🔎 ARC Review

Game Point

Book 2: Game, Set, and Match

@megjoneswrites
@avonbooks
@netgalley

Publication Date: September 9th, 2025

My Rating:
🌟 4/5

👀Read if you like
Dual POV
Friends to Lovers
Coach X Player

In the aftermath of Dylan Bailey’s tenth Grand Slam loss, she decides to put her racket away for good. Until a tempting bet from fellow pro Oliver Anderson convinces her to give it one last shot.

If she sticks it out, and still loses the next tournament, she takes home his US Open Trophy, and is free to walk away from the sport forever. To sweeten the deal, Oliver proposes a twist—he’ll swap his racket for a whistle and coach Dylan in the months leading up to the Australian Open.

After all, with the solid friendship they’ve built, surely working together could score a game point.

They just need to keep their eyes on the ball and ignore their sizzling tension.

As Oliver and Dylan navigate the unpredictable court, they rediscover their love for the sport, but the feelings they share could complicate things. With the world watching their every move, they must ensure their partnership stays on-court.

But as the lines between coach and player blur, especially in a sport where every detail is scrutinized, keeping their feelings in check may be their toughest match yet.

🔎 My review
I love tennis so of course I was drawn to Clean Point and then I was lucky to receive an ARC of Game Point! Throughout Clean Point I wasn't a Dylan fan, but since Meg gave her a chance I decided to as well. From the beginning I loved the back and forth banter from Dylan and Oliver. Oliver is a golden retriever holding a green flag 🥺 with just enough 🌶 to keep things going. Dylan on the other hand is a feisty black cat who is too hard on herself.

Thank you @megjoneswrites
@avonbooks @netgalley for the ARC!

#books #bookreviews #bookworm #bookstagram #bookobsessed #friendstolovers #forcedproximity #NetGalley #GamePoint

I knew I loved Oliver and Bailey, but their story was even cuter than I thought it would be.

I loved seeing their friendship evolve slowly. From getting to know each other to talking every day, it was so cute and gave me all the warm and fuzzies. And it felt so natural. Nothing was rushed or weird, but a gradual development of a friendship into something more. I loved it!

I wish we could have jumped into the coach/athlete relationship sooner because Oliver doesn't really become her coach until about halfway through. I think it would have been nice to see how Oliver helped Bailey become an even better competitor. And Bailey helped Oliver figure out his professional and relationship goals for the future. This all eventually comes about, but I think it could have been nicer to jump into it sooner.

Overall, this was another incredible tennis romance from Meg Jones. I know Ines and Chloe are going to have such a good story (desperately hoping it's rivals to lovers!). I can't wait!

Sign me up for this kind of friends-to-lovers all day, every day. I love a couple who meets, has a spark of attraction but can’t explore it for whatever reason(s) holding them back at the time, and then goes on to develop a really solid, meaningful friendship before they inevitably give in. That’s what happens here for Dylan and Oliver, and I love that for them.

After reading Clean Point, even though Dylan comes around in the end, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel reading a book with her as the main character. I should have known I’d end up being a total fangirl for her. The prickly “unlikable” ones frequently get me. There is so much to Dylan underneath her surface, and I think this book does a really great job exploring her. There is as much about her game as there is her life off the court. She’s much more than tennis, and the way she works to reevaluate and reframe her motivations and definition of success showcases a healthier mindset. Which is in part thanks to Oliver.

Oliver complements Dylan in such a great way as her friend and as her coach. He has a longstanding admiration and respect for her before they ever meet, and he very naturally understands what kind of approach to try for the mindset shift she needs to make. He knows how to uplift her and support her without coddling her or pushing her to a breaking point.

The two of them work so well together and have great banter in their interactions. It’s a mutual respect and knowing how to shape their dynamic around whatever situation they’re approaching or pushing through. And when it comes to the spark between them, it ignites when it’s ready, and it blazes. I love the way things progress for them while still maintaining the friendship that they’ve built.

I had such a great time reading this one and I can’t wait for more in this universe from Meg Jones. Thank you to Avon for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just want to start off and thank NetGalley for the arc.

I really enjoyed this book. Dylan to me was a very complex character that most readers might just write off as being "bratty". As you get further into the book, you will understand more as to why Dylan has acted like this.

Oliver and Dylan have amazing tension and banter. I was definitely in Dylan's corner the whole time while reading! The playlist was top tier and I enjoyed the news articles about the matches.

Also I LOVED when Oliver calls Dylan a brat.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A slow burn, best friends to lovers, tennis romance. Dylan is always coming in second place and is about to give on tennis all together. Her best friend Oliver has to save her from herself and offers to become her coach. Watching these two characters fall for each other was top notch! Dylan is feisty and on the tougher side giving her that black cat energy which is always a nice change. Oliver is the perfect book boyfriend too. A green flag with a filthy mouth. Swoon!

Game Point delivers an enjoyable friends-to-lovers romance with playful banter and undeniable chemistry between Dylan and Oliver. Their bet-turned-partnership creates a fun premise, and the slow-burn tension adds some satisfying spice. Meg Jones has a knack for writing flirty, feel-good moments that keep you turning the pages.

That said, the emotional depth doesn’t quite match the romantic buildup. Dylan’s internal struggles and the stakes of her comeback feel glossed over at times, and the story occasionally drifts without enough momentum. While the romance is cute, it doesn’t fully stick the landing.

Still, it’s a light, entertaining read with charming characters and just enough tension to keep things interesting. Perfect for fans of flirty, low-drama romance with a sporty edge.

Game Point by Meg Jones dives into a subject I absolutely love—tennis! Dylan is a talented pro who consistently makes it to the finals but can’t seem to seal the deal when it comes to Grand Slam titles. Her struggle with performance anxiety is real and relatable.

Enter Oliver, a fellow tennis pro with a successful career and a good heart. When she confesses she wants to quit, Oliver talks her out of it and sweetens the deal with a bet. As their friendship grows, so do his feelings for Dylan. He eventually resolves to being her coach determined to help her break through her mental barriers. What follows is a slow-burn romance that heats up as they set their sights on the Australian Open.

This is a sweet, uplifting story that focuses on the strength of the female lead and the power of genuine support. I loved seeing Dylan’s growth both on and off the court.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to Avon, Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the ARC! This was such an enjoyable read. Full of slow burn tension, witty banter, emotional growth and grit, I ate up every word.

Dylan Bailey is ready to hang up her racquet. Forever the bridesmaid, and never the bride, of the tennis circuit, she chokes in every grand slam final. She’s done. Her body can’t take the beating anymore, but more than anything, her heart can’t take the disappointment. Enter Oliver - recently retired tennis pro who’s determined to be her best friend and coach her to a championship. Cue the slow burn, besties to lovers, coach/player angst that we all love.

Dylan is such a sympathetic black cat. Super prickly to the world and in need of an emotional reset, surrounded by coaches and friends who sabotage her mentally, with an explosive personality on and off the court. And Oliver is the most golden retriever MC ever, with a bit of spice thrown in.

There were so many laugh out loud moments, but just as many moments that had me on the edge of the seat, rooting for Dylan to triumph both on the court and in her relationships with other characters. I came for the slow burn spice, but I stayed for Dylan’s huge personal growth. She does the hard work for mental health and it shows. And she learns to surround herself with supportive people while also learning to love to play tennis all over again.

Read if you love -
Slow burn
Black cat x golden retriever
Coach x player
Witty banter
Just one bed
Besties to lovers

Game Point by Meg Jones was a cute and easy read. It’s the kind of book you pick up when you want something light and feel-good, and it totally delivers on that front. The main characters were likeable, and their banter and chemistry made it fun to follow their story. I really enjoyed the tennis setting—it added a fun twist without getting too technical or over-the-top.

That said, the plot was pretty predictable, and nothing really surprised me. The side characters didn’t leave much of an impression, and the emotional depth just wasn’t quite there. I also felt like the middle dragged a little with scenes that felt a bit repetitive. Still, it was sweet and entertaining overall—perfect if you’re in the mood for a cozy rom-com that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Solid three stars from me.

this was much more enjoyable for me than the first in the series that i listened to on audio… i think being able to read with my own inner voice helped this immensely because i really didn’t like the vocal performances in the first. i really loved the growth in dylan’s character from the first installment to the end of this one and i especially loved the evolution of her & scottie’s friendship.. i just wish maybe there was a little more time spent with that and that avery got a little more of a comeuppance than she did.

Friends to lovers, athletes, tennis, grumpy MFC, competition.

3.75/5

Tropes: Friends to lovers, athletes, tennis, grumpy MFC, competition.

I read this book without reading the first book in the series, so my POV is biased because the MFC is expected to be grumpy, bitchy, difficult to manage with angry issues. However, without the context of her behavior from book 1, I found her to be pretty normal.

She has struggled with winning the finals of any of her professional matches and struggles to comes to terms with it. The reason why I gave it a 3.75 instead of 4.5 was because while some friendship moments were shown between the leads, I didn't feel like there were that many? I mean, sure they watch Twilight together, but I wish more of the banter was shown prior to Oliver becoming Dylan's coach. In my opionion the transition from friends to lovers happened really quickly, I would have liked them to have explored the friend zone more fully.

The whiplash from the leads wanting to retire, retiring, realizing they don't want to retire, to not retiring was also a bit much, in my opinion. Also, how old were the MFC and MMC? I don't think it said and in my mind that was a thought. Sometimes, despite your best talent, and drive, injuries and age is the limiting factor. And I wondered if that would happen to the leads but I didn't get an answer to this.

Love love love this book! I’m a sucker for a sports romance and I love that our FMC got her redemption in this book!

AHHH as if I couldn’t love Meg’s writing more. Game Point follows up Clean Point so well and I absolutely love the redemption we get for Dylan Bailey. Dylan and Oliver are such a great pair. They both bring out the best in one another and the way that Oliver is constantly working to help Dylan with her mental health is so good. It’s another FANTASTIC sports romance that will make you swoon, blush, and laugh out loud.

Meg’s wittiness and dry humor comes through her characters phenomenally. It’s a work of art and thank you so much to Avon for letting me ARC read it.

I love a sports romance and it was kind of nice to read about something other than ice hockey for a change. This was very reminiscent of Carrie Soto is Back! Dylan was such a fierce FMC and I loved how she was so competitive but still had her struggles - I enjoyed watching her figure out what she wanted from her career and how to get there. Oliver was such a sweetie omg, he was soooo down bad for Dylan and I just loved him so much! I loved that they developed a friendship before anything happened between them romantically too!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Loved the blurb, I tried to read clean point could not really get into it. I really liked the story, Dylan Bailey is a tennis star that just can’t win the big one. Overall plot is good, Dylan is just not likable, I understand that is an important aspect of her character. Oliver and her are quite opposites, she is very aggressive and Oliver is a lovesick puppy. It was great for her to be own woman and everything but she just comes off so frigid to me. I am interested to see who the next story is about. I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic!! Immediate tears at the end, such a great story!

I have become more of a sucker for sports romance books recently and this book really hit all of the best aspects of sports romances. I loved how their relationship was so centered around her career so you got a good balance of her sports journey and the maine characters falling in love.

I cannot get over Oliver’s obsession with Dylan. It was written so well and really felt like he was such a good depiction of what to look for in a partner and how to treat a partner.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for this ARC!!!

DNF at 35%
Listen, maybe a tennis pro shouldn't have even tried to read this. But there were some basic editing mistakes that drove me nuts (she's playing the US Open final and it's a grass court?) and the pacing was absurdly quick. I felt no tension between the two main characters, and it just did not move in a realistic manner. There was also a lot of "tell not show" which made it feel really choppy. Overall, this was not my jam, which was disappointing because tennis is my life.

Um Game Point was freaking adorable and I ate this up!! To be honest, I knew this was going to be my jam when I saw it was friends to lovers, but still this was fantastic!

I enjoyed this one overall.

I liked how quickly we were able to jump into the story. It felt like such a natural start to the story and nothing about the way the two main characters met felt awkward or forced to me. I really liked the relationship between Oliver and Dylan and seeing their relationship slowly go from strangers to friends to more.

There were a few things that I wish the author would've expanded on a little, like Oliver's past relationship and his own healing journey. It kind of felt like as soon as he started to develop feelings for Dylan he himself completely forgot about his past and being recently divorced etc. With the type of relationship that Dylan and Oliver have where they have a lot of honest conversations, it was something that I expected to come up. As much as I didn't like Avery, I did feel like the final confrontation between her and Dylan was a bit anticlimactic. I would've liked to see it drawn out a bit more or have affected Dylan a bit more just so we could see her process of having to work through it.

The relationship between Oliver and Dylan and Scottie and Nico was fun and added a nice element of relief. Overall I liked the pacing of the story and I didn't think it felt overly predictable the way I often do with a lot of sports romances. I also liked that the spice added to but didn't take over the storyline.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Thanks NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

First of all, I love the Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams in the playlist. It was neat that all the chapters had an associated song - it gave foreshadowing into what might happen that chapter.

While I consider my “big three” interests to be books, tennis, and Taylor Swift, I think this fell a little flat for me. I’m usually not a fan of friends to lovers and this really wasn’t an exception. At about 20% in, Dylan’s inability to handle her emotions was killing me and it was difficult to see why Oliver would even want to be her friend in those times. It always felt like it was a little bit flirty instead of just friendly. His patience with her as a new friend just didn’t seem all that believable. It also surprised me how little they discussed his previous marriage and why it ended. Oliver’s internal thoughts explained quite a bit but was it ever explored deeper with Dylan? Seemed like he should have been a bit more hesitant about being in another relationship with someone who said they didn’t want kids as well, but he was more focused on the coach-player aspect of it.

That being said, I did find many enjoyable moments in the book! The Twilight references were too-notch as well as the argument about physical vs digital media. I like that Dylan always stood her ground even if she was a bit stubborn. I always love a good bet and every time they would try to get the other to do something using reverse psychology. The “just one night” trope always gets me because everyone knows that only opens the floodgates - it’s never enough! It’s waiting to see who will crack first after that night that keeps me on the edge of my seat. Along with that, there were just so many adorable moments and Oliver was so sweet with her. I loved that we could see both players struggling with their own mental health issues and saw their growth together by the end of the book.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that had many moments where I was giddily kicking my feet. The world needs more tennis romance, so I’ll definitely be recommending to others, especially those who love friends to lovers! ✨🎾