★One on One. Jamie Harrow. Dutton. Sept. 2024. 400p. ISBN 9780593474822. pap. $18. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

DEBUT Annie Radford returns to her alma mater to once again work for the Ardwyn basketball team that she thought she had left behind. Upon running into one of her former colleagues, Ben Callahan, she is shocked to find that he gives her a frosty reception. Ben has never gotten over Annie quitting her job as the basketball team’s student manager during their senior year, but he doesn’t know the entire story. Ben and Annie start anew with a lot of friction, and they’re both fighting for their jobs, as there are rumored budget cuts coming to the athletic department. Nothing short of a miracle during the team’s March Madness run will keep them both employed. Annie and Ben start to mend fences from the past and soon discover there is a chemistry between them that cannot be ignored. But as their team progresses through the tournament, the events that initially drove Annie to leave Ardwyn resurface, and she must confront difficult things from her past, knowing that they could affect Ben’s future. VERDICT Harrow’s breathtaking debut delves deep into the raw emotions of grief and the pure beauty of rediscovering joy in an exquisite tale of second chances, featuring an enemies-to-lovers romance.