How You Get the Girl (Love & Other Disasters, #3)
Anita Kelly
Chemistry sizzles in this workplace rom-com set in the world of high school basketball from the author of Love & Other Disasters, named a "must-read" by USA Today, PopSugar, SheReads, and Harper Bazaar. When smart-mouthed Vanessa Lerner joins the high school basketball team Julie Parker coaches, Julie’s ready for the challenge. What she’s not ready for is Vanessa’s new foster parent, Elle Cochrane—former University of Tennessee basketball star. While star-struck at first, soon Julie persuades Elle to step into the unfilled position of assistant coach for the year. Even though Elle has stayed out of the basketball world since an injury ended her short-lived WNBA career, the gig might be a way to become closer to Vanessa—and to spend more time with Julie, who makes Elle laugh. As the coaches grow closer, Elle has a hard time understanding how Julie is single. When Julie reveals her lifelong insecurity about dating and how she wishes it was more like sports—being able to practice first—it sparks an intriguing idea. While Elle still doubts her abilities as a basketball coach, helping Julie figure out dating is definitely something she can do. But as the basketball season progresses, and lines grow increasingly blurred, Julie and Elle must decide to join the game—or retreat to the sidelines.
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0Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.
This was such a wonderful conclusion to this delightfully queer romance series. I loved all of these characters so much and loved getting to see glimpses of them in this final book as well.
This is following Julie who feels aimless and lost. She doesn't have a partner, career plan, or anything she's planning for. But when she meets her college basketball idol, she finds herself on a path to figure things out.
One of the things I love most in Anita Kelly's books are the non-conventional relationships (not just romantic but familial and platonic as well) she integrates into her stories. They're always complex and messy and feel so very real.
This one has Elle who is unexpectedly the foster parent to her teenage niece after her sister finds herself in rehab. There was so much nuance to this dynamic that I loved seeing explored - the anger, the love, and the fear. And Anitia Kelly handled it all expertly.
I also loved that Julie was exploring her identity and labels well into adulthood. I think we often think of this as a "teenage" thing that happens a single time. However, I think for many of us, this is an ongoing discovery. And even more, I appreciated how much emphasis was put onto the fact that a specific label was important or necessary to your queer identity.
The only thing that held this back from a 5 star read, was the romance itself. While I loved both of the heroines, and I loved them together, I never really felt their romance develop. I don't know if it was because so much time was spent on the other elements or what, but I didn't feel like we had much time with the characters falling for each other. So I was left feeling somewhat emotionally detached from the romance itself.
Anita Kelly is an auto read author for me. Whatever they write will immediately be added to the top of my TBR. And I can't wait to see what they do next!
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