Review of ‘Top of her game’ by M. Ullrich
Kenzie Shaw is a talented rookie soccer player playing in the US women’s major league. She’s drafted to play in New Jersey, alongside her idol and teenage-crush, Sutton Flores. Sutton is one of the top players in the game, a superstar who’s very loyal to her team players and family, but jumps from one relationship to the other. Both women feel a growing attraction to each other but when they decide to act on it, a sexual harassment case threatens to tear them apart. Will they be able to stay together and fight for what matters most?
I love a good lesbian sports romance book and if it’s soccer, even better. After all, I come from Argentina, the land of Maradona and Messi! This book has the perfect timing of being released in the aftermath of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup which had unprecedented world coverage. For us lesbians, it’s really cool not only to enjoy the game but also to see some of these fabulous sportswomen being out and proud and fighting for women’s rights. So, a book like ‘Top of her game’ is right up my alley.
M. Ullrich is one of my favourite lesfic authors, I really liked her previous book ‘Pretending in paradise‘. Unfortunately, I’m a bit on the fence with this one, somehow it didn’t work fully for me though I’m aware that it’s just my personal taste and I might be in the minority here. I think that Ms. Ullrich did a great job with some of the soccer scenes, the descriptions of the intensity of the game or the stress to perform at one’s best the whole time. However, in the romance department, I didn’t feel the connection between the mains, their chemistry was just ok for me, maybe because the author tells more than shows it.
My other criticism is that the sexual harassment subplot wasn’t totally convincing. I don’t want to go into details to avoid spoiling anything, but it didn’t feel completely believable and even more, at some parts, it felt more like a plot device than a natural development. Considering how much sexual harassment is present in all sports, I praise Ms. Ullrich for dealing with this issue, though for me, this part of the story didn’t work as well as the soccer scenes. Having said that, if you are a soccer fan, I’d recommend you give this book a go.
Overall, a good lesbian sports romance recommended for soccer fans. 3.5 stars.
ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
