Game Time Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: The Girls of Summer series grows up: ten years after book one, Jamie and Emma are professional players meeting again at a US national team camp. Less angsty and more rewarding than Training Ground for many readers — but it is a very slow, very PG bridge book, and it still leaves the big payoff for later.

Best for: Readers who finished Training Ground and want the second chance, plus an inside look at the world of women’s professional soccer.

Heat level: Kisses only (readers call it very PG)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.9/5 — a 4.29 Goodreads average across 569 ratings, 3.97 on StoryGraph from 97 reviews, and 4.6 stars across 410 Amazon ratings)

Tropes: Second chance, estranged first loves, forced proximity (residency camp), slow burn, professional athletes, series instalment.

Game Time is Kate Christie’s 2016 contemporary lesbian sports romance, book two of six in the Girls of Summer series. It is late 2013 and the 2015 World Cup is coming. Jamie Maxwell plays for Arsenal Ladies in London and has never made the US women’s national team; Emma Blakeley is a national team regular playing in Seattle.

It holds a 4.29 average across 569 Goodreads ratings, with 85% of them four or five stars, 3.97 on StoryGraph from 97 reviews, and 4.6 stars across 410 Amazon ratings.

What Is Game Time About?

When Jamie is finally invited to a national team residency camp, it means spending time with Emma for the first time since high school — possibly even sharing a room. Both women are hoping it doesn’t come to that.

Over a short, intense stretch of training, old feelings, old dreams and old hurts resurface, and the two have to decide what they are to each other now.

What Works in This Series Instalment

The reunion: Readers find the adult Jamie and Emma easier to spend time with, and several liked this book more than the first.
Women’s soccer from the inside: Readers say they learned a lot about the professional game and the national team setup.
Chemistry and supporting cast: Readers praise the tension between the leads and the teammates around them.
Less angst: Multiple readers welcome a lighter emotional tone after book one.

Book Synopsis

A decade after their teenage story, Jamie is a veteran of English football still chasing a US call-up, and Emma is a fixture on the national team. A residency camp throws them together again.

Neither wants to relive the past — but neither has entirely let it go, and the World Cup is on the line for both of them.

My Review

Christie uses the time jump well. The pair meet as adults with careers and scar tissue, and the camp setting keeps them in close quarters while the book explores how professional women’s soccer actually works. Readers who loved book one mostly describe this as the healing instalment.

The most repeated reservation is that it feels like a transition book: the burn is so slow that the romance barely moves, and the story again ends with more to come. One disappointed reader says the first quarter recaps book one and the book lacks the first’s emotional power; another found surprisingly little on-field soccer and too much anxiety. A few readers say they needed a break before book three.

My honest note: Read it for the reunion, not for resolution.

Element	In Game Time
Central relationship	Jamie Maxwell (Arsenal Ladies) & Emma Blakeley (NWSL, US national team)
Core tropes	Second chance, forced proximity, slow burn, professional athletes
Setting	A US women’s national team residency camp, late 2013
Heat level	Kisses only — very PG
Length	296 pages (Kindle listing)
Series	Girls of Summer #2 of 6 — not a standalone; continues in Outside the Lines
Content notes	Anxiety, past trauma from book one, sports injuries

How Spicy Is Game Time?

It isn’t. Readers describe the build-up as delicious but very PG, and one counts only a second kiss in the whole book.

Readers mention anxiety and the lingering effects of Jamie’s trauma from book one.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you are invested in Jamie and Emma and enjoy a multi-book slow burn. It is on our sapphic sports romance list.

You may want to skip it if: you haven’t read Training Ground, or you want the romance resolved in one volume.

In short: A gentle, necessary bridge.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)

On Goodreads the split is 45% five stars, 40% four, 11% three, 1% two and under 1% one. On StoryGraph, every reader who answered said the characters were loveable and well developed. Many readers binged the series during a World Cup, and several say they couldn’t stop.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The reunion first. Second, the realism about pro soccer. Third, the chemistry. Fourth, less angst.

What readers argue about and complain about: The glacial slow burn, above everything. Second, the transitional feel. Third, recap and little on-field action for some.

The comparison worth making first: Start with Training Ground if you haven’t.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read Training Ground first?

Yes. Readers are emphatic that Game Time is not a standalone; it continues Jamie and Emma’s story ten years after book one ends.

How much time passes between Training Ground and Game Time?

About a decade. Book one begins in 2003 with the girls as teenagers; Game Time opens in late 2013 with both in their mid-to-late twenties.

Is Game Time a slow burn?

Extremely. Readers joke that the couple barely get past a second kiss, and one says they only come together at the very end.

How spicy is Game Time?

Not at all. Readers describe it as very PG.

Is Game Time on Kindle Unlimited?

Not at the time of writing — the Kindle edition was listed at $4.99. An audiobook edition is listed on Amazon; we did not find it on Libro.fm.

If You Loved Game Time, Read These Next

Continue with Outside the Lines, or try the standalone Finding a Keeper. For more, browse our sapphic sports romance list or the full Book Reviews archive.

All 25 verified soccer romances, including the six-book Girls of Summer series, are in our Sapphic Soccer Romance Books guide.

The Bottom Line

Game Time sets out to bring Jamie and Emma back together as adults, and it does that warmly and realistically. What holds it back is how little it resolves. Worth it for series readers. Check Game Time on Amazon →