I am very excited to be reading this book! My full review to follow.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and comments are my own.

Jezabel Nightingale’s *Tackling Love Once More* is an emotionally charged and captivating second-chance romance that dives into the complexities of love, ambition, and healing. Nightingale delivers a story that’s both tender and heart-wrenching, set against the backdrop of sports and personal redemption, bringing two characters together in an intense, passion-filled journey.

Nightingale’s portrayal of the main character is a standout. She’s a smart, capable woman, but her struggles with her weight and trust make her a richly layered character.

The story takes place in Australia and there is lots to learn about their version of football.

Jezabel Nightingale's Tackling Love Once More offers a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and finding one's place in the world. The premise of a single dad Aussie Rules footballer falling for a plus-sized American expat is not one I’ve seen before so it’s fresh.

While the concept is solid, the execution falls a bit short for me. The FMC, Paige, was difficult to connect with. Her emotional distance and lack of clear feelings for the MMC, Willo, made it hard to root for their relationship.

I appreciate the book's representation of a plus-sized female protagonist, but I found the constant references to her weight to be excessive. While it's important to acknowledge the struggles of plus size women, it felt like her worth was constantly tied to her size and, as a plus size gal myself, it just felt like a constant reminder that Paige should be “honoured” anybody wants her.

The single dad trope is always a winner, and the setting of a small Australian town provides a charming backdrop. If you're looking for a heartwarming romance with a slow burn, this book might be worth a try.

I really enjoyed this one! Paige is a really relatable FMC and I loved Willo. This was a really good read and I am looking forward to reading whatever else I can from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

This was such a good book. I really enjoyed it. More than I thought I would. I loved the writing style. This book had me hooked from page one. This is a first for me by this author but will not be my last!!

Tackling Love Once More follows Paige and Willo. Paige has just moved from New York to Australia for a work opportunity in radio. However, due to her cohost being the worst guy ever, things end badly and she ends up working a different job in Bayview Cove instead. Here, she meets football player Willo because she wins tickets to a game in a raffle at work, After losing his wife in a tragic accident, Willo is a single dad to his three young kids and a star player for the Bayview Monarchs. The monarchs PR team see potential in Willo and Paige, so they suggest that they start a podcast together (The Tank and The Yank) – uniting football fanatics and football newbies alike and as the podcast becomes an immediate hit, Paige and Willo begin to develop feelings for each other. But with both of them dealing with their own personal issues, can they make it work?

I loved this book! I think it was an enjoyable, faced paced read that made me smile and cry and laugh! I loved that the characters were fully formed indiviudals and that as a reader, I could root for them as people AND as a couple. I also loved the implementation of sporting terminology without it being overwhelming to someone not familar with football, such as myself. I'll admit, I'm not immediately drawn to single dad tropes but the kids in this book were written realistically and they added to the story. I appreciated the way that heavier topics such as body image and grief were dealt with sensitively and with so much evident love from the author. My one criticism would be that there were some prolonged periods of miscommunication between the characters that did become frustrating at times but that is just testament to how invested I was in Willo and Paige's relationship. Overall, I'd recommend this book 100% and I'm grateful to have picked it up,

I'd really strongly advise checking trigger warnings before reading this book. The most apparent ones are grief, body image issues and the loss of a parent.

I love Paige and Willo!

Paige Larson had moved to Sydney, Australia to be a radio presenter’s sidekick but her plans went haywire when he told the world what he thought about her curvy body. Paige is now in Bayview Cove, where everybody is Aussie football mad over the Bayside Monarchs and she knows nothing about it.

Footy player Willo Lovemore is trying to get back into the game after rehabbing his knee and taking care of his three young children after losing his wife in a farm accident. Willo never intended to fall in love again but meeting Paige and slowly becoming friends while they started The Yank and The Tank podcast about football.

I loved how the relationship between Willo and Paige grew slowly because they their own different issues to go through before admitting to being in love.

P.S. I would love more books about other characters.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cute! I love sports romance! I've never read a book take has both of the main characters as Australians so this was a fun change! Single parent is one of my favorite tropes and is was done so well in the book!

This was my first book by Jezabel Nightingale, and I think I've found a new author to add to my buy instantly list!

Her writing had me captivated immediately and I did not want to put the book down. I finished it in a day solely because I have stupid adult obligations, otherwise I would've read it in a sitting.

Unrelated to her talent, but it made so happy and a little homesick (not exactly but close enough), to see such a wonderful world described not only accurately but also with all the colloquialisms of the area.

The story itself was a heartwarming story of two people dealing with own baggage (TW death of loved ones and childhood neglect) and helping each other be better people and heal, leading to a beautiful relationship. I thank the lord - Jezabel Nightingale- for building up tension with realistic problems, and not giving us a 3rd act breakup, instead having understandable emotional issues dealt with by the main characters like mature healthy adults.

I've read quite a few books with curvy or plus size FMC, and while I've enjoyed the representation, I've never quite felt seen as much as I have reading about Paige. There's absolutely nothing wrong with bigger women loving themselves and their bodies, and being sexually confident, or overcoming past trauma and being indifferent to your body size, instead focusing on what it can do for you. But seeing the FMCs at an already mentally health stage, never quite gave me the feeling that others felt the way I did.
I related greatly to Paige, her constant insecurities, and her belief that no one could love her like that or find her attractive if it was a kink. It was amazing to see her work through it throughout the book.

On a related note, I'm so happy everyone went to therapy when they (or their parents) realised they needed it.

The children were so funny and cute. Some of the best age accurate written children quotes I've seen a while. My favorite being Luna calling Paige not-straight, and it's not why you think!

Overall as sweet, and sometimes steamy, as the book was, it was also full of laughs for me.

I'd love to say it taught me all about the AFL, but that would be a lie. I'm perfectly happy not knowing what's going on, though I do appreciate how it's written. I did skip a few paragraphs when the game play was being described, it just wasn't for me, but if you like the AFL or are more open to it than I am, it wouldn't be a hardship to read through..


This was an amazing romantic comedy, and I can't wait for more from Jezabel Nightingale. Hopefully more stories full of quintessentially Aussie (and Kiwi pretty please) things.

I went into this ARC thinking I was gonna read a lighthearted sports romance, but I came out of it pondering my own thoughts on self-image and grief. As a fellow overweight gal who struggles with the ideas of sex, love, and all the stigma that comes around it and as a forever-grieving daughter of a parent who committed suicide, the emotions I felt for both Paige and Willo were so insanely strong as I wondered what I’d do in their situations and how I react in my own real life. Paige’s struggles with insecurities with her weight really bothered me throughout the book, but it also made me reflect on how many of the same comments I’ve made about myself and how unhealthy I was and have been. This was surprisingly a powerful story about getting out of your head and knowing when to lean on your community for love and support, and I can’t stop thinking about how much I appreciate that alone.

Tackling Love Once More was the latest sports romance I’ve read. It was a great addition to the genre.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I'm a sucker for a single dad romance, so I was stoked to read Tackling Love Once More by Jezabel Nightingale. The concept was great, but I just didn't vibe with the characters, especially the FMC. Paige wasn't my favorite, she was really hard to connect with and understand. She seemed distant throughout the book, and I couldn't figure out if she really liked our guy. I needed more from her. Despite it being a slow burn, I wanted more sexual tension between the FMC and MMC. I'm glad she started therapy, but still felt disconnected. While I appreciate the plus size representation, I didn't enjoy the constant mention of her weight. We get it early on, it didn't need to be brought up throughout the book. Can curvy women get some love without constantly coming back to their size? Despite all this, I'll give the book three stars because I really liked the concept.

Pensé que sería un libro ligero, pero terminó doliendo. La autora logró encontrar el equilibrio entre lo serio y lo romántico.




Trata sobre como influye el entorno familiar, social y económico en el desarrollo de las personas, en este caso con Paige.

Paige consiguió un ascenso coml conductora de radio en Autralia, todo estaba yendo bien o eso creía hasta que su jefe con beneficios la humilló al aire diciéndole cosas sobre su aspecto.

Paige es una mujer con un cuerpo grueso y voluptuoso a quien le han metido en la cabeza que es fea y gorda que sólo sirve para el sexo, pero no para ser la novia de alguien. A largo del libro veremos su lucha con su salud mental al lado de Willo y de su psicóloga.


Willo es un futbolista australiano, tiene 3 hijos y es viudo. No cree que pueda amar a nadie más que a su esposa, pero cuando conoce a Paige se siente atraído por alguien por primera vez en años. El pobre luchara entre su lealtad por la madre de sus hijos contra su nueva felicidad.




¿El siguiente libro es se Summer y Enzo?




Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.