I just finished Game Point by Meg Jones, and it was such a treat! It’s about Dylan, an Aussie tennis player ready to quit after losing her tenth grand slam, and Oliver, a British pro who talks her into one last shot. They team up, and while they’re figuring out the tennis world again, they fall for each other—total friends-to-lovers sweetness. The Australian Open setting was so vivid, like you could feel the heat and hear the crowd. It’s funny, romantic, and has just enough tension to keep you turning pages. Perfect for a cozy read with a cup of tea—I really enjoyed it!

I can imagine this being a great beach read! Paired with a nice playlist to go along with the emotions each chapter conveys.

In this friend to lovers story, Dylan and Oliver team up to help Dylan level up for a better chance at finally winning a tennis trophy. Both players have different attitudes when it comes to training and their mindset so it's interesting to get the different perspectives and also the way gender plays a role.

There was something about the pacing that felt kind of off to me. I think the beginning felt like it was dragging to get to the good parts but around the second and third set rushing to finish up.

Otherwise it was a fairly straightforward read. Funny characters and dynamics while also having serious topics/issues the characters need to work through.

Points for the cute cover.
Points for giving Dylan her own story.
Sure, she was the 'girl you love to hate' in Scottie's story but her character was an intriguing one.
What is her backstory?
This author answers that question in this book.

Though its a dual POV, Dylan's highs and lows are clearly set out from a friend's toxicity, the support from her mum, dad and elder sisters, and her driven nature to compete. Wonderful to see a romance novel that not only recognizes competitiveness is a trait to be applauded in women just as men.

Oliver's character was a bit more flat for me. He's at the top of his game but really don't see other than him verbalizing it, what had him take a step away as a competitor into coaching. Even his interactions with Nico didn't lend much of an understanding into the why.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#GamePoint #NetGalley

Meg Jones has (unsurprisingly) done it again! Continuing the Game, Set, and Match series after LOVING Clean Point, I couldn't wait to see what was in store for Dylan and Oliver. Game Point was everything I could have wanted for them and more. Filled with witty banter, captivating competitions, and beautiful character growth, I was never bored reading this book! Not to mention the impeccable playlist that goes along with Game Point. Seriously, nobody does book playlists like Meg Jones! I will 100% be telling everyone I know to read this book.

Didn't realize this was a second book in the series but that didn't take away from this story at all. There are some connections to some characters i didn't understand but that didn't even pull me from the story at all. There is some seriously good tension built into this, so much that halfway through i was begging them to kiss. This has a great friendship to lovers feel about it that I forgot existed. Lods of tennis lingo and real research was done for this book that I appreciate. There's an underlying sadness throughout this book that I can really relate to as I get older and I really appreciate that. Really fun great banter and some really great hot scenes to match. Thans Netgalley for an early copy.

No one does tennis romance like Meg Jones! After meeting both Dylan and Oliver in Clean Point, I was beyond excited for their story. It’s impossible not to root for a redemption story like Dylan’s. After all the second-place finishes, I was cheering her on extra hard in hopes of her finally getting that big win.

I loved the build of this story so much. The friendship and comfort that Dylan and Oliver find in each other is so beautiful. It’s only fitting that a romance blossomed over time. Their dynamic on the court is especially entertaining. Somehow, Oliver managed to get through to the softer side of Dylan, and I adored it.

Once again, I have no notes. Other than that I NEED MORE OF THESE BOOKS!!! I absolutely soaked up every second of this story and will 100% be going back and rereading it again. This is sports romance at its absolute finest!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and review this book! I received a free advance copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

First off i would like to thank netgalley & Avon for the opportunity to read & review this gifted E-Arc.

Dylan & Oliver
First off i wanna say that i loved these two so much! I did a beta read of this story and knew instantly that Oliver was gonna be my favorite man. I adore watching these two become some type of friends and over months that friendship grew into more and watching these two find ways to remember they was friends while hiding their crushes for each other was so beautiful. I absolutely loved watching Dylan become this absolutely baddie while being a tad softie underneath it all. I loved watching her grow and become more confident in herself. I adore watching Oliver find out what he wants in life and going for it, i loved how he pushed Dylan to get outta her comfort zone and help her see her full potential. I loved how he showed Dylan everything she needed and wouldn't hesitate to do what ever it took for her. These two have a great push and pull along with top notch banter.

5/5 Recommend this book. Meg is absolutely amazing with her writing. Her ability to write head strong woman who know what they want an go for it is beautiful while writing such beautiful golden retriever men who are obsessed with and down bad for their woman. Plus her ability to let you understand tennis if you don't know much is really good also.

I have really been enjoying sports romance books. Game Point by Meg Jones was the latest I’ve read. It was a good one!

absolutely loved this book sm!! although scottie and nico were so so good, this one just GOT me, because there were so many parts of dylan that i could relate to and her angst just hit so so hard fr

and oliver was just so patient with her while also reminding her of her strength and power and ugh they were just so so good!! their relationship was also the CUTEST, coach and brat being their nicknames for each other GAH i love them!!

dylan’s journey from who she was in clean point and then throughout this book was just done so well and i loved seeing her grow and learn to believe in herself and not get lost in her head. and her and scottie’s friendship!! after everything that they’ve gone through, i just love the little found family they’ve created <3

thank you so much to netgalley for the arc!

This was a cute friends to lovers tennis player romance with the coach/player dynamic. Not much going on with the plot so kinda limped along sometimes.

Alright, tennis fans and romance lovers, grab your rackets (or your e-readers!) because "Game Point" by Meg Jones is a SERVE you don't want to miss! 🎾💖
Let's dive into why this book is a total ACE:

First off, can we talk about the text conversations between Oliver and Dylan? 📱💬 They were pure gold! Those little snippets gave us such an intimate peek into their evolving relationship, making the "friends to lovers" trope feel so authentic and sweet. 🥰

And speaking of their relationship, watching Dylan and Oliver navigate the rollercoaster of their professional tennis careers was a journey that hit all the right notes. 🎢 Their individual challenges and triumphs were so relatable, and the way they supported each other through it all? Absolutely heartwarming! 🥺 It's a beautiful reminder of the power of connection and understanding.

Now, let's talk tropes! Meg Jones delivered on all fronts: friends to lovers, secretly dating, coach-player romance, and a tennis backdrop – what more could you want? 🔥🤫🎾 It was the perfect blend of heat and heart.

But the real MVP? The "dic*tionary" at the end! 🤣📖

Oliver's journey towards mental peace and achieving her goals was incredibly touching and relatable. 🌟 It’s a powerful reminder that even the strongest athletes face their own battles, and the importance of prioritizing mental health. 🧠 We all need that gentle nudge to give ourselves grace, and this book delivered it beautifully. 🙏

Overall, "Game Point" is an entertaining and engaging read with meaningful reminders to take care of your mental health and choose happiness. ✨ It’s a story that will make you laugh, swoon, and reflect. If you're looking for a romance that's both fun and impactful, this is it! 💯 Highly recommend!

Thank you to Meg Jones and the publishers for this ARC read!!

Game Point by Meg Jones is a fun romp around the world with professional tennis players falling in love. It’s an adult contemporary romance with the friends-to-lovers trope, coach x player, and a girliepop struggling to win the biggest title of her career. I've rated it 3.5 but rounding up to 4.

Overall, I had a very fun time with Game Point. Dylan, our main character, is a very good tennis player who has never managed to cross the final hurdle; win a Grand Slam trophy. Ten finals and not one title and she is frustrated. As a workaholic and a perfectionist, I related to Dylan and her struggles. Her anxiety and the need to be the best, to be perfect. There are moments where she is unlikeable and struggles and lashes out at people, but this feels natural and well-earned in the narrative. (She’s the grumpy, sarcastic, black cat kind of character.)

In comparison, the other main character is Oliver; another professional tennis player who has won the US Open and is currently coasting in his career. He likes playing tennis, but it hasn’t been his main passion for a while. He needs to shake something up and do something different. He’s quite friendly and social, the kind of outgoing and sweet guy that a stubborn, hardheaded, and fierce woman like Dylan would pair well with.

While I liked Dylan’s character journey, there is a flatness to Oliver that I didn’t love. We get his perspective sporadically throughout the book and while I like him, the arc his character goes on isn’t interesting or strong enough to carry his perspective. I think developing his character, deepening him with flaws, or changing the plot structure would’ve made his perspective worthwhile.

As for the plot, I wish we could’ve seen Oliver and Dylan as coach and player so much earlier. The promise of the premise and why I specifically picked up this book was to see them as player and coach and see how that dynamic played out throughout the novel. There is an inherent power dynamic and struggle that is interesting in this context. I thought this would work for me because they’re similar ages, they’re friends beforehand, and they’re trying to help each other find something. (Dylan is trying to find her confidence and mojo and Oliver is trying to find his love for the sport and perhaps a new career path.) Unfortunately, it takes far too long for them to decide to be player and coach. It’s drawn out for so long that I was wondering during many scenes why they hadn’t just become player and coach yet.

And this is especially frustrating to me because when they did become player and coach, the book was infinitely better! Finally seeing them work together and improve professionally was so fun! Especially as they developed a friends-with-benefits into a personal partnership alongside the professional one. I think that was very well done and very fun, but it takes until about 60% of the way through the book for the actual premise to kick in. I loved their training sessions, how Oliver understood who Dylan was as a person and a player and used that to help her reach her potential, and also his empathy and compassion for her was lovingly done. I was also happy to see therapy representation here! Dylan starts to go to a new therapist and Oliver encourages her to do the exercises the therapist has for her. In one scene, he even does the journaling with her to show her that it isn’t as cringe or scary as she thought it would be! I really liked that Oliver wasn’t the only one helping Dylan deal with her mental problems, but rather one part of the sturdy foundation Dylan needed so she could get over the block and win.

I was surprised that Oliver and Dylan weren’t friends at the beginning of the novel. They meet in the beginning and strike up a quick friendship at an afterparty. They have cute banter and I enjoyed getting to know them as friends, there is a bit of lusting after each other, but it isn’t insta-love in my opinion. Which, I think was a good choice on Jones’ part because I want them to be friends, to have that platonic spark before it begins to change and ripple into the romantic spark.

In terms of the tennis, there were a few issues with a few tournaments and a couple of descriptions that weren’t as accurate as they could be, but I can overlook them for the most part. (I’ve read other tennis-heavy books where they’re just flat-out wrong, so Jones having them almost perfect is such a relief to me.) I specifically enjoyed how the sport and the way the sport affects the characters was so integral to the plot and the character arcs. Some sports romances throw in a sport for the aesthetic and for the vibes without really delving into what it really takes to be a professional athlete at the highest level. Dylan’s character struggles are directly linked to her relationship with tennis and how well she plays. As the story progresses, Oliver helps her build her confidence and trust herself; both are important parts of being at the level that Dylan plays at.

I haven’t read her first book, Clean Point, and I didn’t think I needed to as I read this one. We get little allusions to the first book and Dylan’s relationship with the main female character from Clean Point, Scottie, but it wasn’t enough to confuse me or deter me. In fact, I really liked the way Jones portrayed women's friendships. Dylan has a pretty shitty friend from home that she doesn’t realize is gaslighting and guilt-tripping her and while I wish we could’ve had a better resolution in that regard, it was a good foil for Dylan’s burgeoning friendship with Scottie and another player, Ines.

As far as the spice and smut, it was fine. It is very run-of-the-mill language, nothing special or specifically hot to me. Even though they have that power dynamic on court, that didn’t translate into the bedroom which I was relieved by. Oliver might be her coach and tell her what to do on court, but she calls the shots everywhere else. I could always use more emotionality and longing and less of the bog standard “filthy talk” that a lot of romance writers tend to fall back on, but I didn’t get the ick at any point that meant I had to start skimming through.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Game Point and I liked Dylan as a main character. It is a fun, quick read with banter and cuteness. The points (pun intended) where this shines are Dylan’s character arc as she develops confidence and becomes happier with herself and the relationship between Dylan and Oliver as coach and player. There are some loose points I wish were deeper and more intense, but if you’re looking for a lighthearted heterosexual romance that involves tennis, I would say give it a whirl!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to honestly review this ARC 📚

This was such a good follow-up to Clean Point! I was kinda surprised when I saw Dylan’s book would be next, but I really really enjoyed getting to know her and Oliver.

The friends-to-lovers in this was done so well, and didn’t ever feel too rushed or insta-lovey to me. I also enjoyed the commentary about how women in sports and viewed much differently than men in sports and how that impacted Dylan and Oliver’s relationship.

This was a great addition, not only to this series, but also my current tennis fixation.

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I went in with very low expectations for a tennis romance and honestly, I needed a tennis romance that felt this accurate to tennis IRL. It was a pretty fantastic representation of tennis and the actual tennis sequences were great too!

Dylan is a tennis pro who's going through a bit of a rough patch--- she is cursed with only ever making it to Grand Slam finals but never actually winning it.

The book does a great job of navigating the difficult world of professional tennis and the stakes really did feel high.

Dylan and Oliver are so perfect together and I really did appreciate how wholesome their relationship was.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager & NetGalley for the ARC.

This book grabbed ahold of me from the very first page and didn't let me go! I'm discovering that I enjoy sports romances to a degree and reading this tennis one was amazing! I actually understand tennis to a degree which allowed me to connect to the story in a way football or baseball romances don't.

Our FMC, Dylan, is fed up with her chosen sport. She is the sports version of always a bridesmaid and never a bride. Every time she enters a competition, she dominates until the final round when she chokes, feeling like a failure again and again. Second place is the first loser, right? After going through coach after coach who fails to drive her to her full potential, she gives in to the persistence of her best friend, Oliver, our MMC. He bargains to become her coach with a couple of strings attached, training her in a way she hadn't experienced before.

This book gives you all the tension and angst. The chemistry between Dylan and Oliver is one spark away from lighting a fire and I am here for it. This book is more on the medium burn side of things as they both are attracted to each other, fighting against said attraction due to their working relationship and the complications that come along with trysts. Starting off as friends first allowed them to have a unique emotional connection before the sexual nature of their relationship came into play.

Dylan journey and subsequent struggles with her career and self-deprecation was incredibly compelling. It felt like the author was writing from person experience or at least she had someone close to her who experienced these emotions. They were so powerful and raw at their core and I was able to connect with Dylan in a way FMC's have been eluding me for a while. Dylan is stubborn, abrasive, and she will put a wall up so fast to protect herself in a heartbeat. She is her own worst enemy and watching Oliver beat down that wall with a sledge hammer to allow her to realize what she had been doing to herself was absolute perfection.


This was an amazing story. I didn't read the first one and loved the way that they interconnected in a way that you can somewhat read them out of order and not be left scratching your head.

This was a really fun read! I have not read a tennis romance before and I really enjoyed reading this one. The romance was so cute.

I loved the cover and was all in for a tennis romance and the story was fine if incredibly predictable, but the actual writing style was just so mediocre that it didn't live up to my expectations enough to be more than tepidly okay at best, and at worst I felt like I'd have been better off just reading some tennis RPF fanfiction instead. (The refusal to use contractions in dialogue! The constant reliance on "brat" as their sex thing, especially for a character who it's agreed in the text supposedly doesn't have a submissive bone in her body! I could go on, but I won't.) Overall not the worst book I've ever read and fine to pass the time with if you're into this sort of thing, but on balance I can't help but regret having spent any of my remaining conscious hours on this planet with it when there are so many other better books I could have been reading instead.

Love a good tennis romance - they’re hard to come by! Went into depth about the matches/tennis mentality which I loved. Some parts drug on a little which made it feel a tad bit slow. I did find the characters really like able!

This book was refreshing because the sport was tennis instead of the usual hockey which is EVERYWHERE. I'm so happy to have a book with a different sport! I wasn't super thrilled with the characters- I couldn't connect with anyone, but Dylan was alright. Overall it was a fairly decent book.

Back in the day, I was an avid Rafael Nadal fan. I've watched a lot of tennis and I know the sport well, which is what drew me to this book.

Jones' fundamentals are there. The writing is smooth and the sexytimes are spicy and fun. My problems with this book were mainly structural. It felt a bit like a new director who doesn't know where to point the camera.

(The following doesn't touch on any events not mentioned in the blurb but will discuss when they happen, if you're sensitive to spoilers in that sense.)

The conflict of the story, to me, is Dylan's desire to win a title with Oliver as her coach, versus them exploring their romantic interest in each other. There's an inherent conflict of interest there that could be really compelling.

Instead, the beginning part of the book feels very draggy - the MCs are barely on page together and mostly just banter on the phone. Some of their conversations are completely inane, about DVDs and cooking and whatnot. Oliver doesn't agree to coach Dylan until 40% into book, and they don't make it onto a tennis court until almost the 60% mark. That's where the story starts trucking... but it's just way, way t0o late.

Which brings me to Oliver. Oliver is nice all the way through, and he and Dylan get along great from the jump. He doesn't seem to be feeling any angst about ending his career as a player. He's just very bland and underdeveloped as a character and as a love interest.

There are also some book features that I didn't love, like the song titles ahead of every chapter and the "dicktionary" listing all explicit scenes. The latter is something I've never seen before and not something I needed or wanted. Romance is an adult genre and a general content rating should be sufficient.

If you're looking for a good tennis romance, I recommend Olivia Dade's 40-Love with a pro-turned-instructor MMC. In her Harlequin days, Nora Roberts also wrote a tennis romance, Opposites Attract, featuring two active pro players across a season.