THE GAME by ANNA BLOOM

“Cricket is all I have. It’s all I’ve ever had.”

We love our sports romances and have read copious amounts, but we have to admit this was our first cricket romance. Having very limited knowledge of cricket as it’s just not a sport we follow, we were excited to see how we’d enjoy a romance set in the cricket world. We already knew we loved Anna Bloom’s writing as we’ve read her before and we were definitely in the mood for a bit of British. Did we enjoy it? We sure did, it’s a good slow burn romance with an epilogue that melted our hearts.

“Life.” And there it was, the one thing I never knew I wanted. A life of my own.

Once again we fell in love with the way Anna Bloom writes, it’s flawless, engaging, funny and has such realism. You feel like you get to know the characters and get completely immersed in the story of cricket. The Game had a real authenticity to it and it’s very clear that cricket is a sport Anna Bloom knows like the back of her hand. We do have to add though that for us we did struggle with the heavy focus on cricket in relation to the romance aspect. Whilst we love that the sport featured in great detail we would have liked the same for Alyssa and Jase in order to fully emotionally connect to this romance.

“This will be worth it?”
“It’s cricket. It’s always worth it.”

Alyssa is the queen of women’s cricket but is now the head fitness coach of a T20 cricket team after suffering an injury as well as the loss of her brother and his wife. Circumstances changed by tragedy means looking after her nephew whilst trying to stay in the sport she loves so dearly. Cricket to her is like breathing. Much to her annoyance the new Captain is England’s former test cricket captain, Jase Willis.  For both of them it’s a clear case of their hearts being owned by the sport and feeling lost without it. A brief meeting in the past has Alyssa dreading having to work so closely with him.

Alyssa is existing but not living life as such, her love for her nephew and her brother’s memory means she’s put parts of her own life on complete hold. Sometimes it takes love to show you the way and that’s exactly what happens to Alyssa, albeit reluctantly.

‘This was a game to him and the kiss had been a tactic of his offense. Well screw him; I wasn’t going to play the game.’

Jase Willis is known for his bad temper, his womanizing ways and his fortitude on the green. He’s a brooding enigmatic powerhouse and Alyssa has quite the battle on her hands; a battle that changes face after spending more time with Jase, the Lion. Frustrating doesn’t even cover it and a relationship which began on rocky grounds moves onto a more stable and even road of romance. If you love enemies to lovers and second chance love with a heavy element of sport then this is definitely a book for you.

“There are so many reasons why that shouldn’t have worked,” his voice was low.
“But my God, I’m glad it did.”