Book Review: ‘Pickle Perfect: A Novel’ By Ilana Long

by | Oct 5, 2025 | Books | 0 comments


The book is in stores on Tuesday, October 28th from Berkley. Click on the link to buy a copy. https://amzn.to/4mA6wuN

Lulu and Tyler were an item 15 years ago, until he broke her heart. Now, today she is a teacher and the mother of a 3-year-old little girl, Zoe. She gets in trouble at work, she is suspended, when she accidentally sends out a video of herself cursing at her students. Her Aunt Laverne and Uncle Rooster are going on a vacation to Costa Rica, for a pickeball vacation, and the two go with her. Lulu, who used to be a tennis sensation, isn’t a pickle ball player, but learns it quickly. Then she sees him, Tyler, who has been hired as a pro for this adventure, after getting in trouble on the professional pickleball tour. Lulu is offered the chance to go on a pickleball adventure through the country, she accepts, even though she will have to be near Tyler. The two of them talk and get to know each other again, and old feelings resurface. Lulu has to decide if she’s willing to let herself feel for him again, and when she learns the shocking truth of what happened fifteen years ago, it changes everything. This is the follow-up to last her book last year, Pickleballers (which you should read), and it’s another good rom-com. Following them on this adventure through the jungles, through zipliners, and monkey stealing nuts is a hoot. The chemistry between the two is off the pages, and you root for them to be together.