I don’t listen to music while I’m writing, but I always have a few songs I listen to just before I start. This helps me get in the right mindset and immerse myself in the story. Here are a few of the songs I’ll always associate with ONE ON ONE.
My Tears Ricochet, Taylor Swift
At the beginning of ONE ON ONE, the narrator, Annie, returns to Ardwyn University eight years after graduating to work for the school’s basketball team. It’s a place she used to love but swore she’d never return to, and it’s where she made her best and worst memories. My favorite lyric in this song is, “I can go anywhere I want / Anywhere I want, just not home.” It’s interesting because she’s saying she can’t go back to this place, but it’s still important enough to her that she considers it her home. This reminds me of Annie’s complicated feelings about Ardwyn and her love interest, Ben.
Maybe Don’t (feat. JP Saxe), Maisie Peters
When Annie and Ben move from rivals to lovers, she tries to keep the relationship from getting too serious because she’s afraid. This song captures what it feels like to be in a new relationship that’s so good it’s scary. I love that it’s a duet and his response to her fears is so steady and reasonable. I love when he says, “I’m hoping I could get a word with your expectations / Cause they don’t seem to be based on you and me.” It’s a great way to describe someone letting fear win out over reality.
Praying, Kesha
ONE ON ONE is a fun romcom, but it has deeper themes too, one of which is sexual harassment in the workplace. This song is a beautiful, cathartic expression of the emotion that can follow when someone survives an experience like that. One thing I love in particular is that it feels like she’s expressing all of that emotion so she can move forward and leave her abuser to reckon with what happened.
Champion, Bishop Briggs
I had to include at least one sporty song on this list! I was tempted to pick something from Jock Jams, but I decided to go with a more recent song. This one is a great song for underdogs, like the basketball team in the book, which hasn’t been successful in years and desperately needs to win a championship. There are some exciting in-game moments in ONE ON ONE, and I can imagine this song playing over one of the team’s highlight reels.
End of Time, Beyoncé
There’s something so triumphant and joyful about this song. It’s perfect for two characters who’ve overcome difficulties to find love—and also just won a big shiny trophy! One of the best lines is, “I’ll be your friend / I will love you so deeply.” As Annie and Ben’s rivalry begins to thaw, they develop a solid friendship before things turn romantic. I love that Beyoncé acknowledges the importance of friendship as a foundation for a relationship.
They call it March Madness for a reason: Anything can happen on the way to a national championship.
Eight years after graduation, Annie Radford is not happy to be back at her alma mater in her old job with the Ardwyn Tigers’ basketball team. Worse, her coworker from back in college, Ben Callahan, is still on the Tigers staff, and he’s annoyingly wholesome, hot, and clinging to a grudge against Annie for abandoning him and the team their senior year.
But as Ardwyn becomes the season’s Cinderella Story, things start heating up between Annie and Ben, too. And while neither of them can deny this could be something special, Annie’s afraid to tell Ben the truth about why she left basketball—the thing she loves most—in the first place. She’ll have to learn to trust him if they have a shot at being together.
In addition to being funny, romantic, and sexy, One on One examines the pressure put on college athletes, challenges the sexism in the world of sports, and exposes the dangers in whole communities idolizing the big men on campus.
For readers of The Hating Game and The Ex Talk, a workplace, enemies-to-lovers debut for anyone yearning for a courtside romance, perfect for anyone who can’t get enough sports rom-coms.
Women's Fiction Friendship [Dutton, On Sale: September 24, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593474822 / eISBN: 9780593474839]
Jamie Harrow is a writer of romantic comedies. Her debut novel, One on One, will be published by Dutton/Penguin Random House (US) and Quercus (UK) on September 24, 2024.
Jamie grew up on the sidelines of a basketball court and wrote a sports column for The Villanovan, the student paper at her basketball-obsessed college. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and lives in New Jersey with her family.
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