So I almost didn't ask for this because I hated The Spanish Love deception. But I wanted to give her another chance. This was a better set up and the love interest gave me Roy Kent vibes that I very much enjoyed. Although not my favorite I can def recommend this to patrons. I did like the character growth of the two of them and how many healthy discussions there were.

A big thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!
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I was really excited about this book when I saw it pop up on NetGalley, and requested it right away. I haven’t read Armas’ other books yet, but I know that I will be adding them to my library list asap. I enjoyed both Adalyn and Cam’s characters; they were fully fleshed out and neither was perfect. Their romance was cute, and I really loved the little girls that made up the soccer team.
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The plot itself definitely dragged in the middle and the final twist felt a little over the top in comparison to the rest of the book. Given that the entire novel was a slow burn, I can’t complain too much that it took forever for Adalyn and Cam to get together, but they were almost immediately ripped apart again by their own walls. I wish we had spent some of the time learning more of Cam’s background, and I want to know so much more about Adalyn’s best friend, Matthew. I’d definitely give this one a try if you haven’t yet.

This was a cute and quick soccer romance read. After a momentary blackout that causes a PR nightmare Adalyn is exiled to do some charity work for a little league girls soccer team. Little does she know that the town is full of secrets including a retired soccer star. An enemies to lover tale where you really aren't sure how it's going to work out but I'm glad I stuck around for the ending.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

I loved this book! This is my first Elena Armas and I am now an instant fan. Adalyn and Cameron were hot and cold throughout the book but you could see they belonged together!

The Long Game is sorta sports, sorta grumpy/sunshine romance with a very slow burn. It was a little bit on the long side or maybe it just seemed a little dragged out, but once it got to the romance it was really good. I do think the complications with the family seemed a little more tacked on than integral to the story especially the reveal. The standouts are the children particularly Maria and the funny goats.

I received an arc via Netgalley, and am leaving an honest review about the book. I’m thankful to the publisher and the author for giving me this wonderful opportunity!

The first book I read by Elena Armas was the The Spanish Love Deception, and I knew from there that I’d be addicted to her. I genuinely adore her writing style and the absolute, utter swoon-worthy MMCs that she writes. Although Aaron Blackford is my one and only, Cameron Caldani is number two.

First, I love the spitfire that is Adalyn (have I mentioned I love her name??). She gave so much sass to Cameron, and I loved every second of it. She was also extremely adorable, and I loved how there were so many nuances to her character. She portrayed the perfect example of a child too desperate for her parent's attention, and I related to her on so many levels. I felt frustrated for her, felt angry on her behalf, and that's proof of a well-rounded character.

And oh my god, Cameron. The MOUTH this man had. I was in love and blushed every time he spilled dirty talk. Cam was rough around the edges, but he was very caring. He definitely fit alongside Adalyn, and I feel as though they were made for each other. On occasion, an author writes a couple who end up together, but it leaves readers feeling weird because the couple doesn't fit. I didn't get that feeling from these two. Elena is so good at the way she writes love, dedication, and pining.

However, story-wise, I feel like there could have been more done? It just felt incomplete, and I didn't think there was any point or further conflict to make it work. But other than that, I really enjoyed it, so I’m giving it a four!

I’m so happy I was able to get an ARC for The Long Game, and I’m excitedly waiting for anything else I can read from her.

This book was everything to me. I had such a great time reading this, I couldn’t put it down. Immediate 5 stars for me!

The slow burn was literal perfection and I was so giddy when Cameron said anything to Adalyn. They were so freaking cute! 🤭

If you love:

♡ dual pov
♡ slow burn
♡ enemies to lovers
♡ grumpy/grumpy
♡ he falls first and hard
♡ spice

This book is for you! Another masterpiece written by Elena that I will be thinking about for a long time.

Cameron Caldani welcome to my favorite fictional boyfriend list. 💚🩷

I could never really wrap my head around the catalyst behind this (Adalyn's viral video), so every decision made based on that just sort of seemed illogical to me, and I never got fully absorbed in the story.

This is also a fairly soccer-heavy story, so I think people who enjoy sports (and especially soccer) would enjoy this more than I did.

Beyond that, the story is fairly standard, similar to Aramas's other books. Good if your in the mood for a quick read with some cute moments.

I loved this book! Such a sute enemies to lovers trope that had me laughing the whole time! The characters were lovable, and the book was full of laughs. This was not my favorite Elana Armas book, but I did really like it and I would read it again! Thanks to Elena, the publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I adored Spanish Love Deception, but the Long Game took me a long time to get through. Ada was quite annoying as a character and her annoyance by Cam meant we didn't get to know his character very well for a big chunk of the book. I didn't feel the chemistry until they connected physically-- then I enjoyed the book a bit more.

I'm honestly so sad to be writing this review. The premise of The Long Game had such potential, and parts were really cute!! But overall, the first 66% of this book fell flat. I'm all for a slow burn (I get burnt out on smut), but the first half of the book was just two annoyingly grumpy people being hard-headed for absolutely no reason?

I will try other books by this author, but this one just didn't work for me.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I struggle with contemporaries that go too over the top, especially when it's played for laughs because it just feels forced. The book was surprisingly long but yet didn't manage to come to a satisfying ending. I really had a FMC who insists she is not like other girls because there is nothing wrong with being like other girls. I felt zero chemistry between the main characters and really struggled with their transition from hating each other to loving each other because there was no chemistry. Also gag me with the "darling" it's a major ick especially after she told him not to call her that.

3.5 stars!

Elena Armas's "The Long Game" is a slow, slow, slow-burning enemies-to-lovers, small-town soccer romance that hits almost all of the right notes for me. It's mostly enjoyable, though there are a few notable things that irked me. I liked the mutual hatred-turned-love between the main characters, Adalyn and Cameron. Adalyn is from a big city, has a tense relationship with her boss/father, is very type-A, and keeps herself wound tight. Cameron is hiding out in a small town in North Carolina living his grumpiest former soccer player life. He hates her impractical shoes, she hates his cabin-and-nature-heavy lifestyle. The perfect pair topped off with fantastic banter with conflict that feels pointless! I loved how Adalyn and Cameron have to work together to solve not only their differences but also help out a soccer team full of little girls who are absolutely adorable. My biggest gripe is that there isn't a lot of pining between the two of them, even in their hatred of one another. They simply go from enemies to "I'm in love with them" in the span of a few moments, which is shocking considering how long this book is (and it does feel a little too long). The ending wraps up way too quickly for such a long novel. The romance is sort of bogged down by all of the other plot points going on here, and there are a lot of moving parts. There's the entire subplot about how she was fired from her job for something that should have been the other person's fault with no oversight in a company run by her own father, which, no? I get that it's the catalyst for her being sent away to North Carolina, but her life is basically destroyed because of something terrible someone else did! Is there no HR department to help her?! There's Adalyn's best friend, Matthew, who is a huge soccer fan and is obviously only in this book so an interconnected sequel can be written about him...there's a lot more stuff that doesn't feel integral to the story. This book is slightly better than I expected and does have its moments of zaniness and fun.

Thank you to NetGalley, Elena Armas, and Atria Books for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

This was my first Armas book
I know I know, I STILL haven’t read SLD or TARE
*hands up* I surrender

My TBR is killing me okay?
HOWEVER! I scored this one on audio and it was just everything I needed.
I loved the reason behind the to MC’s being forever to work together, and the ETL trope was fully thrilling, believable, AND intense!
This book came together so well
Pacing was perfect
Banter PFF THE CHARTS
Romance woven into nearly every interaction!
I’m a die hard Armas Fan now!!
And hey, since I own the other two books, I guess this is my sign to PICK. THEM. UP!
♥️♥️♥️

I tried so hard to like this and I just could not get into this. Something about the general energy between the characters just wasn’t believable and I don’t really like either of them enough to keep going.

"The Long Game" by Elena Armas is a cute small-town romance with a soccer-themed twist, and it left me with mixed feelings that landed it at a three-star rating. While the romance and content were enjoyable, I found that the story dragged on at times, making it a bit challenging to stay fully engaged. I was initially captivated by our British male lead and our spunky main character, and while their initial meeting and budding romance was electric, it eventually started to slowly fizzle.

On a brighter note, I absolutely loved the summer camp setting. The small-town atmosphere added a unique and cozy backdrop to the developing romance, which made the story all the more endearing. The standout elements in the book were the young girls on the soccer team. Their chaotic energy and their enthusiastic support for the love interests added a delightful and heartwarming aspect to the story. They brought a sense of innocence and fun, balancing the more serious parts of the plot.

If you're a fan of sweet romances with unique settings, I definitely still think it's worth giving this book a try! It all may just come down to your preferences as a reader.

This one was good, but not great. I love enemies-to-lovers but pair that with a slow slow burn and it just dragged a bit for me. Overall though, it was an entertaining read

Reading The Long Game has solidified that Elena Armas is not for me. I am one of the few who didn't care for The Spanish Love Deception. I found the female lead obnoxious, immature, and rude. Here, the female lead suffers from the same disagreeable nature as the lead in SLD. It ruined the entire romance for me. From the start, I couldn't root for them, making it hard to care about the story. I did like the pets and the kids.

I also found the book to be too long. The ending was unsatisfying as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think this story was really cute. It was compared to Ted Lasso and It Happened One Summer vibes and I would say that’s fairly accurate. I think this gave more Roy Kent for Cameron and but Adalyn wasn’t very ditzy or Alexis from Schitt’s Creek. She wasn’t banished because she was spoiled, she was banished because her dad sucked. I think this story was about 75 pages too long but otherwise I really enjoyed it.

This was a new to me author but I had heard about her previous books so I was excited to get this ARC. It was a slow burn, enemies to lovers with great chemistry and a bit of sports thrown in. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading other Elena Armas books in the future.