Darcy LaCroix has always dreamed of becoming a hockey commentator and after winning three Olympic medals decides to retire from playing and finally give it a shot. She’s excited despite growing up in her dad’s shadow and is hopeful people finally will take her seriously. However, for the three years since she’s done little more than fetch coffee and fix typos. So when Darcy’s boss Raquel offers her an on screen segment at the Winter Olympics, she can’t believe her hard work is finally paying off…until Raquel mentions the catch. The network won’t green light the segment unless she co-hosts with her former teammate turned longtime rival Natalie Carpenter. Can Darcy set aside their past and work with Natalie towards their future? Or will the competition get the best of her?

Natalie Carpenter was robbed of her chance to lead her team to their second Olympic gold medal when she was cut from the roster during the final pick. Now 35 and jobless for the first time she is faced with reality, either figure something out fast or move back in with her parents. So when her agent calls with an offer to be on Wake Up USA at the Olympics she wearily agrees. However she nearly backs out once realizing the job also means spending all her time with the woman who broke her heart in college and beat her for gold twice. But Natalie needs this job and so she agrees despite the network tasking them to play up their flirty banter. Can Natalie keep her feelings for Darcy under control and make it through the month without losing it? Or will the sting of rejection and pain of old betrayals prove too much for her to handle? All the sports drama and more in Wake Up Nat & Darcy.

What a page turner! I blazed through this book in a day and given it’s over 300 pages that’s no easy feat. I really enjoyed the themes of forgiveness and autonomy and felt they were very present undertones to Natalie and Darcy’s romance. Natalie was a complex character who showcased how hurt can truly change and affect someone. Darcy was a relatable workaholic who measured everything life by her career. The chemistry between them was intense and jumped off the page with every sarcastic jab they took. The plot was a fun twist on the sports romance sub-genre that has been so popular recently. And the writing style was easy to understand with super short chapters. If you like intense emotions and competition, you are in for a treat!

Natalie was an absolute spitfire and was hilarious to read most of the time. However, using humor to mask her true emotions eventually led to much needed breaks in her armor. I admired how she consistently stood her ground against the T.V. network. She was the perfect grumpy opposite to Darcy’s polite and sweet demeanor. Plus her character arc aligned well with her personality and actions. Darcy is the type of character I relate to the most, the driven workaholic who sacrifices their personal relationships and wellbeing for a leg up in their career. I admired how self-aware Darcy became of this side of herself as she grew and started to take value in her non-work life as well. This is best shown through the way she is with everyone but Natalie, the only person she is truly able to speak her mind around. Eventually this begins to extend beyond Natalie and allows Darcy to start showing the world her true self, as impressive as she is.

The plot itself was interesting and unique. Although the book is a sports romance it focuses on the media aspect of it, rather than the actual playing. I enjoyed this fresh take and think it was a great choice for Darcy and Natalie to showcase their rivalry. As a competitive person myself I could relate to their jumping at every chance to win against eachother. It gave the story motion and set a natural scene for some hilarious scenarios. I think the stakes were high enough to keep it moving while not making it too tense for the romanc genre. It was lighthearted but didn’t skimp on the deeply moving emotional scenes to create a nice balanced read. The writing itself was very dialogue heavy and emphasized action scenes over long thoughts or flashbacks. Which helped with the pacing and resulted in a lot of showing over telling.

Although I did enjoy the book overall I do have a few critiques. I am not fan of miscommunication tropes, as I’ve stated before, and the entire plot of this book was due to a lack of communication. Although this was more believable than others I’ve read, it still left me a little too frustrated in places. I also wish either of the characters had identified as a “lesbian”. I think too many sapphic books feature people who fit the definition of a lesbian in every way but still skirt around the word and it makes me sad. And finally I think the book went a few chapters too long. I was kind of burnt out for the last 3 or 4 chapters and their story would have wrapped up just as nice without them. Obviously I like the ending, I just think a few scenes from the middle could be cut. Again, this is just my opinion and I still very much recommend the book so take my critiques with a grain of salt

. All in all this slow-burn rivals to lovers story has my recommendation stamp of approval. From the witty dialogue to the will they won’t they agony you will not want to put this down. Not to mention wishing you could tune into their show during the actual winter olympics. If you like the soulmates trope and sports antics, you are in the right place. Happy reading!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.