I enjoyed The Spanish Love Deception, so I could not wait to read The Long Game. Plus, I am down for any version of a sports romance. Elena Armas does it again with this one!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

I enjoyed the story and plot. The chemistry seemed to lack for me between the characters, but I still ate up their romance.

Thank you Atria for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

After a video of hers goes viral, Adalyn gets sent to a small town to help turn around a soccer team. There she's forced to work with Cameron, a soccer prodigy. In this dislike to lovers, a romance ensues.

I liked the lighthearted feel of the book. There were also some really cute moments. The dual points of view from the love interests really brought the story to life.

However, overall, I really did not like this book. I think that the main characters lacked depth and personality. The relationship, like the Fiancé Dilemma, relied so much on the fact that the two main love interests were physically attracted to each other. Relationships have to be based on more than just physical attraction! I also think Cameron tried to fix everything for her, and I really didn't like that. Did the romance come out of nowhere? Absolutely. Cameron was also not that interesting as a character. His personality was just being a famous soccer player, being scared of goats, and taking care of Adalyn. Adalyn was conceited and remained so for the entirety of the book, but she does soften slightly, and I mean minutely for Cameron, which isn't really saying much for character development.

Unfortunately I couldn’t relate to the characters in this story, and it had a hard time keeping my attention. It didn’t get interesting until about halfway through for me.

What a slow burn. Thoroughly enjoyed - such good chemistry. I’m already looking forward to book two as well as the authors other work!

I think this author is not for me. I did not enjoy this book at all. I thought the writing was really rough and it felt way too long.

Unfortunately this was a bust for me. Lame characters and just didn't care about them. Might have been better if edited a bit but just not for me Others may enjoy

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I like following Armas’s literary journey. She definitely hooked me with her debut novel, Spanish Love Deception, but unfortunately hasn’t captivated me since. I loved SPD so much but did not necessarily like this one. It didn’t have the same level of fun or ease to read.

Adalynn is involved in a scandal with her family's soccer team and sent to the small town of Green Oak to stay under the radar and work with a youth soccer league. There she meets Cameron, a soccer start trying to say out of the limelight. The two of them must work together to help the soccer team win.

I loved the cast of characters in this story. They were strong and well developed. The kids and animals added such a funny and unique perspective in the story. I also liked a different take on the 3rd act breakup while still following the HEA formula of romance books.

This one is a little hard for me to rate. I didn't really like Adalyn or Cameron all that much, but the story was interesting enough to keep me reading. I liked the soccer angle but thought the romance was a bit unbelievable.

This was a cute story. It didn’t have the perfect happily ever after ending while still having such an ending. As usual you know the main characters are going to end up together - it’s just how they get there that remains to be read. I enjoyed the sports talk and how to get the characters to okay as a team. I picked up the second book in the series and decided to actually start with this first book. That said I have a feeling the second would read fine as a stand alone based on how this one was written.

Instant enemies, to lovers. Work alongside each other. Very slow burn.

Confusing as to why she did what she did, why he left, what they’re both doing there. No small-town under-10 girls soccer team needs a general manager, sheesh.

Happy if this is a series (I think it is?) because I wanna see glimpses of where the future actually takes them.

Slow-ish at first but boy it gets good. I want Cam!!

Favorite lines:
“Oh, the audacity of men to doubt a woman’s capacity to endure pain and discomfort.” - ain’t that the truth

“You’re never too loud. And you should never apologize for being loud. Whoever makes you feel that way is the one with sensitive ears.” - almost cried reading this. I’m loud, so is half my family, and I’ve been told to shut up or quiet down my whole life.

“F everyone who has made you feel like you’re not worth everything you deserve.” - I would SOB if someone told me this and meant it.

"The Long Game" is a great start to a new series. I do think parts of this one dragged a bit but I enjoyed how our main characters were two strong willed characters who had their own hangups to work through. I think if you love Hallmark movies and stories, this one would be a good fit for you!

This was a quick and fun read. While I am not a huge soccer fan, I still found elements of the story that I enjoyed. When it came to the characters, I wanted more from June and Levi’s relationship. Given their long history as close friends before the fallout, I never quite felt the connection I was hoping for.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advance digital copy!

I really enjoyed this read from Elena Armas. We love a prickly hero! Fun and quick with a side of soccer and small town charm. Sign me up for goat yoga please!

The Long Game by Elena Armas. Pub Date: September 5, 2023. Rating: 3 stars. In this sports romance, the reader is introduced to the daughter of a professional soccer team owner and a retired soccer star in a small town. The daughter, Adalyn, created an uproar with the professional team's mascot and her father ships her to a small town where her world collides with Cam. She is supposed to help out a children's soccer team, but has minimal knowledge of how to coach/do so. Cam get wrangled into helping and sparks start flying. This romance was a cute set up, but I found the story to be long and drawn out. I think it could have worked if it was shorter and may have benefiting from some more editing. I am always a reader of sports romance and did enjoy the story overall. Thanks to #netgalley and #atria for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Good writing. Insufferable characters.
 
The Long Game by Elena Armas is a romance following Adalyn, a woman who knows what she wants and sticks to her routines, and Cameron, a former soccer goalie who weirdly attracts animals. They have to work together on a children’s soccer league, where their feelings for one another begin to grow.
 
The premise being a sports romance is something I typically enjoy reading, but I had quite a few issues with the characters of the book. This story was 95% her falling over and him catching her. It was ridiculous. This is supposed to be a strong-willed woman that’s a hard worker with a serious personality, yet she couldn’t stand upright for longer than two seconds.
 
Now Cameron is even worse. He does the bare minimum and is praised for it. She constantly asks him not to call her pet names, yet he ignores her. It’s infuriating seeing these actions getting romanticized. If I took a shot every time he called her “darling” I would have died by the 50% mark. Also, everything they do is sexual. I don’t mind spice in my books, but these scenes were just plain awkward.
 
The only redeeming characters were the kids. They were hilarious, witty, and a breath of fresh air after constantly reading about the main characters weird romance.
 
Despite everything, the writing was good. Elena Armas is a best-selling author for a reason. Even though her characters don’t do it for me, I have to acknowledge she is a decent writer.
 
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book to be your first introduction to Armas’ books. If you’ve read her others, maybe give this one a shot. However, if you plan to start with this one, don’t.

I liked the setup of this one: buttoned up repressed corporate woman meets grumpy former professional athlete. Adalyn was definitely a hot mess for a big chunk of the book, but I was cheering for her to get the HEA she clearly deserved after bending over backwards to impress her jerky father. I appreciated the eye candy description of Cam and his POV chapters were endearing. A few things I didn't like: the forest scene was icky, a 9 year old kid was made to sound like a licensed therapist, and the soccer team and championship got pushed aside by halfway mark. Still a good romance with some fun will they or won't they moments.

I unfortunately really wanted to love this but I ultimately could not get into it. I tried several times and it just did not capture my interest the way I hoped it would.

However, I will say that I really enjoyed the he falls first trope and the slow burn aspect of the book! It just wasn’t my favorite and that is okay!

3.5> - I liked the dual perspective of this story, I'm not sure I would have liked it otherwise. For much of the book, maybe roughly 70%, I felt like I wasn't really reading much of anything. I didn't think what she did sounded that bad and I couldn't really get a feel for what either of them wanted in any aspect of their lives. The romance was such a slow burn (I guess the title should have told me that) and a lot of it was our FMC asking herself what Cam means by something he said or an action and, for a long time, not asking him (not that he was forthcoming at all). I understood her and why it was so confusing to her to be treated a certain way for the first time but it became repetitive so I started to skip some of her perspective. There's a point where Adalyn says she hasn't been this sexually frustrated in a while but she seemed like someone who had never enjoyed sex before so I'd think she was always sexually frustrated unless she'd just never been horny before?

His pov didn't add much and there was a lot about him I liked but much of what frustrated her about him also frustrated me. A man of action but not one of words which would be fine if he would spell out how he felt in his own POV at least to me, the reader, if he isn't going to verbalize it. He started saying he was playing the long game but honestly, it seemed unnecessary to play any game at all with her. If he would have asked her to dinner 35% in, I think she would have gone lol. At about 60% in I was just wishing they'd communicate about what they were feeling! I found it odd that he kept calling her darling any my ears were reading American Southern, not English. I wish I would have seen them both dealing with their own conflict better.

I'm not sure I cared much about the other people in town but was curious about Josie. If there's a book about her finding a lasting love, I'd want to read that. I like to imagine she'd be more upfront and open with her suitor and honestly, I was very interested in her mayoral duties.