I’ve truly enjoyed this story. I struggle with separating June and ivys voices. It’s so important to have queer YA stories that put women in sports. This is a 4 star YA read for me

I loved reading an LGBTQ+ sports romance without adult themes. We need more sports romances where the sports component is actually relevant to the story. That said, the sports elements took away from the story in my opinion. The romance felt more like a subplot these girls were going through instead of the cornerstone of the story. I kept waiting for a sparkle with this story that never came. The part of the story I struggled with most was the harping on the triggering parts of the story. There were a few times I debated DNFing it for my own well-being. I loved the representation and how it gave something different to the genre, that is the best part. Overall it wasn't my favorite story but I would totally recommend it to middle-grade or early young adult readers.

I knew going into this one that Jennifer Dugan is amazing and she did not disappoint in her newest novel! This sports sapphic romance is simply perfect.
Clay is a super devoted baseball player (not softball!) who's starting to crack under the pressure of her parents' expectations and the little problem of a huge shoulder injury. Ivy is a young umpire looking to break into the professional referee circle and be among some of the few females to do so. This story is so empowering because both of these girls want to do outstanding things in the world with their talents. It's fun to see their competitive sides when they're together but they also both have deeply rich backstories that add so many levels to this story. Their two best friends are amazing and I hope they get their own book so they can shine too! This was a little slow at times and some miscommunication threw me off (my least favorite trope) but other than that I really enjoyed this one! It's a super sweet sapphic YA romance l'd absolutely recommend!

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: YA contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A sweet sapphic romance with heavy topics

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Sapphic sports romances
More heavier YA reads
Baseball player / umpire
Enemies to lovers
Insta love
Forbidden romance
Dual POV

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Mental health discussion
The cover!

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
The characters frustrated me at times!
Miscommunication
I wanted more romance

(3.5 stars, rounded to 4)

My heart broke for June & I spent the whole book wishing that someone would see that this girl was not okay. I had to stop reading multiple times because she reminded me so much of myself. Even at the end when everything put itself back together again I wish she would have addressed her mental health in her healing journey.

I feel like parts of this book were too rushed. I would have preferred if it was a little more fleshed out, especially Ivy & June’s relationship.

First, I want to thank Jennifer Dugan, NetGalley, and Penguin/Putnam for this eARC!! This was my first J. Dugan book and hope to pick up more in the future.

Ivy and June, two teen girls dealing with grief in their own ways, their struggle with their families, figuring out their futures and themselves. Umpire & player who shouldn't be together, end up getting together! I mean it sounds too good, the cover is stunning, I love relatable characters who overcome life's challenges. I was ready to get into this!

Something important to note about the girls though, their love story was more of an insta-love. They saw each other and kind of fell right into a messy, complicated relationship. Their first date was definitely one for the books. Besides the insta-love trope and messiness, I felt overwhelmed as a reader when it came to the grief and pressure in the story.

Grief is hard and having people force certain ways of dealing with it isn't necessary but throughout the entire story I felt the girls were stuck in a limbo state of grief when it came the the family members they lost. Not having healed nor really grieved them. It was like feeling their pain for them every time it came up. Maybe it's just me (I hope not but seeing other reviewers some other people have mentioned this feeling too). Also, the pressure from Ivy's mom was sooo much. I understand needing to have a plan or at least an idea but this lady was down Ivy's throat. I guess this was part of the relatability but I wanted to add this in here because I was not a fan of her mom and I am usually a fan of secondary characters.

I have to be honest this was very hard to get through. It felt veryyy real and relatable and maybe this is why sometimes certain YA's hit home with a lot of people, me included. Dugan does a beautiful job with allowing us readers get to see the true complexities of Ivy and June. Just raw and unfiltered.

Nonetheless, this is still a book I think the younger crowd would enjoy!!!

♡ Secret Relationship
♡ Star Pitcher x Umpire
♡ Queer Sports Romance

While baseball might not be my favorite (apologies for those who love it) this book had my interest. Gay sports romance will always have a special place in my heart and this book lived up to the hype for sure.

Two main characters with big dreams in the sports industry, Ivy working on being a famous official referee and June working on becoming a professional baseball pitcher, they fall for one another rather quickly. Working through things like the pressure and stress of being woman in typically male-dominated fields create some strain and problems with their relationship at times. Their romance is a bit messy sometimes, Ivy being the umpire for June’s team and doesn’t exactly start off on a great note, a dash of enemies to lovers at the beginning.

Having a point of view from a referee/umpire was a unique twist to this story. The references to the sports industry were nice too, how few women there are as referees or even how few women there are playing baseball at a more national level. While this was a rather rom-com worthy romance book I didn’t really care for all the fights between the main two characters. I’m sure it was just to create more tension and show how stubborn both characters were, but it just seemed a bit too juvenile at times; even if they’re seniors in high school snd it’s kinda expected in a YA novel at this point.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read with realistic and lovable characters. This book also dealt with things like family loss, one of the main characters dealing with a serious injury and ignoring it due to the pressure she was under to be the best. Both characters deal with major stress and grief in general, but it did end on a good note and things seemed to come together by the last chapter.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and the author for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Spice Level: n/a
POV: Duel, First Person
Release Date: 30, April 2024
Rep: Lesbian (Main Character), Bisexual (Main Character), LGBTQIA+ (Main and Side Characters), BIPOC (Side Characters)

⚠️ Content Warnings:
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Cursing
Minor: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, and Medical content

Thank you to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for allowing me access to the book. I enjoyed getting to know the characters of the story and how it ended.

I think this month was just an off month for me with books, because I couldn't get fully into them like I normally do.

I still enjoyed this book overall, I just didn't love it.

I recently started getting into sapphic books this past year, so I was excited to read this. I think I'll come back to this book again and give it another shot, but for now it's a 3 star read.

Jennifer Dugan hit a home run with this one!

Ivy is has dreams of becoming a pro-ball referee while June is a pitching phenom, beguiled by a shoulder injury that doesn’t seem to be getting better. Their paths cross when Ivy ejects June from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct, and a bad attitude.

After butting heads initially, the two girls realize they have quite a bit in common. Both are trying to live up to their parents’ lofty expectations while dealing with grief. The two are in a balance act, entering into a clandestine romance despite the obvious conflict of interest at the heart of their relationship.

Ivy and June are sweet together but struggle to communicate. They both have huge dreams and grapple with how their relationship will impact their futures. The stakes feel high, and conflict genuine as their relationship eventually gets in the way of their plans for the future. Ivy is willing to give up a huge opportunity to umpire a big tournament allow June to shine, creating a rift between them. You can't help but root from them to be able to have it all, especially as girls in traditionally male-dominated past-time. Luckily this one has a happy ending - Jennifer manages to create another heartwarming teen romance!

Thanks to Net Galley and Putnam for the ARC.

Playing for Keeps managed to capture something that I don't think gets recognized a lot. It is amazing to be a woman who breaks barriers and works twice as hard to be in a field that is traditionally male but it's also ok to say I don't want to deal with that pressure.

June plays baseball and Ivy wants to be a ref. They are both dealing with odds stacked against them and family pressure. It is interesting to see them talk about it and I loved that they connected over their experiences with loss.

I found June a bit of a difficult character to like. I think it's because she can be a bit self-centered (like a lot of teenagers) and I was raised to be very much overly less sacrificing more like Ivy. I related more to Ivy and liked seeing her learn to communicate her needs.

🌶️ - Kissing only.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Playing for Keeps is sapphic, cute, and an easy to read, happy ending YA book. June and Ivy are likeable and relatable. Did I understand the sports parts? No. But that's okay, because I understood what it's like to be a teenage girl in love with another teenage girl. The book deals with grief and anxiety, and living in a world where expectations are unfairly placed on young people. It resonates strongly with the current trials of being a teenager, weaving in the loyalties of friendship and the complications of parents.

I was a little surprised at how quickly the main characters get together, but when things got rocky, I understood why the timeline happened the way it did. The reader really roots for June and Ivy to get back together as they each struggle through their own trials to finally rekindle their romance and support each other.

I was given this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review by NetGalley.

I have a handful of Jennifer Dugan books I scooped up secondhand but somehow have yet to read them so I jumped at the chance to read this one and now I’m so excited I already own a few others. June and Ivy were some fun, complex characters. I liked that they weren’t sports rivals and that their dynamic differed. One is pursuing baseball as a sole woman in baseball and the other wants to be a professional referee (another male dominated field). I really love that it’s badass woman against the patriarchy rather than women against women while still sort of preserving the enemies to lovers trope. However, I almost wish they were “enemies” longer? I don’t need everything to be a slow burn but the transition barely existed. It felt like: we forgot we were supposed to ruffle each others feathers and fell too fast. So I was a bit surprised by the pace and it threw me for a while as I settled into the narrative. I think this book deals really well with grief and processing grief even well beyond the grieving period and balancing the goals of the person you love and are rooting for with the goals you have yourself and your own aspirations

I think I’m just at a point in my reading journey where YA is pretty hit or miss for me. I’m also starting to suspect that this author’s writing style is not for me since I didn’t enjoy their adult romance either. I have another ARC from them on my shelf so I’ll give it one last shot.

As far as pros for this book go, the cover is stunning. I also found that the girls were written in a way that felt very true to how insufferable teens can be. It reminded me of I Kissed Shara Wheeler in that way, however I think Casey does a better job at examining the emotions/behaviors of teens.

Now for the cons, I think that the entire plot of this book failed for me because the girls got together far too quickly. It felt like June and Ivy only had three short conversations before they kissed and started dating. As a result the star crossed lovers element just didn’t work. You need to believe that these characters are meant to be together to justify them giving up their dreams. When you don’t believe the romance it all feels impulsive and illogical. I could have enjoyed that impulsiveness if the girls had not ended up together and decided to take their next steps in life. However, this is a YA romance so that’s just not gonna happen. Finally I think this book irked me so much because I could not get behind June as a character. Yes her mother was being overbearing but also girl you need a back up plan. Until you go pro reffing is like freelancing and you need to get a job with health insurance. Having known a bunch of pro hockey refs, all of whom have had other jobs, June not creating a back up plan irked me. Also what was that drop at the end that she enjoys reffing football the most. This girl has not discussed football at all, it would make 1000x more sense for her fave sport to be soccer.

Thank you to Netgally for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

This was a really cute story but a little short for my tastes. I think the actual final version is longer though. I really enjoyed the characters in this story. Ivy and June were really fun to get to know. one of my favorite parts was June making a joke about how they both have dead family members AND they're LGBTQIA+. I also enjoyed how Ivy didn't want to go to college and was actively fighting against it (though I'm a little mad that she actually agreed to go to community college in the end). Mia and Javonte were also really great characters and complemented the girls well.

Part of why the rating is a three though is because I'm not really a fan of insta-love which is kind of how this book felt. I'm not sure if that's just because the ARC was shorter than normal YA's or if it really was just insta-love. It felt like to me that it didn't take a lot for them to start dating. I really thought there'd be more conflict and more back and forth of will-they-won't-they? Instead, they seemed to agree pretty quickly that "yes we should date and hide it from everyone". WHICH IS TOTALLY FINE!!! I just thought that they'd have this whole conversation of "it's a terrible idea to date. let's be friends" and then over the course of the novel they're like "oh shit we're actually dating not just hanging out." I also couldn't get over the fact that Ivy ACTUALLY didn't do the showcase. I swore that at the last minute she'd be able to step-in but she didn't so that was disappointing. The fact that the "bad guy" was named Aiden didn't feel right either because my favorite author is Aiden Thomas and I love him (but this is just a me thing lol).

I love Jennifer Dugan’s books!
Playing for Keeps by Jennifer Dugan was one of my most anticipated contemporary novel of the whole year and it didn't let me down!
I read this entire book in one day. And loved every single minute of it.
This was so adorable I absolutely could not stand it.
A fun, sweet and adorable sapphic YA romcom!

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers & G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Summary in a sentence: Teenage baseball pitcher June’s world collides with teen umpire Ivy and their dreams become hopelessly complicated as they fall hard for each other.

⚾️🌈⚾️🌈


Did I just read the cute YA baseball sapphic romance of my dreams?! Yes, yes I did.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS is my first book by Jennifer Duggan but it definitely won’t be my last. I really enjoyed this. I felt it was very well-paced, funny, and had emotional depth everywhere it should have.

Both June and Ivy were VERY relatable, two characters I cheered for both as a couple and as individuals. When their wants and needs were at a juxtaposition, my heart ached for both of them. They felt like actual teens, doing things teens would do. These days, that’s so refreshing to see in YA.

The queer rep was wonderful! YA needs ALL the diverse books and I thought the diversity in PLAYING FOR KEEPS felt natural and awesome. I loved side characters like Mia and Javonte. I really can’t say enough good things about this one!

PLAYING FOR KEEPS is out now. Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC.

I love sports romance and enemies to lovers so I was super hyped for this book! It was definitely by the book even though each play by play felt a little too instant love and a little too immature, even for high schoolers. I felt that some key elements were missing like school which felt like a huge plotline gap and some of their hangouts were just explained away instead of actually showing the audience. However, even with just these minor issues I still found myself rooting for June & Ivy. Their relationship displayed resilience through miscommunication and pure stubborn will and an acceptance of flaws within and beyond their control. They became each other's safe haven and that is a message I will back every single time. 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ (content warnings: dead family members, cancer, etc)

I feel that this book was perfect for its target audience. It addressed concerns without being overbearing and I feel like it could help teenagers in many different situations feel seen. Both girls were going through different struggles and receiving different level of ignorance and support from their parents. As a teenager neglect is often justified because another part of your life is being focused on and I think that topic was done very well in this book. We were able to see how the girls navigated the neglect they were feeling while also justifying the behavior of their parents because of the love they were receiving for others things. I loved that they stood up for themselves in the end and that they had loving and supportive parents who wanted to change the way they were doing things to make sure their children were happy. I thought the aspect of young/first love was done so well. The fact that Ivy saw June in a way that nobody else ever had was beautiful. This book does YA well because it connects to people in that age group without treating them like children. Although I am not the target audience for this book I really enjoyed reading it and felt that the high school version of myself was seen in a way she hadn't been before.

Many thanks to Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. It seems like this month is all about the baseball books! That's not a complaint, as it's perfect timing for baseball season. I haven't gotten to Fenway yet this year, but I did finish this one while cuddled up with my cat this weekend.
This YA sapphic romance between high school senior girls, one who wants to grow up to be a professional referee a la Sarah Thomas and one who is the star pitcher for a baseball team, was such a great read. I really enjoyed the characters, and their successes as well as their frustrations and communication issues seemed age appropriate for teenagers. This is my first book by the author and I'm excited to read more of her work - and recommend this to my high school students. This read left me feeling optimistic, and I'm excited for others to get to read it after it's available everywhere on Tuesday. My school library will definitely be getting a copy!