Overall Take:
Such a fun slow-burn sapphic romance. I fell in love with this author and will be buying all her books.
Star Rating:
5 stars
Genre:
Queer (Sapphic) Romance
Synopsis:
Julie is a high school basketball coach and Vanessa joins the team late into the season. Julie is shocked that Vanessa’s foster mom is no other than former basketball star Elle.
When Julie has an opening as assistant coach, she approaches Elle. Elle has stayed out of the basketball world since an injury, but she wants to be close to Vanessa.
When Julie and Elle start spending more time together, sparks start to fly, and lines start to blur.
Thoughts:
Anita Kelly is one of my favorite queer romance authors. I fell in love with her writing last year when I read Love & Other Disasters, so I was excited to read another by her. I loved how this book tied in some characters that I met in that book too; I didn’t know this going in so was pleasantly surprised. It was fun that Elle fan-girled over the character just like Julie did over her when they met. I liked it.
I enjoyed the romance between Julie and Elle. Julie idolized Elle when they were younger and grew up following in her footsteps. So, Julie was starstruck when they met. The romance took a natural progression from there. To me it felt believable and not forced at all.
This book did have some heavy-adjacent themes and covered them well. For example, Elle is an aunt, turned foster mom, and suffers from debilitating migraines. As someone who suffers debilitating headaches, it was nice to see this represented. Julie’s character was also really interesting, I enjoyed her self-discovery journey and wanting to find a label. While we certainly don’t need labels in life, they can help, and I think that was her internal struggle. She was just so real and raw, and it was perfect.
Ms. Kelly’s writing is just so amazing and beautiful. Her characters contain so much depth and are so well thought out that to me they feel like real people, and I can build them seamlessly in my mind.
If you are looking for a sport adjacent sapphic romance that will get you all choked up, then check this one out.
Thanks for my copy to:
Thank you so much to the publisher, @readforeverpub and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication Date:
February 13, 2024
Author:
Anita Kelly
Page Length:
384 pages
Publisher:
Forever Pub
Link to buy
Affiliate link
