Break the Glass by Olivia Swindler is a great drama filled story.
With lush prose and vivid description, Swindler storytelling was amazing. My first time reading her work and I’m most definitely going to be keeping an eye out for her next title.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

Humble. Open. Introspective.
🇺🇸 Set at a university along the West Coast of the USA, spaning from summer to fall,
POV: We get the perspectives of four key characters: the newly appointed Athletic Director, an intern, an English professor, and the spouse of the disgraced former Athletic Director.


Mood Reading Match Up:
-A mix of academic intrigue and scandal mysteries.
-A contemporary fiction piece exploring the intersection of college athletics and academia.
-Low-key romance subplots, featuring young love and coworker romances.
-Themes revolve around sportsmanship, community spirit, authority, women in sports, toxic athletic cultures, and the power dynamics within the sporting world.

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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
✏️ Writing: Swindler’s narrative style positions the reader as a fly on the wall, privy to more information than any single character. So we get a comprehensive view of the unfolding events.

🫥 Characters: The portrayal of the characters is nuanced and relatable. The book offers a realistic depiction of female characters who are neither blindly loyal nor overtly resentful, but rather complex individuals navigating their circumstances.

🗺️ Worldbuilding: The author captures the dual nature of sports: the excitement and energy, as well as the toxic aspects. The balance between the appeal of sports and their darker underbelly is well represented.

🔥 Fuel: The story is upfront about the scandal, with suspense revolving around how it affects each character and the unfolding of consequences. If you’re looking for fast-paced on the field sports suspense this probably isn’t it. For me, that really worked because I would lose interest if it was heavy on the play-by-plays.

🐇 Pacing: The pacing is well-managed, with POV switches timed to maintain interest. It may feel slow for those seeking constant plot development or wild action, but it excels in thoughtful, realistic progression.

🎬 Scenes: Dialogues and character interactions are relatable and realistic, focusing more on internal and external dialogues rather than contrived scheming.

💭 Random Thoughts: The book offers gentle commentary on the complexities and controversies in academia and athletics, highlighting issues like funding, student pressures, and institutional rigidity.

Overall this story is a thought-provoking read that offers a candid look at the challenges and controversies within the world of college athletics, wrapped in a narrative of personal growth and discovery.

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Content Heads-Up: Misogyny. Unemployment. Bribes and blackmail. Codependency (relationship). Mental abuse (relationship). Corruption (institutional, academic). White collar crime.
Rep includes: White and Moroccan-American characters.

Format: Digital from Lake Union and NetGalley (I received an advance review copy at no cost and am leaving this review voluntarily.)

“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI Bestie ✨”

I always enjoy university drama! Add in a small town and it's just a lot of fun. This one centers a bit on sports which I'm not a huge fan of but it didn't get too in depth about the sport aspect. So many secrets in so many departments! It was just a breezy read.

3.75 stars When I first started this book, I got a little nervous about the "sports" aspect but I think it was the perfect sports to scandal ratio. This was a very quick read and even though there were several characters to keep track of, I never had any issue distinguishing between them all. When so many people are involved, I always feel that character depth is lacking but I feel like the pace of the book helped me not focus on that too much. I was surprised that everything felt so giftwrapped at the end- I know a lot of readers need a clear, concise ending and Break the Glass offered exactly that.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC

Scandal at a university best kinda book! This focuses on the athletics department and corruption within, It is told from multiple points of view and gives the giving the reader a look into the problem, Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to review. Story was well written..

This kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through! I highly recommend this to any thriller book clubs out there 5 stars!

Scandal at a university! Unlike most in this genre, this focuses on the athletics department and corruption within, I'd told from multiple points of view, giving the reader a peek into different aspects of the problem, Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Good storytelling.

A tale of scandal and corruption on a college campus and four women who are caught in its intricate web. Each chapter alternates viewpoints and you're never quite sure who will be implicated next, from the athletic department to English professors. Fiction with a focus on sports isn't my usual genre, but this kept me reading!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Olivia Swindler's newest novel, Break the Glass. When Norah is promoted to athletic director after her predecessor is involved in a financial scandal, her life immediately changes in more ways than she had imagined. As more and more faculty members are found to be involved in illegal and immoral wrongdoing -all under the pretense of advancing the athletic department- Norah is faced with professional and personal decisions that will impact everyone around her.

Break the Glass is filled with strong, memorable female characters. It offers an original, honest look at an industry that has long been male dominated and often driven by corruption.

The author has an interesting motivation behind her writing: “she believes that through fiction we can grow and learn from one another, and hopes to create and foster hard, real-life conversations with her novels.”

Break the Glass certainly reflects that intention. This novel explores not only the imbalanced priorities of academics versus athletics in a university setting, but also the extreme attitudes towards women’s involvement in sports administration. I have no personal experience/knowledge of this bias, but the author has worked in a university athletic ticket office so there is an air of authenticity to the storyline. However, the emphasis on the above-referenced attitudes throughout the book began to bog down the pacing. It was not until the last few chapters that I felt fully engaged with the characters and the resolution of issues. I was a bit troubled by the ethics of one character who turned over evidence but neglected to mention her ill-gotten financial windfall.

Overall, this is an interesting exploration of a university scandal related to a corrupt, charismatic Athletic Director. The extent of the scandal revealed an alliance that resulted in the manipulation and exploitation of student athletes, faculty, staff, donors, and even family members. At the heart of the storyline is the promotion of a woman whose dream to be a legitimate Athletic Director is a bit tainted by her promotion through the dismissal of her predecessor and her need to prove herself deserving of the role.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

This was fine - i read it quick, and enjoyed the journey, but I just cant figure out what didn't work for me exactly. I just wasn't gripped thrilled or shocked

I really enjoyed all the drama in this one. I went into it without knowing much on it. I loved all the strong women in sports and I'm not even a big sports fan. The pacing was a little off, I guess like some books it hit a lull around the middle, but I was sucked in during the last 20%. That's when the book really got good and i couldn't put it down. Definitely a unique drama-filled book with a never been done before plot.

I really enjoyed this book! I worked in higher ed in my early career, and this was a great picture of the realities of a major athletic institution and balancing academics with that. I also really appreciated the diverse dynamics highlighted by the 4 women who were profiled in the novel. While it wasn't necessarily a thriller, a few of the revelations did surprise me, which made the read fun! There was a really nice quiet camaraderie amongst the women in the book without being too "rah-rah" about women sticking it to men. The small-town nature of it felt a little "Gilmore Girls," the academia angle seemed authentic, and I appreciate that the major scandal didn't cause violence or physical harm or trauma to many more people than those who suffered consequences for their behaviors -- not necessarily the crisis I expected when picking up the book.

3.5/5 stars, rounded down.

"Break the Glass' is a book about a college athletics scandal that seems like a kissing cousin to some that we have heard of in 'real life'. The author added the component of having the main character being a female Athletic Director; and the character being a female in a traditionally male-dominated career was certainly highlighted in the story. The story alternates viewpoints of multiple characters; all female, and all impacted by the scandal in some way.

I found the 'female Athletic Director in a male-dominated position' overly emphasized. While it was certainly important and an interesting viewpoint that we don't normally see; that particular theme was very emphasized and clearly drawn attention to - I found it a bit 'in your face', instead of being done more subtly and letting the reader notice this and related to it in their own way.

I frequently read fiction with multiple alternating viewpoints; but for some reason did have a hard time at times remembering which character was which, and how they were all connected.

Overall, this book was good, I was interested in how it resolved; but it wasn't one that I would likely recommend to people as a 'must-read'.

When a small-town’s Athletic Department is rocked by bribery and a money laundering scandal, four women will find themselves caught in the middle of a an NCAA investigation.

Lauren is the wife of the disgraced “Politician” disguised as the university athletic director. To keep their marriage intact, she’s cleaned up his messes before, but she didn’t anticipate this one.

Nora is the director’s interim replacement, trying to prove that she has earned this job and that she isn’t just a Title IX hire. It will be hard to fill her predecessor’s shoes-he was charismatic, and the media and Donors loved him.

Anne was hired as the latest “Intern” for the University, and she didn’t take the position because she was a sports fan, so she had no idea what she would be walking into on her first day on the job.

And there’s Alexis, an English professor with a secret. Was she one of the people who Sal convinced to “help” the athletes pass their courses?

I love football so, I was initially intrigued by the inside look at the Politics involved “behind the scenes” of a University Football program, but the secrets took too long to be revealed, and I started to lose interest.

However, as the investigation unfolded, it was GREAT to see these strong, fierce women SUPPORTING one another, instead of turning on each other, as the SECRETS came out!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down

Available December 5, 2023

Thank You to Lake Union Publishing for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review.

This is an example of the type of academia books I can devour. I liked Swindler's a lot. The characters were strong and interesting and the scandal was as well! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars!

I couldn't relate to the context of a US university or football. I did find it easier to relate to the women and witnessing how each one dealt with the struggles and scandals that came their way.

In a small town, where the athletes are king, a scandal involving the Athletics Director of the University has unexpected knock-on effects in the lives of a number of individuals living there. This book is about four women who find themselves at the centre of things.

One of them, as might be expected, is Nora, the second in command to the disgraced athletics director, Sal Higgins - viewed quite unfairly by many as simply a diversity hire, and treated accordingly, she is now under the microscope in way that Sal never was.

Nora's new assistant, Anne, is also uncomfortable in her newly-acquired role, not least because she was hired by Sal, and has very little interest in athletics. Anne had applied for the job simply because she was desperate to get an internship in order to complete her degree, and she hadn't bargained on finding herself in the midst of a media shitstorm on a subject on which she is far from an expert.

Alexis is an English professor, who wants to stay out of the spotlight for her own reasons. Though thanks to Sal's shenanigans, that may now be out of the question. And finally, there is Lauren, Sal's long-suffering wife, who has made all kinds of compromises in the past, order to salvage her marriage, but now finds that there is very little left to save...

The story is told from their four points of view, and is the richer for it. The characters are well-drawn, and their situations are interconnected but clearly differentiated. The author's emotional investment in the issues is palpable, and as campus politics interact with social mores and double standards, the four women will discover what they are made of in the ensuing fallout. Worth a read.

Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the eARC.
Unlike other reviewers I never went to University in the US and have never been to a football game or even seen one. My husband watches them while I watch Netflix on my Kindle!
But I was curious about the book and wanted to read what is so addictive about the game. Unfortunately I found myself bored and not caring about either the characters or the university politics and the over-abundant comments about sexism. Sorry!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!

There were a lot of positives to this book that I greatly enjoyed. The pacing was good and the perspectives switching gave a good amount of different views on the actions in the novel. The authors passion for the subject matter was clear and it’s a great second book that makes me also want to read her first one. I love that she took her first person experience and turned it into an awesome quick read that focused on strong female characters and different pictures of strength in the sports world.

I think there are a few things that will come with more experience, primarily in more character and sentence structure variety as well as perhaps a less clean ending (more mimicry of real life, less neat little bow at the end), but honestly these things didn’t bother me much because it was a quick read within a world I didn’t know much about which made it interesting.

Looking forward to see what else this author puts out! :)