This is the most tropey book I’ve read in a long time. I’ll be blunt. It didn’t surprise me in anyway. this played hard into both Olympic stereotypes and sports romance cliches. I’m not necessarily mad about it, but I also wasn’t super impressed. It was fine, and it was pretty much what I thought it would be going into

I liked the idea of this story especially with the Olympics around the corner. It wasn't all that I thought it would but but it wasn't bad at all either.

The narration was done very very very well. This isn't something I would read again but I would definitely relisten to it again!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the Advance Reading Copy. This novel is perfect for the summer with the Olympic trials and the Olympics later this year. Olivia and Ezekiel are so relatable and real, I immediately felt drawn to them. This novel was about young 20s navigating their professional careers and finding love, which was just so sweet. Medium spicy but felt very natural with the novel.

Let the Games Begin was so fun! I enjoyed how much Olivia and Zeke's personal lives were involved throughout the story. While I like their chemistry at times (mostly in the second half of the book), sometimes their flirting style made me feel like the setting was high school? Also didn't love some of the conflict.

This was a Great romance to read.. It wasn’t exactly a Meet cute but overall I was please with the outcome in everyway. Especially with Olivia finding her voice and the courage to go after what she truly deserved. I highly recommend this book to my readers the look romance and also those that are fans of women’s empowerment. The narrators were perfect for this book.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian audio for the opportunity to preview this book.

Macmillan Audio ALC
What a perfect summer romance for this summer. It was so much fun to be at a fictional summer Olympics with the 2024 Summer Olympics being right around the corner. I enjoyed how this wasn’t just focused on the romance, but also friendship, figuring out and fighting for what you want and learning to grow when things don’t feel like they’re going the way you think they should. I enjoyed all the characters here. Olivia and Zeke were perfect enemies and their banter was so good. This is a slow burn, which gave me time to really get to know them as individuals, and I think this made me love the story even more because I knew exactly what I was rooting for. There was lots of depth, which I want in my romance. The narrations was excellent. Her voices for the dual POVs worked so well.

3/5 stars 🌟 This book started off so cute. Perfect timing to read this before the start of the Olympics. I was excited about it, however, towards the end I got pretty bored.

Read this if you like:
•the Olympics!
•YA novels
•Insta love

This book was so fun. I really liked the audiobook. This book has me sooo excited for the Olympics this summer.

Thank you Macmillan audio

I enjoyed listening to Let the Games Begin. The narrator was great and I could really feel Olivia’s voice coming through. I found the romance to be too fast but appreciated the mental health aspects of the story related to Zeke. Overall an easy listen that readers will enjoy!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down
I am so thankful to have gotten the Audio ARC for free from Netgalley and MacMillan Audio so I can leave my voluntary and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It was a very sweet romance which many will love so I don’t want to discourage people from reading it as it has a lot of good elements.

The narration was ok. I love anyone with a British accent and this one was different than I was used to. There were a few times that I couldn’t immediately understand some words due to the harsher accent as the words got swallowed making them unrecognizable.

My biggest issue with the book was that it was so wordy! I found myself checking out many times on parts that simply didn’t need to be there. I expect had I been reading the prose physically that I would have skimmed a bunch of it.
I don’t tend to mind descriptive writing but it just went a bit overboard. The word that comes to mind is “flowery”

However, I do recommend the book for those who like cute romances. It’s especially good for this summer with the Olympic Games coming up. This is the perfect book to keep you in the Olympic head space while rooting for a cute romance.
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Let the Games Begin was a great summer romance. The main characters are an Olympic athlete and a journalist. They are fun together and I enjoyed their friends as well. The conflict made sense and worked with the story. Definitely would recommend to romance readers for a summer read! Very timely for fans of the Olympics as well.

Olivia is beyond excited to be fulfilling one of her dreams as an intern for the Summer Games but things are quickly going south when she learns that she didn’t actually get the job. Already not in a good mood, she runs smack dab into Zeke, one of Team Great Britain’s best runners. He’s the star runner on the team but he is struggling to overcome his anxiety. After a moment of instant connection, Olivia and Zeke can’t stop thinking about one another but can they overcome the obstacles that they are facing?

This was such a fun read! A great debut by Rufaro Faith Mazarura and a perfect theme for this summer heading into the Olympics. It was a slow burn romance so it did me take a little bit to get more invested in the characters but I really enjoyed their chemistry!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early copy!

This was a very cute sports summer romance. Zeke is an Olympic runner grieving his dad and Olivia being a black woman who has to work twice as hard as the intern in the field that she’s in they end up falling for one another. I loved all the characters it was definitely a slow burn took me a while to get into but overall I enjoyed it. The narrator did an absolute great job as well. 3.5⭐️’s I would like to thank @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book caught my eye especially with the olympic trails starting! there was romance, sports, and more in this story. It was a slow burn romance between Olivia and Zeke and I felt like they both had depth and enjoyed getting to know them. It was not super spicy and even though it was a slow burn, they both fell quickly which I am not always a fan of.

3.5/5

Wonderful debut!
This was equal parts character development, with a medium paced and evolving plot and setting, with a great sprinkle or romance.
I think the timing with the olympics and the current watch of it made it ever more fun.
I will always appreciate when there is time in the plot to discuss aspects like, how women get treated in the work setting. (Esp because this is a sports setting) The clever ways to talk about the different experiences brown people have in the realm of competitive sports as well.
There is a really great supporting cast that added to this already great banter and internal thoughts the characters had.

I would just suggest to create a bit more time for more swoons but other than that , super enjoyable!

This was the perfect read as we get ready for the Summer Olympics. Olivia is a helper during these games as the true job she wants was given to another. She runs into Zeke, literally! Olivia was a bit mean in her first interaction with Zeke but of course this just sparks his interest. Loved to see the progression of their relationship even with the reluctance from Olivia.

Enjoyavble romance based in the 2024 olympics, randomly in athens and not Paris, but that doesn't detract, great lead and supporting characters

This was a cute slow burn romance novel delivered in dual POVs - Olivia and Zeke. Zeke is a young athlete who is training to compete in the 2024 Olympics, and Olivia has a dream to intern at the Olympics. She finally gets her chance. One day, Olivia and Zeke run into each other and sparks fly. Those sparks were full of tension the first time they ran into each other, but as they see more and more of each other, the sparks turn from tension to romantic interest.

This story was cute. While I wasn't upset about reading it, I wasn't in love with it either. Something was missing for me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I enjoyed getting to know Olivia and Zeke throughout the book. I thought the character development was well done. There was a lot of depth given to their characters, and I really felt as though I got to know them. I did feel that intimacy and chemistry between the two main characters was somewhat lacking. They fell hard and fast for one another, and I think that took away from me seeing a true and authentic connection between the two of them.

Overall, the story was very cute. I loved that it was based on the upcoming Olympics. I also found myself entertained while listening. I also felt the narrator, Shaniqua Okwok, did a good job with the executions of this story. I absolutely loved her accent and the tomes she used to bring the characters to life. 3.5/5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was a charming debut, you can tell there was a whole lot of heart put into it, and it’s a refreshing take on the sports romance niche. I was really excited for this one and love the premise of having the Olympics as our setting/backdrop (a favorite fanfic trope of mine tbh😅) but unfortunately with that it still fell a bit flat for me.

The pacing of the book was slow and I found it hard to genuinely feel fully invested in the plot as well as our main characters’ relationship. I can see the author was aiming to avoid an insta-love scenario but given the story doesn’t take place over a significant amount of time, it’s very slow paced. There’s also very minimal chemistry and tension between the pair to really pull me in (likely because they had very little page time together). The characters were really well developed though! This also reads more as a YA/NA romance than an adult contemporary imo (and not just because it’s closed door).

While this one wasn’t a /love/ for me, I still liked it well enough and I would be inclined to look into any future titles Rufaro Faith Mazarura releases!

Thank you so much to Flat Iron Books for sending me a physical ARC and to Flat Iron and NetGalley for the audio ARC!

This Olympic-level sports romance was SO CUTE. Olivia and Zeke are both at the Olympics in Athens. He’s there to run, and she’s there to be an intern on the organization side. Nothing *quite* works out like they think it will, but their literal run-in will change the course of their experience this summer.

This was so tender, y’all! Zeke has lost his dad, and that fact tempers everything he does. Olivia knows she’s a Brown girl who has to try twice as hard as a white man, but she’s willing to do it to get what she wants. They are both ambitious and admirable, and I enjoyed this fun glimpse of what Olympic village and the training/competing might look like behind the scenes. It’s got a little nod to celebrity romance too, as the paparazzi do play a role here.

All in all it’s an excellent summer romance, especially in an Olympics year! I’ll be looking for more from this author!