Love at First Set
By Jennifer Dugan
Publication date: May 23, 2023
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F/F Sports Broke up a wedding Oh sure make the strong one do all the emotional heavy lifting Gym ratsReview
I so did not expect to like this book! As someone with a definitely not made up allergy to gym equipment and exercise, I was not expecting to like the strong ladies book. But oh my gosh, did you know that the strongest muscle is the heart (it's actually your jaw, or your uterus, or your butt, or your eye, or your tongue, or the heart, depending on your definition of "strongest") and this one's working overtime.
This doesn't really count as a spoiler because it's in the description, but Lizzie's drunken bathroom pep talk is so inspiring, funny and touching I almost went and broke up some weddings myself. It's just that good.
Lizzie comes across as a real person, with lots of insecurities owing to how she grew up that she mostly manages to shove away. Both James and Cara are absolute wankers at times (James early and often, Cara once or twice but at exactly the wrong times), but in Cara's case it's easy to see her redeeming values as to why Lizzie would fall in love with her (and vice versa).
I don't know, y'all, I just love Lizzie's energy. She's a disaster gay, through and through, but because her heart's in the right place (and it's so strong) she always manages to rack 'em after pounding out that last set. You'd have to be a dumb belle not to like this book. Do not weight to pick it up. Alright, much like Lizzie I might be too tipsy for this (despite drinking squat) and need to bail before I (bench) press my luck. It's definitely worth curl-ing up with.
Synopsis
The gym is Lizzie’s life—it’s her passion, her job, and the only place that’s ever felt like home. Unfortunately, her bosses consider her a glorified check-in girl at best, and the gym punching bag at worst.
When their son, Lizzie’s best friend, James, begs her to be his plus one at his perfect sister Cara’s wedding, things go wrong immediately, and culminate in Lizzie giving a drunken pep talk to a hot stranger in the women’s bathroom—except that stranger is actually the bride-to-be, and Lizzie has accidentally convinced her to ditch her groom.
Now, newly directionless Cara is on a quest to find herself, and Lizzie—desperate to make sure her bosses never find out her role in this fiasco—gets strong-armed by James into “entertaining” her. Cara doesn’t have to know it’s a setup; it’ll just be a quick fling before she sobers up and goes back to her real life. After all, how could someone like Cara fall for someone like Lizzie, with no career and no future?
But the more Lizzie gets to know Cara, the more she likes her, and the bigger the potential disaster if any of her rapidly multiplying secrets get out. Because now it’s not just Lizzie’s job and entire future on the line, but also the girl of her dreams.