Synopsis:
Talk about mixed doubles…
Justin’s ex is on the executive team for the pickleball tournament series he’s hosting.
And she’s bringing her new celebrity boyfriend on the tour.
He needs a doubles partner off the court—stat.
Enter prickly, private, and the last person you’d expect to agree to fake date anyone.
But she’s got a killer poker face, a solid paddle grip, and zero interest in real romance.
Which makes her the perfect fake girlfriend.
The plan?
Keep it casual. Fake some chemistry. Win the tournament—and the breakup optics.
But between their kitchen banter, flirty foot faults, and steamy “practice drills,” lines are blurring fast.
Now they’re stuck in close quarters on the tournament tour, dinking around with fake feelings that might not be so fake…
Review:
I decided to check out The Setup as it’s been sitting in my Audible library for so long that it expires on Audible Plus soon. As I was spending the day doing housework, it seems like the perfect short listen to accompany me and while it was entertaining enough, it wasn’t the book for me.
I’m not quite sure what The Setup was trying to be. It was all over the place. There was no build up to the romance, the characters all talked stiffly and a pickleball romance is not something I ever want to read again – I don’t even know what it is.
The fact that The Setup is a fake dating romance is what drew me to it, we all know I’m a sucker for them. Unfortunately, the fake dating part didn’t land. There’s not a lot of it going on and they confess actual feelings for each other almost straight away. You need time to build the angst, have them almost get caught, have a fight about their situation and then share a passionate kiss that gives away how they really feel. Also, I may be misremembering but I feel like Justin kissed Sam without asking her first.
There’s a Harry Potter reference less than 30 seconds into this book which instantly gave me the ick (hate this term but it’s the only way I could think to describe my feelings). You can’t be talking about it in a positive way in the big 2026, it makes you look like an idiot or a bad person.
The only reason why I finished The Setup is 1. I listened while sorting out my clothes and 2. It’s really short. If this had been a full length romance, I would have DNF it after the first hour or so. Not a lot was really happening and the character’s motivations weren’t very convincing.
I actually don’t think the majority of this book entered my brain. I can’t tell you much of what happened other than they play pickleball, watch friends and she works in marketing because every romance heroine does (this is a bit of a joke as I also work in marketing as a copy writer). I’m not sure if listening to book one first would have helped, I’m pretty sure they’re standalones, but these characters didn’t connect with me.
I was going to end this review by saying if you have Audible Plus and you’re interested in a pickleball romance, you should check this out, but it won’t be available by time this review goes up (sorry).
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