This book was so much fun. At first I was concerned it was all Games, with an immature nature to it. But I was pleasantly surprised!
The book blurb describes the premise best, but in a brief summary, Olivia Wilde is resigned to a future dictated by her father's ambitions, and what will undoubtedly be an unhappy marriage.
Emerson is struggling with the new reality of responsibilities following his father's passing, but one thing he is sure of is Olivia.
Do you see the friends to more trope forming?! Aka sloooow burn romance.
The scenarios both Olivia and Emerson find themselves in are rather bleak, So Emerson devises a playful game of tag. Why? That was my biggest question, why oh why would you play tag in a ballroom?! Discreet or otherwise! It was such a unique premise!
But it was actually very sweet and romantic. Emerson understood Olivia, that she needed fun and time to see him in a different light- romantically.
So Emerson devises these games to court her discreetly, without Olivia even knowing!
I just adored that, he knew what he wanted and he went for it.

"Games in a Ballroom" is a sweet and fun Friends to more Historical Romance. I look forward to reading more from this author and the undoubtedly unique stories she thinks up.

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the complimentary ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Such a fun book to read. The game of tag was so fun. It felt like I was playing right along with them. And the love story that was forming right along with the game was adorable. This was my first book from this author but it won’t be my last!!

Historical fiction + forbidden romance + essentially a game of assassin? What more could you need.

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Emerson Latham has his heart set on marrying his childhood friend, Olivia Wilde. (Yes, it was also hard for me to not picture the famous Olivia Wilde who's name is spelled the same way...) Unfortunately for him, Olivia's father has worked his way up from the lowest of ranks to owning a profitable business and now wants the only thing that he can't buy -- a title. His daughter's marriage is his only means of making that happen and he isn't about to waste his only chance of gaining everything he desires by letting her fall in love with just any gentleman.

To distract Olivia from falling for any titled nobleman, Emerson decides to play a form of “tag” in the ballroom. To be honest, it seemed quite far-fetched and a little confusing. There was also a side story about a pig in Beau Brummel’s jacket that seemed to be odd.

I’m going to be honest and say that I wanted to love this, but struggled with a good bit of it. There were too many things that were just not realistic or plausible

if you are looking for a comedic, fun read, I say you should go for it. If you want a deep, Regency-accurate, moving story, you might want to look elsewhere.

aTransParentMom received this book as part of a promotion to give honest feedback.

Emerson Latham is juggling the new responsibilities that come with being head of the household after the death of his father, and one thing he knows for sure is that he wants to court the friend of his sister, Miss Olivia Wilde. Her parents want to make a match for her with someone who has a title, something that Emerson doesn't possess. He devises a plan to court Olivia, and make his feelings known for the sweet hearted and witty woman who has captured his heart.

A sweet Regency era romance with a playful twist. I liked the friendship between Olivia and Arabella, Arabella is such a good friend to Olivia supporting her through everything, and my heart went out to Oliva and her mother for what they had to endure at home.

Emerson has matured since his younger years, but his feelings for Oliva have not waned. I liked that he makes it clear that he likes her and desperately is putting in the work to get out of the friendzone.

Overall, this was a fun, lighthearted read, with a sweet romance.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a beautiful romance read with a unique and fun premise. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. However, I do wish there was more background on the relationship between Emerson and Liv. Emerson is already smitten with Liv when we first meet him. So, I would have preferred to see how that happened - that's what I love most about romances - where you get to see them fall in love with one another and why. I felt that that was missing from this. But, nevertheless, it was a lovely read.

I was engaged with the story and characters right from the start! The writing suited the slice-of-life story telling of the book. The romance was believable and could see the transition from friends to lovers was natural.

it was super entertaining and definitely something to read when you just want something quick!! also great considering it was the author's first historical romance novel!

A fun and lighthearted read with characters you can care about and root for!

As the opening line suggests, this was a fun read. I enjoyed the premise of the core characters playing an actual game in a ballroom, but I was sort of hoping for more development and overall hijinks from that. We learn fairly early on that Emerson is smitten with Liv, so I think knowing that sort of kills the tension between them a bit.

Also, his character felt flat to me. I wanted to feel more depth in regards to how he felt about his father's death and the added responsibility. It is explored in a few instances, but I didn't emotionally connect as deeply as I did when this particular trope was utilized in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton.

I appreciated Liv's character development, but I wish she had handled her own conflict in the end. I understand that societal constraints likely would not allow for her to do so sooner than the "rescue," scene at the end, but I wished she was the one who had the moment with her father and not Emerson.

This story was charming, I really love the hints of Arabella/Northcott (I'm hopeful we'll get a follow up with their love story), and I appreciated that this was a slow burn. It was just OK for me. But I acknowledge that writing a novel deserves praise due to the work involved and I think for a debut, this author can only improve/go up from here.

What a fun Regency romance from a debut author. I really hope she writes more books about this amusing group of friends. Olivia doesn't think she'll ever be able to marry for love because her father, a self-made man, insist she marry someone titled. Emerson, a childhood friend of Olivia's, realizes his feelings towards her have changed and, with the help of his friends, he devises a way to let her know that by playing a game of "tag" at the various balls they'll be attending during the Season.

I felt so bad for Olivia. Her father is the type of man that lays down the law and you best do what he wants or else. The descriptions of her overdone ball gowns gave me a severe case of second-hand embarrassment on her behalf. How's this poor girl going to get her father to allow her to marry Emerson when he's set on someone with title?

Emerson is still learning the ins and outs of running his family's estate when he decides he needs to let Olivia know he loves her. Following his playful nature, he comes up with the idea involving the game "tag" to get Olivia to realize his feelings for her run deeper than mere friendship.

I loved the idea of this group of friends playing a discreet game of tag while at these hours-long social functions. I can imagine how boring it would be attending one ball after another during the social Season and I would need something to make it bearable. I love this group of friends--they sound like a lot of fun, and the incident with the pig and the waistcoat made me laugh. On the dend of the emotions spectrum, those kisses made me swoon.

If you enjoy childhood friends to lovers and/or slow burn romances you should definited check out this delightful regency romance. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher Shadow Mountain via NetGalley. I also purchased a paperback for my personal library. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

I thought this was a really cute and refreshing read. It was a unique story to tell in a regency period that I haven’t seen before. I loved the banter and the changing perspective as well. It was so sweet reading a regency where the man fell first too!

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

I wish I could say that I liked this book, but I didn't.
I only finished reading it because I wasn't in the mood to read anything else, so I forced myself to read this book.
It's not a bad book, it just wasn't for me.
I didn't like how the whole book takes place in balls only, I also didn't like several attitudes of our love interest, the end of the book everything was resolved in a too easy way, I think the story is boring, the coolest part was the friendship among men, it's not something we see a lot in books of this type and I loved how the male amzied was crafted here.
I don't know if I recommend this book, but I think maybe I would read books by other characters in this story!

This was such a cute fun read! I’m always looking for another cute regency romance and this one did not disappoint at all! Especially being Jentry Flint’s debut novel! I loved it!

This novel features Emerson, a gentleman who recently inherited a failing estate from his fathers death, and is determined to marry Olivia Wilde, a long time friend who is off limits due to her fathers demands for a titled husband. Emerson is the cutest in this “guy-falls-first” long time pining relationship. He knows he can’t court her through the normal methods, so he gets creative and sets to woo her through childhood games played in secret with their friends. Ooooo it is so good!!

I really loved the characters in this novel. They were all so much fun and had incredible personalities that you grew to absolutely love. The banter between not only the love interests, but also their friends kept you laughing through the whole book. There were so many witty conversations, fun pranks and secret games played throughout the book and I loved all of it.

I loved all of it and was totally sucked in fairly quickly. Such a quick easy read that had me loving the whole thing. I can’t wait to see what else Flint writes for us in the future!

I just couldn't get on board with this one. It just felt very silly and I never got in to it. DNF at around 35%.

Received an ARC from Netgalley. Opinions my own.

What a delightful read! I so enjoyed the charming and witty characters. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This was such a unique book. I loved how the characters in the story managed to liven things up by secretly playing games when at formal events.
I loved witty banter and the crazy situations they got themselves into (the pig 😂). There were lots of light hearted, fun moments in this book but also a lot of realistic conflicts for the main characters.
I can’t believe this is a debut novel for Jentry- I can’t wait for more!

It's not hard to see why I was initially drawn to Games in a Ballroom because of its cover, though I might have gone the extra mile to research "proper romance" before adding this to my TBR. For the uninitiated, "proper" is the historical romance equivalent of "clean" -- i.e., no sex. It's not a surprise from Shadow Mountain Publishing, which I later learned is an imprint of LDS bookseller and publisher Deseret. Curse me and my magpie tendencies...

The challenge of clean romance (I refuse to adopt the term "proper," which feels pejorative to bodice-rippers) in any genre, but particularly historical romance, is replacing moments of intimacy with equally character- and relationship-building scenes. Ballroom offers up a unique alternative: an elaborate game of tag.

It's a serviceable concept, but as repetitive as you remember from your playground days.

Our main characters, Emerson and Olivia, don't offer much (anything?) in the way of character growth. He's determined to make her see him as more than her friend's older brother from the very first page, just as she's resigned to making a match chosen by her abusive father. Emerson comes up with the somewhat convoluted plan to draw Liv out of her shell (where "shell" means "self-protective behavior" but hey it's just semantics!) using an ongoing game of tag, which he's sure will result in her realization that he cares for her. If it all sounds a bit puerile, that's because it is.

Realistically, this book is perfect for readers who abhor smut but want to read a historically-set romance, and who don't care much about character growth. In my experience, contemporary romance is doing a better job of offering up clean or closed-door narratives that nonetheless evoke incredible depth of feeling (off the top of my head, Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan and Mr. Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer both fit the bill). Sex is just one way to portray intimacy -- but I'm fairly certain a game of tag doesn't count among the alternatives.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain for the advance copy.

Solid friends to lovers romance. I love that Olivia and Emerson already have this lighthearted playfulness between them. However, I didn’t feel a ton of chemistry between the two. The side characters are interesting enough. I’d love to see a romance between Arabella and Northcott as it would be such a great opposites attract story. The new rival/villain was a bit mustache-twirly. There were a lot of plot threads that were left unresolved. I think an epilogue would have worked nicely so we can see how they are doing, but perhaps the author plans to write more books in this world. Overall, this was a really sweet story.

Spice Level: G

Such a sweet friends to lovers romance. I really enjoyed this book. The pacing was great, the story was perfect, and the characters were easy to get to know. It was a really nice read.
It is a historical/fiction/romance, so if none of these are your thing, best to sit this dance out. Otherwise, highly recommend it.
Will definitely be picking up more from this author in the future.

4/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.