My heart turned a flip as I stood next to you: PLAY YOU FOR IT.

Play You For It by Samantha Saldivar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This sapphic romance has a basketball-themed plot. 🏀 Need I say more?

Jordan gets promoted to head coach of a D1 men’s (!) basketball team and along the way falls for the amazing sports reporter covering the team, named Beck. It's a tad cheesy at times, but had me rooting for Jordan's team, and of course, Jordan and Beck.

I'm pretty much a sucker for a sports romance with lesbians. If that sport is basketball--even better. This story drew me in because it features "grown-up" gays, not students playing basketball. (Although there's a very compelling storyline with Jordan winning the trust of her new team.) Jordan and Beck fall for each other immediately, but can't act--Jordan is worried about trusting a reporter, while Beck fears what dating Jordan will mean for her burgeoning career.

Much of the story focuses on the fact that Jordan is the first female D1 coach--a very timely plot piece--and it makes excellent points about the unfairness in basketball: how women are treated, how lesbians are treated, etc. There are some major misogynistic moments for both Jordan and Beck, and the book does a great job of realistically portraying how difficult it can be to be a woman in the sport of basketball. It also captures the drama of basketball so well--the excitement of advancing in a tournament, per se, or the pain of losing.

Overall, this was an enjoyable romance -- with honest characters who reflected the real-world around them. I loved the sports angle and was definitely swept up in the story! 3.5 stars, rounded up.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Dell in return for an unbiased review.

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