this book was a very quick interesting and great read!! i really liked it!! it was very interesting and i loved the characters

What happens when you fall for the one person you aren't supposed to and realize you have more in common that you ever imagined? Ivy & June are two girls chasing dreams and trying to make it big in their fields while also having suffered some pretty big losses. Watching them fall for each other brought so much joy to my heart, and this is exactly the kind of sapphic romcom I was looking for. I hadn't read anything by Jennifer Dugan before, but as a softball girly, I knew this was right up my alley. I really enjoyed this and couldn't stop smiling and laughing (except during the moments that just grabbed you by the heart but even those were filled with sweetness).

I was worried I wouldn't understand a lot of what was happening due to a lack of knowledge about baseball but I was thankfully so wrong. All you need to know about it forbidden love and how hard it is to be a woman in a man dominated world! This is a great book full of miscommunication&struggles&grief but ends happily ever after! I loved every second of it.

I LOVE queer sports romances and I LOVE Jennifer Dugan so Playing For Keeps was the perfect book for me. The characters felt natural and real. The conflict didn't feel forced like so many others do. I loved getting to experience Ivy and June's relationship and growth as people. All in all, I truly loved this book!

I’ve read Some Girls Do by this author, so I jumped on a chance to read this one as an ARC. The characters are engaging and relatable, as well as the plot is easy and fun to read. Overall, it was just okay for me, but I definitely enjoyed my time reading it.

Okay, I tried, I really tried. But I’m DNFing this around 25%. I think the premise of this book had so much promise but the execution is falling so short for me.

Now I did adore Ivy’s drive and dedication to following her dreams to be an referee/official despite her family’s objections but that’s really the only personality trait it felt like she had. I couldn’t tell you a single other thing about her other than that and maybe that she’s a pretty good friend. June? Yeah her personality is also really underdeveloped, there were times I had to double check whose POV I was in because I couldn’t tell.

Another issue I had was with the dialogue, which is something I’ve complained about with other works by this author. The conversations just jump all over the place and there’s no real flow. They just didn’t make sense and it was so frustrating for me.

I’m still gonna give this book 1.5 stars (rounded to 2) because maybe this is just a me problem. But anyways thanks to Penguin Teen for the sending me a copy of this book.

I had a hard time getting into this one. I love sapphic romances, but find it to be a struggle to have good romances land in my hands. It was cute, but I kept getting lost in the story. I was really more in it for the cute fluffy quotes, but that's not really enough to keep me satisfied, or wanting to read it again.

This a very cute sapphic baseball romance. I liked it because I’m really a sucker for a lesbian romance, but my biggest issue was the fact that both girls sounded exactly the same. Their personalities seemed literally identical, and often times I forgot whose internal monologue I was reading.

I found a few consistency issues, one of the worst ones being that there was one moment when it was supposed to be in one character's perspective, but the sentence implied the opposite. (Seen on page 53/231 23% in "And probably would have if June hadn't invited me to go get wasted and forget instead" But this was supposed to be June's perspective)

I also felt like this book was underdeveloped with a really rushed ending, but this was an ARC so I am interested to see if anything changes when the book officially comes out! Regardless, it is a book worth reading if you love lesbians and/or baseball.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

It was very hard for me to get too invested in the fabricated desire for a high school student to be a top notch umpire. So with the stakes being low in that regard, I do enjoy the characters and the depth they have. This is top notch YA, and specifically for that audience I think it's valuable to have interesting descriptions of grief and life. While it wasn't for me, the talent and the style were perfect and made it incredibly readable.

I love a good sports sapphic romance, especially to read a YA romance every now and then and was so excited to get this ARC. Extremely fluffy and cute, extremely predictable, but decent character development for such a quick read. Extremely relatable themes of loss, overachieving and societal expectations. Hoping to see more and more sporty sapphic reads published in the future! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of Playing for Keeps. This YA sapphic romance follows Ivy and June, an ump and a player who go from enemies to (kind of forbidden) lovers.

This novel has good commentary on grief, finding your path, and dealing with parental expectations. I’ve been out of high school for….awhile but I still remember feeling the way Ivy does and it is very relatable. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of (and this is purely a personal opinion) is all the popular culture references. Even though they’re mostly current, I felt it made the book feel dated.

This book is really cute. It’s a cuddle, in some way, but there is a lack of emotional deep. It’s like all remains superficial and it’s a pity. The story had the premesis to become a really deep and important novel, but it’s remains a cute story and nothing more. The issues have really little development and the characters are yes well depicted but they doesn’t feel that real.
I really enjoyed the story, I really did. It was fun and cute, I just hoped for a little more.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am an unwavering fan of Jennifer Dugan, so receiving an early copy of her latest book was a thrill. Once again, Dugan delivers a story filled with sapphic excellence, introducing readers to Ivy and June, two well-developed characters with dreams that intertwine. Ivy aspires to become one of the few female umpires in the major leagues, while June is on track to be the first woman to play in the MLB as the star pitcher of her varsity baseball team. When Ivy officiates one of June's games, their paths converge, sparking tensions and the blossoming of love.

Dugan's talent shines through in her portrayal of these ambitious and strong-willed protagonists. While the characters are well-developed beyond their romance, the rapid progression of their relationship left me craving more of a pining, slow-burn dynamic. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the overall experience and found the novel to be a delightful read.

Having explored Dugan's YA and adult novels, I appreciate her versatility as an author. "Playing for Keeps" adds another layer to her impressive catalog, leaving me eager to delve into more of her works.

Given the high school setting and the YA genre, I grappled with the characters' immaturity and their penchant for miscommunication. However, a constant reminder of their age helped contextualize their actions. Despite these challenges, the storyline remained engaging, and I enjoyed witnessing the characters' journeys unfold. While the novel hinted at an enemies-to-lovers arc at the beginning, I wished for a more pronounced development in that direction.

In conclusion, "Playing for Keeps" is a captivating addition to Jennifer Dugan's repertoire, delivering an enjoyable story with well-crafted characters and a touch of sapphic romance. The book, provided to me in exchange for an honest review, offers a glimpse into the complexities of teenage relationships, complemented by Dugan's signature storytelling style.

Cute, quick, and easy read. Felt a little underdeveloped and as if it could have offered more...but overall, not bad. It's been a long time since I read YA and I think part of my take on this book was a me issue, not a book issue. I just wanted something more, but I've also got to remember that this was written for teenagers. It was good for what it was.

3.5 stars! This was a super cute, quick read. PLAYING FOR KEEPS follows Ivy, a student umpire who dreams of becoming a professional referee one day, and June, the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team who's working to secure a life-changing college scholarship—but also struggling with a serious injury. The girls start off on the wrong foot, but soon sparks begin to fly between them. Can their growing relationship survive the rules that forbid them from being together—and can they follow both their dreams and their hearts at the same time?

I always enjoy an enemies-to-lovers romance, so I was instantly intrigued by PLAYING FOR KEEPS! I thought Ivy and June had great chemistry and growth, and I really liked their whole banter and dynamic. However, I did feel like the pacing was a little off—their "enemies" stage was pretty short-lived before they jumped into a relationship, and I wished their journey from enemies to friends to being together had been drawn out a little more. Beyond that, I appreciated how Dugan explored some complex themes alongside the more lighthearted aspects of the story. She dives into topics like coping with grief, learning how to separate your dreams from the expectations of your parents and others around you, and breaking barriers as a woman in a male-dominated field. I also enjoyed reading about Ivy and June's different family dynamics and friendships, while I wished their best friends were slightly more developed. Overall, PLAYING FOR KEEPS was a sweet, fun read, packed with so much depth as well! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

3.5/5 star read for me.

Overall this book was very cute and had some great moments for me. Unfortunately I just don’t think this book was for me in the end. The miscommunication trope and how the girls treat each other felt unrealistic and dramatic at certain points.

This is definitely one I would recommend for younger queer people but for older people who like YA books this one was a little too young feeling for me.

3.3

Thanks so much to Penguin Young Readers and Netgalley for an E-ARC of this title. On the surface level, Playing For Keeps sounded like the YA sports romance of my dreams. A hotheaded baseball player and an umpire with a massive inferiority complex and big dreams? Who wrote out one of my ultimate YA trope fantasies. But sadly, all good things come with a price. I didn’t find myself enjoying this title due to its one glaring flaw: character compatibility. In every romance novel, the characters have to be compatible to a certain extent to make you want root for them. Whether it’s enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one night stand, or all of the above — these romance tropes exist for a reason. The problem with Playing For Keeps lies solely on the shoulders of the two protagonists, June and Ivy, having no chemistry whatsoever. So much so, to the point where I convinced myself that if these two people existed in real life they’d want nothing to do with each other. June was hotheaded past the point of endearment and Ivy was reactive like a ticking time bomb. They transitioned from enemies to friends to lovers far too quickly and it almost felt like there was a rush to get to the end. A more minor issue that could have been worse depending on how the book flowed was Javonte, June’s best friend. It felt almost too easy to have black character with a name ending in ‘-onte’ who’s story is completely sidelined in favor of the white protagonist. It felt almost too easy to call it out, but I’m still going to. Conversely, I did enjoy the whole ‘girls in sports’ aspect especially because you don’t see YA protagonists gunning to be referees of all things nowadays.

Playing For Keeps (4/5 stars) by Jennifer Dugan is a moving sapphic YA romance packing an emotional punch in a fun sports setting. As a former soccer player and youth coach (and a huge women’s soccer fan currently), I loved the representation here of the struggles of athletes and athlete-adjacent young adults, especially for girls in male-dominated fields/sports! But beyond that, I loved these two characters—June and Ivy are so different but both have a hold on my heart in such unique ways. Ivy wants to be a professional referee and she takes her responsibility in her current refereeing roles very seriously. June is the star pitcher on her baseball team—that’s right: baseball, NOT softball—but making the jump from high school baseball to being recruited for college baseball is not an easy task and comes with a TON of pressure.

Ivy and June both bond over similar lived experiences that others around them just don’t get—and it’s the emotional processing of those experiences that they get through together that really makes this a perfect coming-of-age story, in addition to a cute teen romance. June has a lot to learn from Ivy’s dedication to fighting against what is expected of her, whereas Ivy gets the chance to learn from June’s ability to be a little selfish sometimes, rather than always focusing on how to support those around you.

These two characters and their internal emotional journeys are easily my favorite thing about the book. Honestly, the internal journeys (especially June’s) outweigh the more romantic aspects of the novel.

My least favorite parts were probably the intense and detailed exposure that happened extremely quickly in the first few chapters. Despite this and some slow pacing in the first half, the second half is spectacular and I was completely sucked in. Additionally, while the conflict with the main antagonist character really got me riled up and angry, I think that conflict paled in comparison to the internal conflicts both girls dealt with and overcame throughout the story. The romantic relationship was a bit immature at times, but honestly, it does fit where the characters are at mentally and I think that will resonate with younger YA readers who can maybe learn from June and Ivy’s mistakes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.
If you were a sapphic girl who was too obsessed with A League of Their Own, then Playing for Keeps will steal your heart. As expected, Jennifer Dugan crafts easily relatable characters with a heartwarming romance. This is a perfect read for Valentine's Day, but we'll have to wait for April 30th.

In the world of sports, Jennifer Dugan's novel "Playing for Keeps" takes readers on an exhilarating journey of love, ambition, and resilience. At the heart of the story are two determined individuals, June and Ivy, whose paths cross in unexpected ways. June, the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team, is a formidable force on the field, fueled by unwavering confidence and a burning desire to succeed. Her sights are set on securing a college scholarship, fulfilling the expectations placed upon her by her parents. However, a nagging overuse injury threatens to derail her aspirations, leaving her at a crossroads. On the other side is Ivy, a passionate and dedicated umpire, who dreams of officiating at the professional level. Despite her parents' wishes for her to pursue a traditional college education, she remains steadfast in her commitment to her officiating career. When these two strong-willed individuals meet, sparks fly, and a rivalry quickly ensues. However, as they spend more time together, their animosity fades, replaced by a growing friendship and, eventually, a deeper connection. Their blossoming romance is forbidden, as the rules strictly prohibit relationships between players and umpires. As June's injury worsens and a rival exposes their secret, both girls find themselves facing a difficult choice: to follow their dreams or to follow their hearts. The consequences of their decision could jeopardize everything they've worked hard for, putting their aspirations and desires on the line. Dugan skillfully weaves together the themes of love, ambition, and resilience, delving into the complexities of relationships, societal expectations, and the pursuit of dreams. The story is told through alternating perspectives, allowing readers to intimately understand the emotions and motivations of both June and Ivy. The characters in "Playing for Keeps" are well-developed and relatable. June's brash confidence and determination make her a compelling protagonist, while Ivy's quiet strength and unwavering dedication are equally inspiring. Their chemistry is undeniable, and readers will find themselves rooting for their relationship to overcome the obstacles it faces. Dugan's writing is crisp and engaging, capturing the intensity of the sporting world and the emotional turmoil of her characters. The pacing of the novel is well-executed, building tension as June's injury worsens and the threat of exposure looms large. Overall, "Playing for Keeps" is a compelling and heartwarming story that explores the complexities of love, ambition, and resilience. With its relatable characters, forbidden romance, and poignant exploration of following one's dreams, it is a must-read for fans of contemporary YA fiction and sports stories alike.