Magnetic Rivals by Isla Brinn: Review

Updated on October 6, 2026

Verdict: A sapphic soccer rivals-to-lovers romance with a strong Olympic-quarantine premise and a comeback heroine worth rooting for, let down by prose that both critical Goodreads reviewers say needed another editing pass.

Best for: Readers who want women’s soccer, a captaincy rivalry and a guaranteed HEA in a quick indie read, and who can forgive repetition and rough edges for the premise.

Heat level: Not independently rated (the publisher calls it steamy; no reader review we found describes the scenes, and romance.io has no entry)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.4/5 — a 3.90 Goodreads average across only 40 ratings, with the two longest reviews both flagging editing)

Tropes: Rivals to lovers, enemies to lovers, sports romance, captaincy rivalry, forced proximity, Olympic quarantine, injury comeback, hurt/comfort, dual POV, HEA.

Magnetic Rivals is the first book in Isla Brinn’s Green and Gold Hearts series, an independently published contemporary lesbian romance from June 2026 in which Nic Davis, an Australian soccer star newly signed to an American club, collides with Morgan Sullivan, the tactician fighting her way back from a wrecked knee — and the two of them end up competing for the same captain’s armband, then for opposite national teams at the Olympics.

The evidence base here is small, and we want to say that plainly up front. Goodreads shows a 3.90 average across 40 ratings but only four written reviews; Amazon shows 4.3 stars across 56 ratings, most of them early. A web search turned up no trade or blog reviews, and romance.io has no entry. What there is splits sharply, and the split is worth understanding before you start.

What Is Magnetic Rivals About?

It is a sports romance in the strict sense — the sport matters to the plot, not just the wardrobe. A professional women’s club, a fight for the starting lineup and an Olympic tournament give the book its structure, and a rivalry over who leads the team gives the romance its friction. That places it squarely in enemies-to-lovers territory: the leads want the same thing and only one of them can have it.

Nic arrives cocky and proven, expecting to fight for a place and win it. Morgan is the opposite kind of athlete, a strategist whose body has already betrayed her once and who cannot afford to give an inch to a newcomer. The book alternates between them in first person, so the reader sees how differently each reads the same rivalry — and how quickly the friction turns into something else.

What Makes This Sapphic Soccer Romance Work

The premise: A captaincy war followed by an Olympic quarantine is a strong engine. Rivals who are forced to share space when they are also on opposing national teams is the hook the blurb sells, and it is a good one.
The injury arc: One four-star Goodreads reader singles out how the book handles injury, both mentally and physically. Morgan’s knee is the emotional centre of the book, and it gives the sapphic sports rivalry stakes beyond pride.
Time to get to know each other: The same reader notes that the leads actually spend time learning who the other is, rather than leaping straight from hostility to love.
Sport for non-sports readers: A verified Amazon reviewer who says they were never a sports fan found the soccer relatable and the balance right.
A guaranteed HEA: The publisher promises one, and nothing in the reviews contradicts it. For readers who want rivals without heartbreak, that matters.

Book Synopsis

Nic Davis has crossed the world to sign with an American club, and she expects to walk into the starting lineup. She is fast, confident and used to winning. What she does not expect is Morgan Sullivan, a player coming back from a knee injury that nearly ended her career, who reads the game better than anyone on the pitch and has no intention of handing her place — or the captaincy — to a transfer with a reputation.

The two clash over tactics, over leadership and over almost everything else, and the friction spills off the field. Then the Olympics arrive and split them onto opposing national teams. A mandatory quarantine traps them in close quarters at exactly the moment they are meant to be enemies, with a medal match ahead and every reason to keep their distance.

Being forced together makes the line between rivalry and attraction impossible to hold. Morgan has to decide how much of her guarded comeback she can risk on someone who wants what she wants. Nic has to decide whether winning still means what it did before she met Morgan. With a bronze medal on the line, the question is whether either of them can play to win without losing the other.

My Review

The best thing in Magnetic Rivals is its setup. A rivalry for the captain’s armband is more specific and more interesting than the vague antagonism a lot of rivals-to-lovers books run on, and moving that rivalry onto an Olympic stage, with a quarantine to force proximity, is a smart escalation. Morgan’s knee gives the book weight: she is not just competing with Nic, she is competing with her own body.

The second strength is the slower build. The four-star Goodreads reviewer points to the leads spending real time together before anything resolves, and the injury and recovery material is the element the positive Goodreads review praises by name. When this book works, it works because the sport and the feelings are tied together.

Where it struggles is craft, and with a sample this small I want to be careful about weight. Of the four written Goodreads reviews, the two longest are both two-star, and both make the same complaint: repetitive sentences, the same structure on page after page, and a book that reads like an unedited draft. One of them lists inconsistencies in timing and plot points, such as when injuries happen. The other goes further and says it reads as though no one edited it at all. Two readers is not a consensus, but they are independent, specific and in agreement, and nobody in the reviews defends the prose.

Then there is the evidence itself. Amazon’s 4.3 average rests on 56 ratings, and of the eight reviews it shows first, five were posted in the book’s first five days and only one is marked as a verified purchase. That pattern is common for indie launches and does not mean the praise is false, but it does mean the 4.3 says less than it seems. The Goodreads 3.90 from 40 ratings is the steadier number, and the written reviews behind it are split two and two.

My honest note: A four-star premise held to three stars by the page, on very little evidence either way. If rough prose pulls you out of a book, wait for more reviews; if you mostly want rivals, soccer and an HEA, the setup may carry you.

Element	In Magnetic Rivals
Central relationship	Nic Davis & Morgan Sullivan — Australian transfer star and comeback captain, rivals to lovers
Core tropes	Rivals to lovers, captaincy rivalry, forced proximity, Olympic quarantine, injury comeback, hurt/comfort
Setting	An American professional women’s soccer club, then the Olympic tournament
Heat level	Not independently rated — the publisher calls it steamy; unconfirmed by readers
Series	Green and Gold Hearts book 1 — promised HEA; Amazon lists three books in the series
Content notes	Serious sports injury and recovery; no reader review lists further warnings

How Spicy Is Magnetic Rivals?

We cannot give this a confident number, and we would rather say so than guess. romance.io has no entry for the book, none of the Goodreads or Amazon reviews describes the intimate scenes, and the only claim on record is the publisher’s own: its description calls the book steamy. One of our own sports-romance lists previously recorded it as closed door, which conflicts with that description, so treat any rating you see as unverified until readers weigh in.

No reviewer flags any content concern beyond the injury storyline. If heat is the deciding factor for you, the safer picks are titles with confirmed ratings: Cleat Cute is a confirmed 4/5, explicit open door, while Say Yes to the Soccer Player is kisses only.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want women’s soccer that matters to the plot, you like a rivalry with real stakes like a captaincy, you enjoy injury-comeback and hurt/comfort arcs, and you want a guaranteed HEA.

You may want to skip it if: repetitive or unpolished prose pulls you out of a story, you want a confirmed heat level before you buy, you prefer books with a deep base of reader reviews, or you want a standalone with no series pull.

In short: a promising premise with thin evidence and reported editing problems — worth a sample before you commit.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

Four months after release, the discourse around Magnetic Rivals is very quiet, and that quiet is the main finding. A web search turns up no trade or blog coverage, and there is no romance.io page. Goodreads has 40 ratings and four written reviews. Amazon has 56 ratings and ranks the book around #2.6 million overall, which tells you it is not currently selling in volume. The publisher, Alembee Services, pitches it to fans of Meryl Wilsner and Quinn Ashby. The book is in Kindle Unlimited, which is the most likely way new readers are finding it. We found no audiobook edition.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The injury storyline first — it is the element the four-star Goodreads review praises specifically. Then the slow-building relationship, the sense that the leads get to know each other properly. The Amazon reviews that praise it name the chemistry between Nic and Morgan and the rivalry, and the one verified-purchase review says it worked even for a reader who does not follow sports. One five-star reader is already looking for the next book in the series.

What readers argue about and complain about: Editing, above everything. Both critical Goodreads reviews say the prose is repetitive and reads like a draft, and one adds timeline inconsistencies around the injuries. One of those reviewers also says the story feels closely modelled on two real professional players; that is one reader’s view, but it is worth knowing if real-person inspiration bothers you. The genuine split is simply that the two readers who liked it focus on the story and the two who did not focus on the sentences — and with four written reviews in total, there is no tie-breaker yet.

The series question everyone should ask first: Does it stand alone? Yes, as far as the romance goes. The publisher promises an HEA, and nothing in the reviews suggests a cliffhanger. Amazon lists the book as part of a three-book Green and Gold Hearts series, and at least one reader wants to continue. Because the evidence on this first book is so thin, it is worth waiting to see whether the later books draw stronger reviews before committing to the series.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Magnetic Rivals a sapphic romance?

Yes. It is a lesbian sports romance between two professional soccer players, Nic Davis and Morgan Sullivan, told in dual first-person point of view.

How spicy is Magnetic Rivals?

It is not independently rated. The publisher calls it steamy, but romance.io has no entry and no reader review we found describes the intimate scenes.

Does Magnetic Rivals have a happy ending?

Yes. The publisher promises an HEA, and none of the reader reviews suggests otherwise.

Is Magnetic Rivals part of a series?

Yes. It is book one of Isla Brinn’s Green and Gold Hearts series, which Amazon lists at three books. The romance resolves in this book.

Is Magnetic Rivals in Kindle Unlimited?

Yes, at the time of writing the Kindle edition is included with Kindle Unlimited.

If You Loved Magnetic Rivals, Read These Next

For a sapphic soccer romance with a much deeper base of reader reviews and confirmed open-door heat, Cleat Cute is the obvious next read. For a sweeter, low-heat soccer romance, try Say Yes to the Soccer Player. For athletes and an Olympic backdrop with a second-chance twist, Running Deep is worth a look. For more, see our sapphic soccer romance list and the books like Cleat Cute guide, or browse every title in Book Reviews.

The Bottom Line

Magnetic Rivals sets out to write a sapphic sports romance where the sport really matters, and the premise delivers. The captaincy rivalry is specific, the Olympic quarantine is a strong forced-proximity device, and Morgan’s comeback gives the romance weight. But both critical readers report repetitive, under-edited prose, the heat level is unconfirmed, and the whole picture rests on four written reviews. If you love rivals and soccer and read on Kindle Unlimited, it costs little to try. Check Magnetic Rivals on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Magnetic Rivals ranks as a promising indie sapphic sports romance — strong on premise and stakes, held back by reported editing problems and a very thin evidence base, and best approached as a Kindle Unlimited sample rather than a sure thing.