AvoleenWrites

In this post I will be sharing a book review on my favourite summer romance read of 2025. The title of the book is called Let The Games Begin and it was written by Rufaro Faith Mazarura. She is a British Zimbabwean writer and this is her debut novel. 

Book summary

This book is about family, love, joy, grief, friendship, having the audacity, dreaming big and of course, romance. It’s told from the perspective of two individuals namely Ezekiel Moyo (Zeke) and Olivia Nkomo. It follows the journey how their worlds collide, literally and figuratively, at the fictionalized 2024 Olympics set in Athens, Greece. Zeke, is a promising athlete competing for Great Britain (Team GB)  in the 100m race and their only hope for a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. Despite his fame and good-looks, Zeke is a down-to-earth guy who is only trying to make his family proud. He especially feels the weight of achieving his dreams because of his late father whom he looked up to and unfortunately lost when he was 14. 

Olivia Nkomo is a high-achiever, goal-getter girl who comes from a modest background and is try to make her parents proud, as she is an only child. Her goal is to secure a summer internship at the 2024 Summer Olympics so that she could eventually fulfill her dream of working at a prestigious company. Having secured her dream internship at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Olivia is ready for the summer of a lifetime. Little does she know that her summer will be memorable but not for the reasons she thinks. 

My thoughts on the book

Having this book set during the Olympics was such a refreshing take on a summer romance book. You don’t need to know anything about the Olympics to read this book. The focus of the book was on the two main characters, Olivia and Zeke. I found myself at different parts of the book laughing and crying with them. Laughing because Olivia, being so ambitious and goal-oriented and having her whole life planned out that she didn’t factor in that life could take you in a completely different direction. There were so many powerful themes I saw as I followed Olivia’s and Zeke’s journey. Themes of love, friendship, humour, mental health, grief, hope and courage were all gracefully touched upon in this novel.

From Zeke I cried with him as he struggled with grieving his father. To be so talented and having the weight of not only your own hopes and dreams but also the pain of losing someone so close to him. The author did a great job at highlighting the grief that comes with losing a parent too soon and how that grief never really goes away. I laughed with Zeke as he tried to navigate his love life while being in the public eye. As he and his teammates stayed up past curfew partying all night because that’s what you do when you are at that age. 

Overall the book was fun, easy to read and follow along. The characters were likeable and human.  If you are looking for a fun romance book to read to end your summer this is the book to read! I look forward to reading more books from this author because this a great debut novel!