An unexpected hit!

This book blew me away. I was not expecting that at all. I went into the book blind, not knowing much more than this is a book about basketball, sports reporting and a woman. First, let me admit that I LOVE being transported into worlds I will never be a part of. That is exactly what this story offered me. A glimpse into the world of basketball and sports reporting/announcing. I was caught up in all of it in such a good way!

The female lead, Ruth, is a strong, ambitious and totally likeable former-basketball player who has parlayed her love of the sport into becoming one of the first and only female sideline reporters. Her dreams for her future involve much more than she has so far accomplished though. She intimately shares that basketball comes before anything else. Even as she knows it shouldn’t. It is a part of her. I loved how she continually wrestled with her responsibilities to her family and to her career.

Ruth was an up and coming college basketball player before a devastating knee injury. She ended up marrying her coach and starting a family. As her husband’s career takes off, she too tastes success. Her husband’s expectation is that she will retreat from her career in order to take care of their daughter. As one can imagine, this does not sit well with Ruth and her ambition does not wish to be tamed. They end up divorced, yet are never far from each other in that they are both entwined in the game of basketball. The book follows their career while their daughter grows up.

As expected, being a female in a male dominated industry is fraught with stress, over-examination and doubt. I don’t follow basketball religiously, and there were a lot of basketball games being discussed, but the author did an awesome job of writing those scenes so that fans at any level could understand and enjoy them.

To me, the main story was the female struggle between following your career dreams and being a Mom. And the fact that it is a female only struggle. It’s just not the same for males. Either way, something has to suffer. I adored the inner dialog of Ruth throughout. I appreciated all the nuances that the author highlighted in her struggle for success.

The ending was superb to me. I don’t really enjoy perfect endings. This one left me thinking about the costs of success and what we are willing to compromise on.

I loved every second of this book. Definitely recommend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for gifting me an advance copy to read and review.

Quick read and entertaining. Interesting to consider women's roles in sports, especially given the recent NCAA controversy. However, overall fell a little flat in the narrative.

I had.a really hard time getting into this book for some reason, but I stuck with it and am glad I did. I really enjoyed the sports elements of the book, and as a big college basketball fan myself, appreciated it being a central focus of the plot. I hadn't read another book of this genre like it, which made it fun, exciting, and less predictable to me.

The Second Season stirred up mixed feelings for me. I’m a woman who loves sports, and it’s always been a point of pride for me that my dad and fiancé say I know more about the NHL than they do. Ruth Devon is the same way about the NBA and she made a career of her knowledge, which was a really exciting premise for me, but I was really disappointed in the way her story was told. The summary completely ignores her daughter and makes it seem like she isn’t a mother yet, which baffled me. Her daughter seems like a big part of her life, and she shouldn’t be ignored.

I was also really disappointed in the way that the author made it seem like Ruth and her fellow women reporters are the only women in the world who know and enjoy sports. The Second Season was marketed as a feminist book, and it was, but only for Ruth. I enjoyed reading the behind-the-scenes look at broadcasting and the NBA, but some passages left a bad taste in my mouth. I think major adjustments need to be made before this book is published. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

This was a book that could very easily have been BAD, and I'm so thankful it wasn't. I don't think is a book you have read before - it's creative and different and honestly quite well written. This is the story of Ruth Devon, NBA sideline reporter. Ruth is a divorced mother of a teen in a relationship with a man 6 years her junior. This book mainly focuses on her career and changes on the horizon, but also delves into work life balance and sexism in the workplace. How much is too much to give up? What is ok to miss? How should being a woman affect your career trajectory? I really liked Ruth as a main character and thought her supporting cast was quite good as well. The ending didn't sit altogether well with me, but I understand where the author was coming from. I think Adrian is an author worth trying - I am going to look into some of her backlist after this one.

I really wanted to love this story, but I didn't feel like the writing was engaging enough. I also found the characters to be very one-dimensional.

I had a hard time feeling into this one. It was ok but I felt the characters weren’t super relatable.

I will admit I was a little hesitant to read this book because of the heavy sports storyline, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised!! I really enjoyed this book! The story centers around Ruth Devon, a college basketball player turned sideline reporter. Ruth balances motherhood and her determination to get the job she's always wanted. I loved the writing, the characters, and the glimpse into sports reporting. This is my first book by Emily Adrian and definitely not my last!

The Second Season has a very premising promise – a woman reporting, balancing life as a working mom and her passion for a career in a male-dominated industry. Unfortunately, for me, the book fell a little flat. I didn’t feel as much for the characters as I would have expected and a lot of time was spent on the sports commentary portion of the basketball games instead of character development for Ruth and other supporting characters. I didn’t have a clear picture of the relationship between ex’s Lester and Ruth, or the others, they mostly seemed like absent parents to their daughter. I also was confused since the book text alludes to the challenges facing a Black woman in the NBA field, but the cover of the book features a white, blonde woman, so I am not sure if this was a last-minute addition to the book or what. All in all, interesting premise, and I do look forward to reading the author’s other books!

The Second Season by this new to me author is a full length, stand-alone sports romance. The story is told in the third pov.
Ruth is an ex-sports star, now the single mother works as sports reporter in a man dominated field and she needs a certain bite to make it. And that she has. She's on the road all the time, her daughter raised by other people, her ex-husband gave up on her, her lover runs after her - but all that counts for Ruth is her career, her calling.
I started reading this book, having certain expectations, but this expectations were wrong, so so wrong. What I got was a detached heroine who's whole life is her job, everything else - comes maybe on third or fourth place, nonono, Ruth isn't my favorite person at all, but she kept me in suspense from start till the last page. And the end, oh my, I really really want to know what she decides about a certain matter....

The description of this book really pulled me in with the promise of discussions of women's rights in the workplace, the glass ceiling, and women in sports. And while there was a lot to like about this book, it was somehow still lacking.

Race and the challenges that people of colour in broadcasting face is brought up, but not explored. The pregnancy storyline almost served as a distraction throughout the book and I felt like I would have rather read a book focused solely on the glass ceiling aspect rather than pregnancy.

Overall, a good read but some parts didn't quite do it for me. A fantastic concept for a book, though.

This book is a great book about a woman’s life choices and ambitions. The story is told from a strong female character’s perspective about her life as a basketball sports reporter with ambitions to be more.
Ruth Devon loves basketball passionately. Ruth has raised through the ranks of basketball broadcasting to become a sideline reporter during NBA games. She is amazing at what she does- creates great rapport with the players, knows basketball better than anyone, and works hard. She works with her now ex-husband, Lester Devon, who is the color commentator during the game. Lester has just announced his retirement from the announcing booth and Ruth wants his job, a job that no woman has had before. The book watches her journey through the 5 games of the finals as she struggles with her desire to reach this goal. It describes her interviews with player and coaches, her relationship with the men in the booth, along with Phillip, her producer. Ruth is beloved by the players and most of the fans, there are some haters out there. You can tell from the book that Ruth really is good at her job.
But being good at her demanding job, that requires a lot of travel has not come without many sacrifices. And this book examines some of the sacrifices she has made as a wife, and mother and the sacrifices she is still taking.
I really enjoyed this book. It feels like a book that so many women would relate to on some level, even if sports isn’t their thing. The themes of motherhood, relationships, and ambition all couched in womanhood resonate. In the era of women breaking glass ceilings this is a perfect read.

I’m obsessed with sports. Maybe not basketball (unless you count Lucas and Nathan’s rivalry as Tree Hill Ravens), but I live for fierce competition on a field, ice, or court.

I received approval for The Second Season by Emily Adrian thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for this July release, and I was immediately hooked.

Description: “A fiercely determined woman is forced to choose between her career in sports broadcasting and motherhood.”

The Second Season is the story of 42 year old Ruth Devon, NBA sideline reporter. (The fact that I turn 42 tomorrow is a weird coincidence that made me even more connected to the book!). Adrian’s novel digs into gender inequity and the glass ceiling of women in professional sports, the price of ambition, and a woman’s ability to actually be knowledgeable about sports (I can more than hold my own talk about hockey and football, thank you very much, so this was SO relatable 😊)

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and loved the strong, complex woman that Adrian created in Ruth. 4/5⭐️

Very well written and surprisingly interesting even to a non-sports person. The author tells the story of Ruth who becomes a significant sports broadcaster in what was a man’s domain. Not only her successes are detailed but also the difficult issues of being a wife, mother, partner, coping with all the demands while building an impressive and iconic career.

I enjoyed the book and I think women will be able to discuss the inherent conflicts in having it all while suffering from a level of guilt rarely felt by makes.

Thank you Netgalley for this interesting and totally original novel.

Wow. I didn't know what to expect going into this novel, about a former Georgetown college basketball player plunged into the testosterone-fueled world of male sportscasting.

Adrian sets the book in sports arenas and hotels across the country, against a backdrop of screaming fans and the smell of players.

I'm a casual basketball fan, and know very little about sports reporting, but Ruth's story rings true for any woman balancing the sacrifices one must make to progress in a demanding and high-stakes career, with maintaining a home life and being there for their family. All set against the background of the NBA finals, Adrian does a phenomenal job of keeping the book fast-paced and relatable at the same time.

I couldn't put it down. A great book for basketball lovers, sure, but any woman navigating a career in 2021.

“The Second Season” explores female ambition through the story of NBA sideline reporter Ruth Devon.

Ruth’s standout collegiate basketball career ended with an injury; she married her coach, became a young mother, and worked her way up to one of the most respected (fictional) women in sports media, frequently the subject of longform magazine profiles.

Lester Devon, Ruth’s ex-husband and a famous NBA announcer, is retiring at the end of this season. Ruth wants nothing more than his job — or does she? As her daughter’s high school graduation nears — and the girl’s fledgling Instagram modeling career shows actual promise — Ruth has to figure out which wins: motherhood or her own ambitions.

“The Second Season” is a raw dissection of the price of female ambition and the infuriating patriarchy that women with goals must navigate with care. Ruth has the level of ambition and career aspiration that most find polarizing; I find it refreshing. This book calls to mind another of my all-time favorites, “Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win.” It’s only January and I know I’ve found one of my favorite books of the year.

One item to nitpick (this is only for the purpose of Netgalley and pre-publication feedback, not my public facing reviews): I believe the author’s characterization of Botox is inaccurate. I have never experienced a 24-hour period of being unable to move my eyebrows; a Botox injection doesn’t take effect for 7-14 days. Some practitioners advise against working out for the first 24-48 hours.

This was a really cool book. I loved that it was women's fiction, but didn't fixate on a romantic break up, a new romance or motherhood. It really encapsulated so many areas of this one woman's life, proving women can be multifaceted in novels and not just one character stereotype. I haven't read anything by Emily Adrian before this novel, but I will definitely seek her work out again. I think this book will appeal to sports and basketball fans as well as non-sports fans.

I did find myself getting a little confused with the timelines a few times as the writing style sometimes veers into a stream of consciousness from the main character, but I was able to easily jump back into the storyline. Overall, I'll definitely recommend this book when it is published this summer.

Ruth Denton is a sidelines sports reporter for the National Basketball Association. At 42, she's fiercely passionate about her profession. She started out as a basketball player herself until a game-ending knee injury. She married her coach, Lester, and they had a daughter, Ariana. Ruth is the absolute best at what she does. With a true interest in the players and the sport, and a near-photographic memory for stats, anecdotes, and personal tidbits, she's achieved celebrity status herself, stalking the players in high heels and pencil skirt, occasionally dribbling an errant basketball, much to the delight of the fans. But it didn't come without sacrifice; she and Lester are divorced, and Ruth's mother virtually raised Ariana, a fact that weighs heavily on Ruth. But is it enough to change her life's trajectory, at this moment when the greatest promotion of all looms in front of her?

This was a fascinating story, one that I can't stop thinking about after finishing the book. Ruth's play-calling, the smart, savvy jargon, is captivating. Her descriptions of the athletes, their moves, their challenges--it's just masterful. So interesting, and I don't watch basketball. I even wondered if "Emily Adrian" was a pen name for Doris Burke, the famous real-life NBA reporter this book is so clearly modeled after. But there's a photo of the author in the book, and Adrian tips her hat to Burke in the Acknowledgements. So the author did this all herself. Astonishing.

Ruth's emotional conflicts will resonate for any woman who has followed her passion and paid a heavy price, and yet, if she had to do it all over again, would probably not change a thing. Ruth's love for the game and the players is almost palpable. What other choice does she have?

Because she's dedicated to her work, conflicts arise. Joel, her boyfriend, a wealthy younger man who founded a record label and now owns a network of luxury hotels, isn't a basketball fan. He wants her around more. Says he's okay not having kids, but Ruth knows he's making the best of things.

Her daughter, a budding model, is about to graduate high school. She wants to skip college and pursue her passion, and she's a good businesswoman, obviously getting something from her mother! Yet the profession is fraught. It parallels the high risk/reward dynamic of the young athletes Ruth reveres. Shouldn't Ruth be there to guide her? Would Adrian even let her? (Empty nest alert!)

I would suggest the theme of this book is the resilience of love. Even though Ruth and Lester are divorced, they seem like best friends, always supportive of each other. And although Ruth wasn't present for many of her daughter's big moments, her love for Adrian seems to have translated into a strong and self-assured young woman. Even the two main players, Darius and Emory, are bound by a brother-love friendship that prevails over their on-court battles, continuing the theme.

There's so much to love about this book. I'm thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read it.

It was refreshing to read about a strong, female character - not in some dystopian future or on a made-up planet - but living in the here-and-now, who wrestles with daily challenges like motherhood, complex relationships, body image and a career in a field with few other women in it.

I, myself, know and understand little about basketball. But from the first sentence, I was drawn in and captivated by Adrian's storytelling, which reminded me at times of Elizabeth Strout's novel, Olive Kitteridge.

I would highly recommend this read to anyone who loves a raw and honest female lead, whether sports are your world or not.

A huge thank-you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ruth Devon had what it took to become a basketball player until she hurt her knee one game. Shortly afterwards, she married the coach and her life started on a different path. Ruth’s husband Lester, was a great NBA announcer and was really good at it. One day Lester decides to call it quits. Ruth wants his position and if she gets it, she will be the first woman announcer in the NBA. Something happens that will change the course of action forever. Something that She decides is worth more than any basketball game... motherhood. This story is well told and very descriptive as well as fast paced.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.