Loser of the Year Review — Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A sharp, funny and genuinely steamy enemies-to-lovers debut that earns its awards — a Jewish theatre teacher at a strict Catholic girls’ school versus the closeted soccer coach who runs the place, with real weight on faith, family and coming out. The one recurring complaint is that we only ever see Jillian through Mattie’s eyes.

Best for: Readers who love a prickly “ice queen” (or “fire queen”) love interest, workplace sparring and a romance with something to say.

Heat level: High (romance.io steam 4/5, explicit open door)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.3/5 — a 4.38 Goodreads average across 1,450 ratings, 4.29 on StoryGraph from 314 reviews, and 4.7 stars across 880 Amazon ratings)

Tropes: Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, workplace rivals, ice queen, secret relationship, forced proximity (the school musical), back in her hometown, single POV.

Loser of the Year is Carrie Byrd’s 2024 debut, a contemporary lesbian romance from Ylva. Mattie Belman — divorced, out of acting work and back in her childhood bedroom in her late thirties — takes a temporary job teaching theatre at St. Rita’s, and immediately collides with Jillian Reed, the coach behind a long run of state soccer titles.

It holds a 4.38 average across 1,450 Goodreads ratings, with 85% of them four or five stars, 4.29 on StoryGraph from 314 reviews, and 4.7 stars across 880 Amazon ratings. The book’s description lists a 2025 Goldie for Best Debut and a 2025 Lambda Literary Award finalist spot.

What Is Loser of the Year About?

Mattie has lost her career, her marriage and most of her optimism. Her plan is simple: survive one year at a strict Catholic girls’ school with a morality clause, as an out Jewish lesbian, and put on a musical.

Jillian sees that musical as a threat to her champion players and declares war. Mattie refuses to back down, and the more they fight, the more she sees what Jillian is hiding — including the fact that the school’s most powerful coach has kept her own sexuality a secret for years.

What Works in This Enemies-to-Lovers Romance

Chemistry and banter: The most repeated praise. Readers describe explosive sparring, dry humour and a pull that makes the slow thaw worth it.
Jillian: Arrogant, cold and infuriating on the surface, and a favourite for many once her background comes into view. Readers debate whether she is an ice queen or a “fire queen.”
Depth: Several readers single out how the book handles coming out in a religious environment, family expectations and the cost of the closet.
Mattie: Warm, stubborn and funny; one reader calls her “achingly human.”
Emotion: 79% of StoryGraph readers tagged it emotional and 60% funny, and 94% said the character development was strong.

Book Synopsis

Mattie Belman’s life has gone from bad to worse: no acting career, no marriage, and a return home to teach high-school theatre. St. Rita’s arrogant soccer coach, Jillian Reed, sees her musical as a distraction for her star players, and Mattie is far too stubborn to give in.

As the war escalates, Mattie finds more to Jillian than ego and fire — and getting close to an iron-willed colleague at a school like this one could burn them both.

My Review

This is a confident debut. Byrd writes banter with real snap, and she builds Jillian so that a reader can see past Mattie’s view of her even while the book never leaves Mattie’s head. The Catholic-school setting is not decoration: the morality clause, the closet and family faith give the romance stakes that most workplace enemies-to-lovers books never reach, and readers report laughing, crying and raging along the way.

The most repeated reservation is that single point of view. Several readers wanted Jillian’s perspective, and one says it is exactly why she dislikes single-POV romance. A smaller group found the opening slow or took time to warm up, one felt some secondary characters were thin, and at least one reader thought Jillian’s fire was sometimes a lot. None of this dents the overall reception much.

My honest note: If you can live inside one head for 300-odd pages, this is one of the stronger sapphic debuts of recent years.

Element	In Loser of the Year
Central relationship	Mattie Belman (theatre teacher, divorced, Jewish lesbian) & Jillian Reed (soccer coach, former pro player, closeted)
Core tropes	Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, ice queen, secret relationship, forced proximity
Setting	St. Rita’s, a Catholic girls’ high school in Mattie’s hometown
Heat level	High — explicit, open door
Length	324 pages (Kindle listing); 12 h 36 min audiobook
Series	Standalone novel with a happy ending; one reader notes a short follow-up, The Apostate’s Creed, in the Beyond the Epilogue collection
Content notes	Religious trauma, homophobia and lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, outing, bullying, death of a parent

How Spicy Is Loser of the Year?

Spicier than its reputation. Romance.io readers give it 4 out of 5 for steam, explicit and open door, and one Goodreads reader says there was more sexual tension than she expected because few people talk about it as a sexy book.

Content notes submitted on StoryGraph include graphic sexual content, lesbophobia, biphobia, homophobia and religious bigotry; moderate homophobia and transphobia; and minor bullying, misogyny, death of a parent and outing. Romance.io readers add religious trauma and queerphobia.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want enemies to lovers with wit, heat and real emotional stakes. It is on our sapphic sports romance and late-bloomer lists.

You may want to skip it if: you need dual POV, or stories involving religious homophobia are hard for you right now.

In short: Funny, hot and heartfelt — believe the awards.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)

On Goodreads the split is 56% five stars, 29% four, 11% three, 2% two and under 1% one. On StoryGraph, 79% tagged it emotional, 60% funny and 57% hopeful, and 85% said the characters were loveable. Some early reviews come from advance copies, but the book has kept its average across more than 1,400 ratings. It reached at least one reader through Lee Winter’s newsletter. The Tantor audiobook is narrated by Krystal Hammond.

Prefer audio? Listen to Loser of the Year on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The chemistry first. Second, Jillian. Third, the humour. Fourth, the way it handles faith and the closet.

What readers argue about and complain about: The single POV, above everything. Second, a slow start. Third, thin secondary characters. Fourth, how much of Jillian’s fire is too much.

The comparison worth making first: For more soccer on the page, try Hotshot or The Game Changer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Loser of the Year enemies to lovers?

Yes. Mattie and Jillian clash from the first day over Mattie’s musical pulling Jillian’s players away from soccer, and readers call the bickering and chemistry the heart of the book.

How spicy is Loser of the Year?

Spicy. Romance.io readers rate it 4 out of 5 for steam — explicit, open door — and StoryGraph readers flag the sexual content as graphic.

Is Loser of the Year told from both points of view?

No. It stays with Mattie throughout, which is the most common reservation — several readers wished they could see inside Jillian’s head.

Is Loser of the Year on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes, at the time of writing, or $9.99 to buy on Kindle. The Tantor audiobook, narrated by Krystal Hammond, runs 12 hours 36 minutes.

Has Loser of the Year won any awards?

According to the book’s description, it won Best Debut at the 2025 Golden Crown Literary Awards and was a finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Romance.

If You Loved Loser of the Year, Read These Next

Try Hotshot or The Game Changer. For more, browse our sapphic sports romance and late-bloomer lists, 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

Loser of the Year sets out to be a witty, heated enemies-to-lovers romance with something to say about faith and the closet, and it succeeds on every count. What holds it back is only that we never hear from Jillian directly. Highly recommended. Check Loser of the Year on Amazon →