September 1, 2024
Pickleball takes center court in this sports and enemies-to-lovers rom-com from Long, making her adult debut. Meg Bloomberg escapes her ex for a pickleball outing on Bainbridge Island, only to meet Ethan Fine. As the two cross paths and paddles, it is game, set, and maybe match. Prepub Alert.
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September 2, 2024
Long’s delightful debut delves into the world of pickleball. After Seattle artist Meg Bloomberg’s dentist husband leaves her a breakup note on the back of a Home Depot receipt, her best friend, Annie, insists a depressed Meg join her pickleball league as an excuse to get out of the house. A chance meeting with handsome Ethan Fine leaves Meg smitten, but she assumes they won’t cross paths again—until it turns out that Ethan’s company has been hired to transform Meg’s local pickleball courts into a nature reserve. The two playfully clash both on and off the court, but when Meg suspects Ethan may be cheating in a local pickleball contest with a fat cash prize, she questions the budding relationship. This spirited and well-plotted rom-com sparkles, with supporting characters (especially Annie and the multitude of pickleball players named Dave) who feel impressively three-dimensional. Readers won’t have to be fans of the sport to appreciate this charming love story—but Long’s irresistible descriptions of gameplay may inspire newcomers to take to the court themselves. Agent: Liz Rudnick, Gillian MacKenzie Agency.
September 15, 2024
All roads lead to the pickleball courts in Long's spicy romance. When Meg's husband walks out, her best friend introduces her to the game. The courts are crowded, and no one wants to play with a beginner, but Meg persists. Then she agrees to represent the pickleballers who want to resurface the area and add improvements. Life gets complicated when Meg has a hot encounter with Ethan Fine, a stranger on the Puget Sound ferry, and he turns out to be an environmentalist trying to return the pickleball courts to wetlands. As Ethan and Meg face off, the sexual tension rises. Meg retreats to nearby Bainbridge (the site where pickleball was born), but inevitably, Ethan is there, too. And the popular game is everywhere in this story. Even the novel's sections are named after aspects of pickleball, including the volley, the dink, and the backspin. Both Ethan and Meg have trust issues, and their romance has more than its share of complications. There are a lot of pickleball fans out there, and this sexy romance is sure to please them.
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Starred review from November 15, 2024
When a recently divorced Seattle woman tries her hand at pickleball, it kicks off a summers' worth of shenanigans, self-help, and steamy romance. Just six months past her divorce, Meg Bloomberg decides to channel her self-pity in a different, more useful direction: playing pickleball. Actually, her friend Annie Yoon cajoled her into it, but after just a few volleys Meg can't help but admit that playing pickleball is kind of fun. Meg joins Annie's Lakeview pickleball league, which boasts a crew of charmingly kooky characters, including a guy known as Reflux Dave, a smack-talking bird-watcher named Jeannie, and the wise, grandfatherly Rooster. But just as Meg's pickleball love story is beginning, her local court is threatened by environmental do-gooders--and they're led by not just any earth-friendly consultant, but one specific environmentalist Meg hooked up with a few weeks back. Ethan Fine wants to transform the pickleball court back to its original wetlands state, but that won't happen if the league has any say in the matter. Meg enters the beginners' Picklesmash Tournament hoping to use the prize money to save her court, and heads to nearby Bainbridge Island, the birthplace of pickleball, to practice and clear her head of any Ethan Fine distractions. But of course, she runs into the man almost everywhere she goes on the island. She learns that not only is Ethan conspiring to destroy her court, but he's also competing against her team in the tournament. Can Meg get her groove back and save the Lakeview league while secretly sleeping with the enemy? Long's sporty romcom is a joyful, slapstick journey about a 30-something woman desperate to reconnect with her true self, full of insight, friendship, and hijinks. Readers will root for Meg's victory as she volleys for Ethan's heart, the Golden Pickledrop, and her happily-ever-after. Long's debut rom-com is a funny, feel-good adventure you won't want to miss.
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