Tropes: slow burn, best friends -> lovers, sports romance 🎾

Being a tennis player myself. I was very intrigued to read this arc courtesy of Netgalley. For me it was very easy to follow the matches and everything might be a little difficult for people not familiar with the sport but was still overall enjoyable. Both characters were very nice to read about Dylan being a little bit more of a tougher chick and Oliver being just very supportive of her as he is her best friend. It was nice to see a female character be portrayed more strong than some authors do and also show her true struggles with tennis and the double standards of women.

Okay, wow…this was such a good follow-up to Clean Point. I wasn't sure if I was going to like Dylan after her behavior in the first book, but I enjoyed her as a character. Dylan and Oliver had such fun banter, and the whole “bet + coaching twist” kept me turning the pages. I loved watching Dylan rediscover her love for tennis while also fighting the off-limits feelings for her best friend, ugh, the tension was SO good.

The mix of sweet, spicy, and sporty felt perfectly balanced. Honestly, it gave me all the swoony romance vibes and had me wanting to pick up a racket (which says a lot, because my coordination is…questionable 😂). Definitely recommend if you love your sports romances with a little extra heat.

4 stars!! ⭐️ The chemistry between Dylan and Olive is unreal and made this unputdownable! I really loved Dylan’s character and seeing her work through her struggles. There was just a dash of spice in this book!

What to expect:
✨ sports romance
✨ friends to lovers
✨ slow burn

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC. All opinions are my own 🫶🏼

A fun and delicious best friends to lovers romance.
Seeing these two fall in love and navigate their feelings for each other was so beautiful. The characters are so cool and well written that it was impossible not to root for them.

My first tennis romance and it did not disappoint!!!! I loved seeing Dylan and Oliver’s relationship grow in addition to Dylan’s personal growth! Oliver always supported her and wasn’t afraid to go toe to toe with Dylan.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon, and Harper Voyage for this ARC!

Game Point is a friends to lovers story with a black cat energy FMC, Dylan, and a golden retriever MMC, Oliver. This is my first Meg Jones book, and it was a lot of fun! I will say that the pacing did seem a little off. I felt like Set One was slow, and the rest of the book felt a little drawn out. That being said, I still enjoyed it, and it kept my interest. Because of the slower pace, you really see the friendship build between these two characters.

I think part of the reason for the slower pace was that the author tried to pack a lot in and really weave in the characters from her first book in the series, Clean Point, which I didn't read. Because I didn't read this one, there were a lot of people introduced in the beginning of the book, and it was a little overwhelming, but all in all, didn't take away from the story.

It took me a little time to warm up to Dylan, but I think that's only natural with her character. By the end, I really liked her. Oliver is just a sweetheart! I love that he ends up being her coach because it gave him that bossy edge that I think his character needed to keep me interested.

Could have been cut down a bit, and the author definitely has a lot of repetition with her writing, but overall a cute read!

If you love sports romance, specially about tennis, then this book is for you! There is also a very slow burn romance between Dylan and Oliver who starts out as friends to lovers. Overall, it was a super cute read with lots of tennis action!

Thank you NetGalley and Meg Jones for providing me with an ARC!

What to expect:
🎾tennis matches
🎾friends to lovers
🎾slow burn
🎾coach x player

This is my first book I’ve read from this author and now I want to go back and read the first one! This was one that I didn’t want to put down. I think this was my first tennis book but also there was humor, banter, tension and more. I thought the book was organized in an interesting way since it also had some reports talking about rhetorical tennis matches or the players. I feel like it definitely taught me some tennis terms as well, because I don’t know too much.. 😅

I thought this was a bit of a slow burn but i appreciated their growing friendship and the realization that they just can’t be friends. 🤭



I received this arc thru NetGalley!

There is so much going on in this story beyond the surface of a "sports romance." The level of communication and maturity between the two MCs was surprising, given how popular immature MCs have become lately. I loved the authenticity, the rawness of both MCs. A great summer read!

Dual POV
Friends to Lovers
Sports Romance
Major Character Growth
Sharp Dialogue
Fast-Paced
Close Proximity
Coach/Player
Slow Burn

Meg Jones does it again!!

After Clean Point, I had high expectations of Game Point & it did not disappoint!!

Friends to Lover with Tennis, you can’t go wrong!

Dylan’s redemption arc in this book was spot on, it was so satisfying. Yeah, she is a bit prickly and stubborn but such a loveable character.

The chemistry between Dylan and Oliver. Yassss 👌🏻👌🏻 they had emotional chemistry, tension, yearning. Scrap me off the floor.

This book also brings to light how women athletes can be portrayed in the media and the double standards of it all.

Highly recommend, such a great, fun, sports romance read.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me, but that's okay! I can see how others may really enjoy this..a sports romance that was an easy, quick read however for me it just didn't keep my interest. The relationship between the two main characters felt rushed and underdeveloped. They didn't click for me...meeting one day to basically falling in love in a super short timeframe where most of the 'growth' was occurring over text. I really wish we would have learned more about Oliver instead of the little tidbits here and there thrown in during random scenes. Jumping to the sport plot, it almost felt like any and every technical term that is used for Tennis was written during the segments, which sometimes made it a little hard to follow as well as feel any emotion towards scenes where it was obvious the author was looking for it to be dramatic and fast paced. Characters that were brought in to bring conflict really didn't land the mark and one in particular really wasn't needed, especially when it had no bearing on the story and there really wasn't any resolution...because again, there was no need for it.
The potential was there and I could see what the author was going for but this was a no for me and I won't be continuing the series.

This was a cute sports related friends-coach-lovers romance. More about the sport and the internal dialogue of a tennis player than character development.

DNF

Unfortunately, this one’s headed straight to my DNF pile. I made it to just over 40%—which is basically me dragging myself across the court, gasping for air—before I realized I was bored out of my mind and didn’t care what happened next.

Maybe it was on me for picking up a book about a sport I personally couldn’t care less about and have never found interesting. But that’s never stopped me before; I’ve read sports romances in the past that actually made me start following the sport religiously. I had hopes tennis would finally win me over. It did not.

From page one, it felt like I’d been dropped into the middle of a group chat without knowing who anyone was. That’s probably on me for skipping book one, but the pacing didn’t help—it was sloooow, and by the time things picked up, my attention had already wandered.

Dylan’s struggles as an outcast pro athlete under constant media fire could’ve been great, but I never connected with her. She’s prickly, closed-off, and just… hard to root for. And sorry, but Avery is a terrible friend. I don’t know exactly how her career ended, but Dylan doesn’t owe you hers. If she wants to quit, that’s her choice. Being “grateful” for the chance to play? Please. She didn’t win it in a raffle—she earned it with years of sweat and training.

Oliver? Sweet. Nice. Pleasant. And about as exciting as watching paint dry on a tennis racket.

Then “Set Two” rolled around, and I swear my soul left my body from boredom. That’s when I tossed in the towel. Or, you know… game, set, match—DNF.

This is not your usual boy-meets-girl love story. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was more a story of self-love than anything else. None of the overdone break-up type tropes are present in the story, and the MMC is a Twilight fan. Soooo this was a winning book.

I loved how the character development was subtle. You wouldn't really notice it until the end when everything comes full circle; this is such a realistic thing to happen. We consciously change ourselves, our relationships change us, and our experiences change us. It doesn't happen overnight.

It helps to have a general understanding of how the scoring of tennis works, but it is not necessary to follow the story.

I found this read to be fast-paced and fun. There's not much downtime in the story, and we also get a glimpse of how the characters from the first book are doing.

I did read these books out of order, but I can't wait to go back and read Scottie and Nico's story!

Thank you, Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley, for the ARC opportunity. This honest review has been left voluntarily.

Game Point by Meg Jones

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 1/5 🌶️

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, Netgalley, and the author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Game Point is a super fun and sweet friends to lovers, slow burn sports romance! The relationship evolves naturally and authentically, Dylan’s growth throughout was wonderful, and the competitive tennis environment was exciting!

After Dylan’s tenth Grand Slam loss, she decides to give up tennis for good. Then, fellow pro tennis player and friend, Oliver, convinces her to give it one more try. If she does and still loses the next tournament, she takes home his US Open Trophy and can walk away from the sport forever. Oliver also offers to coach Dylan for the Australian Open. They just need to stay focused and ignore their chemistry. As Oliver and Dylan train, they rediscover their love for tennis, while also realizing that the feelings they have for one another can complicate things. All eyes are on them leading up to the tournament, so their toughest challenge yet will be keeping their feelings in check.

Overall, the dynamic between Dylan and Oliver is great throughout the entirety of the story, the banter is top notch, and the way in which Dylan’s past and current experiences are highlighted provides more depth to the plot. Also, the way in which they both respect each other’s dreams was delightful! An interesting and entertaining contemporary sports romance!

my rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Game Point served up (🤭) everything I wanted in a friends to lovers sports romance! watching Dylan and Oliver navigate their feelings while respecting each other’s careers and dreams was perfect. not to mention all the tension and build up we got?!

Dylan was such a badass on the court—her competitive drive spoke to my SOUL (because if you know me at all, you know I think winning IS everything 🤪). butttt watching her realize she has people in her corner and that second place isn’t the end of the world? loveeeed. also love that she only has a soft side for Oliver 🫶🏼

speaking of my fav British tennis coach Oliver?! the patience, the way he was her biggest cheerleader, always putting her career first—this man knew how to love someone the right way.

read if you like:
✅ friends to lovers
✅ sports romance (🎾!!!)
✅ patient MMC who calls you “love”
✅ competitive FMC with major growth

ps: seeing Scottie and Nico from Clean Point woven throughout was so fun!

thank you to NetGalley and author Meg Jones for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

🎾 Friends, forehands, and a slow-burn romance that plays the long game — but you’ll need to start at book one to keep up 😉

Title: Game Point
Author: Meg Jones
Format: eARC
Narrators: N/A
Narration Style: N/A
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Coach/Player, Sports Romance, Slow Burn, Mental Health Healing, Forced Proximity

📚 Rating: 3 stars
🌶 Spice Rating: 1.5 peppers — lightly warmed, mostly sweet

💬 Quote: “Sometimes the best game you play isn’t on the court.”

Author Review 💌
Meg Jones writes sports romance that actually treats the sport like more than just a backdrop. The tennis scenes are sharp and engaging, and the Australian setting adds a nice, sunny backdrop to the competitive tension. I appreciate that she didn’t shy away from showing Dylan working on her mental health — it gave her more depth than the “ice queen” side we saw in book one.

Book Review 📖
This is book two in the series, and honestly? You really need to read Clean Point first. Without the foundation of Dylan’s history, you’re missing a lot of the why behind her walls (and her bite).

I went in a little skeptical since Dylan wasn’t exactly my favorite in book one, but this time we see cracks in her armor — and Oliver slips right through them. Their dynamic works best in the friendship stage, which was full of easy banter and mutual support. The slow burn is very slow, but believable, and I liked how their relationship evolved naturally from needing each other in different ways.

That said, the romance felt underdeveloped compared to the first book’s couple. I wanted more time with them as a romantic pair instead of getting the minimum dose between other subplots. Some of the drama — especially from one unnecessary side character — pulled focus without adding much, and a few scenes could’ve been cut to tighten the pace.

Overall Thoughts ✨
If you like your sports romances heavy on the sport, Game Point delivers. If you’re here solely for the romance, you might find yourself wishing for a little more heat and depth. Still, Dylan’s growth and the competitive tennis energy kept me reading, and it’s a solid continuation if you enjoyed Clean Point.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am loving that sports romances are so popular now - as someone who played tennis growing up...this one hit just right!

4⭐️

**Thank you Avon and NetGalley for the eARC**

Dylan is at the top of the tennis world but struggling to pull through and clinch the win. Oliver finds himself at a crossroads with his tennis career wondering where he sees his future. They find comfort in each other and their budding friendship and discover that may they can each help each others career.

This book too me a little while to really get fully invested (probably because I read this one before the first, Clean Point), but once I was hooked, I was all in. Dylan is a feisty, take no nonsense FMC. She won’t let anyone pull her down. And Oliver is a gold retriever balance to her. They both have good personal story arcs and a nice romantic arc too. I enjoyed the pacing and the look into the tennis world.

Sports romances will always be peak for me. The high stakes of the competition mixed with high tension of the love just makes sense to me. I was worried I wouldn’t like the friends to lovers bit but it was different than I expected and thought their relationship took the right turn. Very cute and fun.