I'll start this review by saying that I wasn't a fan of The Spanish Love Deception. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself really enjoying this one! It was a great sports romance full of heart! I would totally recommend!

As someone who was not a fan of the Spanish Love Deception, I LOVED the Long Game.

I think Elena really worked on the communication between her characters, and writing conflict in a mature way. I was obsessed with Cameron. Aaron, who? SORRY BUD.

Cameron honestly is probably a TOP TIER book boyfriend for me now.
I don't want to say too much more because of spoilers, but it is genuinely amazing.

Thank you so much to Elena Armas and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Spanish Love Deception was one that I really enjoyed so I was excited for this book by Elena Armas. I love sports romance but this fell very flat to me. First of all, it's hardly a sports romance despite being marketed as such. The pacing was off to me and I found it to be repetitive. How many times is Elena going to tell us that he has green eyes? We got it the third time. Just a drag of a book. Elena has been a disappointment since TSLD.

If you’re looking for a SPORTS, romance then you are picking up the wrong book. This book is very light on the sports but heavy on some other things we all love: small town romance, enemies to lovers, British men, MMC falls HARD, slow burn. The beginning is slow for you to find out why you should care about these characters and a lot of things are left unknown to the reader but once I was about fifty percent into the book I was invested. I wish that the slow burn was a little more if a few embers in that first fifty percent but I was VERY happy when things started to catch fire (I’ve heard pants can really spark if the friction is high enough, iykyk). Cameron was swoon worthy and keepers don’t get enough love (THOSE HANDS). This book was exactly what I expected it to be so those who go are fans of Mariana Zapata and Lauren Asher go ahead and dive in.

2⭐️s

Sadly, I did not enjoy this as much as I hoped I would. The intro of the book likened it to Ted Lasso and Every Summer After (both of which I loved). When I hear “Ted Lasso,” my expectations are through the roof, and this book just felt so flat in comparison.

Adalyn and Cam are brought together in an unbelievable circumstance after Adalyn is banished from her MSL job when a video of her goes viral and causes a PR problem for the club. She's sent to a small town in North Carolina to help run a U10 girls soccer team. While there she meets ex-pro goalie, Cameron Caldani.

While their blossoming relationship had a few moments of cuteness, overall I found the romance cringey, uncomfy and unbearably repetitive. I think a whole chapter was dedicated to talking about how green his eyes were…

The pace and structure of the book felt disjointed while also dragging, as it’s close to 400 pages. I found myself taking lots of breaks while reading — something I don’t normally do with romances.

I much preferred the supporting cast of characters in Maria, Brandy (lol, it’s a goat), Josie, Matthew and Maricela and I wish there was more around the town shenanigans.

The vibes were not vibing for me, but I have a feeling a lot of people will enjoy it.

As always, thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I know The Spanish Love Deception was a huge hit when it came out, and was all over BookTok and everything, but I found The Long Game to be vastly superior. I loved this book, no hesitations, no caveats. This book is part funny, part spicy, part heartbreaking, and one hundred percent addicting. And Cam is the dream MMC - the dreamy ideal.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I could not put The Long Game down and when I absolutely had to, I was still thinking about it. I loved the characters and the plot. The small town feel with larger than life characters was absolute perfection. Highly recommend this book and I can't wait to see if she will move forward with the Easter egg at the end.

Adalyn Reyes is sent to NC by her father after a video of her beheading the MLS Miami Flames' mascot goes viral. She finds retired soccer goalie Cameron Caldani in the same small town coaching the girls U10 soccer team she's been told to manage to help get her back to her father's good graces. The two butt heads while also noting some underlying attraction. While dealing with their own ghosts, they manage to form a truce and even show their softer sides to one another. But Adalyn is only there temporarily, so no matter how good it feels to be called Darling by the hunky goalie, she needs to keep her focus on her ultimate goal of eventually taking over the team.

A cute romance.

A small town, enemies to lovers, slow burn romance from Elena Armas…what’s not to love?!

Adalyn Reyes is sent to middle of nowhere North Carolina on a good will mission after an unfortunate PR blunder. Cameron Caldani, former soccer star, is also in town and is set on keeping his status as a former star unknown. The two are forced to work together to turn around a struggling little league soccer team and with Adalyn’s management skills and Cameron’s aptitude for soccer, they do just that all while falling for one another.

Cameron Caldani is going to be your new favorite book boyfriend! He’s athletic, British, and tattooed. I fell in love with the way he takes care of Adalyn.

I particularly enjoyed the slow reveal of the event that caused Adalyn to be sent to North Carolina in the first place.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

In my opinion, people will really like it. I personally finished it, but I didn’t really care about any of the characters.

An absolute delight from Elena Armas. A perfect rom com fluff. Absolutely loved every page. The main characters were so endearing and i loved knowing them and their lives.

2.75 * Unfortunately I did not love this. The romance between Cam and Addy had some cute moments but overall the characters were dull and lacked substance especially Cam. The only thing I got from the book was that he had green eyes, tattoos and a British accent. I also felt like the chapters did not flow well together.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Tropes
Small town
Grump/grump
Forced proximity
Sports romance

In the long game Adalyn has gone viral but not in a good way. After an emotional outburst was filmed and circulated on the internet her father the owner of the Miami Flames banishes her to a small town in North Carolina. As things aren’t going well for her another hiccup happens when she finds out the cabin she is supposed to be renting is occupied by a grumpy former professional soccer player.

This book was really fun to read, I always like a small town romance they have such a quirk to them. Between brandy the blind goat and Josie the meddling mayor it was a very enjoyable read. There was good character development between the main characters. The chemistry between them was fire especially in the pottery scene.

This novel has the enemies to lovers, slow burn and full of angst tropes everyone needs.

It definitely has the slow burn build up to the relationship and a tie in to hopefully the next book.

Elena did a wonderful job of sculpting the story with a few twist or turns. Definitely didn't see that major one coming.

I just love Adalyn.

What a fun, entertaining, and steamy soccer romance! The Long Game gave me everything I wanted and more after I read the blurb. With hints of Tessa Bailey and Mariana Zapata, The Long Game has fun small town vibes set against the backdrop of a little league soccer team.

I loved watching Adalyn and Cameron fall in love, despite all their attempts not to. Cameron gave me Roy Kent vibes, which my Ted Lasso loving heart very happy. While their love story was a tad slow for me at first, once it finally turned steamy, I was all in. The forced proximity helped develop the pair's love deeper.

What stole the show for me was the great set of supporting characters, including all the crazy animals that graced the pages. The kids were hilarious, but little Maria was my favorite part of the entire book. All her nicknames for Cameron, coupled with her fierce protective nature over Adalyn, made me love her even more. She was the star of every page she was on.

Adalyn Reyes works for an organization she loves, even if her father is distant and overly demanding. But when one mistake threatens to ruin everything she's worked for and her future at the club she loves, she will do whatever it takes to make amends. Including managing a youth girls' soccer team in the middle of nowhere. And find a way to get along with the grumpy ex-professional goalie now soccer coach. But why does he seem to bring out the absolute worst in Adalyn? And why does hearing him call her Ada make her feel like this?

This is by far my favorite Elena Armas story. The characters are funny, witty, a little annoying in the best possible way, and they have big emotions that scare them sometimes. In other words, they feel like real people. I love anything to do with soccer, and I think this is a new take on a classic romance trope. The team kids add an adorable and at times hilarious undercurrent to the story. The saga with the run-down shed is the best of Hallmark movie magic. It's an easy, fun, end-of-summer read! The male lead gives me Roy Kent vibes, for any fellow Ted Lasso fans out there.

Tropes: famous athlete, family baggage, surprise sibling, annoyance to lovers, small-town romance, corporate woman.

I enjoyed this contemporary sports romance by Elena Armas. I enjoyed the small town community and all of the side characters that come along with it. I felt like I needed more between the two main character. I felt that their issues and relationship skimmed the surface and it left me wanting more. Overall it was a good story, but I found myself enjoying the authors previous books more.

A lot of readers have been hyping up Elena Armas’ work and I was hoping this would be the book that clicked for me. Unfortunately, this book fell in the “meh” category. Don’t get me wrong, there were some elements of this story that I enjoyed. The soccer players and small-town shenanigans were my favorite aspects of this book. I even laughed out loud during one of the soccer matches. What made The Long Game a “meh” book was the writing style and length of the book. There were multiple instances where I had to stop and re-read a passage because of the writing style. It felt super choppy at points. By the time I got to the end of the book (~384 pages), I lost interest. I think this story would have been stronger if it were shorter. This was my first completed book (DNF The Spanish Love Deception) by Elena Armas and most likely my last one by her. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Jesus Christ. First of all thank you Atria publishing for this amazing arc. I’ll be honest when I first heard at Miss Armas, was S
straying away from the Spanish Love
Deception world, I was slightly deflated I’m typically not a fan of sports romance and wasn’t sure how this would play out. But let me tell you!! This book is easily one of my favorites of the year. Elena Armas is the QUEEN of satisfying slow burns, and I should have never doubted the genre because this is truly a masterpiece. I honestly think it couldn’t have gotten hotter than Aaron, but Cameron?!! Lord. This book is one of the best grumpy sunshine‘s out there it’s healing, it’s authentic with a sense of classic romance that had me swooning. I can’t wait for people to know how great this is.

The Long Game is cute. Goats, sassy little girls, and high heels in the "wilderness" are just sprinkles on the happily ever after cake. You can take the girl out of Miami but getting her to leave her heels behind takes more than a zip code change.

Cam is swoony and wonderful. This grumpy guy is worth yhe timenit takes to crack his shell. He's dreamy and swoony not to mention completely smitten. Listen to what little people tell you. Love is everything. Maybe even Matthew will learn that too...