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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75⭐️! I really enjoyed this book! I don’t think I’ve read a tennis romance before and it was a lot of fun. I initially struggled to connect with Dylan our FMC, but she grew on me throughout the book and I liked watching her grow into a stronger player with more confidence in herself. I liked Oliver a lot as our MMC and liked that he found a different path to take. I liked the authors writing style and I’m going to be watching for any future books from her.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was lucky enough to receive an arc from NetGalley and I was very pleasantly surprised by this book!
Dylan is a top tennis playing and is struggling on the court. She makes it to the finals of the grand slams but just can’t clinch that 1st place trophy. Going through multiple coaches and strategies she is just about to throw in the towel.
Along comes Oliver. Another top performing tennis star struggling in the romance department. Golden retriever energy and just not found the one.
The tension is strrronnng. 🔥 Friends to lovers? 👌👌 The banter? LOL funny! 🤣 Love the character development! I found myself rooting for the characters. I truly felt connected to them and their struggles! The playlist was also perfection! The news articles added a new depth to the story!
Final verdict: Definitely worth the read!! 4 ⭐️
Dylan is a top tennis playing and is struggling on the court. She makes it to the finals of the grand slams but just can’t clinch that 1st place trophy. Going through multiple coaches and strategies she is just about to throw in the towel.
Along comes Oliver. Another top performing tennis star struggling in the romance department. Golden retriever energy and just not found the one.
The tension is strrronnng. 🔥 Friends to lovers? 👌👌 The banter? LOL funny! 🤣 Love the character development! I found myself rooting for the characters. I truly felt connected to them and their struggles! The playlist was also perfection! The news articles added a new depth to the story!
Final verdict: Definitely worth the read!! 4 ⭐️
Game Point by Meg Jones is a fun romp around the world with professional tennis players falling in love. It’s an adult contemporary romance with the friends-to-lovers trope, coach x player, and a girliepop struggling to win the biggest title of her career. I've rated it 3.5 but rounding up to 4.
Overall, I had a very fun time with Game Point. Dylan, our main character, is a very good tennis player who has never managed to cross the final hurdle; win a Grand Slam trophy. Ten finals and not one title and she is frustrated. As a workaholic and a perfectionist, I related to Dylan and her struggles. Her anxiety and the need to be the best, to be perfect. There are moments where she is unlikeable and struggles and lashes out at people, but this feels natural and well-earned in the narrative. (She’s the grumpy, sarcastic, black cat kind of character.)
In comparison, the other main character is Oliver; another professional tennis player who has won the US Open and is currently coasting in his career. He likes playing tennis, but it hasn’t been his main passion for a while. He needs to shake something up and do something different. He’s quite friendly and social, the kind of outgoing and sweet guy that a stubborn, hardheaded, and fierce woman like Dylan would pair well with.
While I liked Dylan’s character journey, there is a flatness to Oliver that I didn’t love. We get his perspective sporadically throughout the book and while I like him, the arc his character goes on isn’t interesting or strong enough to carry his perspective. I think developing his character, deepening him with flaws, or changing the plot structure would’ve made his perspective worthwhile.
As for the plot, I wish we could’ve seen Oliver and Dylan as coach and player so much earlier. The promise of the premise and why I specifically picked up this book was to see them as player and coach and see how that dynamic played out over the course of the novel. There is an inherent power dynamic and struggle that is interesting in this context. I thought this would work for me because they’re similar ages, they’re friends beforehand, and they’re trying to help each other find something. (Dylan is trying to find her confidence and mojo and Oliver is trying to find his love for the sport and perhaps a new career path.) Unfortunately, it takes far too long for them to decide to be player and coach. It’s drawn out for so long that I was wondering during many scenes why they hadn’t just become player and coach yet.
And this is especially frustrating to me because when they did become player and coach, the book was infinitely better! Finally seeing them work together and improve professionally was so fun! Especially as they developed a friends-with-benefits into a personal partnership alongside the professional one. I think that was very well done and very fun, but it takes until about 60% of the way through the book for the actual premise to kick in. I loved their training sessions, how Oliver understood who Dylan was as a person and a player and used that to help her reach her potential, and also his empathy and compassion for her was lovingly done. I was also happy to see therapy representation in here! Dylan starts to go to a new therapist and Oliver encourages her to do the exercises the therapist has for her. In one scene, he even does the journaling with her to show her that it isn’t as cringey or scary as she thought it would be! I really liked that Oliver wasn’t the only one helping Dylan deal with her mental problems, but rather one part of the sturdy foundation Dylan needed so she could get over the block and win.
I was surprised that Oliver and Dylan weren’t friends at the beginning of the novel. They meet in the beginning and strike up a quick friendship at an afterparty. They have cute banter and I enjoyed getting to know them as friends, there is a bit of lusting after each other, but it isn’t insta-love in my opinion. Which, I think was a good choice on Jones’ part because I want them to be friends, to have that platonic spark before it begins to change and ripple into the romantic spark.
In terms of the tennis, there were a few issues with a few tournaments and a couple of descriptions that weren’t as accurate as they could be, but I can overlook them for the most part. (I’ve read other tennis heavy books where they’re just flat out wrong, so Jones having them almost perfect is such a relief to me.) I specifically enjoyed how the sport and the way the sport affects the characters was so integral to the plot and the character arcs. Some sports romances throw in a sport for the aesthetic and for the vibes without really delving into what it really takes to be a professional athlete at the highest level. Dylan’s character struggles are directly linked to her relationship with tennis and how well she plays. As the story progresses, Oliver helps her build her confidence and trust herself; both are important parts of being at the level that Dylan plays at.
I haven’t read her first book, Clean Point, and I didn’t think I needed to as I read this one. We get little allusions to the first book and Dylan’s relationship with the main female character from Clean Point, Scottie, but it wasn’t enough to confuse me or deter me. In fact, I really liked the way Jones portrayed women's friendships. Dylan has a pretty shitty friend from home that she doesn’t realize is gaslighting and guilt-tripping her and while I wish we could’ve had a better resolution in that regard, it was a good foil for Dylan’s burgeoning friendship with Scottie and another player, Ines.
As far as the spice and smut, it was fine. It is very run-of-the-mill language, nothing special or specifically hot to me. Even though they have that power dynamic on court, that didn’t translate into the bedroom which I was relieved by. Oliver might be her coach and tell her what to do on the court, but she calls the shots everywhere else. I could always use more emotionality and longing and less of the bog standard “filthy talk” that a lot of romance writers tend to fall back on, but I didn’t get the ick at any point that meant I had to start skimming through.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Game Point and I liked Dylan as a main character. It is a fun, quick read with banter and cuteness. The points (pun intended) where this shines are Dylan’s character arc as she develops confidence and becomes happier with herself and the relationship between Dylan and Oliver as coach and player. There are some loose points I wish were deeper and more intense, but if you’re looking for a lighthearted heterosexual romance that involves tennis, I would say give it a whirl!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to honestly review this ARC
Overall, I had a very fun time with Game Point. Dylan, our main character, is a very good tennis player who has never managed to cross the final hurdle; win a Grand Slam trophy. Ten finals and not one title and she is frustrated. As a workaholic and a perfectionist, I related to Dylan and her struggles. Her anxiety and the need to be the best, to be perfect. There are moments where she is unlikeable and struggles and lashes out at people, but this feels natural and well-earned in the narrative. (She’s the grumpy, sarcastic, black cat kind of character.)
In comparison, the other main character is Oliver; another professional tennis player who has won the US Open and is currently coasting in his career. He likes playing tennis, but it hasn’t been his main passion for a while. He needs to shake something up and do something different. He’s quite friendly and social, the kind of outgoing and sweet guy that a stubborn, hardheaded, and fierce woman like Dylan would pair well with.
While I liked Dylan’s character journey, there is a flatness to Oliver that I didn’t love. We get his perspective sporadically throughout the book and while I like him, the arc his character goes on isn’t interesting or strong enough to carry his perspective. I think developing his character, deepening him with flaws, or changing the plot structure would’ve made his perspective worthwhile.
As for the plot, I wish we could’ve seen Oliver and Dylan as coach and player so much earlier. The promise of the premise and why I specifically picked up this book was to see them as player and coach and see how that dynamic played out over the course of the novel. There is an inherent power dynamic and struggle that is interesting in this context. I thought this would work for me because they’re similar ages, they’re friends beforehand, and they’re trying to help each other find something. (Dylan is trying to find her confidence and mojo and Oliver is trying to find his love for the sport and perhaps a new career path.) Unfortunately, it takes far too long for them to decide to be player and coach. It’s drawn out for so long that I was wondering during many scenes why they hadn’t just become player and coach yet.
And this is especially frustrating to me because when they did become player and coach, the book was infinitely better! Finally seeing them work together and improve professionally was so fun! Especially as they developed a friends-with-benefits into a personal partnership alongside the professional one. I think that was very well done and very fun, but it takes until about 60% of the way through the book for the actual premise to kick in. I loved their training sessions, how Oliver understood who Dylan was as a person and a player and used that to help her reach her potential, and also his empathy and compassion for her was lovingly done. I was also happy to see therapy representation in here! Dylan starts to go to a new therapist and Oliver encourages her to do the exercises the therapist has for her. In one scene, he even does the journaling with her to show her that it isn’t as cringey or scary as she thought it would be! I really liked that Oliver wasn’t the only one helping Dylan deal with her mental problems, but rather one part of the sturdy foundation Dylan needed so she could get over the block and win.
I was surprised that Oliver and Dylan weren’t friends at the beginning of the novel. They meet in the beginning and strike up a quick friendship at an afterparty. They have cute banter and I enjoyed getting to know them as friends, there is a bit of lusting after each other, but it isn’t insta-love in my opinion. Which, I think was a good choice on Jones’ part because I want them to be friends, to have that platonic spark before it begins to change and ripple into the romantic spark.
In terms of the tennis, there were a few issues with a few tournaments and a couple of descriptions that weren’t as accurate as they could be, but I can overlook them for the most part. (I’ve read other tennis heavy books where they’re just flat out wrong, so Jones having them almost perfect is such a relief to me.) I specifically enjoyed how the sport and the way the sport affects the characters was so integral to the plot and the character arcs. Some sports romances throw in a sport for the aesthetic and for the vibes without really delving into what it really takes to be a professional athlete at the highest level. Dylan’s character struggles are directly linked to her relationship with tennis and how well she plays. As the story progresses, Oliver helps her build her confidence and trust herself; both are important parts of being at the level that Dylan plays at.
I haven’t read her first book, Clean Point, and I didn’t think I needed to as I read this one. We get little allusions to the first book and Dylan’s relationship with the main female character from Clean Point, Scottie, but it wasn’t enough to confuse me or deter me. In fact, I really liked the way Jones portrayed women's friendships. Dylan has a pretty shitty friend from home that she doesn’t realize is gaslighting and guilt-tripping her and while I wish we could’ve had a better resolution in that regard, it was a good foil for Dylan’s burgeoning friendship with Scottie and another player, Ines.
As far as the spice and smut, it was fine. It is very run-of-the-mill language, nothing special or specifically hot to me. Even though they have that power dynamic on court, that didn’t translate into the bedroom which I was relieved by. Oliver might be her coach and tell her what to do on the court, but she calls the shots everywhere else. I could always use more emotionality and longing and less of the bog standard “filthy talk” that a lot of romance writers tend to fall back on, but I didn’t get the ick at any point that meant I had to start skimming through.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Game Point and I liked Dylan as a main character. It is a fun, quick read with banter and cuteness. The points (pun intended) where this shines are Dylan’s character arc as she develops confidence and becomes happier with herself and the relationship between Dylan and Oliver as coach and player. There are some loose points I wish were deeper and more intense, but if you’re looking for a lighthearted heterosexual romance that involves tennis, I would say give it a whirl!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to honestly review this ARC