The perfect sapphic baseball romance!

I am still thinking about this book! It made me want to read from Jennifer Dugan's backlist!

These characters felt real to me facing real conflicts. I cheered for the couple - out loud sometimes.

It captured the heart of women playing in male dominated sports - which I really want to see women break into professional baseball!

As a huge baseball fan, this book filled me with joy!

Playing for keeps is a ya contemporary standalone novel that is by an autobuy author for me and that is by Jennifer Dugan! This is a f/f love story that I loved from the beginning of this book. I would say check out the trigger warrnings before reading this cause there was talked about loss of a family member to cancer and talks about being queer in a small town. If u love a good sport romance novel to read for the summertime or even fall time or any season really this is a good one! 4/5 stars and thank you to penguin teen for sending me an e-arc & physical arc to me to read and review all opioions are my own!(:

For a young adult book I was surprised to find I really enjoyed this book and felt connected to these characters when I think back to my younger self. This is a emotional and wonderful read that I highly recommend

Playing for Keeps was a good, sapphic novel that centered around strong women in sports! I loved the enemies to lovers theme but wish that the author had stretched this out a bit. It seemed like the two characters came together so quickly, whereas it could have been interesting to stretch out the drama a bit first. Overall though, it was an enjoyable YA novel that I could see younger readers enjoying!

"Playing for Keeps" by Jennifer Dugan is a delightful and engaging romance that skillfully combines sports and heartfelt drama. Its charming characters and well-crafted plot offer a refreshing and enjoyable read.

Playing for keeps was cute, it is also very YA. Being high school seniors is a defining trait of who these girls are. And that put a disconnect between me and them. I love Dugan’s writing style and I sucked me in, and I got halfway through before I realized I did not care for this book. It’s cute AF, and a fabulous HIGH SCHOOL sport romance.

A super solid novel from Jennifer Dugan - there is less angst that some of her previous books but I loved the sports centered theme and I think the characters are her most fleshed out yet. I continue to enjoy her YA books over the adult titles but I keep reading them because Dugan knows how to hook a reader and tug on some heart strings

now, this might be an unpopular opinion for this book. i honestly haven’t heard much about it which makes me think it kind of isn’t but this book just wasn’t it for me. from the insta-love, playing as rivals (when, how would be if ones a player and ones the referee of the sports). to the, their biggest personality traits comes from the dead family member card (which like, please. understand, i get it. i truly do.) but it was tough to care about these teens when i heard more about these family members that we have no reason to feel connected to.

i’m sorry, i really don’t have words for this one other than, i was bored, and honestly irritated the whole way through. i saw another review say it felt like a 1st draft and i would completely agree. the pacing was far off. they were already dating 10% into the book, and broken up for 30% of it, wallowing after each other. the characters were flat beyond their two main traits: (1) being a women trying to break into men-dominated sports and (2) having the hots for each other. maybe its a fault for the book being short (although for a book that’s in the 300 page length, there should have been more development) but i needed more before i could believe them saying ‘i love yous’.

and as they mention, these characters had main character syndrome. and that is not a good thing. they both honestly made decisions like there was no one else around them and it made it feel like i was pulling my teeth reading their stories. honestly, i would’ve been WAY happier reading about the side characters! their best friends had far more character outside of their love lives, and we barely see them!

basically, you get the gist that this was not the sports romance story for me. and truly what a shame since i usually eat those up!

This sapphic sports romance features two young women who are trailblazing in their respective arenas. This story is very timely and realistically looks at the challenges women face in the sports world, and the expectations placed on them by coaches, peers, and their families.

Both Ivy and June are high school students planning for their futures after graduation. June is laser focused on being recruited by a top college baseball team, while Ivy plans to work her way to a position as an umpire in the NFL.

I found more connection with Ivy than with June. She is feeling pressure from her family to go to college and focus on a career rather than umpiring. Ivy feels like her parents expect her to take over the life her older brother had planned before he died. Ivy struggles with fighting for her dreams while not disappointing her parents, plus the risk to her potential career if her relationship with June is discovered. Ivy continually puts June’s needs ahead of her own, risking her future and ultimately their relationship when resentment builds between them.

June also has a lot that she is battling, though most of her battles are internal. She feels that she has to live up to her late mother’s dreams for her and that not getting recruited to a great college baseball team would be letting both of her parents down. She pushes herself so hard, risking her health and relationship with Ivy, all because she thinks everyone needs her to win.

There is a lot of miscommunication happening between the characters and their friends and families. Fear keeps both Ivy and June from making decisions that would alleviate the stress.

Thankfully both Ivy and June have amazing best friends who have their backs and support them throughout the whole experience.

Disclaimer: I received a DRC through Net Galley on behalf of the publisher for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was fine 🤷🏻‍♀️ I was honestly quite bored throughout half of it and almost dnf’d a few times but I was curious enough to keep going and I did like the ending so I’m glad I stuck with it! I think my main issue is how fast Ivy & June’s relationship progressed, like it might’ve made more sense if they had been friends or even known each other before meeting but it was literally like they met, they were attracted to each other but they didn’t like each other, then all of a sudden the next time they were alone, they were getting together and I just never fully felt the chemistry between them 🤷🏻‍♀️ I did really like how the story dived into how grief makes people do things that people don’t understand and how hard it is to live up to expectations that you didn’t choose for yourself! That aspect was done really well and I’d recommend the book just for that but the romance just really fell flat for me personally!

I loved this sapphic romance! the sports element was fun and I loved the chemistry. I really enjoyed this.

3.5/5 Stars

Star pitcher June has recently been injured, although she tries to keep it hidden in order to be recruited at the college level. Ivy has dreams of officiating at a professional level, and the first time she meets June, she throws her out of the game. As they spend more time together, they realize their chemistry is undeniable. Unfortunately, umpires and players can not date, so they must keep their growing attraction a secret.

I was so excited when I heard this was a sapphic, rivals-to-lovers romance, and although this was a cute read, with fun characters, I don't think I would categorize it as rival-to-lovers in any way. They essentially talk maybe three times and decide that they like each other instead, which is FINE, but advertise it as essentially insta-love. They could have played so much more into the will-they-won't-they of the relationship since it was against the league rules. This also incorporates the miscommunication trope between Ivy, June and both of their families, which I am not the biggest fan of. This was a heavier book then I anticipated, I did think that it was going to be a cute fluffy contemporary. I think there was more of a focus on the family loss and drama, rather then the romance as a whole. I think I would have preferred more of the romance aspect, as I feel like a lot of the connection wasn't shown to us. I did like both Ivy and June though, and thought they were cute together.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

⚾️Ya Romance
✉️Sapphic
⚾️Enemies to Lovers
✉️Grief
⚾️Secret Relationship

Thank you to Penguin Teen the ARC.

This was a cute young adult romance. I thought this book was cozy with lots of drama and was a fast read. I enjoyed the sports aspects of the story! I loved that it was a sapphic romance. The enemies turned to lovers really fast. No spice. Very cute romantic parts. The character change and grow. The grief they both go through was written very well. The clear difference in how each of the families are dealing with their grief was also written well. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a YA sapphic romance.

It was hard for me to believe in the romance of the two characters since one was always mean towards the other. Their relationship is not equal and healthy.

Brought me back to my travel softball days. There’s a sense of nostalgia to this book that kept making me pick it back up despite the slower last third of the book. The relationship conflicts were messy but relatable. Not my favorite Dugan book but worth a read nonetheless.

This one did not do it for me. It read more like middle grade than YA, and both central characters were flawed in ways that felt un-redeemable. It did not feel like a YA love story; rather it felt like two high schoolers with personal issues who crossed paths. Ultimately it was not my favorite and I likely would not recommend my peers read it, unfortunately.

Playing For Keeps is a refreshing YA queer romance that doesn’t center on coming out or sexuality. However, it reads more like middle grade, with easily solvable problems and off-pacing. The anticipated enemies-to-lovers plot resolves too quickly. Overall, it feels like a draft needing more development.

A YA sapphic romance between two girls, both who have experienced grief and loss of a loved one starring a baseball pitcher and a student umpire who are definitely not supposed to fall for one another.

Ivy is a student umpire who lost her brother to cancer is experiencing guilt due to her mother’s pressure for her to go to college since her brother didn't get to.

June is a star baseball pitcher for her high school team, she lost her mother to cancer and her father is pressuring her to be the breadwinner of their family by securing a college scholarship and eventually going pro. However, she is also dealing with an injury that hasn't properly healed.

A gripping rivals to lovers about two girls who fall for each other amist their grief and parental pressure. I really enjoyed the rivals to lovers & that the author focused on women in sports, specifically being injured. I would pick up this author again because I liked her characters and writing. This book had me glued to the page!


CW: Death of a parent to cancer; Cancer; death of a sibling to cancer; medical content; sports injury; panic attack (on page)

I think this one is on me. I have read other Jennifer Dugan books and they’ve been exceptionally… meh. They’re not bad by any means but not great and that’s exactly how I feel about this as well.

Overall it’s aggressively fine. It’s supposed to be rivals to lovers but they almost immediately are into each other. There’s some heavy grief in here which I wasn’t prepared for. And it just felt undeveloped and underwhelming

All of my qualms with this book come from my bias against high school romance. This book was wonderful otherwise it was so fluffy and such a good read. Dugan is paving the way for sapphic romances!