Thank you to Forever for the advanced e-copy and Hachette Audio for the advanced listening copy.

Sporty, sexy, and utterly charming, All is Fair in Love and Pickleball is a perfect summer read. From the first pages, the reader is drawn into the tension between Bex and Niko.

I loved the club owner vs pickleball-hating former tennis pro dynamic! The lessons on the court were hot, and the moments in the bedroom were honestly hotter. The banter was fun, but I honestly loved the moments when they open up to each other the best. There was an excellent balance of depth, comedy, and fun.

I could have read even more of them, but at just under 9.5 hours (320 pages), the length felt perfect for a summer read.

Yet this book still has a lot of heart. I loved the way Callie’s connection to pickleball and the success of the racketball club were so wrapped up in her grief over her mother. While not overly sad, I think Spencer did an excellent job of crafting the way grief impacted Bex’s motivations.

And Niko. Oh man. Despite the meet-disaster, it was immediately evident that this man is a caretaker. The way he loved his aunt (we love a found family of elders) made him easy to adore. I also loved the way he slowly revealed himself to Bex. Single POV shines when we can feel the opposite character through the pages, and I felt Niko in this book.

A note for the found family. I had to laugh as my dad participates in a senior pickleball league, and I really hope he has such a fun cast of characters at his club. I thought we got enough of the secondary characters to have them enhance the plot, and it helped with Bex’s growth arc/

Finally, the narration. STUNNING. Mia Hutchinson Shaw absolutely brought Bex to life. Her grief, her desire, her self-abatoge, it was all there and excellently narrated. I so enjoyed having this book in my years and highly recommend the audio! The steam was hotter, the emotions were brighter, and the overall experience was just great!

All in all, I think this will be a hit of the summer, and while I would not recommend it to my pickleball-loving dad, I think just about everyone else would enjoy!

All's Fair in Love and Pickleball is a charming romcom rivals to romance following a pickleball/tennis court owner and a washed up tennis player who is trying to make a comeback. My only complaint is a little too much miscommunication for my taste. Highly recommend for a spicy summer read.

Rating: 3.5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Spencer, and Forever for the ALC in exchange for an honest review!

All’s Fair in Love and Pickleball was a delightful surprise! As someone who doesn’t know much about pickleball, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a romance centered around the sport—but I ended up having a great time. I love that sports romance is starting to branch out and explore less mainstream sports, and this one made pickleball genuinely fun and intriguing. I might even be tempted to try it myself!

The pacing of this book was spot-on. It’s a light, quick read that you can easily devour in one sitting—perfect for a lazy afternoon or a beach day.

Tropes included:
💘 Fake Dating
🌞 Grumpy x Sunshine
🔥 Enemies(ish) to Lovers

While it didn’t completely knock it out of the park for me (or should I say off the court?), it was still an enjoyable read with plenty of charm. If you’re looking for a fun, summery romance with a fresh twist, definitely consider adding this one to your TBR!

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁:

I loved this one! It has all the tropes I crave: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, competition, found family and small town vibes. I know nothing about pickleball but now I need to go play, this book is the perfect summer sports romance read! Audio was great, the narrator did a great job having range in the voices that you forget it’s just one person.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:

Bex inherited the racquetball club when her mom passed from cancer. This place is everything to her, the members are her family. Unfortunately it is in need of a lot of repairs and she is barely able to keep the lights on. So when the club down the road offers to buy the place she has to figure out if she’ll leave her memories behind or figure out how to save the club.

Niko was a pro tennis player but a knee injury took him out, he’s hoping to make a comeback at the next qualifier. But his aunt just broke her wrist and she convinced him to stay in Sunset Springs. So he’s now forced to train at Bex’s club.

They definitely didn’t get off on the right foot, and somehow she just became his fake girlfriend and pickleball partner for the “Paddle Battle”. The tensions are high, the stakes are higher as the club is on the line. The CA sun is hot but these two together are even hotter in this spicy pickleball enemies to lovers romance.

𝙁𝙖𝙫 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝒔:

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, since the moment I laid eyes on you ...”

“I think we make an amazing team.”

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅:

* She Owns a Racquet Club
* Grumpy & Hot Greek Tennis Player
* Members of the Club are Her Family
* The Club is Struggling & Needs to Win the Tournament “Paddle Battle” for the Prize Money
* He’s In Town to Help Care for His Aunt
* He’s Forced to Train at Her Club
* Calls him “Tennis Prince” & He Calls her “Princess”
* She Designs Her Own Pickleball Clothes
* Fake Dating to Boost His Image
* Grief & Losing a Parent
* ADHD Rep
* Small Town Sunset Springs, CA
* Single POV w/ Spice

🏓☀️🌴💕🏓☀️🌴💕🏓☀️🌴💕🏓

Overall what I hoped for (a fun summer romance) wasn’t quite a reality. But the narrator did a great job so if you like this author I would recommend giving the audio book a listen!

I listened to the audio and narrator Mia Hutchinson Shaw helped bring this book to life. She was clear and easy to follow, albeit her cadence was slower than average. That said, her clarity and pronoun ration allowed for it to be listened at up to 2x while still being able to follow and listen easily.

From a story perspective, the single minded focus (sometimes stubbornness) was a double edged sword. Bex’s relentless focus on helping the pickleball club and the elderly community built around it is heartwarming. However, her vendetta against tennis as an issue against pickleball got old after being brought up so many times. Her dedication to coaching and being a good teammate is a positive, but how boy-crazy she is became annoying.

Additionally, I didn’t appreciate that Bex didn’t take responsibility for her actions (e.g., in getting in the fake dating situation, in not reading the contract the guy sent over). Even in the third act miscommunication, it was her own fault but runs from the consequences or from dealing with it.

Thank you to Kate Spencer, Mia Hutchinson Shaw, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced listener copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was hate to love perfection! They “hate” each other but really find the other attractive, Bex’s unfiltered thoughts on her Niko obsession was humorous. I found Niko to be a very grumpy pickleball hater who has a change of heart. I was entertained by these characters, found family and grief played a major role.

This was a very cute story and I appreciated reading a sports romance about a fun sport like pickleball. The side characters made the story interesting and the humor made it a very fun listen.

Mia Hutchinson Shaw's narration was very good. She did a great job with the banter between Bex and Niko, making it clear that they were sparring but also flirting. I loved how she made Niko so grumpy at the beginning of the story! She also really brought out the chemistry between Bex and Niko as their relationship progressed.

I connected most with Bex's character because we got to know her motivations and her backstory. We didn't get to know much about Niko so his character felt a little flat to me. There also wasn't as much emotional depth in the relationship, with the third act breakup and reconciliation feeling rushed. Overall this was a fun and entertaining listen but could have been better developed.

3.25 stars

I love Kate Spencer’s writing and this book is no exception! It is so cute and such a fun time! The chemistry between the main characters was great and I was rooting for them the whole time! I highly recommend this adorable book!

This is a book where I enjoyed the supporting characters way more than the main characters. I think that I’m supposed to really admire Bex and her desire to conquer all of her problems herself, but I found that single-mindedness to be a huge hurdle in her ability to see the true intentions those around her. This was quite evident in her stubbornness with wanting to see Freddie as good and helpful rather the clear scum that he was The lesson I took from this book was that one should always read their emails and not have a folder of "deal with this later" because that saves a lot of miscommunication!

This is such a cute story with all of the pickleball terms and references to pull their love story together. I love a dark haired, broody leading man and a sunshiny main character. The writing was so good I could picture this whole story like a movie and now I want it to be a movie. lol
The narrator was great and the story flowed so seamlessly that it felt like I was reading it/ watching it while listening.

3.5⭐️
I thought this was really sweet and fluffy romance. Was there a lot of depth? No. But I enjoyed the story and wanted to root for the characters.

I listen to the audio ALC. Narrator Mia Hutchinson Shaw did a fine job with her vocals. She read on the slower end of average for the 1x rate but still easy to listen to but also being able to speed it up to 2x while maintaining the clarity and good pitch to her vocals. The male voice was also ok with a slight tone change from the FMC vocals.

So if you’re looking for an easy read with all the romance feels this may be a great beach read for you. I’m looking forward to reviving the physical ARC as I’ll give it another read and update my review accordingly.


I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from Hachette Audio through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

2 stars ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

Super quick and easy read.
However this book was kind of a let down for me.

Personally their attraction was way too immediate for my taste so much so that it felt forced, like I love a good fake dating but the lead up to that situation should be realistic.

I feel like nothing really happened in the story that wasn’t obvious from the start. And please Bex spoiler that her and Niko’s relationship was fake to a literal stranger mind you, Niko’s rival essentially, she’s so dumb.

We don’t even get to see the game play out like what.

Thank you NetGalley and Hatchet Audio for the audio ARC!

4 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

First of all I was not ready for this love story revolving around pickleball! 😍😍

I enjoyed the audio alot. The narrator was great and the audio flowed well.

The story ugh my ❤️ Bexs and Nicos love story and all the characters of the “club” had my whole heart. Grumpy sunshine is my fav and this one did it!! Highly recommend!