Ruth Devon is a sideline reporter for the NBA. Her ex-husband is retiring from his job as a game analyst, which is Ruth's dream job. She puts her name in for consideration, but faces conflict as she considers her identity as a mother and her qualifications compared to other applicants, like the coach of one of the teams in the NBA finals. Despite her concerns, she is beloved by the players she interviews. She invests herself emotionally in the well-being of two players, who are best friends turned rivals. This book is not just for basketball fans. Emily Adrian handles complicated topics flawlessly. Any woman will be see a little bit of herself in Ruth's character and the decisions she's forced to make between her career and home life. Adrian's style of writing is addicting and clever. My only complaint is that it was sometimes unclear when a flashback was beginning or ending, so I often had to reread to understand what was happening at what time.

2.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book but this was definitely not the book for me. This book is about a woman named Ruth. She was a college basketball player and now she is a sideline reporter for the NBA (I guess-- although there were a lot of references to college basketball too). She has an ex husband who announces games and is also involved in the basketball world. She has a teenage daughter who models and is more understanding of her mom prioritizing basketball over her than I think would ever be realistic. She also has a young boyfriend that wants to marry her. Life is good for Ruth, but when her ex husband decides to retire, she wants the job and has to fight for it and know she likely won't get it because she's not a man. Of course this is a very male dominated field so she's at a disadvantage and we follow her as she tries to get the job. My complaints about this book are many, but lets start with the structure of the book. There are so many huge jumps that are left without explanation that I found myself rereading at times to see if I missed something. They aren't time jumps but just massive plot holes (like the back and forth between college basketball and NBA terms) that leave the reader confused as to what's going on. Her relationship with her daughter felt very unrealistic, but perhaps it was just under explained. There are huge elements of Ruth's life that are made to seem like nothing. The relationship with her boyfriend was also so under developed that at times I was like "wait, who's that?" despite the fact that major plot points involve him. There's also a lot of focus on 2 players that felt really unnecessary. While this book set out to challenge gender roles and inequality in the workplace, I think it also made some harmful comments about women who do enjoy sports. It almost set up a class system where if you weren't able to recite every fact about sports history than you were one of "those" women. Finally, I think the message about fertility is really offensive in this book and thats a surefire way to get me to dislike a book. I wouldn't recommend this.

SPOILERS AHEAD: 40 something Ruth gets pregnant despite all odds and then can't decide if she wants to keep the baby. In the end we don't really know what she did as its all just implications. She does get the job but I never cared.

What a fun and unique story! Set over the course of an NBA finals series (with some flashbacks), we follow Ruth as she navigates her complicated life juggling her job as a sideline analyst, her role as a mother, her younger boyfriend, and the desire to take her ex-husband's spot in the announcer booth after he retires next season.

There was a lot more introspection on Ruth's end than I was expecting. She talks through the clash of her professional and personal aspirations and it was surprisingly refreshing to hear. I also really enjoyed how detailed the descriptions of the game were. I could see how some readers would find it tedious, but I feel like it gave a great look at how Ruth's brain works cataloging every detail of the players. Being able to listen to the game descriptions was even better and almost made me feel like I was listening to a game on the radio.

Overall, enjoyable read!!

There's so much to love in this fictional tale of Ruth Devon, a sideline reporter hoping (gunning?) to become the first woman to call NBA games on national television.

I read The Second Season practically in one sitting, switching between the text and the audio (which was well-narrated by Nicol Zanzarella). I could have put it down around the halfway point but honestly, I just didn't want to. As a woman who's long felt a love of sports and journalism in my bones, this is very much the sort of book I'd find easy to love... or throw across the room in frustration. (I'm delighted that my feelings while reading were generally the former.)

The book mostly takes place over the course of the NBA Finals (between the Cincinnati Wildcats and the Seattle Supersonics). I so enjoyed following Ruth on the job -- where her ex-husband also works -- as well as in her personal life. She has a daughter about to graduate high school and a boyfriend who wants to get married. Much of the writing was visceral: I could feel the action as if I were watching a real game, feel Ruth's experiences as if I were having them myself.

There is one odd scene in which it's implied that boyfriends are watching the last game of the finals, while their girlfriends ask who they're seeing on screen and need to infer what it means to call the games. In a book that otherwise seemed to bat down misogyny around women in sports, it seemed out of place and more than a little off. (Ideally, it'll have already been rewritten and won't appear in the published text.)

That and a few clunky spots aside, I loved my reading experience so much I'm rounding up from 4.5 to 5 stars. And because author Emily Adrian really stuck the landing.

Ruth Devon was an basketball-player. Then she got injured and her player's career was over. She married her college coach and took a successful career as a basketball commentator and sideline reporter for the NBA. After 20 years she is divorced, with a doughter who is 21 years old and involved with a younger man. During the NBA Finals Ruth discover something and it force Ruth to decide what she wants in future. She is a woman working in a male profession. I was really touched at the end.

I loved the story course of my love for sports competitions. I dreamed about the career like that and I saw in first person how it would have been my life if I could took her steps,

Special thanks for an quick approval for this audiobook to Netgalley.com and Blackstone Publising.