One of my friends brought this book to my attention months back so I added it to my tbr since I love mm sports romances, especially enemies/rivals to lovers.

And this one was definitely a fun read, just not my favourite, sadly. The beginning was very promising for me— I immediately connected with Lucas, one of our two heroes. He’s cold, aloof, introverted and thrives in his own solitude, preferring his own company to that of his teammates. Which they take severe issue with especially their captain, Oliver Ramsey.

Oliver had a lot of work to do with me. I found him very rude and dismissive of Lucas in the beginning, the way he villainised Lucas because he didn’t want to spend time with the team bugged me a lot since Oliver wasn’t exactly welcoming nor sincere. I found it hard to look past some of their arguments and the things Oliver said about Lucas. But eventually their softness with one another really won me over! I found their connection to be authentic and very cute to read. It was wonderful.

But my other issue with the book was the pacing. I found the sudden switch up form enemies spewing hate at each other to soft fluffy lovers to be very jarring. It wasn’t coherent nor did it make much sense to me considering the severity of their previous dislike. I wish they’d gotten together closer to the half way mark rather than 30%. It meant the rest of the book was more filler content which felt redundant at times. I think if the pacing had been slower with their dynamic having been unpacked more, this would have been a higher rating from me.

I genuinely think this had the bones to be a phenomenal story but it just felt a tad surface level. More time fleshing out the characters and Lucas and Oliver’s relationship development would have made this a fantastic read.

So overall, it was lovely but nothing spectacularly memorable.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
3.75 out of 5

Thank you to NetGally for the arc, in exchange for an honest review 📚.

Give me a cute sports romance read any day! This is a fast and lighthearted read. If you need a pick-me-up book I've found it right here.

Lucas and Oliver have never gotten along. Lucas is too focused on his career for friends, and Oliver is still stuck on things that have happened in his past. But when they are forced to room together before competing at the Olympics, things start to change.

This story has got allll the good tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, secret romance. And there is a strong sprinkle of spice in hers.

I would have like a little bit more character depth. They had so much going on in their lives and past that I felt wasn't touched on enough. They are both good, likeble characters... But it did feel a bit like "hey we're here, we're queer, pants off" for a moment there.

I also am not a massive fan of the cover. I feel like it doesn't do the story justice.

This book is perfect for fans of Red White & Royal Blue, and Boyfriend Material.

I will posting a review of this book on both my Instagram, Goodreads and TikTok accounts within the next week. My handle for all of these medias is "Tahliareadstoomuch".

dnf @ 40%

when i started reading this, i thought it would be cute, hopefully Very British, about gymnastics, and probably a bit of a boyfriend material fanfic that got repurposed. now that i have given up on it, i can say with complete certainty that there is some gymnastics, and it might be boyfriend material fanfic? but i couldn't say for certainty, which i guess is a good thing.

i would have loved to learn about the stress of the olympics, about how hard gymnasts train, about all the cute dates these two could have gone on in paris! lucas and oliver both had the potential to be well rounded characters, but i unfortunately struggled to different between them, at at several points couldn't even remember which was which.

the writing was also inconsistent. verb tenses were occasionally swapped, which made reading jarring (this could potentially be fixed in the final version? i don't know). the oxford comma was used, sometimes (just pick to use it or don't and stick with it! it's not that hard!). high school vocabulary words were inserted semi-randomly, as though the characters were aliens who hadn't figured out human speech patterns yet. like i wrote in my notes: lucas stop saying whilst challenge

it also felt poorly researched. (1) brooklyn nine nine does not have 10 seasons. it has 8. thanks google. (2) i am not a gymnast but i looked it up and for some stuff you wear pants and for others shorts. i think (could be misremembering) that all these men are wearing shorts. seriously, this took me 5 seconds to look up. (3) in england, if you go to an independent school that charges tuition, that is a public school. not a private school like in the states and canada and probably other places but i don't know which ones. if you are going to set a book in england, you should know that, at the very least.

i have written so many more notes about this book, but mostly they are me not liking the metaphors or sayings used (either the sayings aren't actually sayings or women are being compared to paintbrushes and it doesn't make any sense). essentially, if this book was edited with an eye for cutting out unnecessary words, fixing inconsistencies, and ensuring there aren't as many inaccuracies, it would be a cute romance about two men learning how to trust and love. unfortunately, it was not edited in this way, and so it was clunky, hard to read, too long, and the characters lost their individuality. this book was not what i was hoping it would be, but if you are looking for two people who hate each other and then start randomly making out and then have sex and start being nice to each other for no reason, this is the book for you!

I have been wanting an olympic romance book for so long and this book delivered me exactly that. Oliver and Lucas are adorable and I need more of them. I loved seeing all of the different small ways that they fell in love with each other.

I need a book about Tom and Alicia.

I received an arc through netgalley.

(The book has way too many b99 references and I hate that but it's a personal thing)

Thank you Wild Rose Press and NetGalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I loved this book! Lucas and Oliver are both on the Great Britain Olympic gymnastic team. They are both competing in the 2024 Olympics, the only problem is the can’t stand each other. But when their ability to win gold will depend on them playing nice and working as a team can they do it? And what happens if something unexpected starts to develop between them? During the first 25% of the book I did struggle but it had nothing to do with the writing or the story, I think it’s just that after that point I was so hooked that it made getting their seem a little slow! I loved the dynamic between Lucas and Oliver and their back and forth was perfect! Add it some really fun supporting characters and I couldn’t put the book down. Their journey of how they do in the competition was intriguing and nerve wracking! Rebecca Caffery wrote a lovely story about lust, anger, angst, love, competition, and complications! This book put me in all my romantic feels and reminded me why I love enemies to lovers! I can’t wait to read this again when it comes out!

I think this is a 3.5 for me. Loved the concept and been looking forward to this for a while, but had a couple of niggles…

Queer Olympic based romance and I am there!! Was great to have a romance mixed in with a gymnastics team competing, as well as a fictionalised version of the Olympic experience.

Really liked the characters, even though there were lots of silly decisions made and at first there’s some animosity among the team. I enjoyed the gradual team bonding and how they all came together after a rocky start. Some of the best bits were humorous team moments!

The enemy to lover romance was good, though would have liked to have seen more of a build up! We get hints of their past issues with each other, but there wasn’t masses of ‘enemy’ time. Lucas and Oliver had lots of super sweet moments, yet as I often find with romance, the conflict towards the end frustrated me! Plus, I needed a tad more resolution. Where was my happy little epilogue!?

It maybe a minor thing but threw me a little that the characters had basically the same names as the main characters in Boyfriend Material… Of course could be coincidental, but felt a bit odd.
It also did take me a little to get into the writing style and I noticed a few little typos. However, it was an easy one to read and visualise.

I will say, this is a a good one if you’re not a massive spice fan. There’s hints and intimacy, but doesn’t go into lots of detail and is mostly fade to black.

Did enjoy this as an easy romance read. If you fancy a queer sports romance, it’s definitely worth a go!!

This was a highly anticipated read for me, and I did end up really enjoying it!
It had almost everything I wanted from it--a well-written romance, that I enjoyed rooting for; secret dating; (mostly) developed secondary characters. I shed a tear or two in the final chapter, and generally just had a really good time with it! It was exactly what I wanted to read, and was a lot of fun.
My only issues really came with the pacing of some of it--some of the time jumps felt a little off, like we were missing certain important elements or scenes, and (without giving anything away), I felt the ending was quite abrupt. I really loved the moment of it, but I would have appreciated (and honestly expected) an epilogue just to round off these characters. I think it really needed something at the end there, though I really liked that ending tone.
There were also a few minor issues with typos and grammar (Mom instead of Mum, when these characters are obviously British), but as this is an early copy, I hope these are reviewed again before publication.

Overall though, a really fun read!! If you're in the mood for a sports romance, this is the one to pick up.

Oliver and Lucas are have been gymnastic rivals forever. They are forced to share a room in the 2024 Paris Olympic. The team needs them to work together to get a medal though.... Hate to turns to love and attraction...

Reminds me a bit of Red, White and Royal.... The same fun, romance and sass. Love both characters. I love gymnastics so this was especially exciting to me. A fun read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Oliver and Lucas do not like each other. But they are teammates on Great Britain's gymnastics Olympic team. They are roommates over the next three weeks in the Olympic village, where Oliver comes to terms with his bisexuality and he and Lucas start a physical relationship.

This book was incredible. But I think because I was a former gymnast I understood a lot of the nuance gymnastics vernacular where someone who's never participated in the sport could easily get lost. There were a couple of typos. But I got lost in the story and it was a sweet sweet read.

Thank you wild rose press inc., Rebecca j caffery, and NetGalley for the arc.

I'm torn regarding how to rate this. I've been looking forward to it for some time, and I expected it to be my catnip. In the end, though, I found it just okay (I'm rounding up from 3.5 stars). I was reading an advance copy, so I hope most of the spelling/punctuation errors will be fixed before publication. But I had trouble caring about the characters through most of the book, and that's not something proofreading can address. I did end up shedding a tear over the finale, but even so, I felt this book could have been so much more than it was. It felt like a really promising early draft to me.

My thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Sweet, heartwarming and full of excitement, Olympic Enemies was a great read.

With wonderful characters and an engaging plotline, this story gives an intriguing glimpse into the world of Olympic athletes and competitive gymnastics - an underappreciated genre in the sport romance tropes. I loved watching Lucas breaking out of his shell, while Oliver's personal growth and maturing journey was captivating.

4 stars and a gold medal

P.S.
This story sent me into the wormhole of watching gymnastic Olympic videos on Youtube, and I have no regrets.

I could not be happier that my first book of 2023 (I refuse to count the two I dnf’ed) was a four-star story. Olympic Enemies is a gymnastic sports romance, enemies to lovers, with only one bed set in the Olympic Village in Paris. Can I get a yes, please?

Lucas and Oliver have been rival gymnasts for the past five years but are currently on the same team for the 2024 Olympics. Not only do they have to see each other every day, but they also have to dorm together (sniggers evilly). The two can’t seem to speak to each other without flying off the handle, several times nearly coming to blows. The tension is thick, and Oliver keeps baiting Lucas because it’s the only time the man shows emotion.

The story starts with arguing, shouting, and manhandling before suddenly, it's not fists clashing but lips. The only thing I could say here is that the switch between hating and f*cking was quick. I get that the tension they held towards each other was pretty heated, and both wanted this for a long time, but Oliver and Lucas jumped from hating each other to pretty much boyfriends (though they were denying it) very quickly.

Besides this small niggle, I liked everything else about this book. The story was quick and filled with anticipation and excitement as the boys, including Julius and Tom, who made up the rest of team GB, trained and took part in the Olympics. I loved the team; they had so much banter and friendship that it was great to read. Highly recommend.

TW: mention of past death of a partner and unborn child, past trauma, public outing,

are you looking for an M/M enemies-to-lovers sports romance set in the Olympic Village?
read this if you enjoy: quick, easy reads in the same genre with angst and heat.
rep: gay MC; bi MC.
cw: public outing; references to the violent death of a spouse and (view spoiler); past trauma; sex.

Forced to share a room for the duration of the Olympics, rivals and teammates Lucas and Oliver's relationship moves fast from enemies to lovers under the pressure of the approaching performance. As they attempt to keep their 'rivals with benefits' situation secret from their team and the press, both men grow to learn more about what the other is hiding. While personally I did not feel the spark between Lucas and Oliver and had some questions about the pacing of their relationship bearing in mind the emotional context, I think readers who gravitate towards this subgenre should definitely give the book a go.

CAWPILE: 3.3 (2*)
favourite aspect: I thought the gymnastics and training scenes were written really well. I enjoy watching Olympic gymnastics but don't consider myself an expert by any means, yet I found these scenes engaging and fun to follow.
a wish: I would have liked the two protagonists to have had more varied narrative voices, as I often struggled to differentiate between whose perspective I was reading. I think if Oliver's past trauma had been explored in more emotional and psychological detail it would feel better embedded.
disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from The Wild Rose Press via NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Words cannot explain how much I loved this, but I’m going to try. This book was like Red, White, and Royal Blue meets Head Over Heels, both of which I love. It’s an enemies to lovers sports romance with a bit of a sexual awakening storyline.

I love the inside look this provided into the world of competitive Men’s gymnastics. I’ve always been fascinated with both the sport and the culture as there’s so much to it both physically and mentally that those of us in the outside can’t even begin to understand. This book did an amazing job showing us a lot of what’s involved for these elite athletes-the pressure, the physical demands, the emotional stress, and the mental game. Apart from spotlighting elite athletes, this book also shines a light on what it’s like to be a QUEER elite athlete. Throughout the course of book we watch these characters struggle with not only the demands of their sport, but struggles of a more personal variety including sexual identity and keep their personal lives out of the media.

Both Lucas and Oliver really warmed my heart and were just SUCH easier characters to love. I loved watching their relationship progress throughout the course of the book and I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. This book showed us high highs and low lows and took me on a JOURNEY and I love every second!!

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Backlit PR. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5 stars! This book was so good for the 1o-year-old me that obsessively watched the Olympic gymnasts and fantasized about one of them becoming my boyfriend. I loved reading this story. Lucas and Oliver were so lovely and I enjoyed seeing Lucas' character development throughout this story. It was the perfect length as well and had me reading with a smile on my face. Looking forward to more entries by this author in the future. The only issue with this story is that the cover design looks like a very poorly constructed ripoff of Red, White, and Royal Blue. I think the author would find better success with a new cover. But the story was wonderful.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Stories about rivals who end up lovers are like catnip to me. These two British fellas have been enemies for years and end up on the same small men's gymnastic team at the Olympics. They're both initially thrilled of course to be roommates as they get ready to compete in Paris on top of everything else. Slowly they figure out that they maybe don't have the whole picture of the other and end up becoming friends and then more. Neither of them especially needs the media attention so it's a lot of secretive schmoozing.

The only thing I didn't love about this was that I'm not incredibly familiar with gymnastics lingo and had to Youtube what everything meant because we just jumped right in there. If I was more familiar with the sport, I would have been able to context clue my way through it. But that might be 100% a me problem so don't hold it against the book. I would not say it has any more or less lingo than any other sports romance I've read lately, it was just unfamiliar.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rebecca J Caffery, and The Wild Rose Press, Inc. for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.