a relegation romance

Adalyn Reyes was a professional soccer executive, working long hours for the MS Miami team, the Flames. Yes, she was working for her father, who owns the team, but she still worked hard. Until that day. The day that the man in the mascot costume showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time and Adalyn, normally so cool and composed, ripped his head off. Literally. She ripped the head of the phoenix costume right off the man’s shoulders, and someone recorded it on their phone and uploaded it to the internet. Of course it went viral. And Adalyn got sent down, or up rather, to manage a team in North Carolina.

Adalyn refuses to show how upset she is. She packs up her designer suits and her high heels and has her assistant find her a place to stay. But as she’s driving there, and her GPS starts leading her onto dirt roads, she starts to question the direction her life has taken. And when she finally finds the cabin, she accidentally hits something trying to maneuver her car, and bangs her head hard against the steering wheel. She then tries to back up, and hits something else, and tries to go forward again and ends up against a tree, unconscious.

When she wakes up, she finds out that the first thing she hit was a rooster, the second thing she hit was a man, and he’s yelling at her in her car, trying to figure out if she’s okay. She slowly comes to and realizes what she’d done. She had been sent there to help the Green Warriors, an underperforming soccer team, turn things around and make them a media darling. And no grumpy bearded mountain man yelling at her is going to stop her.

Meanwhile, Cameron Caldani is trying to figure out who this crazy woman in his driveway, trying to run him over and then yelling at him for living in the cabin he’s been staying in for a while, claiming she rented it. After several minutes of bickering, he realizes that she hadn’t rented his cabin. She’d rented the rundown shack next to it, despite it being barely habitable. But what’s really frustrating is when she showed up at his soccer practice, recognized him, and then fired him.

Cam had been one of the best goalkeepers in the world, working in the Premier League and then the MLS, where he had retired from suddenly with no explanation. He’d moved to North Carolina, where no one would recognize him—well, almost—and grew out his beard so he could live in peace and quiet. However, the local mayor and diner owner Josie had recognized him and convinced him to coach the Green Warriors.

There had been a time when the women of the Warriors had been champions. But that was a long time ago, and now he’s starting over with kids. These girls were all under ten, and one of them insisted on wearing a tutu with her practice clothes. He didn’t have much more success wrangling them as he did from stopping one of his cats from getting out and chasing the rooster around. But he enjoyed coaching them. Or he had until Adalyn showed up, fired him, and tried to take over the team.

It doesn’t take long before the girls’ parents see the viral video of Adalyn and want her removed from the team. Josie intervenes and convinces the parents that she and Cam would make a good team for the Warriors, with each bringing their expertise to the team. And they need it, if they’re going to compete with the other local teams, the established teams. To compete, they’ll need all the help they can get.

But in order for that to happen, Adalyn and Cam will need to learn to work together. They will need to put aside their many, many, many reasons to bicker and focus on the girls. But working together and living so close means that they will also have to deal with the traumas that brought them to North Carolina, making them vulnerable in ways they never expected. And when that vulnerability turns to attraction, Adalyn and Cam will have to decide just what to do with those feelings, and deal with the consequences to their careers, to the Green Warriors, and to their own battered hearts.

The Long Game is a sweet, slow burn romance that will help fill that hole that the end of Ted Lasso has left in your heart. Adalyn and Cam are both smart and strong characters, and their ability to get under each other’s skin is almost legendary. Soccer fans need to snatch this up, as it’s got a lot of soccer fun. But it’s also got a lot of other things going for it—goat yoga, a small mountain town, an endearing mayor who can make macarons and pies, cats, an Italian Nonna, hand-washed clothing hanging from antlers, Manolos, pottery, and a good old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers story.

There are also some darker edges to the story, particularly for Adalyn and her incessant unwillingness to ask for help. The reasons for her stubbornness and pride are heartbreaking but make her all the more compelling. I absolutely loved this book. These are fantastic, fascinating characters, and their chemistry jumps off the page. I was especially drawn to this book because I am a soccer nerd, but if you aren’t, don’t let that stop you. The soccer talk is minimal and won’t leave you feeling left out if you don’t understand it. This is just a stellar romance, so funny and sexy and surprising. It’s a triumph.

Egalleys for The Long Game were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.