Ah The Long Game…

I was looking forward to this one because I’ve really enjoyed her other books, but this one didn’t hit for me.

Cam and Adalyn are brought together under interesting circumstances when she is basically banished from her MLS job after a PR problem in Miami. Cam is grumpy and begrudgingly agrees to work with Adalyn in managing a youth soccer team.

I didn’t feel any real likability for either of these characters for much of the book and the chemistry between them didn’t hit until very late in the book.

I did enjoy many of the side characters, like Josie, Matthew, Maricela, and María. And truthfully, I think I would be more interested in a story involving some of those side characters.

I just felt like there was more potential and to compare it to Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer is not accurate in my opinion.

Thank you NetGalley & Atria Books for this advanced copy!

The long game by Elena Armas was by far my favorite romcom from her so far!!! It gives major Ted Lasso vibes and I’m living for it. It also includes all my favorite trips like enemies to lovers, grumpy hero, small town vibes, self discovery.

Adalyn and Cameron were absolutely perfect together in my unbiased opinion ☺️. They may have started off on the wrong foot but the tension and relationship development from there on out was absolutely amazing! There was times were I was like “JUST KISS ALREADY” because the chemistry was so thick you couldn’t slice it with a knife. I honestly just adored everything abt this book but some of my favorites without majorly spoiling are the blind goat, little Maria, Cameron’s cats and ofc the hilarious banter between the main 2 characters. This book is an absolute must read and I can’t talk for y’all to enjoy it!!!!!

Thank u sm to Atria Books for sending me this arc via Netgalley!!

Official synopsis

Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.

But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.

To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars, all the stars!! Elena Armas is one of my favorite authors for a reason and this book just reminded me of that in a big way! City girl in a small town, grumpy x grumpy and the baby goats? All perfect elements to a fantastic slow burn that had me sweating once it got to burning. Cameron Caldani and all his grumpiness made themselves at home in my heart, along with the Green Warriors. I could go on and on but would probably spoiler the entire book, so if you like soccer, small towns and a fantastic slow burn this is the book for you! I started reading this a day before being unexpectedly hospitalized and this was my read while being scared and in pain, huge thank you to Elena for building such a wonderful world for me to get sucked into when my own was less than great for a bit there.

3.75 ⭐️

This is my first read from this author. I’ve heard so much about her other books that I was super excited for this one!

Adalyn and Cameron are both genuinely realistic characters. I can appreciate that they’re not made to be perfect for the purpose of immediately winning the audience over. I loved them and their flaws because they made them so relatable. (Also, Cameron is British so…extra points!) Regarding them as a couple, I’m a huge fan of enemies to lovers. I just thought that they were too harsh on each other in the beginning (given the circumstances of them being “enemies”). With that being said, once they began to understand each other, I really started to love them together. There were a couple moments where I thought they both acted immature BUT the subtle ways that they showed they cared and their communication later in the book pretty much made it up for me.

It took me a few chapters to get into this story. There was just a drag at the beginning for me. It started to feel too long. However, it definitely did pick up and once it did, the pacing felt right. I loved the small town setting and the circumstances that it brought for both characters. I really liked the side characters, especially the soccer team (María was so cute!). I honestly would have loved to see even more of them working together with it. This was definitely a slower burn, but it didn’t get boring for me because of the way the author built them up. I loved how they went from two individuals who felt like they had to do everything alone to trusting each other. The third act conflict between them felt a bit forced, just because it was really just slight miscommunication and I’m not the biggest fan of that. With that being said, their eventual confrontation with the conflict and their ending were everything.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It’s one of those that I definitely saw myself in. It was comforting because of this, along with funny and emotional. I’m excited to look back at the other books by this author and her future works!

MINI PLAYLIST ⚽️👠⭐️
London Boy - Taylor Swift
This Town - Niall Horan
Begin Again (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! :)

I Love Elena Armas. Her writing style. It is a great story. The Characters are awesome. Elena writes realistic settings

I am such a fan of all that Elena Armas writes! This book was no exception! I loved all that it had to offer. Fans of Ted Lasso will love this cute soccer romance!

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I was so excited to receive this advance copy, I absolutely loved Elena’s previous books and was excited to read something completely new.

I really enjoyed the characterization in this book, especially Adalyn. Seeing her work through her issues and really come into her own was so much fun to read. I also loved all of her and Cameron’s back and forth, they are great together.

The main critique that I had was that the transitions were not as smooth as I would have liked. For example, Adalyn and Cameron are reluctant co-workers who sometimes check each other out and then all of a sudden they were obsessed with each other. Maybe I’m nitpicking l, but sometimes it felt like a forced turn without lead up.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I cannot wait for what Elena has next!

This book is great! The slow burn, the chemistry, the build up.... Every word that came out of Cameron‘s mouth had me giggling or straight up losing my mind. Definite recommend!

ARC Review

After #sparklesgate #LadyBirdinator went viral, Adalyn is sent off to a cabin in the mountains to help manage the Green Warriors - a girl's little league soccer team. It's not one bit her cup of tea, the chickens, the woods, the COACH. But it's the only way she can prove she's calmed back down and won't have anymore outbursts.
This is the total feel good rom com everyone wants to read! It's a rustic "It Happened One Summer" with every lovable trope imaginable - forced proximity trope, meets sports/celebrity romance, small town and a little grumpy sunshine, you name it. And you know Elena Armas is the queen of laugh out loud funny, sticky situations with great banter! I don't always love the kid tropes, but these kids were so funny too and definitely added to the sweetness of the story.
All in all, I ate this book up! Even having zero interest in soccer, I still found it incredibly enjoyable. The heated connection between Adalyn and Cam was undeniable, and ALL of the characters were so hilarious and lovable. I can totally see another book happening too ;)

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Adalyn works for her father's famous soccer franchise as viral moment with the franchise mascot. She quickly gets shipped off somewhere remote for charity work and comes to odds with the little girls soccer coach. Hilarity ensues.

Easy formula, quick fun, read.

This book really pissed me off. It’s marketed as enemies to lovers but it’s really insta-lust, and I thought the way that Cameron and Adalyn interact was incredibly annoying. Cameron’s this growling alpha British stereotype of a man who only thinks about Adalyn’s body and Adalyn is a spoiled entitled unreasonable woman. None of the relationship building scenes were well-paced or structured and the ending was a let-down. The Spanish Love Deception was so well-written and well-paced in comparison.

Elena Armas Has Written Yet Another Book That I Didn´t Enjoy
This Book Was Super Boring
And The Romance Just Makes Me Mad

This was not my favorite by her but I don’t know why. It just seemed to drag and I wasn’t invested in the couple or the story. I think it was well-written and probably everyone else will love it.

This was a great read. Elena Armas can really write enemies to lovers. Cam was so swoon worthy and I really enjoyed all of the supporting characters in this one.

Elena Armas books do not dissapoint. The main characters had great banter and I loved the forced proximity. This is one of the few books where I actually like the male lead more than the female lead. She has a little too classically clumsy for me. But I loved how Cam was always there to catch her and it caused some great swoon worthy scenes between the two of them. Overall a great sports romance!
Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

I quite enjoyed “The Long Game”! This was my first Elena Armas book, and I’ll definitely be seeking out other, already-published titles.

When Armas told us this book was a slow-burn, she wasn’t kidding. It was quite a fair part into the book before our main characters finally decided to stop lying to themselves (not a spoiler; that’s pretty common for most romances, no? 😂). Nevertheless, she created an interesting read.

I found myself frustrated with both characters for probably at least half the book. Adalyn and Cameron are both incredibly stubborn, and their focused determination to see their personal objectives through makes them kind of - I’ll say “jerks,” to be a little more censor-friendly. As the story progressed, though, Armas starts peeling back character layers, and I found myself mentally encouraging both to wake up and smell the coffee they both love so much.

My one criticism with this ARC is Armas’s continued usage of “the man” or “the woman” when the character whose POV we are reading refers to the object of his/her affection. While I understand she’s trying to avoid repetitiveness, I feel it comes off as somewhat cold and removed.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.

I freaking loved this it was so good. I loved Adalyn and Cameron and their chemistry. I loved how they met. I also adored the girl's soccer team. Especially Maria she was my favorite I love how she looked up to Adalyn and Chelsea with her tutu. I also loved Josephine and the activities she planned in Green Oak.I also thought the whole viral video about Adalyn was hilarious. I loved the girl's team and all their comments and references.I loved how protective Cameron was. I loved the activities like goat yoga and pottery. Also, I loved how competitive Adalyn was. I also loved their banter and how Cameron made fun of her binder and organization and how he calls her darling. I love how he planned a stargazing night, helped her through her panic attack, and bought her clothes. I loved the romance between Adalyn and Cameron and I really enjoyed the small town of green oak this book was everything

Ugh, this book.

I wanted to love it, I really did, but something about the writing and the characters themselves was all just a bit too amateur to me. The setting and promise of the plot sounded amazing, but the execution was lacking. I truly believe with a little extra time and editing, this could've been everything it was promised to be, but I was just not getting the sweet, fun Ted Lasso vibes I really, really wanted.

I enjoyed this new book from the author. The characters were well written and fun. I was happy to see them together. There were a couple twists to the book which I enjoy. Loved the wit of the younger soccer players and all the nicknames. Can't wait to see these folks in a new book...

The long game was indeed, LONG.

I love nothing more than a well developed slow burn, and this delivered. Cameron and Adalyn start out hating each other, only to reluctantly work with each other, and then slowly.. soooo slooooowllllyyyy, they fall for each other. And it’s incredibly to see it happen.

If you liked this authors previous works, you’ll love this one too!