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Betty Harmon – :
For the Long Run by Cheyenne Blue is a sports romance about an Australian elite runner finding love in the most unlikely of places and under the most difficult of circumstances. Ms. Blue is no novice when it comes to writing love stories around sports, and while I’ve loved all of her former sport themed books, this may be her best one yet.
Shannon (Shan) Metz is on her way to a great running career. She is training for the Commonwealth Games coming up soon, and after that, the Olympics in less than two years. That is, she was training until a runner in a koala suit causes her to fall and blow out her knee in a community race. The koala, AKA Lizzie Carras is no elite athlete, but she is a pro at something else…guilt. This guilt, and her innate kindness, pushes her to try and help Shan. In spite of Shan’s anger at what’s happened to her, she ends up rooming with Lizzie as she recovers from surgery. These two women really have nothing in common. Their lives and personalities are totally different. There is no way they should ever become a couple. If only their hearts would believe that.
This is truly a lovely tale about two opposites who fall in love in spite of themselves. The author did her research on the subject of elite running, and it shows in the narrative. Shan’s character is the ultimate athlete with a focused and somewhat selfish personality, at least at the beginning. Lizzie is just a kind person, the type of woman you want as a best friend or lover. The character that really melted my heart in more than one way though was Presto, the rescue dog that Lizzie and Shan ended up fostering. For those of you who have read some or all of Ms. Blue’s other novels, you may also find a few familiar faces in some of the secondary characters. I do love these little Easter Eggs in a story.
If you love romances based on sports with an enemies-to-lovers and opposites-attract tropes added to the tale, then you are going to love this book. I certainly did, and I bet you will too.
I received an ARC for an honest review.
Christine Reid – :
wow what a beautiful love story I loved how much depth there is to each character, the dedication to run weather your elite or not its described perfectly. while the main characters are different it’s beautiful to read their journey add in an adorable dog in need of love its a perfect book to get lost in there love and devotion to each other as well as there dreams its a book that leaves you feeling so much warmth and love definitely a top 3 must read congratulations
Henriette – :
Slow burn, f/f sports romance with a good sprinkle of Oz-iness
Cheyenne Blue has herself establish as a writer of really good f/f-romances, mostly set in Australia. For the Long Run (clever title) is a very satisfying read which starts off with a slow simmer, turns red hot when you least expect it, and stays on hottihotness course up to the end.
I liked how the author sets-up the slow-simmer-phase where the main characters get to know each other and I loved that there is no easy wham-bam solution for the relationship: Shan‘s struggle to reconcile her professional athlete career with a relationship and Lizzie‘s worries are believable and relatable. And although I am by now means an athlete I relished the insights into the hardships of becoming a top-athlete. Lizzie is a truly kind person and has her own sour spot because her Greek family is not easy to reconcile with a queer daughter. The crescendo of feelings at the end was very well done: sweet, captivating and totally in character.
The characters including the secondary characters really pop off the page. One of the best secondary characters, the cutest rescue doggo ever, Presto, takes his own journey alongside Shan and wormed his way into my reader‘s heart.
The writing is easy and fun. I especially loved that the author has a lot of Oz-iness sprinkled into her writing without leaving hapless readers from outside Australia asking Prof. Google (she/her) to decipher unheard of Australian slang phrase. A noteworthy feat and a pleasure to read. I had a good laugh reading about Sheila-the-sheoak.
PS.: Good to meet again some of crew of the Number 94 Project, another worthy read.
Thanks to Ylva for the ARC. The review is left voluntarily.
Deborah Boyle – :
Cheyenne’s book The Long Run is an excellent read. She develops her characters beautifully and you could not help but root for Shan and Lizzie. This touched my heart as I was a runner, non professional but still a runner. The story touched on the realities of professional vs non professional athletes, relationship issues, deep seated fears and how love can grow in the most unlikely of circumstances. I would highly recommend this book for its truth, love and hope. Presto was a bonus. Check it out you will love it.
Alison Ritchie – :
Book reviews
A slow burn sports romance with an opposites attract aspect that has you reading enthusiastically to find out how the characters are going to go forward. However, forward Shan and Lizzie go with the help of a four legged friend called Presto. These three characters all had hurdles to overcome and all from a metal and physical aspect. You’ll read enthusiastically wanting to know how each gets through their challenges and how they cope with their goals and attractions. It’s not a story to miss out on. To top off, if this book doesn’t encourage you to to a couch to 5k challenge, then I don’t know what will! How guilty it makes you feel for simply sitting on your backside reading but how enjoyable this habit is!
Karola – :
*** free ARC
An accident in a fun race, a truely nice and helpful person, an athlete runner and a rescue dog, that‘s what it takes to become a beautiful story. Not only will you find some characters from her other books, but also a nice love story. I even got a little jealous of how easy it seemed for Lizzie to get into running long distance