This book was just OK for me. I liked the premise and the F/F relationship for sure. It definitely felt like a Jennifer Dugan romance story, but it felt somewhat immature to me? I don't know how to exactly describe it. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.

I was not expecting to like this. I am an athlete myself and I was prepared to see a lot of stereotypical cliches. I was pleasantly surprised! I learned to love these characters through their flaws and their personalities. The romance was slightly too instant love for me, I just don't believe it's super realistic by any means. That being said, I appreciated the representation of mental health taking a large toll on athletes and how a support system can help that.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I am a huge Jennifer Dugan fan and have read all of her books so I was extremely excited to get an ARC of hers this year. This is also a baseball romance and what more could you want?

Both June and Ivy were really well developed as characters outside of their relationship and I really admired their aspirations to break barriers as women in sports. Their respective best friends honestly were the MVPs of the book .

My rating is 3.5 rounded down because the resolution of the 3rd act conflict for both June and Ivy honestly felt underdeveloped and rushed. I feel like we missed out on a chapter or two to really dive into some of those feelings.

Overall still a fun read and Dugan's writing style is always a win for me. Looking forward to the next one!

“Playing for Keeps” was a beautiful book. If you get emotional with books, then prepare yourself, because this book will definitely strike your heart (pun intended). I enjoyed the Ivy - June dynamic, especially that they were each chasing glass-ceiling breaking dreams — professional baseball player and professional referee in the NFL. Ivy has been refereeing mostly kids’ soccer games but due to a ref/umpire shortage, her boss arranges for her to umpire youth baseball. In her first game behind the plate, a hotheaded pitcher, upset at her balls and strikes calls, throws a pitch that nearly hits Ivy in the head. Ivy responds by ejecting the pitcher, which makes more people angry at her. After the game she heads into the umpire locker room, only to get yelled at by the hotheaded pitcher (June), who was already in there. While they don’t get off to the most auspicious start, and the moment in the locker room is awkward, there is a definite connection. That is problematic because there are rules prohibiting relationships between umpires and players. They do their best to hide the relationship, and Ivy switches schedules/games to avoid being the umpire when June’s team is playing. However, that plan only works for so long, and when the wrong person finds out, everything falls apart.

Adding to the potential conflict of interest and the typical teen relationship angst, as well as the pressure of college decisions looming, as they are both seniors, is that Ivy and June have both experienced heartbreaking losses (Ivy’s brother and June’s mother to cancer) and those losses have shifted the family dynamics. The impact on June is particularly significant, as her pitching shoulder is in much worse shape than she is willing to admit, because not being the star pitcher means letting down her teammates and her father and tarnishing her mother’s memory.

As much as I like Ivy and June, my favorite character is Javonte, because he is such a good friend to June. He is everything a best friend should be — supportive and caring, but also willing to call June out on her behavior when necessary.

"playing for keeps" is a forbidden romance between a star player and a star umpire whose chemistry is undeniable from the start. june, a female baseball player, feels a lot of pressure to live up to everyone's expectations, and ivy, an aspiring sports official, is determined to join the ranks of the women officiating in men's professional sports. they get off to a rocky start, but soon realize they understand each other in a way few people seem to and begin a secret relationship. i absolutely loved both june and ivy as main characters and their love story was so special to me. they were both so well rounded and fleshed out, and their stories—both together and separate—were very heartfelt and relatable. i don't know much about baseball (or anything at all, really) but i was able to follow along easily enough, which is my benchmark for a great sports romance. overall, i would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes sapphic sports romances (which, don't we all?!?!).

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Playing for Keeps is a YA romance following June, the only girl on her all boys baseball team, and Ivy, a former soccer player with dreams of becoming a professional referee. Ivy begins to ump for June's league and the two girls fall for each other, but rules prohibit them from dating due to a conflict of interest.

I adored that this was a YA queer romance without focus on coming out or sexuality as the main problem. Although for YA, it read more like middle grade to me. The pacing felt off as well. The girls were meant to start as enemies and it seemed like it was ramping up for an enemies to lovers story, but they got together incredibly quickly. A lot of the problems felt easily solvable

The book goes back and forth from the point of view of each of the girls but the perspectives sounded so similar it was difficult to distinguish who was meant to be telling the story. It was also hard for me to understand the motivations of the characters and the way their desires shifted quickly.

Overall, it still felt like a draft that needed to be fleshed out and developed more. It lacked a great deal of specificity. We never hear what state or city they are meant to live in. June's coach is referred to as just "Coach," never a name. It felt like still an idea of a story to me. However, this was an easy read that I'm sure would be more appreciated by its target YA audience.

Playing for Keeps comes out on April 30th, 2024. Thank you to NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley & G. P. Putnam’s Sons for the ARC in exchange for my review.

June is a varsity baseball player with dreams of playing professionally, and Ivy is a soccer ref turned baseball umpire (also with dreams of the pro leagues) who keeps making calls against her. The two start off as enemies, due to aforementioned calls, but quickly realize they have a lot in common. Eventually they realize that they also have feelings for each other…

This YA novel dealt with some difficult topics such as family loss, dealing with intense pressure, misogyny, and injury, in a really well thought out way. The romance between June and Ivy develops quickly and has many intense moments, which I think is really representative of high school relationships. The pressure that Ivy and June both face as seniors in high school and women in male-dominated sports fields only adds to the stress on their relationship. Ivy and June go through a lot of ups and downs but the ending was worth it. I think this story was very realistic and Jennifer Dugan has created lovable and real characters yet again.

Playing for Keeps is the WLW Sarah Dessen-esque novel I needed as a queer high school student!

I haven't read a Jennifer Dugan book for years already (I think the last one I absolutely adored is Hotdog Girl) and now I specifically requested this one because the premise and the cover looks like something that is my jam!

And oh what a ride. Playing for Keeps definitely kept PLAYING with my feels as I read more about June (local celebrity pitcher) and Ivy (passionate umpire) and how they started hating each other on court to friends and eventually to something more.

I also liked the discussion about June and Ivy's relationships with their parent/s and how the two found each other sharing the mutual feeling of dealing with grief af such a young age.

Cute, heartwarming, swoonworthy (and at times, emotional), Playing for Keeps is definitely something to watch out for! 4stars!

• ARC Review •

𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Playing For Keeps
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Jennifer Dugan
𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ☆☆☆☆

Tropes:
* Sapphic sports romance
* Slight enemies to lovers
* Grief
* Loss of loved ones

Every Jennifer Dugan book is done so well and has me swooning. I love them all and adding this to my list.

Dugan did a great job with the baseball references which I had no clue about before reading this book and it was done well and kept me interested.

I really loved June and Ivy so much. Right off the BAT(Pun intended) their banter and chemistry was so electric I wanted to keep reading more and more. There was a little bit of a messy part there but doesn’t that just make the relationship more realistic? I really loved the characters development though out the story. I’d recommend this book to anyone and look forward to reading more by Jennifer Dugan in the future.

Releases on April 30th 2024

This was ok, but I didn't really like that it was just about relationship drama. I didn't really care enough about the relationship to care about the the lack of communication.

Playing for Keeps was such a sweet, messy, and very layered story and I thought the romance between Ivy and June was adorable. I’m not a huge sports person, so I appreciated Dugan didn’t go heavy on the technical side of baseball, but I was very much invested in June and Ivy’s games. Now from the cover and synopsis, this book appears to be a cute, fluffy romcom, but it is also a deep exploration of grief, and it is raw and incredibly emotional.

The discussion of mental health and safety in sports and humanization of athletes was so important. Too often spectators get so caught up in the game that they lose sight of the players and officials as actual people and spew vitriol when plays, calls, and outcomes aren’t in favor of their team. With Ivy’s character being an official, she talks about how she, a teenager, is yelled at and stalked by angry parents. It is imperative for fans and parents on the sidelines to remember it’s just a game and these athletes are real people.

Dugan discusses grief and how the pain of loss ebbs and flows, and how our future dreams or plans are shaped or impacted by the memories of lost loved ones. My heart ached for June, Ivy, and their parents as they were all trying to navigate life after loss while seeking connection and a sense of direction. While the conversations were heartbreaking and it took a character reaching their breaking point, I was grateful June and her father and Ivy and her parents finally stopped long enough to be transparent, bare their hurt, and cling to and cry together.

Dugan knocked it out of the park with this tender, emotional, heartwarming sapphic sports romance, and it is sure to be a hit with YA readers.

I've really liked Jennifer Dugan's other books, but this was 2.5 stars for me. It was just too predictable and there wasn't character depth to make up for that. With the alternating chapters from the two characters, we knew who would get together immediately. The setup with a pitcher and umpire was such an obvious conflict that the plot was mostly predictable. Yes, there was a crisis later, but those problems were established in the first few chapters.

If there isn't any wiggle room in the relationships and plot, other things have to step up, but they didn't. Where is this? Is it hot or cold? Cold weather matters for pitchers. The two best friends are basically there to generate some dialogue when Ivan and June aren't talking. Beyond baseball and childhood trauma, we know almost nothing about these girls. June has a ponytail, Ivy likes coffee with vanilla shots. That's about it.

The baseball part doesn't hang together either. No high school team only has a single pitcher. They have a pitching staff. There is a starting rotation with lefties and righties. Ivy could have been scheduling days when other pitcher were starting. There are relievers and/or younger pitchers. Instead of wanting to stay in because there were no other pitchers, June could have been backed up by a sophomore reliever that she knew would get lit up. Instead, they have a non-pitcher position player come in, which makes zero sense.

Here is a roster from my old high school. They have two dedicated pitchers and twelve players who pitch and play a position. Pretty good team, they were 9-1 in conference play. https://nchsathletics.com/teams/3348768/baseball/varsity/roster

It is nice to see a book with women in baseball, but it doesn't really work, either as a romance or as a baseball book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a cute, fun, wholesome high school romance. I enjoyed the character development of the two main characters, ivy and june. They both had to deal with their parents expectations of going to college and with the college application cycle. I found the characters to be loveable and loved watching their growth!

This was a very sweet, sapphic, sports romcom. I thought the characters were well developed and their actions made sense for people their age. Sure they didn’t always make the best decisions and everything seemed like the end of the world but… they were teenagers and that’s how things feel at that age.
I also thought that the conflict fit with the story, it wasn’t too high or too low stakes but felt like just the right amount of tension and was wrapped up really nicely.
I’m always an advocate for more queer YA books so this has a special place in my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC!!

Overall, while I didn't initially connect with this book due to its YA genre, I found myself pleasantly surprised by its charm and depth. "Playing for Keeps" by Jennifer Dugan delivers a heartfelt sapphic romance set against the backdrop of High school sports, featuring June, a star pitcher, and Ivy, a determined student umpire. Despite my reservations about the genre, I couldn't help but appreciate the intricate dynamics between the characters and their self-discovery.

Jennifer Dugan's skillful storytelling and relatable characters make this a delightful read, even for those who may not typically gravitate towards YA romance.

Sports romances are actually not my usual MO, however this was so cute and fun! I enjoyed it a lot! I also just especially liked that it was a queer romance. Very well done!

Playing for Keeps was a fun way to kick off Women's History Month. This was a super unique sports romance as it challenges a lot of stereotypes within the athletic industry. Baseball player June and umpire Ivy find their developing feelings for one another in a battle against the club leagues no fraternization policy between players and officials. As an adult reading this, I can imagine the positive impact a story like this could make on girls who have aspirations of working in the sports field or playing a historically male only sport. I think it was also really positive to see both character's fully confident in their sexuality, and the story with that and their romance staying on the uplifting side of things instead of touching on how being a lesbian or bisexual could create even more challenges in such a male dominated industry.

One thing I wish is that there be some sort of content warning given as loss /grief from cancer is a major component in the storyline (mentioned in each of the character's first chapter) and that is not hinted to or directly mentioned in the book description. Because despite their differences, that unfortunate circumstance is one they are both familiar in. The fear of disappointing her mom who passed away from breast cancer, and in turn her father who is lost in his own grief, is June's main motivator for pushing through her shoulder injury. Meanwhile Ivy is trying to make her parents realize her post high school plan's aren't the same as her older brother who passed away from leukemia and was not able to attend college.

Overall, I found this to be relatively light hearted even with heavier topics being discussed at times. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin young readers group for an ARC of this book!

This YA romance between a pitcher and an umpire is by far my favorite Jennifer Dugan book yet. I didn’t want to put it down and lost sleep binge-reading it. Ivy and June were relatable, compelling, and inspiring, but realistically flawed. I loved that they were both trying to break glass ceilings with their aspirations. The two of them had excellent chemistry, and I was cheering them on to get together from the moment they met. They’re so perfect for each other too, and the losses they experienced early in life made them better able to understand each other’s grief, even though they each processed that grief differently. The reason why their dating was forbidden (ethics violation) also made sense, but I appreciated that Ivy made ever effort to keep from officiating her girlfriend’s games. While I did occasionally get frustrated with June, I bought her choices since she was a teen under an enormous amount of pressure who wasn’t considering the bigger picture. I was happy with the ending.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler, You Don't Have a Shot by Raquel Marie, and She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen or Jennifer Dugan’s other YA sapphic romances.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

If you're going to get me for something it's definitely going to be queer sport romances. I am obsessed! I've devoured a lot of different sports romances as of late and this one was just so cute and fuzzy I couldn't put it down. I loved reading it - my high school self would have been red as a beet (she wasn't out yet) but it was so so soooo cute. It was definitely cheesy in that cringey sort of I'm-In-Highschool way but it was something much needed after a darker read.

This was my first YA sapphic romance, and I did enjoy it at times! It was sweet, endearing and such a cute dynamic between Ivy and June! I found it to be a little difficult for me to get fully into the story & Ivy and June’s romance at times, but overall I enjoyed my time reading it. I enjoy Jennifer Duggan’s writing style and am happy to have been able to receive an advanced copy! Thank you!