Review: "Be My Endgame" by Zarah Detand

Be My Endgame by Zarah Detand
Published June 2026 via Storm Publishing
★★★★

Alex is thrilled to be named to England's World Cup team—even if his excitement is dampened somewhat by knowing that he'll be playing alongside Lee, with whom he's had something of a (dare I say it?) heated rivalry for years. But it turns out that they have a spark on the field, and perhaps off it too...

I read Detand's Operation Boyfriend not so long ago, and it was on the strength of that that I read Be My Endgame. I'm pretty picky about m/m romance (not least because I prefer f/f!); Operation Boyfriend worked for me for the hook, but also because the characters spend so much time actually getting to know each other before they fall into bed, and although they have their dummy-dumb-dumb moments (as do we all), they're mostly adults who remember to talk things out before jumping to conclusions.

And here we have the same: Alex and Lee have unresolved history, and early on in the book they don't really know how to meet each other in the middle. But because they're both, ultimately, determined not to let their personal issues get in the way of their jobs, they work it out. This sounds like such a small thing! Yet I've read so much romance (m/m, m/f, f/f) in which that's not a given or in which misunderstandings spin out over chapters. It's really lovely to see these two ready and willing, from early on, to work through their differences...and then become friends before anything, erm, saucy happens. (I also love that there are a few things that would have been easy conflicts or catalysts—but that have already been done to death—that are quietly passed over here in favor of more complex conflicts.)

I will note that the names Alex and Lee are both generic and similarly short, and it took longer than I would have liked to differentiate between them. I think they may have been secondary characters in Detand's earlier books (which would make it difficult to change their names for this one!), but I suppose I could have used a bit more distinction between voices to combat that.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to look for a copy of Wear It Like a Crown...

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.