Let the Games Begin was such a breath of fresh air for me. I absolutely loved this one, it was a fun and light-hearted read, yet with serious elements of self-development from the main characters Olivia and Zeke.

A beautifully written romance focused in the Olympic village (such a cool story setting!). This was such a cute story and I really enjoyed reading about all the extra details of working in the Olympic village - it really felt like peering behind the curtain.

Highly recommend for a fun summer read.

Absolutely fantastic debut from Rufaro Faith Mazarura. Will be keeping my eyes out for her future releases.

I got this book from netgalley a long time ago but finally reviewing at 1am after crying in bed unable to stop reading.
there is a lot of miscommunication in this book but I can look past it.
great book, shows some grief and the impacts on mental health.

4/5 stars! First off; some of these reviewers are clearly harboring either blatant or internalized racism. POC characters are allowed to describe the way they have been effected by discrimination or judgement and their culture without it being "victim complex." Honestly; some people are so gross. Check your privilege and where your judgments are coming from first.

There was a lot to enjoy about this story. I think the representation was great and the setting of the Olympics was exciting. I was disappointed in the fact that the romance was largely closed door. It felt like maybe with some editing, this should have been marketed as a YA romance rather than adult. That said, for a debut novel by an own voices author, I enjoyed it.

Very cute premise (and great timing!). This was a very strong debut and I'm excited to see what else Rufaro puts out in the future. Big fan of the cover, too!

Let The Games Begin by Rufaro Mazarura is a captivating sports romance set against the high-stakes backdrop of the 2024 Athens Olympics. Zeke Moyo, a talented sprinter for Team GB, is determined to win the title of fastest man in the world, while Olivia Nkomo is navigating the pressures of a career-making internship. When their worlds collide—literally—on the first day of the Games, sparks fly, but personal and professional challenges threaten to derail their connection. Mazarura skillfully blends romance with the intensity of Olympic competition, exploring themes of ambition, love, and overcoming past traumas. This fast-paced, heartfelt story is a perfect read for fans of sports fiction and slow-burn romance.

I ended up going back to this book after seeing all the positive feedback on my Goodreads and booktok. This was a lovely story that had a great cast of characters. My only downside was that it didn’t feel like an adult romance but more of a YA novel.

This was very well-timed in its publication, and I certainly made a point of picking it up over the countless other books I have to read, in order to experience the true Olympic spirit while reading it. However, the story itself felt quite basic, and the breakup and miscommunication trope didn't feel very exciting to me.

Firstly this is such a fun concept for a book, i love when the Olympics comes around every 4 years so this was such a joy to read with this topic.
The chemistry was so cute, i would recommend this book to most people as there's something for everyone!

thank you so much netgallery for allowing me to read and review this book before it came out.

what a cute story that was. I love an empowered and driven female character, and it came out at the perfect time for the olympics. I had a great time reading it and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a cute romance with strong-headed characters!

a really sweet and cute black romance book, I'm looking forward to more from this author! Perfect for fans of sports romances and the olympics!

3.5 stars for me!

I enjoy this book however it did give me more YA vibes. Really enjoyed the romance throughout and really connected to the main female character, love that she was didn’t care about upsetting people and was just herself.

I had an amazing time reading this as I love the Olympic elements.

Overall. A really nice book to read.

Ezekiel “Zeke” is preparing to head off to Athens to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games. Poised to win gold with a silver medal and rally of fans behind him. Olivia is working an internship at the Olympics but after an unexpected clerical error she finds herself doing jobs she’s over qualified for.

I enjoyed this story and found myself excited over the setting of the Olympics. Olivia and Zeke were likeable characters who both worked really hard to go where they are. Their romance was cute and this is a great book if you want something easy and lighthearted. Aside from our main characters, the friendships between the other athletes felt genuine and it fun to spend time with them. The anxiety representation was well done and I like things I can relate to in books. The only thing I wish we got more of was the potential love triangle, I think it would have been interesting to explore.

Overall I would recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy to review.

Thank you for my earc of this book. I like the premise but unfortunately didn’t finish, I found the pace too slow and ended up bored

I love a sports romance and reading an Olympic romance whilst watching the Paris Olympics was absolutely dreamy!! I really enjoyed this book and it was a great debut novel. The setting was so fun and different to other sports romances that I’ve read.

I was a huge fan of the two main characters and loved how they came together. There was so much hope and joy in this novel, and a lot of heart too. The exploration of Zeke’s anxiety was handled so well and I loved how Olivia supported him with this. Olivia was such an amazing character as she was so determined to achieve her goals, but she also went on a journey of growth within the book.

I highly recommend this book and I’m grateful to @netgalley and @penguinukbooks for the e-arc.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

I had such high hopes for this book and I think I would’ve enjoyed the plot and the characters but I couldn’t get past the writing. It was constant ‘he said, ‘she said’ and it really bothered me.

I had to end at 10% because I felt like there was no emotions I could feel through the words just words on paper and I like to really get drawn in my the characters

Let the Games Begin follows a romance between Zeke Moyo, who is a top 100m sprinter competing for Team GB and Olivia Nkomo, who is starting an internship for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Athens. The book also explores themes of athlete's mental health, friendship, grief, race and identity and culture.

There were some aspects of this book that I enjoyed for example I liked the different dynamics which are explored between friends and family. I also thought that the side characters were very well developed and added a lot of depth to the story. As someone who was very invested in the Olympics this Summer, I liked all the details about the competitions and the Olympic Village. The pacing was spot on and I found that I was never bored whilst reading this book.

However, I found that the romance fell very flat for me. Due to the fortnight time span that the Olympics is set over, the romance was very rushed and I didn't really buy into it. I almost think that this book would have worked better if the romance element had been left out and instead it had been marketed as a character study of the two protagonists as I thought the way that the author described Zeke's grief over losing his dad was beautiful and I enjoyed the discussions around ambition vs enjoyment when it came to Olivia. I was slightly confused on why the author chose Athens rather than Paris to set the 2024 Olympics in, especially as Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 are mentioned.

Overall this was a fun read to enjoy whilst the Olympics were on however the romance didn't work for me.

The perfect read for a summer Olympic season, we see Zek and Olivia find love set against elite sports. This was such a fun time. As a massive Olympics fans I appreciated the setting, and really liked that the author clearly put a lot of thought into setting up the games and atmosphere. The growing tension towards the inevitable build up of race day really added to the drama, and was also the perfect setting to discuss social pressures and anxiety in athletes.

In terms of Zek and Olivia, I warmed more towards Zek who is facing all the pressures of the game, as well as the added pressures put on him by his family. He's a complex guy, and also really likeable and endearing as we see him struggle as an Olympian. His struggles with grief in particular also struck a cord, and we're dealt with by the author in a sensitive way. Olivia came across as slightly annoying at first. She's quite controlling, a bit if a perfectionist, but the more we read about her and her backstory, seeing the struggles and sacrifices she's had to make to find success, made me really warm to her. Thr chemistry between the two is great too.

Perfect summer read that feels wonderfully unique in sports romances.

Let The Games Begin is the debut romance novel from author Rufaro Faith Mazarura. Set against the backdrop of the 2024 Olympic Games – but a fictional version set in Athens rather than the Paris games we’ve just seen – this fun, flirty and fast-burn romance is the perfect summer read for 2024.

Olivia was a fiery, head-strong and determined FMC who I really want to be friends with. Zeke was a charming and funny MMC who I fell in love with very quickly. I liked the pairing of the two of them, especially the mild enemies-to-lovers plot and the fact that Zeke fell first and harder. They had good chemistry, great banter and I loved that they could both be their authentic selves with each other. The forced proximity chapters where they (mild spoiler alert) get trapped in a lift together were some of my favourites in the book. I would however have liked to have seen more interactions between the two of them to build their relationship further. They didn’t really spend that much time together on-page and this made it hard at times to fully root for their relationship.

Through Zeke’s character we have anxiety and panic attack representation and it was honestly one of the best portrayals of panic attacks in particular that I’ve ever read. As someone who has experienced panic attacks and anxiety for over fifteen years, this is a subject that is very close to me and it warms my heart when it’s represented well in fiction. I particularly liked the exploration of the physical effects of panic attacks; this was very powerful. Zeke also attends therapy throughout the book and although he’s reluctant about it at first, he opens up to the idea and the benefits of therapy over the course of the book. We love to see therapy representation within fiction, especially therapy-positive representation so this was a brilliant inclusion. It’s also really impactful to see mental health difficulties affecting all people, even athletes at the top of their game.

There is also a great cast of supporting characters. I loved both Aditi and Haruki who are Olivia and Zeke’s best friends respectively. Olivia and Aditi had a brilliant strong female friendship and were fiercely supportive of one another. Haruki was a total sweetheart who was also a brilliant friend to Zeke. We also have some good LGBTQIA+ rep through one of the characters. Whilst I won’t name them in this review to avoid spoilers, I will say that they are one of the athletes competing in the games. This was particularly impactful as it provided a commentary on the fact that, although the Paris 2024 Olympics has reportedly set a record for having the most athletes who are openly LGBTQIA+, we still have a long way to go in truly opening up the world of professional sport to the queer community. The book also explored the idea of privilege through the character of Lars, who truly made me physically angry every time he appeared.

I would say that this book does overall read as more of a YA novel than an adult romance. Although both protagonists were in their mid-twenties, they generally read as younger and I’d also say that the fact that this was a closed-door romance didn’t help with this. But this didn’t impact on my overall enjoyment of the novel at all, it’s just a note for any other potential readers.

Overall, Let The Games Begin is a fun and flirty romance which is an easy-read, perfect for a beach-read this summer. It’s a great debut from Rufaro Faith Mazarura and I can’t wait to see what comes next from her.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️ / 5 (Closed Door)

I have posted my review on my blog www.yourschloe.co.uk

*Thank you to NetGalley, Rufaro Faith Mazarura and Penguin.

Actual rating: 4,5
This book was so unique! I’m so happy I got an early copy. Slightly gutted that I didn’t read it sooner, but I think I was reading at the perfect moment. I’ve read many sports romances from different types of sports, and I always love them, especially because I love to see the effort and commitment put into being a professional athlete. So, imagine my delight when I saw this one set during the Olympic Games! I was immediately sold and bought a paperback copy. It made it much more special that while I was reading this book, I was watching the 2024 Olympic Games (this time in Paris instead of Athens). And I really liked the nod to the games being set in Greece.
I loved every bit about life in the Olympic Games, how it is to be an athlete during the Games, the focus, the life in the Village and at the same time, I loved to see how this exceptional athlete faces problems like us, normal humans. Zeke’s struggles with grief and internal conflicts between playing for Great Britain or Zimbabwe (his parents' homeland) were so refreshing and beautifully done. I’m always so into stories of immigrants or children of immigrants and how the feeling of belonging to a country or not is developed.
Olivia’s own story was also really nice, her ambition and her confidence were so great to see when so many times women face impostor syndrome, Olivia was the opposite and I loved it!
The only reason why I didn’t rate it 5 stars is that I wish I could have seen more of them in love. I liked how their relationship flourished, but I was expecting a bit more of them together and what the future holds for them. Even so, I was so connected with every single part of the story that it didn’t let me miss more romance that much.
Thanks to NetGalley UK and Penguin for sending me this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

As the Paris Olympics 2024 approaches, Let the Games Begin is a perfectly timed read for any romance and Olympics lovers or those who have no interest in sport whatsoever! In this novel the Olympics are hosted in historical Athens, Greece where athlete Zeke Moyo is going for gold once again and to become a record holder for his speed.
Olivia Nkomo is a hard working academic who’s landed a coveted internship for the Olympics! After using the last of her money to reach Athens, things start going awry immediately. It appears that her internship has gone to someone else and, now scared of disappointing not only herself but her immensely proud family, Olivia lands a different position: general go-between for any odd job that needs to keep the well oiled Olympics machine going smoothly.
After literally and figuratively colliding with one another, Zeke and Olivia keep meeting each other in different situations. Butting heads seems to be there go to move when they’re near each other.
This was a fun and exciting summer read perfect for this time of year. As well as being funny it includes great diversity and provides insight into the pressures children face from their parents when it comes to succeeding as an adult.
This was a fun read.