Author: Emily Adrian
Genre: Sports | Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: July 27, 2021
Book Description: Ruth Devon starred for Georgetown Basketball back in college—until she injured her knee, married her coach, and found a new career calling games on the radio. Twenty years later, Ruth and her now-ex-husband, Lester, are two of the most famous faces in sports media. When Lester decides to retire from the announcers’ booth, Ruth goes after his job. If she gets it, she will be the first woman to call NBA games on national television.
For now, Ruth is reporting from the sideline of the NBA finals, immersed in the high-pressure spectacle of the post-season. But in a deserted locker room at halftime, Ruth makes a discovery that shatters her vision of her future. Instantly, she is torn between the two things she has always wanted most: the game and motherhood.
With warmth and incisive observation, Adrian brings to life the obsessions, emotions, and drama of fandom. The Second Season asks why, how, and whom we watch, while offering a rich and complicated account of motherhood, marriage, and ambition. Adrian’s character study of Ruth Devon illuminates a beautiful basketball mind—and the struggle of a woman who claims authority in a male-dominated world.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: This is a story of 42 year old Ruth Devon, former basketball star turned first female sideline reporter for the NBA. She is a mother, who gets to spend very little time with her daughter. She works with her ex-husband who is an on-air analyst for the NBA and she is dating a man who wants this relationship to progress, but is younger than Ruth and might just want different things.
Ultimately this a book about choices that Ruth has to make from her first on-air job, to the possibility to become the first female caller for the NBA when her ex announces his retirement. Ruth seems to be left always making these tough calls that she feels men never have to ultimately do. When she realizes a life altering discovery one night, her world is thrown into a tailspin.
I enjoyed this book. Not everyone is going to agree with Ruth’s choices, but know that she went into each one with much consideration. She is a woman who absolutely wants it all, but at times very much feels like a failure. There was a lot of laughs, very heartwarming and it will make you think a lot. the cover makes it feel a little bit more lighthearted than maybe it really is. Definitely give this one a try, I think you will end up loving Ruth.
Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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