Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing a recent release, Two Left Feet by Kallie Emblidge. I’m always a sucker for a new MM sports romance. So, I couldn’t say no to this one when the publisher reached out with an ARC. Read on for all of my thoughts!

A Premier League football star must defend his roster spot—and his heart—when a threateningly talented and handsome midfielder joins his team in this utterly charming debut romance, a profound love letter to the world’s most popular sport.

Oliver Harris is football royalty in London. Ordinarily the star of the Camden Roses is calm, cool, and collected, keeping his club relevant with his prowess in the midfield and mighty left foot. But this season, the threats There’s Camden’s management to contend with—complete with a new, prickly Dutch coach, eager for better results—and a mid-season injury, which sidelines him when his team needs him most. When a recruit is called up to fill in, Oliver fears he’ll be replaced. If he can mentor this younger talent, then they might just have a chance at winning, together.

After a string of lackluster performances in his native Spain, Leonardo Davis-Villanueva is looking for one last shot at the club he always dreamed of, where he once played in the youth academy. Oliver immediately finds confident, eager Leo irritating. He can barely go through the motions, let alone coach him, without outright hostility. When he comes to admire Leo’s skill and warms to his humor and energy, though, he begins to see Leo as a friend—and then, to his mounting horror, as something more.

Leo craves Oliver’s attention and partnership; Oliver can’t afford to fall in love with his teammate. He’s always kept a tight lid on his sexuality in a league that’s never had a player come out. As the season heats up, a lot more than football hangs in the balance. Can Oliver—and Leo—win when it counts most?

***Thank you to Dell for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

Two Left Feet took me a while to sink into. The pace felt glacial at times, and the lengthy chapters did not help with that feeling. Oliver being so incredibly unlikeable at the start didn’t do the book any favors either. Thankfully, I stuck with it and came to care deeply about the characters as I got to know them better.

Oliver took quite a bit of time to warm up to in Two Left Feet. He was combative, negative, and entirely wrapped up in the funk of being unable to play due to an injury. As the story went on, though, I began to see why he acted the way he did. He was bogged down by the secret of being gay and his ongoing grief about losing his father as a child. His football team was the only family he’d known for most of his life, and he was afraid that his injury, the new upstart on the team, and/or the secret of his sexuality getting out would take that away from him. His characterization was complex and interesting once I got to know him better, but it did take some time. Too much? Maybe for some people.

I liked the romance in Two Left Feet. While Oliver and his internal journey was really the central focus of the story, his relationship with Leo was key to his growth. At times they were adorable together. At others they were unbearably frustrating. They pushed each other to be better on the field and off it. What started as a mentorship that Oliver did not want blossomed into slowly building trust, with plenty of bumps along the way, and then a deeper connection. I’m always a bit of a sucker for a grump and sunshine pairing. So, I was rooting for the two of them from early on. Don’t go into this story expecting a ton of sex scenes, though. Most of the story is a pretty intense slow burn.

As for the plot of Two Left Feet, it centered heavily around Oliver dealing with the recovery from his injury and mentoring the newest player on the team, Leo. Things were a bit slow during the time spent on his recovery, but they really picked up in the latter half of the book as he and Leo learned to play together and tried to improve the team’s rankings before the end of the season. Honestly, I wish there’d been less of Oliver in recovery and more of him and Leo playing football amidst their growing relationship. I enjoyed that part of the book a lot. Oliver’s journey to coming out as gay was also a big part of the story. It was emotional and heartfelt, but the ending was a bit too abrupt. He went from hiding his sexuality from almost everyone, including his mom, to holding a press conference in the blink of an eye. It just felt too out of character for someone who’d always been so painstakingly secretive, even if he finally realized Leo was more important than football to him.

I know absolutely nothing about football/soccer. I’ve read other sports romances where I knew nothing about the sport going into it and never had any problems getting the gist of things. That was not the case with Two Left Feet. I still understand nothing about the game or how the clubs/league are structured. lol. I’m not sure if that’s just from me being dense or the writing not doing a great job of explaining stuff. I also thought the setting felt quite small despite all of the traveling the team did. The characters were pretty much at home, at practice/games, or in a pub, which may be realistic to the life of a footballer but didn’t give me the experience of being in England that I wanted. However, I did really enjoy how the book portrayed the relationship between the players, their home, and the fans. It came off as an intensely personal and passionate relationship where both the players and fans were fiercely loyal to their home and team.

Overall, Two Left Feet told a good story that just felt somewhat rough around the edges. If you enjoy football and the pairing of a grumpy mentor and sunshine mentee in your romance, you should consider giving this story a shot. It does some things really beautifully. You just have to give it some time for the characters to grow on you. Therefore, I rate it 3.25 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on Two Left Feet by Kallie Emblidge. Does this book sound like something you’d enjoy? Let me know down in the comments!