I appreciate the ability to send a rating and review for this title. I love any story about women in journalism!!!

Sports has an amazing way of bonding friends and family together and this book has it all. I requested this one as I’ve been watching and playing basketball ever since I was a kid. There are so many great basketball moments from watching Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Labron James. This book was really enjoyable and I would highly recommend it.

Interesting story about a woman striving to succeed in the male-dominated field of sports broadcasting. I enjoyed the characters, who were more multi-dimensional than I expected going into this!

I'm afraid I DNF'D at 10%. Subject matter not really for me so didn't feel really engaged.. I did like the writing style though.

This book was a DNF for me. The subject matter didn't catch my attention so I chose to DNF. I may try again in the future but as of right now I was not interested. Thank you again for the opportunity to take a chance on this book.

This story is all about Ruth, a woman trying to solidify her place in the sports world and navigate her new family life. She was a basketball star back in the day, but as many athletes know all too well, an injury stopped her career short. Ruth hasn't given up on staying involved with basketball and has become a sports reporter with big goals.

The Second Season is cute. It's a feel-good read and while pretty predictable, still one of those stories that allows you to enjoy the ride. Much of the book centers around Ruth's difficult professional & personal relationship with her ex-husband and navigating being a working mom.

If you're game for a lot of basketball talk & some cliche "woman working in a male-dominated field" material, this is the book for you! I can't say it was a favorite of mine, but I enjoyed the book nevertheless.

Thank you so much to Blackstone Publishing, Emily Adrian, and NetGalley for the ARC of The Second Season!

This book was nice. I really liked how it showed how difficult it is to be a woman in a field dominated by men. I'm not a big fan of the pregnancy trope and for that reason I felt a disconnect. I would still recommend to my friends though!

A cute read, but didn't really grab me like I thought it was going to based on the description. Thank you for the opportunity!

You would have thought that a book about sports, female ambition, and motherhood would have been a better match for me, but this missed the mark. The back and forth between past, far past, and present was too jumbled and choppy for me to truly enjoy the story. What the author wanted to be meaningful ended up just being confusing.

I did enjoy the sports aspect and how Ruth is unapologetic about going after her dreams and desires.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Now this is a women fiction book. Writing about a women journey in life which can be complicated and messy at times. And boy does this main character, Ruth, struggles with maintaining a career and family. It will always be struggle for any women to maintain a high-level career in a male dominant career while being mother. It's not always easy. It's challenging at most. It's something that Ruth is going to discover.

not what i expected, but i was decently surprised with the care i ended up feeling for the characters. the middle did drag a but

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this title. All opinions are my own.

As women, categories like wife/mom/employee don't merge seamlessly. Where there is friction, it often causes turmoil within a personal life. Add into the mix a female working in a male dominated field, to really up the stress factor. Emily Adrian addresses the conflict that can ensue from women trying to "have it all" by exposing the sacrifices that must be made. This book is great for anyone interested in sports as a primary topic, mixed with gender inequity, motherhood, marriage, ambition, etc.

I very much enjoyed this as a reader, woman, and sports media producer. Recommend to anyone interested in one of the three! Thanks to #netgalley for the copy!

This was one of my favorite reads of the year. The struggle between motherhood and career, traditional gender roles, and being a woman in a male/dominated field was incredibly well written.

Rating: 3.75/5
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Thank you to Blackstone and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Second Season is out now!

I was really excited to read this book, I’m a major fan of a breaking the glass ceiling vibes and this book was fantastic but also, I really don’t like basketball and this book was all about basketball. Take my rating with a grain of salt because of this. The Second Season was delightfully feminist, honest and did an excellent job navigating the journey of a working mother. Ruth was a strong female lead in this fast paced book and a great read for anyone navigating a ambitious career in 2021.

I really enjoyed this book. With the thousands and thousands of books being published each year, I really love when an author takes a somewhat common story or relationship to explore, and sets in a non-traditional set of circumstances.

This book isn't just about a woman working with her ex-husband in an arena mainly dominated by males. It is set on the sidelines and in the announcing booths of the NBA, which adds such a high profile, high stakes backdrop that it immediately heightens the tensions of each relationship, each line of dialogue, and each discovery. When Ruth is forced to choose which direction her life will take unexpectedly, it strikes right at the heart of a dilemma that women face every single day.

I was sold on Emily Adrian's writing when I devoured her 2020 novel, Everything Here Is Under Control. I felt totally connected to the characters and storyline and found the pacing of the writing to be spot on. Her ability to swept you away into a book that covered the complexities of motherhood, trauma, friendship, and womanhood was exceptional. So when I saw that she had a new book on the horizon, The Second Season, I couldn't wait to dive in.

The Second Season offered an extremely interesting (and much less common in my reading experience) premise of a female working in the male dominated profession of sports. Ruth, a past collegiate athlete has worked tirelessly for two decades in pursuit of her career goals of being an NBA sideline reporter while also juggling being a woman and a now a mother.

What I appreciated most about Every Here Is Under Control is how Adrian described the complexities women face with the idea of wanting it all, and the reality of what that really looks like. While the premise of The Second Season combined with Adrian's nuanced storytelling felt like the perfect mix, I really struggled with this one.

The pacing just felt off, and while I appreciated that Ruth's feeling were honest and relatable, I hard a hard time connecting with the overall storyline. The writing felt choppy and. the jumps back in time made me more confused than adding details I was hoping for and ultimately, a lack of a reading rhythm. Ultimately, I really loved the premise but struggled with the execution. 3/5 stars.

As always, I appreciated having the opportunity to read and review this book and share my honest opinions. Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for my gifted copy.

Ruth Devon aka RD was at star for Georgetown Basketball until a knee injury late in her career ended any hope of playing past college, instead she married her coach and found a career calling NBA games from the sidelines. Twenty years later, she's divorced her husband and his now calling games alongside him, except Lester is an analyst and Ruth is stuck on the sidelines. She's put her career before everything, to get to the top. When Lester decides to retire, nothing will stop Ruth from trying to get his job. Until something happens that stops Ruth in her tracks and she's forced to confront what she wants from her future and figure out if her job is really her number one priority.

I was not expecting to like this story as much as I did! Super fun main character, Ruth. She's full of life and passion and I want to be best friends with her!

As a huge lifelong NBA fan, I was so excited to read this story about a sideline NBA reporting working to be the first female NBA broadcaster the Finals. And while I enjoyed many aspects of the story, it feel a little short for me.

Part of the problem is, I know the NBA way too well. All the made up players, player antics, etc I knew exactly who the author was talking about. It's like she googled the most famous NBA players and just copied them. Plus the entire time I kept thinking, Doris Burke has already done all of this, why is it so complicated? (If you're an NBA fan you know exactly who Doris is).

Additionally, the writing felt extremely choppy. The first half of the book jumped from flash back, to tangent, to main story to another flash back. It was hard to get into.a rhythm while reading.

Overall, an enjoyable book but not a great one.