Play You For It

“Samantha Saldivar has written a slam-dunk romance that had me cheering from the bleachers through every chapter. I fell in love with both of these determined, headstrong women fighting their way into male-dominated fields, driven by the magic of basketball. Play You For It is bound to be my favorite book of the year.”—Susie Dumond, author of Queerly Beloved“Saldivar’s lively plot is juicy and addictive, headlined by multifaceted heroines who command attention from the first page. The colorful characters on the basketball team add to the fun. Laden with both heat and heart, this sapphic sports romance is a winner.”—Publishers Weekly“[A] delightful debut novel… . Saldivar crafts very real-feeling characters, with fun dialogue and slow-burning chemistry in the high-stakes world of ambitious women. Perfect for fans of Ashley Herring Blake and sports romances in general; readers will love diving into the world of college basketball while rooting for the two leads to fall in love and somehow make it work.”—Booklist“Play You For It won me over right from the start with its richly layered characters, high-stakes drama, and riveting romantic tension. Author Samantha Saldivar is an award-winning broadcaster with a background in sports reporting. The world she builds around her characters and the problems they face feel remarkably real. By the end, I found myself cheering for the Bulldogs like I had courtside season tickets.”—Book Riot

Samantha Saldivar is a corporate broadcast producer who has previously worked at the NBC affiliates KGW in Portland and KMTR in Eugene, where she won a regional Emmy Award for Best Evening Newscast. During her time studying at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, she reported on college sports for campus television and interned at the now-defunct Comcast Sportsnet Northwest. She lives in Portland with her wife.