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.
Rainbow Reflections 