We chat with debut author Jamie Harrow about One On One, which is a workplace, enemies-to-lovers debut for anyone yearning for a courtside romance, perfect for anyone who can’t get enough sports rom-coms.
Hi, Jamie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’d love to! I live at the Jersey Shore with my family, which includes a goofy dog that loves to give full-body hugs. I’m happiest when I’m within a few miles of the ocean. I’ve spent much of my life around sports and I still love them, but I also love doing a jigsaw puzzle in front of the TV. One on One is my debut novel, and it’s out September 24.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
As a kid, I was always off in a corner reading. My mom used to take me to the mall and I would sit under a rack of clothes at Macys, lost in a book. I wrote newsletters for my family Christmas party every year, interviewing my cousins about what extracurricular activities they were involved in at school and probably annoying everyone. In college, I wrote a sports column for my school paper. I wanted to be a sports reporter after graduation, but I had a hard time finding a job, so I panicked and went to law school instead. I focused on that for a while but came back to writing a few years ago.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. It’s probably the first one I remember because it was so terrifying.
- The one that made you want to become an author: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
Your debut novel, One on One, is out September 24th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Ahh!! (Please don’t count that as a word.) Let’s go with: swoony, hopeful, thrilling, sincere, messy!
What can readers expect?
In One on One, you’ll get a sporty setting, since Annie and Ben work for the Ardwyn University basketball team. The team has been mediocre for years, and if they don’t step it up this season and win a championship, budget cuts are coming and Annie and Ben’s jobs are at stake. There are some hold-your-breath sports moments and a fun ensemble cast of players and coaches.
The romance itself is a rivals-to-friends-to-lovers story. Annie and Ben are not students, but they both graduated from the university eight years ago and worked together back then, although their lives have taken them in different directions until recently. Their relationship is playful and competitive but also full of emotional depth and loaded with their (non-romantic, until now) history. The book also explores grief and workplace sexual misconduct.
Where did the inspiration for One on One come from?
I’ve spent much of my life around sports, so it felt natural to use it as the setting for my first novel! My dad was a basketball coach when I was younger, and I played a few different sports. We spent a lot of time as a family watching college and pro-am games. That’s how I became interested in sports journalism. I even interned at Sports Illustrated in my early twenties. When I started to think about writing a book, it had been years since I had been a writer. I think that led me to the dynamic between Annie and Ben, where she’s been away from the game for years but he’s worked in sports the whole time, and a lot of the friction between them stems from that.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
So many! One fun thing about a sports book is that there’s plenty of opportunity to let the supporting characters shine. I loved fleshing out the personalities of everyone involved with the team and trying to make them feel real and distinct without taking away from the main story. I also have a soft spot for Annie’s mother, who’s constantly (though lovingly) ridiculed by Annie and her sister for trying to bond with them over personality tests and offering to drive them places so they don’t have to take public transportation.
There’s also a side plot involving a weekly watch party for a reality TV dating competition show, which I loved writing. The characters play a game that no one fully understands, where they make predictions and earn points. I had a great time inventing that and using it to create moments of trash talk between Annie and Ben that actually ended up defusing the tension between them and allowing them to connect on a more sincere level.
Whilst being a romance, One on One explores deeper themes such as workplace sexual misconduct, grief, and second chances. How do you find the balance in weaving these themes into the story?
There are so many moments in life when we feel multiple emotions at the same time, even when it doesn’t seem like they make sense together. Like how we often find humor when something horrible happens, cracking jokes to cope with it. That’s why I always try to blend serious themes with romance and humor, because that’s what feels real. Life is sad and funny, full of hope and full of struggle, all at once.
In One on One, everything is connected through basketball. Basketball reminds Annie of her grief over losing her father and gives her a way to honor his memory; it forces her to revisit what she survived as a college student and helps her reckon with those things; and it’s both the source of conflict between her and Ben and the thing that bonds them.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
I always wanted to be a writer, but honestly, I’m a risk-averse person. I pursued another career with a clearer path to stability for many years. Then, during the early part of the pandemic, I read a lot of romance and decided it was time to give it a try again. I realized if I kept waiting for the ideal time, it would never come, so why not just go for it and see what happened? I worked on One on One on and off for about two years before querying, finding an agent, and taking the manuscript out on submission. I used to think that because I stopped writing, I could never go back to it, but of course that’s not true.
What’s next for you?
I’m looking forward to celebrating the launch of One on One with my family and friends! I’m also working on my second book. It’s got a really delicious love story involving new characters I can’t wait to share with the world. The story is so much fun, and I had the best time writing it. It doesn’t involve a sport, exactly, but it involves something pretty close to a sport. More on that soon!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
How much time do you have? Recently, I loved Melanie Sweeney’s Take Me Home, Holly Gramazio’s The Husbands, and Alison Espach’s The Wedding People. I just finished Amy Buchanan’s January 2025 release, Let’s Call a Truce, and it was a complete delight. Right now, I’m reading Naina Kumar’s Flirting with Disaster, which is incredible, and I can’t wait for Beth O’Leary’s Swept Away, Myah Ariel’s No Ordinary Love, Heather McBreen’s Wedding Dashers, and Katie Naymon’s You Between the Lines. My TBR keeps growing exponentially!
