Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Amor en juego by Elena Armas

12 reviews

abbypeekreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As always, Elena Armas delivers a funny yet heartwarming romance novel that i absolutely gobbled up. I adored the romance between Cameron and Adalyn, the small town setting, and all the side characters. But I also really enjoyed the message and themes that Adalyn had to learn. I can’t wait to return to this world with Armas’s next book!

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thelibbyshow's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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purplepenning's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Strong Roy Kent / brunch daddy vibes, but alas — the story as a whole didn't work for me. I'm not sure how a book with a growly retired soccer player coaching a quirky small town U10 girls team while dealing with a menagerie of mischievous farm animals managed to both bore and annoy me, but it did. I couldn't connect with the boss babe main character, thought the story was slow-going until the last quarter, yet still felt the characters were under-developed.

I think I'll just have to accept that this author isn't for me. A previous title was a DNF and this one was one goat and a spunky 8-year-old away from the same fate. 

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britwalsh16's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ve loved Elena’s other books, & this one was no different. I have a new view & love of soccer from this book. Carmen is so perfect! From Darling to Love, I was hanging on every word he said!
Spoiler and once he finally admitted his feelings for Ada, he never wavered & stood by her side no matter what! 
Where can I find a man like him? And I feel for Adalyn so much! Her dad is a piece of work, all she ever wanted was his love & he made it conditional, only ever caring about himself, she doesn’t deserve that! I’m so glad she found a man like Carmen! She deserves happiness! 

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readwithria's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Long Game was such a fun time!

I love Elena Armas’ writing so much, and The Long Game was another great book full of cute banter, lovable characters, and slow burn tension.

Read if you you love
⚽️ Sports romance
⚽️ Small town
⚽️ Grumpy/grumpy
⚽️ Forced proximity
⚽️ Caregiving
⚽️ Cute nicknames
⚽️ Even cuter animals

I will say that one of the reasons I don’t love “enemies” to lovers in contemporary romance is because the characters often don’t spend a lot of time actually liking each other because there has to be the setup of the meet messy, and this book was no exception. I think that the last 40 pages felt a bit rushed, and made the conflict and resolution feel like an afterthought.

This book was pretty much exactly what I’ve come to expect from Elena Armas, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next! 4 stars.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the American Roommate Experiment and I've been waiting for Elena’s next work, so when this was announced I was jumping at the bit for it to be released and this book was slightly hit and miss for me.  

This book has two points of view, the first is Adalyn Reyes and she has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home and repeat. So when her routine is disrupted after a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire hr, the team’s owner – who happens to be her father – sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans start to crumble before she gets started as she discovers that the players wear tutus to practice, keep pet goats, and are terrified on Adalyn and are nine-year-old kids. The second point of view is Cameron Caldani, a goalkeeping prodigy whose presence in North Carolina is somewhat of a mystery. He is currently hiding away after his sudden retirement. Cameron is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg and Adalyn’s bumper, he is set on getting rid of her as soon as possible. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help. 

It hurt me to say that this book dragged. I thought I would love it because it’s involving football and it’s a sexy British goalkeeper. This was supposed to be the book I enjoyed – it's British humour, broody dark man and I was just wanting more. Adalyn was all over the place – now I love messed up characters and usually relate to them often. But she was described as a mean Ice Queen but was then instantly crying the second that something nice happened to her or someone insulted her.  

One of my favourite things about this book is Josie. She was so funny and just such a small-town person where she’s in everyone’s business, but she only wants the best for everyone. I loved the girls football team in this. I am glad it was a girl’s football team and not a male football team where they are all pining over Adalyn. I love the tension in this book and Elena always manages to write the men that everyone is wanting, but I felt that the plot was just all over the place and that both of the MCs have personality disorder – both of their moods were giving me whiplash.  

I really hope the second book is to do with Josie. I love her and I want more of her and this town. 

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kat7794's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-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

4.0


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vicixyz's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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kendra_taylors_version's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

What is it about Elena Armas’s mediocre romcoms that continue to draw me in!? I liked the Spanish Love Deception (despite it’s complete lack of editing) and absolutely despised The American Roommate Experiment (so much so that it is the only book I’ve ever rated one star). And yet, The Long Game caught my eye while in line at Barnes and Noble and the next thing I know, it is being rung up with my other purchases. Is it the fun candy color covers? Is it the cutesy descriptions on the back? Or is it my own unique combination of optimism and masochism? At this point, I don’t know! 

Overall, The Long Game is consistent with much of Armas’s previous writing style. There are a lot of overused pet names, bad millennial humor, slap stick physical comedy, and overall lack of subtlety when it comes to the actual romance aspect of the book. However, I do think Armas wrote a much better character arc for the FMC in this novel than she has done for those in her other books. Adalyn was a much more developed character and I think the pacing of her emotional journey was well done. The logistics of the plot as a whole flowed much better in this novel. (Although I still have a few questions. For example, why is a random family mystery being brought up 320 pages in?) I also thought the small town setting and slow burn romance were spot on. 

I would say this is the author’s best work, but is that really saying much? I think I need to accept that Armas’s style just isn’t my personal favorite. If you’re looking for a light fall read, I would recommend The Long Game, but just know that you’ll have to set the book aside every 50 pages or so to physically cringe. 

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