1.5 stars

I feel so bad giving this such a low rating, especially having read it in June. I just could not connect to the character's relationship to care. I liked Ivy, I felt for her, and that girl deserved better than June and no one can tell me otherwise. June was a wrecking ball and needs to do some work on herself before she can pursue anything. And Ivy has her problems too, for which I recommend therapy, but I also kind of saw myself in her a bit so that probably helped me like her. I will say, the ref dream she had really threw me off at first, certainly wasn't something I was expecting but its her thing so I can't judge. I did like the little feminist undertones to both Ivy and June's goals, truly iconic to see. And there were parts near the end where I started to get invested in their struggles, because it was getting tense. So there were some parts that I could enjoy.

DNF at 10%

I was doing okay with the plot until it got to their first date at the restaurant. It just seemed like they were completely morally opposed to each other that any chance of them ending up together seemed totally unrealistic.

This was a good book. I normally don't read this type of genre, but I did enjoy it. I would recommend this book to my family and friends.

This book had so much potential. A sapphic rivals-to-lovers sports romance, that's normally exactly my kind of book. The plot idea is interesting, especially the part with Ivy wanting to become a professional umpire, but most of the rest of the book didn't work for me.

First of all it's not rivals-to-lovers. June and Ivy don't like each other when they first interact, but they get together by their third meeting.

Second there's too much telling and not enough showing. Ivy and June recap a few times what they've done together off-page, but because the reader doesn't experience those things it makes it hard to get invested in their relationship. It also would've helped to understand why they loved each other.

Playing for Keeps was a sweet YA book. The characters were somewhat exaggerated and didn’t seem fully realistic, but it didn’t bother me enough for me to not like the book. I will say, I think this was a less memorable sports romance though. The miscommunication between the main characters was frustrating but understandable for individuals of this age.
Overall, this book was just okay for me. I just was not a huge fan of the dynamic between June and Ivy. There is an inherent imbalance of power between the two even though they were the same age and I just didn’t like that. I also just genuinely don’t think they should have ended up together. So while I don’t think the writing was bad, I wasn’t a fan of the story.

June, the star pitcher of a baseball team, and Ivy, an aspiring professional officiant, face off and fall for each other in this rivals to girlfriends story. I loved how this was a story about two young women breaking boundaries in the sports world and navigating their growing feelings for each other. It's full of romance tropes, including secret dating, with high stakes for both love interests.

3.5 stars rounded down


Playing for Keeps is a cute Sapphic YA book starring a baseball player and an umpire. I enjoyed the dynamics of the two girls, since they both were fighting for places in male dominated spaces. It added a unique quality to the story, which I appreciated. The girls each are struggling with the loss of a family member to cancer (one a brother, the other a mother), which lent to complexities within their personalities and position within their respective families.

The book did contain two tropes that I despise: insta- love and the miscommunication in the 3rd act. Neither took away from the overall story, they are just common tropes that are overused. The girls are also pretty immature at times, but honestly, I think that made them seem more real, because let's face it: teenagers are immature.

This was my first book read by Jennifer Dugan, but it definitely won't be the last.

The premise of Playing for Keeps excited me as a baseball fan. Sapphic authors have only just started tapping into the potential of sports romance so I was pumped to see a big name author like Jennifer diving into the genre. Unfortunately, this ended up being a total train wreck.

I honestly think that with some restructuring this could have been a sold contemporary novel. I really liked June and Ivy as individual characters and their struggles with their families/ dreams were the most interesting parts of this book. However, not once did I buy into the romance. They were a toxic incompatible mess, completely underdeveloped and simply lackluster in execution. It felt like we skimmed over the actually falling in love moments in favor of all the fights. We were never given the chance to become invested in their romance to help weather the rough patches. Instead, I was actively begging them to break up and go their separate ways.

It was really annoying how Ivy’s storyline took the back burner to June’s, especially since June’s issues dominating their relationship was one of the major conflicts of the book. I love flawed messy characters, and if this was a contemporary novel then I would have loved delving more into June’s characterization. But because this is a romance novel her issues simply overshadowed the romance and Ivy. Super bummed by this one.

I read Veronica Comics back in 2020 and really enjoyed it, but Melt With You and Dugan’s new novel Playing for Keeps just haven’t met my expectations.

I just don’t feel like the writing is as strong in this one? I found myself skimming quite a bit while reading. It all felt a little predictable, like your typical sports story, but also with some miscommunication, secret dating, and teens dealing with high expectations from parents who have experienced extreme grief. Like the parents were also predictable, SO intense through most of the novel, but they turn around so quickly in the end.

Overall this novel was just sort of fine, and I’ll continue to read this author in hopes that her novels will one day live up to the first one I read.

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinteen for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I liked Jennifer Dugan’s last couple of books, especially Love at First Set, but I had mixed feelings about Playing for Keeps. I was intrigued by the premise and am always a fan of enemies to lovers, but I felt things escalated rather quickly and their relationship felt more like insta-love rather than naturally developed chemistry, which was a big letdown for me.

I did enjoy how June and Ivy were able able to connect over the grief of losing a loved one to cancer and the emotional depth that added to the story. Otherwise I thought the character development was adequate but nothing special or unexpected. Honestly I think one of the best things about this book was that Ivy was a baseball ref, a storyline I had never read before and let’s face it, we need more women officiants period!

While personally I prefer Ms. Dugan’s non-YA romances, this is overall a decent read if you’re craving a YA sports romance that features dealing with grief and is sweeter than it is spicy. 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book was a cute heart-felt rom-com! It was very YA though, which I don't think I'm the audience for any more. But I would have loved this one when I was in high school! Very cute cover too.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity

I love this author and her writing.

Read with NetGalley. You will never be disappointed by a Jennifer Dugan story, and this one is no exception. It's an Enemies to friends to lovers. The way their relationship progresses is so sweet and cute I wish I had a relationship like that when I was younger. These two teens are struggling with who they are expected to be from the ones they love most, one rebels against it while the other feels no choice but to follow in those footsteps. It beautiful watching them grow and discover who they truly are and what they want and learn to have those necessary conversations no matter how difficult. Watching these two come together was something that made me laugh, cry, smile, be angry and I can't wait to read it again.

A book about love, loss, grief and trying to find your way when you're the one left behind. Ivy and June have a few things in common, both lost someone to cancer, both are very into women and both are making strides to be the first woman to make it to the pros. June is shooting for a pitcher position, while ivy wants to be a reff in the nfl. They first meet when ivy is called up to ump for the high school baseball games, she called June out and of course we get a whole rivals to lovers scenario. Their chemistry together is so sweet and I loved that we got both characters pov. I also loved how the author portrayed each character working through their grief. It had me in tears at parts and in stitches at others. Their love story didn't come without its hardships, but at the end of the day they figured it out.

Thoughts and Themes: I've enjoyed several other Jennifer Dugan books therefore I was very happy to get a chance to read this one. I ended up listening to this on audiobook and was quite pleased with the story. I was a bit skeptical about this because sport books are a hit or miss but I have also learned that if there is LGBTQ+ plot as well then, I'll be happy reading.

I appreciated that the author included that both of the main character's parents had high expectations of them that didn't match what they wanted with their lives. I thought it was interesting to see how their parents had these expectations because of the loss that they also experienced.

Character: In this book you are introduced to Ivy and June along with both of their families. You also get to meet some other side characters that play in the games with them and other adults in their lives.

Something that I really enjoyed about this book was the relationship between June and Ivy and how they first bond over having similar histories. I liked that we got to see how they relate to each other as they both lost a loved one recently. I also liked getting the chance to see them navigate their careers and relationships.

I also like how different the two of the main characters are where June's parent has made her feel the center of the universe, but Ivy's parents have made her feel like a supporting character to her siblings. I liked seeing this contrast for the two of them and seeing how this dynamic plays out in their relationship.

Writing Style: This book is told in dual point of view, going back and forth between Ivy and June. I really enjoy that we get to see both of their perspectives about everything. I liked that we get to see how each of them feels about things without the other's influence. I also like that we get to see how other's feel about their relationship and how it's been navigated up to that point.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with an eARC of Playing for Keeps in exchange for my honest review!

Playing for Keeps has turned out to be a surprisingly cozy YA rom-com despite the angst that's scattered throughout the plot. The last time I read a Jennifer Dugan book was 2019's Hot Dog Girl, which I remember having fun with. Playing for Keeps is able to draw me in right away due to it being a rivals-to-lovers romance, although I do wish the trope could have been stretched out longer. The point where they progress from rivals to the romantic stage happens surprisingly early on, and it would have been great for that part to be delayed further down the plot. But hey, at least June and Ivy share plenty of charming chemistry—chemistry that helps the book maintain a fluffy atmosphere, even when it weaves angsty material from both teenagers' lives into the plot. The tonal shifts don't come across all that jarringly, which is pleasantly surprising. But I will say that an absence of proper communication does pop up sometimes and leave me responding, "Well, if you two could just talk things out..." I get that they're not meant to be the most mature human beings, but still, it's a cliche that's perfectly capable of getting on my nerves.

Overall, I'm officially rating Playing for Keeps 3.5 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to 4 stars on Goodreads. After having a comfy time with both this and Hot Dog Girl, I continue to be interested in more of Dugan's work.

Unfortunately I dnf'd this book, it just wasn't for me and moved kind of slow. I couldn't get into it.

This book was very heart felt. This was a really good book. I enjoyed it. This book is YA sports romance. There is also forbidden and secret romance because one is an Ump and the other is a baseball player and dating is against the rules. June and Ivy were there for one another and helped each other grow. Both characters dealt with grief and the challenges of having to live up to your parent’s expectations which I appreciated.Definitely recommend this book.

I just don't think Jennifer Dugan's book are for me. This is the second book by her I have read now, and both have been a one star. Now, I did like this more than The Last Girls Standing but it still just absolutely didn't work for me.
The romance mainly just absolutely sucked ass. I can't even say it didn't work for me, it just wasn't well written AT ALL. After two very short conversations these two main characters have their first kiss that leads to their first date. After that we skip forward a month basically, and they are madly in love, and would die for each other. We just straight up skipped any sort of developement that a relationship is supposed to have. It made all of their feelings just feel so disingenious. The drama in this book is also very hinged on their relationship, and the stakes just don't feel there at all because Jennifer Dugan just didn't put in an effort to make us care about them. Like, I'm sorry your relationship with this girl you barely know is treatening your life dreams? And it's supposed to be a difficult decision between the two? I truly don't get it. Once the third act conflict slips in, and their fight just is a bit too massive for me. I feel like it steered the relationship very quickly in the toxic/slightly abusive environement. Especially with the way things were resolved. It gave me such a massive ick.
Throughout the book I was quite invested in the personal journeys of these main characters. I do think it was quite interesting, but the only thing that was well executed in my opinion were the discussions around grief. Like I mentioned before a lot of the conflict in this book is centered around the relationship, and therefore I just didn't feel the stakes. I also feel like it got very repetetive very quickly. The same thought just was repeated over and over again, until the end when all of the sudden things got resolved. I don't know. It just felt like a let down.

There were some cute moments….but I feel like we didn’t get enough of them.
I wish there was more of Ivy and June actually playing the game.
These people needed lessons on communication lol.

-sapphic bi/les
-baseball
-umpire/player
-sports injury
-family loss/grief