“You are all I see, even when I close my eyes, you’re all I see.”

From the author of The Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Experiment, Elena Armas’s newest book is The Long Game, a contemporary romance that was released on September 5th, 2023.

At the start, we are introduced to the main character Adalyn Reyes, an executive for a soccer club, who goes viral due to a video of her getting into a quarrel with her team’s mascot.

 While she does not get fired for this dispute, her team leader decides to send her away from the city of Miami, Florida, to a small town in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina. Her job there is to help a struggling soccer team, the Green Warriors, and turn them into a success story to redeem herself–only to find out it’s a group of little girls.

We then meet the second main character of the story, Cameron Caldani, a retired soccer player who was forced to coach the Green Warriors by the mayor. We meet him when Adalyn hits him with her car and he tries to help her despite his annoyance at her, only for her to be rude to him, thus starting their mutual dislike for each other.

The two of them help the Green Warriors for entirely different reasons, but it’s what brings them together in more ways than one.

Their relationship slowly goes from hatred to mutual yearning for each other. Their moments together are super sweet and humorous and build their romantic tension.

While the book was a decent read, I believe that some of the writing could have been better or changed entirely. Words and sentences such as “yassify” or “they really did slay” are supposed to be funny but made me cringe. It would be a much smoother read if Elena Armas kept those words out.

As for the main characters, they are quite immature and don’t fit the character as described. Adalyn is a supposed ice queen that never shows emotion and yet she acts like she’s an over-dramatic child. Cameron also acts like a ten-year-old who doesn’t try to understand Adalyn at the start and picks little arguments with her that lead to no character development.

All in all, the book was a fine read. The few issues that there were could mostly be ignored, with a few exceptions. Elena Armas is a captivating author and if someone is a fan of her work, I believe they would thoroughly enjoy this book.

If you’re interested in this book, you can find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, or a local bookstore.