
Playing for Keeps
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Narrated by:
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Daisy Guevara
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Bailey Carr
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By:
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Jennifer Dugan
About this listen
From the author of Some Girls Do comes another heartfelt YA sapphic romance—starring a baseball pitcher and a student umpire who are definitely not supposed to fall for one another.
“Sapphic sports romance perfection. Swoony and romantic, but unafraid to tackle grief, family expectations, and fighting for your dreams, this is a home run of a book.”—Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl
June is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she's a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.
Ivy isn't just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead.
The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.
As June's shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls' secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?
©2024 Jennifer Dugan (P)2024 Listening LibraryListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This sweet romance is a home run."—People Magazine
"Charming . . . Without sacrificing the banter or sincerity that make up this winning romance, Dugan skillfully crafts parallel story lines in which the weight of loss and pressure to succeed haunt the protagonists throughout their everyday lives as they work toward their own futures."—Publishers Weekly
“Playing for Keeps is sapphic sports romance perfection. Swoony and romantic, but unafraid to tackle grief, family expectations, and fighting for your dreams, this is a home run of a book.”—Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl
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Hearts Still Beating
- By: Brooke Archer
- Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio, Gail Shalan
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeen-year-old Mara is dead—mostly. Infected with a virus that brought the dead back to life and the world to its knees, she wakes up in a facility to learn a treatment for the disease has been found. No longer a Tick, Mara is placed in an experimental resettlement program. But her recovery is complicated by her destination: she’s sent to live with the best friend she hasn’t seen since the world ended—and since their first and only kiss.
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Everything was perfect!
- By Anita Burrows on 06-27-24
By: Brooke Archer
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Integrity
- Halcyon Division, Book 1
- By: E. J. Noyes
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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It’s an ordinary workday when intelligence analyst Lexie Martin learns about a horrific chemical weapon attack abroad. Just an ordinary day...until a stranger breaks into her house and warns her to forget what she saw and heard, setting off a chain of events Lexie thought only happened in movies. Falsely accused of stealing intelligence and unsure of who to trust, Lexie quickly realizes the significance of the intel and that she must do everything she can to keep it safe. And as she runs—maybe for her life—Lexie knows she needs something, or someone, to help her.
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So Good!
- By csofthemidwest on 05-28-23
By: E. J. Noyes
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Overtime
- By: Tracey Richardson
- Narrated by: Lori Prince
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Sarah Brennan is a hockey player in the new professional women's league, but it's her mind she wants to exercise when she enrolls in a university class on Irish literature. Professor Claire Joyce is no fan of pro athletes, especially after a failed marriage to one. Unfortunately her ten-year-old daughter adores hockey, and her idol happens to be none other than Sarah Brennan. Falling in love with someone who barely tolerates sports and athletes finally forces Sarah, at thirty-six, to admit that her career is in overtime, and to consider what life might look like after hockey.
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Irish Accent To Die For!
- By Brookhouse on 04-09-25
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I Love You S'more
- By: Auriane Desombre
- Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Ivy Raines needs camp for an escape like she did as a child. But when she signs up to run the camp's musical production she soon finds herself in a rivalry she didn't see coming with the co-director, Rynn. She's bossy and thinks she knows everything because she's been most experienced counselor. Worse, it's a girl Ivy had a falling out with when she was younger. It's the last thing Ivy needs while going through a breakup but as tension between them builds, sparks begin to fly brighter than a campfire.
By: Auriane Desombre
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The Girl Next Door
- By: Cecilia Vinesse
- Narrated by: Jennifer Aquino
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Film club nerd Cleo Ferrara’s senior year was like a storyboard waiting to be filmed. She knew the scenes, the players, and the eventual happy ending. Attend film school with her boyfriend, Daniel Sheridan. Become a film-making power couple. Take Hollywood by storm. Cut. Print. Fade to black.? But in a plot twist Cleo never saw coming, Daniel dumps her for Kiki Pearson, the head cheerleader.
By: Cecilia Vinesse
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Dear Wendy
- By: Ann Zhao
- Narrated by: Natalie Naudus, Rebecca Wang, Elaine Wang, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao.
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Kinda slow for most of it, but it resolves well.
- By Nikki on 04-30-24
By: Ann Zhao
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Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches
- By: Kate Scelsa
- Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or to think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.
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Not a fantasy story...
- By Brendan horn on 08-15-23
By: Kate Scelsa
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Practical Rules for Cursed Witches
- By: Kayla Cottingham
- Narrated by: Jess Nahikian
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Magic is in Delilah Bea’s blood. Her absentee father is the world’s most famous cursebreaker, while all the women in her family are fated to never find true love. So when Delilah sets out to complete her magical Calling and gain her full powers as a witch, she has the perfect task in mind—breaking the Bea family curse. But Delilah’s Calling is hijacked by Kieran Pelumbra, the spoiled son of the most powerful family in the country, and breaking his curse suddenly becomes her official assignment.
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DNF
- By Irish Eyes on 04-09-25
By: Kayla Cottingham
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Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl
- By: Brianna R. Shrum, Sara Waxelbaum
- Narrated by: Marli Watson, Kristen DiMercurio
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Margo Zimmerman is gay, but she didn’t know until now. An overachiever at heart, Margo is determined to ace her newly discovered gayness. All she needs is the right tutor. Abbie Sokoloff has her own gayness down to a science. But a flunking grade in US History is threatening her acceptance to her dream school. All she needs is the right tutor. Margo agrees to help Abbie get her history grade up in exchange for “Queer 101” lessons. But as they spend more and more time together, Margo realizes she doesn’t want just any girl—she wants the girl.
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Amazing From Beginning to End
- By Kerri on 05-29-23
By: Brianna R. Shrum, and others
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Devil's Advocate
- By: T.B. Markinson, Miranda MacLeod
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Ashley Tanner’s only desire after losing her father to a prescription overdose as a teenager has been to support her working-class family. Now an ambitious lawyer, she’s on the verge of achieving the coveted partnership she’s worked for her entire career. But with her goal in sight, the return of a mysterious woman from Ash’s past puts the promotion at risk and forces her to confront the sacrifices she’s made to win at all costs.
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Wow.
- By Sab on 07-24-23
By: T.B. Markinson, and others
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The Last Girls Standing
- By: Jennifer Dugan
- Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counselors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor—she may actually have been a part of it.
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Skip this one
- By Crystal Lynn McKee on 03-24-25
By: Jennifer Dugan
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The Last Love Song
- By: Kalie Holford
- Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen, Amanda Dolan
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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After high school graduation, Mia Peters faces a summer full of painful goodbyes. Songwriting is her only solace. Everyone she knows is moving on, including Britt, her biggest supporter … and kind-of-sort-of girlfriend. Britt keeps pushing Mia to go bigger and do better than their small town, but Mia can’t imagine a life beyond Sunset Cove. Besides, she refuses to follow in the footsteps of her late mother—country music star Tori Rose—who abandoned her family to pursue her dream, leaving Mia and her two grandmothers alone.
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ended up enjoying it
- By Joel Davison on 05-07-24
By: Kalie Holford
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
- By: Malinda Lo
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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"That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?" Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown.
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Critiquing queer books
- By angelina on 04-27-21
By: Malinda Lo
What listeners say about Playing for Keeps
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- K
- 09-01-24
Good
Embraced the YA readers, enjoyed the narrative and would have loved to have had this as a youth. Breaking grounds with the new norms. I liked this book very much.
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- MLTU
- 05-19-24
Playing For Keeps
This was cute. It really highlights the pressures teens can feel when trying to live up to parents' expectations. Everything feels so big, and it all is teetering on a very fine line. June and Ivy are dealing with their own pressures about their futures when they first meet. They were in opposing positions, so it didn't make for the best first impressions. After realizing they actually have more in common than they think, they fall in love... but Ivy being an official and June being a player, they are not allowed to date. So they do it secret.
As the pressure starts to mount, things get complicated for the couple. It becomes quite a mess of things towards the end, but it was sweet how it all got sorted out. A good read for the YA crowd.
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- Brian
- 05-17-24
A Swoon-Worthy Pitch (and Home Run)
As someone who has delighted in Jennifer Dugan's exploration of young adult themes in "Some Girls Do" and the playful adult romantic comedy "Love at First Set," I stepped up to Playing for Keeps with high expectations—and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. This latest offering is a heartwarming tale of two young women, a baseball pitcher and a student umpire, whose paths cross in the most conflicting yet charming ways.
From the moment I pressed play, I was hooked. The narrative, expertly delivered by narrators Daisy Guevara and Bailey Carr, captured the perfect blend of youthful zeal and serious undertones. Both narrators have a knack for bringing Dugan's characters to life, with a warmth that feels like you're listening to old friends recount their lives. I particularly enjoyed the heartfelt portrayal of June and Ivy, whose dreams and ambitions resonate deeply with me both in women I personally know and the other glass ceiling shatterers out there.
The story itself is both light-hearted and profound, exploring themes of love, ambition, and personal growth. The banter between June and Ivy is filled with the kind of witty repartee that makes you laugh out loud, yet their struggles with family expectations and personal dreams add a layer of depth to their journey. The intersection of their careers in sports—a field where women continue to break barriers—is portrayed with honesty and admiration, reflecting Dugan's commitment to telling stories that resonate with authenticity and empowerment.
Moreover, the romance that blossoms between June and Ivy is delightfully complex. It's not just about the forbidden allure of a player-umpire relationship; it's about how two people with seemingly incompatible roles on the baseball field can find harmony and understanding off it. The development of their relationship is paced perfectly, capturing the essence of a slow-burn romance that's worth every minute of the wait.
Playing for Keeps is a home run in the world of YA sapphic romance. It balances the light-heartedness of young love with the weightier themes of personal identity and professional ambition. Jennifer Dugan continues to impress with her ability to weave captivating narratives that are as entertaining as they are meaningful.
In essence, this audiobook is a testament to the power of love and dreams. It serves as a reminder that sometimes, playing for keeps means more than just winning a game—it's about understanding and embracing who we are and whom we love. Dugan has done it again, delivering a story that not only entertains but inspires. I'm already looking forward to her next pitch!
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- Jason Mark
- 05-09-24
Stupid romcom secrets caused me to skip so many chapters because I couldn’t deal with it anymore
I love this author’s writing style and really enjoy some of her other books, but I skipped so many chapters of this one because she just kept going on and on about people keeping stupid useless secrets that are gonna blow up at the end like a crappy sitcom from the 90s
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