Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. You know those feel good sports movies where you are rooting for the honorable underdog team & they finally win & you’re like YES, YOU DID IT, LOOK AT YOU GO!?! That’s how I felt reading The Prospects by KT Hoffman, with the added loveliness of rooting for one player extra hard, a trans hero named Gene who’s loved baseball for years & is shining on his minor league team. An old college teammate is traded to Gene’s team & what is initially annoyance & frustration turns into deep friendship, understanding, affection, & love. This book has so many sweet moments & they had my heart singing. Gene & Luis show so much care for each other—I had every sense that they completely had each others’ backs whether it came to the team they played on or in non-sports life. With anxiety rep, trans rep (including a scene where Gene injects himself with testosterone), strong friendships, & about a thousand other things I love, The Prospects is truly a stellar mix of hug-in-a-book-emotionality meets joie de vivre! 5⭐️. Out 04/09. CW: please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
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Last: Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann: you know that ghost stories make me weak in the knees, so I was really excited by this title. What worked for me is a self-assured heroine who shines on the page, some really thoughtful conversations between the hero and heroine about the heroine’s asexuality, and the overall interesting premise. But unfortunately, the book seemed to lag in spots and just felt a bit convoluted. I missed a sense of joy. In the end, I wanted to love this one but sadly I just didn’t. 3 ⭐️️. Out 05/21. (Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.)
Now:The Prospects by KT Hoffman. I am absolutely loving this queer baseball romance. I kid you not, at 5% I was already messaging someone telling them they needed to read this book. I am about 75% in now and I know this is going to be a five-star read. Out 04/09. (Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.) Next:Maybe Emma R. Alban’s Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, maybe Kate Clayborn’s The Other Side of Disappearing. I’m honestly not sure. Have you read any of these books or any on your TBR? Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and @harlequinpublicityteam @harlequinbooks for the complimentary galley. All opinions provided are my own.How much of this book did I read with a smile on my face? Impossible to know but Time to Shine by Rachel Reid is *adorable* (asterisks for emphasis) & I highly recommend it when you want an extra dose of sweet sweet sunshine. Like the Game Changers series, TTS features pro hockey players but this one has an added layer of suspense bc goalie Landon is temporarily filling in on other lead’s Casey team. The professional stakes for him are huge & it really ramps up the romantic and emotional tension too. Moving from a roommates to friends to lovers arc, this romance is sweet & soft like advertised in the first paragraph, with a golden retriever & terse hero pairing that really got to my heart. In a change from hockey romances I’ve read before, the team Landon joins is aware and accepting of Casey’s bisexuality & various team members pop in & even encourage them (however indirectly) on their romantic journey. Time to Shine is a feel good book that pleases on so many levels: sports romance, friends to lovers, pro therapy, great communication between leads. Give it a try & then come shout about it my DMs! 4.5⭐️. Out 09/26.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Dislike(-ish) to friendship (& a small moment of more) to dislike(-ish) to love. So many parentheses, but to me KD Casey’s writing is filled with nuance & subtlety & feelings that aren’t always straightforward, especially when our leads don’t communicate with each other for YEARS even though we all know they belong together (second chance mini emotional explosion over ;)). Ok so I am still working through my emotions about KD Casey’s upcoming book, Diamond Ring, out tomorrow. But in short, KD Casey is one of my favorite writers & this book is amazing & 5 ️stars, & I want you to read it . Alex Angelides & Jake Fischer both make the same Majors team at the same time. In the beginning, Jake is the player to watch, the golden pitcher. That season, Alex & Jake’s friendship grows & before the end, they’ve become intimate in another way. But after Jake has a career-sidelining injury, he & Alex start imploding, & the best friends turned lovers aren’t communicating anymore. In the current storyline, they’re reunited on the same team with their baseball career expectations changed & all the memories of the past they keep holding onto. Anxiety & depression rep are a big part of this novel & it’s emotionally affecting & inspiring to see a lead who not only uses therapy & meds as resources (& talks about them) but also shares how he has difficulty orgasming as a result of taking them. I love how Alex & Jake’s sexual relationship plays out in the book & how pleasure, understanding, & patience is such a big part of their physical dynamic without those things being absolutely predicated on orgasms every single time they engage in intimacy. Besides that, there’s such a fun blip of anonymous date app texting, & the grumpy & the sunshine vibes are delish. This is such a great book & if you haven’t read KD Casey’s books yet please do so & then message me to discuss! 5⭐️. Out 04/11.CWs: Previous death of father. Reference to antiSemitism. Mother worried about Jake self-harming. Panic attack. Compulsive tidiness. Difficulty getting aroused.
Thanks to author KD Casey for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Baseball? In real life I don’t know ya 😆. But serve it to me in bookish romance form & I am one very excited person. KD Casey & Lauren Blakely have released another MM sports novella, Dirty Steal, & it offers a satisfying hookup ➡️ teammates ➡️roommates ➡️ lovers again arc. Derek Miller & Adam Chason are two baseball players who hook up one night, neither of them exactly looking for something permanent. Later, Adam is traded to Derek’s team & they unexpectedly become apartment-mates. Awkward forced proximity, anyone? 🤣 These leads have a sweet & winning love story with some steam thrown in. While I didn’t feel the zip, the zest, as much in this one as I loved in the first novella, this one too is sure to please so many of us looking for that lovely trifecta of sports + kissing + novella. 4⭐️. Out now![ID: an ebook sits on a wooden desk. To the upper left is two orange zinnias in a vase & a red prayer plant. Centered above is a woven brown pumpkin.]Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Cait Nary’s Contract Season started so hot you all, with a meeting of eyes across a wedding dance floor between a hunk of a singer named Seamus & a pro hockey player, Brody Kellerman, who’s a force on the ice. When they meet alone, the magnetism between them takes over, leaving me saying *oh my.* What follows is some fake dating & a sometimes awkward, stumbling way to a HEA between two people who just can’t get the other out of their head. Complicating everything is the fact that neither Brody nor Sea is out yet & both work in fields—hockey & country music—where to come out publicly would likely not draw a lot of a support. Where instead they might draw ridicule and homophobia, etc. Nary’s beautiful writing leaves such an emotional impact while reading. There were so many times I noticed how the author had phrased something & in general, it builds up the feelings between Brody & Sea so powerfully. The attraction between them feels electric to me & that’s because of how Nary writes. Another thing Nary does so well is explore both of the leads’s vulnerabilities both between them—in their relationship—& in the narrative itself. But I did wish for a little less back & forth in their relationship in general. As far as writing talent is concerned I’m such a fan of Cait Nary’s work & I’m hoping for a more straightforward conflict arc in the next one! 4.5⭐️. Out 09/06.CWs: Both leads are forcibly outed. Supposed Christians expose them. There’s some homophobia exhibited by Christians but also some support from other Christians. Moments of excessive drinking & recreational drug use.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Ahhh this book. If you haven’t read a KD Casey book you must! Please 🥺. KD Casey is rapidly becoming one of my fave writers & for me the author shares many of those characteristics I love so much about Kate Clayborn’s writing: they’re deceptively quiet-ish plot wise but they’re absolutely stunning stories with so many romantic, smaller moments that add up to huge incontrovertible proof that two people have found their person 🥺🥺🥺. Oh yeah, & there’s baseball 😅. In Fire Season Reid Giordano, a recovering alcoholic who’s trying to find his way back professionally to the pitching he was once capable of—is traded from the minors to the Oakland Elephants. There he meets Charlie Braxton, a star pitcher who’s known for not saying a lot & who’s keeping his impending divorce a secret. They become friends & eventually more in the midst of stresses like Reid possibly being temporary in Oakland, Charlie’s experiences with anxiety, & Reid’s continual work toward maintaining his sobriety. Despite the last paragraph the overall tone of Fire Season is of hope & growth & making deliberate choices to try to be better & stronger. I absolutely love this book & I think its romantic moments—like them dancing together in a kitchen—will live with me rent free. Please check this author out! & then come chat with me 😆. 5 ⭐️. Release date: 07/19.
Thanks to the author for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I think KD Casey’s One True Outcome is maybe the softest sports romance I’ve ever read? I already want to reread it because I feel like I didn’t fully appreciate how gentle it was going to be—I kept waiting for the romance demolition crew to swoop in toward the end and it just didn’t 😆. One True Outcome has a veteran / rookie pairing, both of whom are hoping this year will be their year & both facing their own challenges. When veteran Mack is asked to help give Jamie extra batting lessons they have a reason to spend more time together & the awareness of each is stoked to a cheer-inducing degree. I prefer steam in my romance & this one has that 🔥 but maybe more than that I’m looking for evidence of care. This book has that in spades as each lead reveals in ways big & small that their heart has been stolen (much like a base can be 🥁…that’s like the only baseball joke I can make). This is the third KD Casey book I’ve read & again, I’m a little enraptured by how striking the writing is & how lovely the romance. Read this book, read this author. I’m such a fan! 5 ⭐️. Release date: 03/25.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. When I say that Rachel Reid’s Role Model swept me off my feet... If you love > Redemption arcs > A too-handsome-to-be-believed + attractive-in-a-more-approachable-way kind of pairing > Grumpy & the sunshine (who is literally a former apple farmer!) > Ilya you must read this! Notice I didn’t mention the sports. You don’t have to love the sports to love this one . In Role Model, NHL hockey player Troy Barrett has just been traded to one of the worst teams: the Ottawa Centaurs. He’s gotten a lot of heat from his former team & fans, as well as hockey fans in general, for calling his former BFF & teammate a rapist after rape allegations were brought forward against him—& the moment was caught on video & leaked. Instead of rallying behind Troy, his team is supporting the alleged rapist, & Troy, who didn’t realize what his former BFF was allegedly doing but who was undeniably an asshole (& one of the homophobic variety), is left hanging in the wind. The social media manager of his new team, Harris Drover, is adorable, cheerful, & out—he’s nice to everyone, has an “average” physique compared to the ripped Troy, & an annoying loud laugh. Are you as in love as I am? First off, hats off to Reid for really going at how sports culture (specifically hockey in this book’s case) all too often supports the perpetrators of assault & not the alleged victims. There are some people in this book, like Troy & members of his new team, who are very much supporters of the latter, but Reid makes it clear that there are a lot of hockey fans & admins who would rather support the money-making, spectacle of the game than the alleged victims. Second, I adore this lead pairing. Troy tries so hard to be a better person & he has a lot of bad behavior he has to reckon with—not to mention the fact that he’s currently in the closet & not sure how to come out/if he wants to. & he’s drawn to Harris, who likes everyone & wears Pride pins on his jacket. I love how Troy’s reserve meets Harris’s zest & crumbles a little under its charm each day. Third, this book is so funny (cake pops 🤣) & came at me with so much heart. Highly recommend this one for major feels. 4.5 ⭐️. Release date: 08/10✨Q: how soon do you write reviews after you’ve finished a book? 🌿 I take notes as I read & usually write the review a week or so later. I’ve seen so much buzz surrounding Rachel Reid’s enemies to lovers Heated Rivalry that when I had the opportunity to request her latest release I snapped that puppy up. Common Goal is an age gap romance between an NHL goalie who wants to explore his long-held but never acted upon attraction to men & a younger bartender whose heart is currently preoccupied with having big feelings for a soon-to-be married man. Eric Bennett, aforementioned goalie, is 40, divorced, & immediately captivated by Kyle Swift, bartender. But Kyle Swift sees the wedding ring Eric hasn’t taken off yet & is fully aware of how being attracted to older men has never worked out for him & decides to stay away. It turns into a “we’ll go to a bar together & I’ll be your wingman” situation for a little while but luckily for us, Eric & Kyle can’t resist their attraction for one another & kissing commences. Common Goal is super steamy & that made me 😄. What else did I love? How Eric & Kyle have compatible interests & actually talk about them. But they also miss a couple of communication opportunities that always seem so easy to me (TELL HIM, the oversharer in me inwardly screams. My life philosophy = better to make someone feel awkward w/ oversharing rather than seem emotionally unavailable 🤣🤣.) My biggest squabble with Common Goal however is that the resolution feels really rushed. This was a 3.5⭐️ read for me. There are some things about the plot that I didn’t jump up & down for but I’m really excited to dive into Rachel Reid’s catalog. What I liked about her writing I really liked. Common Goal is out 09/21. Thanks to Netgalley & Carina Press for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. |
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