This was technically my first sports romance and while I didn’t fully know what to expect, I really enjoyed it and definitely want to read more of them.

That being said, this was definitely more than just a sports romance. It was a story about second chances and forgiveness. The ultimate outcome wasn’t about football or scholarships but accepting what has been and learning to move on and heal (for both of them).

I also loved the supporting characters and their friendships. They were sort of the comic relief to the heaviness between Lucas and Avery and it added a nice lightness to it.

The romance itself was a bit insta-lovey and definitely high-school, but still cute. I was interested the whole time and despite a few technicalities and issues, it was still unputdownable.

If you’re looking for a short, sweet YA sports romance with a bigger message, then you have found your book.

This is the first book I've read from this author and I really liked it. I'm always a sucker for football romances. Lucas and Avery had great chemistry and I enjoyed their relationship. Pretty good book.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Playbook by Size Winegardner was a fast paced YA read.

Lucas and Avery are both dealing with a lot. For Lucas it is huge changes in his and his mother's lives after everything fell apart. For Avery it is the death of her mother and knowing her father might lose his job as the head coach of the high school football team.

The characters and story were interesting and kept my attention. I think having dual POV here was important because of what Lucas and Avery were both struggling with. The author did a nice job, too, with the character's thoughts and dialogue sounding like actual teenagers instead of adults.

This book was graciously sent to me for review via e-copy by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The plot for this book is interesting. The idea of a young woman doing what it takes to help her father, the football coach, out is a classic. The storyline shows promise but I didn’t connect to any of the characters. I didn’t feel any depth from them, so it made it hard for me to read most of this book even though the plot is exciting.
Thank you for the copy.

I really need to start taking notes when I read ARC books, but I am so focused on enjoying the books and getting into it and I just don’t think about it. Anyway, The Love Playbook was a short, sweet read.

It was fast paced and I really liked all of the characters in it and how everybody seemed to look out for each other in the small town. I liked Avery’s twin, Colin. I liked how loyal they were to each other. I wasn’t a fan of all of the secrets Lucas was keeping from everybody, but I liked how that plotline ended up. This book was slow at some parts, but it picked up more towards the middle.

I really liked the tension with one particular dangerous scene.

The Love Playbook was a four star rating based on the characters and how the plotline improved towards the middle and end of the book. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read and review this book. This had no impact on my thoughts. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is unashamedly romantic but following all the tropes doesn’t make it a predictable story. Avery and Lucas swap points of view throughout the book, which allows us to see the secrets they have and those they chose to keep. There are a lot of secrets in this book, and they are not only kept by the two main characters. Each of the secondary characters have their parts to play in ensuring there are lots of misunderstandings, which makes it a pretty tense read.

Lucas’s backstory is detailed and terrible. He has made some seriously bad decisions and he is now paying the cost. Unfortunately, this affects his mother’s life, something for which Lucas finds hard to forgive himself. He is at a very low point in his life, and the appearance of Avery as saviour and support confuses him. He doesn’t know if he’s attracted to her because she seems able to solve some of his immediate problems, and there’s also the issue that she is his new football coach’s daughter which makes her doubly off-limits. It’s a mess all right.

Avery only wants to help her dad. And her brother. Helping Lucas seems like an easy way to do that. But she is also fighting an intense attraction to him, and readers can see they are good for each other, but firstly they will need to be honest. And as we know, this is a long way off. As the tangled webs entwine further, readers will wonder how on earth can they ever find a way to forgive each other once the truths are ultimately spilled.

The story is about football, about a small-town community, about a boy who is treated badly, and about a girl still grieving the loss of her mum. It has depth and we see that life is messy and complicated. These factors lifts it above a simple romance novel where the angst is often superficial and quick to overcome.

The Love Playbook is out on November 4. Thanks to Entangled Crush and Netgalley for advanced copy. Recommended to lovers of teen romance novels, and who love their boys hot yet supportive, and their girls clever and bossy. I enjoyed it a lot.

The Love Playbook is a sweet story about second chances. A second chance at life and living.

Lucas messed up. Big time. He changed his life and his mother's... and not for the better. Now he's halfway across the state trying all over again. But lessons learned don't come easy, and Lucas has more learning to do.

Avery is struggling. She lives by her planner. Life is mapped out in 10 minutes increments. Anything else is too much...especially a hunky player in need of help with his game.

Sweet and full of teen drama, The Love Playbook is a dose of football with a side of love.

This book started off slow, but picked up quickly. I love football and books about football, so I fell for Lucas and Avery's story hard. By the end, I couldn't stop the tears. There is a lot of past heartache for both of the main characters, and I loved seeing them help each other overcome the heartaches.
I did find myself loving the side characters. I would love to see Lexi get her own book, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be happy with it. I don't want to give too much away, so go pick up this book and get lost in it for a few hours.

The Love Playbook by Suze Winegardner is a lovely young adult romance that is sure to take you away to high school and that sexy football player who everyone loves. This swoon-worthy read is sure to keep you up at night turning the pages as quickly as possible. Winegardner's writing style pulls you in from the beginning and holds your attention until the very ending all while leaving you wanting more.

I really wanted to like this book, and to me it fell a little bit flat. The writing was good I just couldn't connect to the characters as much as I wanted to!

This review is going to be short and (probably not) sweet as I didn’t like The Love Playbook by Suze Winegardner and won’t belabor the point.

It’s very rare that I don’t enjoy an Entangled Crush novel. While they might not have the depth of Sarah Dessen YA novels, they can be relied on to entertain. Sometimes that’s all you want and need.

Between the plot holes (how is it possible a student’s real name wouldn’t be on his high school transfer records? This is only the tip of the ice berg on this plot hole), misinformation (tornadoes do not have a calm eye like hurricanes; if they do/did, they’d be so large (f5) that no one in their path would experience them because they’d be dead!), repetition, and dragging pace, The Love Playbook just didn’t score for me.

While I appreciated the teenage angst: Avery losing her mother and Lucas losing his future career due to his flagrant disregard of rules (a fact that he obviously didn’t learn from), this was not enough to carry the novel or my interest.

Done.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For me there wasn't enough dialogue in the book. I would have liked to see more verbal interaction between Avery and Lucas and even Lucas and the team. Due to the lack of dialogue I didn't get as invested in them as a couple as I would have liked.

Avery's family was still recovering from her mother's sudden death, when she learned her father's job was on the line. She wasn't sure how to guarantee his football team made the playoffs, but she knew they had a better chance with Lucas on the team.

Lucas was just trying to lie low after being run out of his last school. He shouldn't have been playing ball, but he just needed that small part of himself to help ease the pain of all he lost. He just never expected someone like Avery would waltz into his life, and push him back into the limelight.

This one hit me with a one-two-punch, while also filling me up with a good dose of feel-good, which I expect from sports themed books.

Both Lucas and Avery were trying to recover from some very big losses. Avery was still reeling from her mother's death, and trying to cope in her own way, by trying to plan and control as many things as possible. While, Lucas essentially lost everything, and was forced to start a new - no team, no friends, no future. Both of their situations were heartbreaking, even if they were very different kinds of losses, and it was a gift that they found each other to help assuage the pain.

It brought me so much joy to see Lucas rebuilding his life, and this small town really welcomed him with open arms. At first you would think it was all about his ability to run and catch the ball, but later in the story, when everything starts to fall apart, that's when you find out who your friends are. And, wow! That last bit of the book was what I come to sports romances for. It made me want to stand up and cheer, and left me in a state of utter happiness.

On top of all of this, I also got a great romance. It might have seemed a little insta-lovey, but I was a fan of this pairing. Avery "saw" Lucas after he had hit rock bottom, when everyone else had abandoned him. She offered him a helping hand, when he felt isolated and alone, and I can understand him falling for the girl. Regardless of what drove their union, I liked seeing this love grow and flourish. It was sweet and gooey, and there was even a small-scale grand gesture, which made my happy tears flow, and reminded me that even small gestures can be quite grand.

Overall: A touching story about the power of love, family, and friendship, when it comes to recovering from great losses.

not gonna lie, the beginning was a bit slow but it picked up pretty quickly.

the synopsis for this book was pretty straight forward but i was not expecting so much secrecy! it had me at the edge of my seat waiting for the ball to drop (HA!).

avery and lucas were so oblivious it was frustrating. gotta love insta love stories that still tugs at your heartstrings!

this book was so good i really enjoyed it.

This one started really strong for me. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I might. But, as with many books for me these days, by the midway point I wasn't feeling it.

I think there was a combination of things here: the pacing was very slow. I felt like it took a long time for anything to happen. And while I did love the interactions between Avery and Lucas, I felt like there weren't enough of them to keep my interest. That is, the dialogue, when it happened, was very good. I loved them together. But there was more time spent inside their own heads than actually interacting with each other, and by the time I hit the halfway point, it wasn't balanced enough to keep my interest.

There's a lot of promise here. I actually felt like the dialogue and actions were appropriate for the age group. I felt like Zoe was completely adorable (and a little bit heartbreaking). Their connection was sweet and I wanted so much more of it! In the end, I found myself skimming lots of internal monologue to get to the good parts, and that's when it went off the rails for me.

The Love Playbook by Suze Winegardner a four-star read that you will be desperate to read. This could have been five-stars, I just felt that it took so long to go anywhere. Lucas broke my heart, he has such a strong story, one that will stay with me, he deserves his happily ever after, but you will have to read it to see if he gets one. Avery was good, she has that special something and the flashcards, they deserve a special mention. I will definitely be looking for this author again as the writing was great overall.

I didn’t like the crass language used in the book. I felt like it could’ve done without it and been perfectly fine. Especially for a teen novel, I feel like if you want to prove a strong point with words, perhaps some less adult terms would be best. Because it’s very startling. 2/5 stars

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review. I LOVED this book. I’m a sucker for a football love story. I can’t tell you why but it’s true. I loved Avery’s character and how strong of a person she is. Lucas was perfect, I loved how he cared about Lexi when she had had too much to drink. It’s really important to me that he felt that way. This is a perfect feel-good story.

A little bit of love with some angst!

Lucas Black and his mom had moved to Hillside to start over where nobody knew who he was when the college that had been giving him money on the side while he was high school was caught and given a large fine. Avery Stone needed to help Lucas improve his game so the team would make the playoff and save her dad’s job so they wouldn’t have to move. Avery was still trying to deal with the sudden death of her mom by planning almost every second of the day and she had to come out of her shell to help Lucas.

The Love Playbook has some teenage angst but Avery needs Lucas because he brings her out of her shell and Lucas needs Avery because she can help him be the person hewants to be after all that had happened to each of them.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ohhhh I absolutely loved this book! I hope there will be more to come. Read this in one sitting. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the Arc