.

I didn’t love this book but that’s because it read more as a how to manual for setting up a football team. There was elements I liked but overall I struggled to finish

Playing The Field is a sports romance rom com novel by Becky Ward.
Whilst the story was fun and easy to follow, I felt that something was missing. I think the author focused on the sports more than the romance part. In a romance book I just expected a little bit more. I still enjoyed it as it made for light, easy reading. Other readers might like it more.
💓 Thank you to Avon books, netgalley and the author, Becky Ward for my arc ebook copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Playing the field is a sweet football romance. Felt the focus was more on the new team than the characters romance how ever was a nice easy read.

The premise of this book was different and I really liked it. I kind of wish it was in two parts so that after he goes back we get a little bit of Ben's pov. They were really cute and I had a good time. I loved seeing her family get the football team set up.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I'm really going through my sports romances era at the moment and this just heightened it further. It had me squealing and laughing. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it on to other

Based on the description, I thought I would love this book but the beginning was so drawn out that I couldn’t handle finishing it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Playing the Field' by Becky Ward.

I feel like this book put me into a slump, it took me so long to read it's not even funny. I couldn't tell you anything about this book because I really just didn't enjoy it. There's definitely a market for this book, it's just not me.