Review of ‘The long shot’ by A.L. Brooks

3.50 Stars. I thought this was a golf sports romance. I am a huge sports fan but I hate golf. I would rather watch fishing, ping pong, or heck I’d even rather watch synchronize swimming over golf. Luckily, my hatred for golf did not affect my enjoyment of this book. Like singles tennis, golf not being a team sport actually makes it a good sport for a book. Since everything is up to one person (the main character) there is that pressure and some excitement that works well for readers. Therefore you don’t have to be a golf fan to still enjoy this read.

This is a lesbian age-gap romance book between a pro golf player and a sports filmmaker. The age-gap is pretty big, just under 20 years, but you don’t really notice it except for when it is a topic of conversation. I did think the line “But there’s an age gap” happened way too many times. I get it, but how many times does that have to be an excuse? It was repeated too much by too many characters and started to be annoying. But in all fairness to Brooks, this seems to happen a lot in almost any lesfic age gap book lately.

While I did enjoy this book, I think the main reason I can’t go higher than a 3.5 rating is that it was too predictable. I just saw everything coming from when the main would lose a game or win to what the big conflict moment would be about. It was just so obvious that I found myself wanting to skim (I didn’t but I wanted to) because I knew what was going to happen and I just wanted to move on to the next plot point.

A lot of people really enjoyed this book and as a huge sports fan, I think I’m a little salty that I didn’t love this book too. I do want to make clear that even with the book being very predictable, it is still a good read. The mains are likeable, the romance is sweet, and even the golf parts are much, much better than expected. Even with my issues, I would still recommend this book because I believe most readers will enjoy it. Just be prepared for a more laid back sport romance without really big wow moments.

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.