Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura Book Review
Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura is a fun contemporary romance set at the Summer Olympics. It’s full of friendship and character growth.
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Let the Games Begin
Author: Rufaro Faith Mazarura
Narrator: Shaniqua Okwok
Pub. Date: July 9, 2024
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 8 hours 43 minutes / 352 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Spice: 1 heart
Content Warnings: swearing, drunkenness, grief, mentions parent death, & panic attacks
Synopsis:
Athens, 2024. Olivia Nkomo has always been ambitious, smart, and an overall go-getter. Now that she’s graduated from university, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to land her dream job at the Summer Games. The first step? Securing her new internship, which will put her in the center of all the action, where she hopes to run into some of her favorite athletes.
Ezekiel “Zeke” Moyo, the heartthrob star runner of Team Great Britain, is more than ready to claim his title as the fastest man in the world, following in the footsteps of the greatest athletes of all time. His future to the finish line is looking bright–despite his recent breakup with celebrated gymnast Valentina Ross-Rodriguez constantly making headlines.
When Olivia and Zeke collide–literally–on the first day of training, sparks fly. As the games grow closer, so do Olivia and Zeke. But the competition starts stirring up uncomfortable memories from Zeke’s past . . . and Olivia’s internship doesn’t turn out to be what she expected. Will they be able to overcome these hurdles and achieve their dreams? Or will it come at the cost of their budding romance?
Book Review
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura. All opinions are my own.
Let the Games Begin is a contemporary romance story set at The Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. It follows an Olympian sprinter named Zeke who is at his third Olympic Games but is struggling with his mental health including dealing with the grief of losing his father a decade ago. This story also follows Olivia who is supposed to be interning at the Olympics but has been given a volunteer job instead. While they don’t have a meet-cute, Zeke and Olivia finally decide to get to know each other after running into each other numerous times.
Thoughts
One of the things that stood out to me about this story was the friendships. Not only do Zeke and Olivia develop a strong bond, but their other friendships were sweet as well. I especially liked it when Zeke and Olivia’s friends got to know each other.
The setting of The Olympic Games was so fun and interesting. I haven’t read any other books set here, and I thought it was interesting getting to see some behind-the-scenes aspects of The Olympics.
The romance in this book was cute, and I liked how well Olivia and Zeke got along considering how this story was only set over a couple weeks. When Zeke learned to be vulnerable, I was really proud of him. I also liked how much they trusted each other and were able to lean on each other as well.
I listened to the audiobook for this story and thought the narrator did a great job. I do wish they would’ve used two narrators though since this story was told in dual POVs. It would have been nice to have a separate narrator for Zeke’s chapters.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I would recommend this book. It was sweet, hopeful, and full of growth.
Where to Read & Purchase
You can purchase a copy of this book at the following retailers:
Bookshop.org (supports independent book stores) [affiliate]
Libro.fm (audiobooks that support independent book stores) [affiliate]
→ get a free audiobook when you start a membership
Chirp (get 30% off your first purchase with code: JESS30)
Amazon [affiliate]
Books a Million (BAM) [affiliate]
AbeBooks [affiliate]
You can also find this book on:
Everand (30-Day FREE Trial)
Have you read Let the Games Begin?
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