Another wonderful love story from Kate Spencer! Bex and Niko have a rocky start, as is typical with many first meetings. It takes a while for them to get to know each other, but a simmering attraction starts to build until they end up fake dating. Their story is fun, swoony, exciting, and sweet. I love the way they care for the people in their lives and the way Bex honors her mom. This is a fun sports romance - pickleball and a bit of tennis - that doesn’t overwhelm you with the technical aspects of the game itself. All the characters are nuanced and well-crafted, especially Bex. I couldn’t help but fall in love with her. This is one of my favorite romances of the year!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Forever for the ARC of this book! I really wanted to love this one because I have loved all of Kate Spencer's other books, but this one unfortunately fell flat for me. The concept of an owner of a pickleball club who teams up with a pro tennis player definitely had potential, but I was never really drawn into their relationship. The book felt a bit formulaic and I wasn't really excited to pick it up. There were definitely some cute moments and other people may really love it, but it was not for me. Thanks for the opportunity to review it!

I want to start out by saying this is the first book of Kate Spencer's that I have read. I was a bit skeptical about a romance book about pickelball but I was pleasantly surprised!

Bex is running a pickleball club that was passed down to her from her mother who passed away from cancer. She is struggling to make ends meet financially. Enter Niko, the arrogant, grumpy tennis player who needs somewhere to train while he is taking care of his aunt who happened to fall and break her wrist at Bex's pickleball club. The tension and banter was on point and I really liked Bex's personality. My only critique was that the third act break up felt a little disjointed and unnecessary. Overall, this was a quick fun read and I would recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kate Spencer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

⭐3.25/5 Rating

OUT ON: JUNE 3, 2025

Review: I saw the title of this book and was immediately interested in what the story inside was going to hold (thank you so much @readforeverpub | @netgalley for the advanced digital copy 🤍🥹)

First things first – this cover is incredible! Tell me why it took me way too long to notice that it was a pickleball court?? My husband noticed before I did… Oopsie. I just thought it was pretty!

This book was cute. I really loved the secondary characters! They were such a huge part of Bex’s life and it was very evident on the page, which I appreciated a ton. I think that Niko was an interesting love interest, but I’m a sucker for the fake dating trope so I came to like him quite a lot by the end!

I knew that this book dealt with grief as Bex’s mom had passed away before the time of our story taking place, but I don’t know why I didn’t expect it to be such a large part of the plot? I do think that it added to the characterization of Bex and helped us to understand why she was the way she was, so I have minimal complaints.

I do think that the romance felt a touch forced unfortunately, but I still enjoyed the story nonetheless. I didn’t know what to expect in regards to the pickleball aspect of the book, but as I have never played the sport (something that must be remedied) I was satisfied!

Anyways, as someone who doesn’t read spice in books, this book had several skippable chapters so, if you’re looking to read it without the spicy scenes (like I do), check out my open door warnings below!

⛔️Open Door Scenes: 21, 24 & 25

📖Genres: Romance | Sports Romance | Contemporary Romance

A light, breezy romance that is a quick easy read. It will quench your thirst for an enjoyable summer read.

3.5 stars

I really loved Kate Spencer's last book, In A New York Minute, but I feel like All's Fair in Love and Pickleball didn't capture the same charm as that book. I'm always excited to try out a sports romance with an atypical sport.

Bex has taken over the family pickleball club after her mother passed away. It is unfortunately, in need of some pretty serious repairs but Bex barely has the money to even stay open. Dex, the nephew of one of her retiree clients, comes to town looking for a space to practice He needs to get his tennis mojo back but pickleball might just be the more low key way to do that. This is very much so an opposites attract, enemies to lovers story. They clash from the very first meet cute.

Sometimes I really enjoyed the story and other times it felt like it dragged on. The third act breakup was completely unnecessary. The setting almost entirely takes place at the pickleball club. The club members all provide an excellent cast of wit and charm that prove this club is a found family. I'll continue to check out Spencer's books in the future. The gorgeous cover is truly what drew me in! This would be a fun and easy read to kick off summer.

Tropes: sports romance, enemies to lovers, opposites attract, found family, grief/loss of family, reinventing yourself, meet hate, Quirky heroine

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Spencer, Forever Grand Central Publishing for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
#netgalley #All'sFairInLoveAndPickleball #ForeverGrandCentralPublishing

All’s Fair In Pickleball and Love by Kate Spencer. I didn’t know anything about pickleball going into this romance but I may give it a try now. A fun lighthearted read about a woman who inherited her family’s aging racquet club and loves pickleball. She meets a club member’s tennis player grandson who maybe has a way to save the club. We get fake dating, grumpy x sunshine and sassy seniors. I felt invested and entertained from start to finish with this sweet story. Just like pickleball (apparently) this story didn’t take itself too serious but still packed in the spice. Perfect if you are looking for a laid-back summer read. Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the digital ARC, all opinions are my own.

First, a big thank you to Lauren at Book Huddle, Orbit, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Overall, I really enjoyed this contemporary romance. It had a grumpy but lovable MMC and a slowburn romance with the fake dating trope where he falls first. I was hooked from the start, but unfortunately, the book lost me in the final chapters. Just as things were getting good I felt like the story just ended. The entire book built around a big pickleball competition, yet we never got to see how it played out or witness any confrontation with Freddie or Wilson. I was left feeling disappointed and think the author missed an opportunity to provide closure, making all that buildup feel like it led to nothing.

That said, it was still a really enjoyable read. I just wish the ending hadn’t felt so rushed.

Oh Pickleball, how have you taken so many lives by storm? I too have fallen victim to the tantalizing game and am a sucker for books where it’s one of many focuses. Not only is this filled with hilarious moments but discusses rediscovering oneself after being a caregiver for so long, learning to accept help and believe in yourself.

Bex and Niko’s story is a delicious grumpy x sunshine and watching the characters unfold like flowers was a wonderful time plus who doesn’t just love fake dating… i mean come on!! The excuses are the best part.

Okay, all tropes aside this was truly a fun, entertaining story that made sense. It was a wild ride, I would definitely recommend to a friend, especially if I’m trying to convince them to give Pickleball a chance!

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Kate Spencer for this advanced reader’s copy of All’s Fair in Love and Pickleball

This was such a cute story!! I really enjoyed the pickleball aspect and I loved the main characters, Niko and Bex. It had major rom com vibes and it was a super fun read! The fake dating and enemies to lovers tropes were a part of this story and I often enjoy those. This was my first book by this author and I’m definitely interested in checking out more of her work! Definitely recommend reading this one this summer, it releases next month!

I've never played pickleball and I think it's time to try! @katespencer did an amazing job developing the characters in All's Fair in Love and Pickleball Everyone from Nico- to Aunt Loretta- to Bex. While Bex grieves the loss of her mother and puts all of her energy into saving the family pickleball business. Will she learn to ask for help? Will "fake" love turn into real love? Will Nico rejoin the professional tennis circuit? Spencer creates a plot line that is light, entertaining and keeps the reader hooked to see what happens next. Another fun summer read, perfect for bookclub!

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this! 3.5 /5 stars
This was a cute story about Bex, a woman whose inherited a pickleball club from her mother and Niko, a tennis star trying to stage a comeback. It's nostalgic and cute and just plain fun from cover to cover. I played pickleball in highschool in 2003 and have a big soft spot for the game.
I will say, I love Spencer's writing. It's so well done on a line level and the emotions she can get out of her characters is really impressive. I also really enjoyed Niko. His dichotomy between brilliant tennis star and perceived emotional wreck was really interesting.
I really struggled a bit with the pacing of this, especially between Bex and Niko. While their individual arcs were really enjoyable, I didn't connect so much to their love story. I honestly would have been ok if this wasn't a romance and instead really drilled down into the game more.
This was fun but I don't think it'll stick with me the way her previous outings have.

This book follows Bex, who inherited a racquet club from her mother after her death. Bex is struggling in life as her life revolves solely around the club and its members. When one of the members ends up in the hospital due to an accident during pickleball at the club, Bex rushes over to the hospital immediately and bumps into the rudest guy she has ever met. Turns out that guy, Niko, is the nephew of her beloved club member. Niko, a former tennis pro, who has been out due to a "career-ending" injury, is training to return to tennis, and ends up staying with his aunt to help her recover. Niko doesn't have the best image in the media from the past as well, which causes Bex to dislike him even more. The problem? The only court close by is at his new nemesis Bex's club. Meanwhile the rival racquet club has been trying to buy Bex out, which she has been debating due to needing over $50,000 to do repairs to the club. When the rival club owner hosts a pickleball tournament with a $$$ huge prize, Niko and Bex come to a deal - fake date to repair Niko's tennis image and be pickleball partners if Bex gets the entirety of the cash prize. What could go wrong?

This book is a 2.5 to 3-star at best. The book itself is incredibly predictable about who the other buyer is, and such ridiculous sabotage. I found the FMC to be grating on my nerves as she is the most stubborn person known to mankind (and that is saying something as I am stubborn, but I know when to ask for help). I love pickleball and tennis, so I thought it would be fun to have a romance book around these sports, but OMG TOO MUCH pickleball lingo - it was annoying at points in the book - people that enjoy these sports wanted more sports action scenes, not cheesy lingo. The other thing I couldn't stand was the stupid third-act breakup - I can't stand these normally, but this one was so pointless that it made a 3 to possibly 3.5 star book go down for me. I didn't have a physical copy of the book, but I wanted to chuck my Kindle across the room at the stupidity of this part. Definitely not enemies to lovers despite the claims lol they didn't like each other for five seconds at the beginning of the book then they both started just teasing each other while wanting to fuck each other.

The things I did like about the book: I loved all the older members of the pickleball club - they were so colorful and fun, and really brought great support to Bex. The dealing of grief and the passing of a parent - this was handled super well and you could tell this was coming from a personal place from the author. I did enjoy the romantic moment when Niko took Bex to the museum that was incredibly thoughtful and lovely. The thing I did enjoy about Bex was her resourcefulness - the way she came up with shirts to wear that ended up being fundraiser items, the way she used old materials to make colorful fun pickleball resources, and the way she cared about the club and it's members.

Traditional format 📕 (digital). Release date: June 3, 2025

As a fan of sports romances I was intrigued about this book about pickleball (even though as a tennis player I don’t consider this a real sport 😂😂😂).

This book was a fun read and had all the elements of a good rom com. Great characters, good chemistry and the right amount of spice. A perfect combination for a light summer read even if you don’t know what pickleball is. If you are familiar with pickleball, it hit on all the typical stereotypes you would expect: washed up tennis players and the boomer generation playing this hot new pastime.

It was an entertaining book for me and I give this one a solid 4/5!

Thank you to Net Galley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) | Forever for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Bex lives life like a retiree. She inherited a racquetball club from her parents. Her mother passed away two years prior, and Bex is still deep in her grief. She's surrounded by retirees, a member of their book clubs, on their pickleball teams, and that's the way she likes it.

Enter Niko: the hot shot professional tennis player and nephew of one of the club's members. He's working his way back into the professional tour, and using Bex's club to warm up. When he needs some good publicity, he wants to compete in a pickleball tournament, and despite their immediate hatred of each other, he asks Bex to be his partner....which then turns into a fake relationship...for the press!

This is a true enemies-to-lovers story, and of course, there are some steamy moments. Kate Spencer does an excellent job of balancing the fine line between fluff and heart. As with her other books, Kate writes about grief in a deep and personal way that is difficult for so many writers to capture. Emotions and feelings are deeply felt, and the prose is beautiful, even if it's just a conversation about recycled T-shirts.

While I have missed the pickleball fad, I found the background of the competition to be exciting and helped move the story forward in a satisfying way.

As I've said before, I'm a Kate Spencer fan and this book helps continue that fandom.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book. Thanks to Kate Spencer for being funny, deep, and the only romance writer that I have on my MUST BUY list.

I never thought I'd read a book about pickleball and actually love it?! It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked.

I'm not going to lie, I still don't understand pickleball but I still loved the book. I loved Nico & Bex together - their banter, the chemistry, the "fake" dating.

I also enjoyed the ADHD rep in the book, it always makes me feel more seen.

This was a delightful read that had me grinning along with a few moments that tugged at my heartstrings. The banter, chemistry and tension between Bex and Niko was delicious. This book had me rooting hard for Bex and Niko as a couple and for them to succeed with their goals; Niko with his tennis comeback and Bex with her racquet club. I loved seeing Niko take care of Bex and her learning to let him take care of her. Bex's friends were sweet and made me laugh. This was the first book I have read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I love a Kate Spencer book.

In "All's Fair in Love and Pickelball" we meet Bex.

She's in the throes of grief. She's trying to keep her mother's pickleball club open. She's constantly moving and it's helping her avoid confronting any emotion.

Spencer eloquently breaks down the rollercoaster of grief for people, from the happy memories to the breakdowns to the constant ache. As someone who recently lost her maternal figure, I connected to Bex in that way.

In the midst of that, she also meets a grumpy former tennis star, Niko. Amid their highly charged banter, they are forced into a fake dating scenario (one of my fave tropes). And we see the situation force each of them to confront some deeply hidden fears and emotions before finding a way forward.

It's a great book, I highly recommend it.

This was so cute!! I'm so obsessed with pickleball. It was fun to finally read a romance about it. The vibes were perfect but the romance fell flat for me.

📚ARC REVIEW

▪️Title- All’s Fair in Love and Pickleball
▪️Author- Kate Spencer
▪️Pub Date- June 3, 2025

This was adorable. Who doesn’t love a cute little sports romance? And to top it all off it also had fake dating?! This is truly a perfect summer read. The banter between Bex and Niko is so incredibly charming and the characters are immaculately written. I had the best time reading this book! Also, I think I might want to find out more about pickleball now? I can’t wait to own a copy of this book for real because I’ve already made space for it on my bookshelf.

This ARC was provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.