Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Amor en juego

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Amor en juego by Elena Armas

10 reviews

kottengoesbork's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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4.0

ahhhh elena did it again. was it my favorite? no i think that it reserved for lucas and rosie, but i still had a great time with this one.

i really just wanted them to both get the f*ck out of their own ways because i just knew they would be fire together. i loved the small town aspect. LOVED the girls on the team so much, especially maria <3 i will say the ending??? through me for a curve, i did NOT see that coming

Spoiler

the fact that adalyn and josie were still trying to talk to the a**hole they call a dad in the epilogue made me mad -like f*ck that dude but whatever

it was slow burn but boyyyyy was it hot

Spoiler

i was taken out of the moment though when the whole discussion around protection came up and she was like "i'm clean" - like can we PLEASE change this wording in romance novels??? every time it happens, i'm instantly taken out of the scene. you can easily say "i'm negative" or "all my tests came back fine" - it''s just my hate for the stigmization of STDs/STIs, mini rant over

ALSO, i am very excited for the next book between josie and matthew - like i have a really good feeling about it because of their little interaction there at the end ;)

⚠️: panic attacks/disorders, emotional abuse, toxic relationship (FMC & father), gaslighting, misogyny, injury/injury detail, stalking, death of parent, violence, house break-in, car accident

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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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drtx_bwt's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.0

With The Long Game, Queen Elena Armas has gifted us with a woodsy small town romance featuring a strong but sensitive ex-pro footballer opposite a guarded girlboss who doesn’t know her worth. Both are running away and healing from something, whether they like it or not. He’s super competitive; she’s in crisis mode. I absolutely loved the setting, premise, and characters—the execution was a little clumsy at times, but it was so worth it in the end! Shane East’s narration of Cam—who is such a sweet and sexy caretaking hero—was *chef’s kiss*.

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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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sarahmcg's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5⭐️ This book took me so long to read and in the end it was …meh? The first 60% of the book bored me… both of the characters (especially Adalyn) were just acting a fool for literally no reason. The big bad conflict she was banished for didn’t really feel fleshed out. The pacing was just so… off. Everything felt kind of half-baked.

And I felt like Cameron called Adalyn “darling” one million times, it felt excessive, but when I did a word search on my kindle, I guess he only said it 56 times, so do with that what you will (I usually like nicknames! I just don’t feel this was executed well).

Things I enjoyed: the small town setting, the blind goat, the cats Willow & Pierogi, the smut (was actually very well-written), and the third-act drama was resolved rather quickly.

I haven’t read any of her other books but I hear people love the Spanish Love Deception, so I will probably give her another chance.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

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