A League of Her Own
By Karen Rock
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 1 December, 2014
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars
Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book for review from Harlequin and the author. I was not compensated nor was I required to
write a positive review. The opinions I
have expressed are my own. I am posting
this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising".
Blurb:
He was attractive, talented…and way off limits.
Heather Gadway may have been a world-class college pitcher and a top university coach, but she's a rank amateur when it comes to managing the Falcons, her father's struggling minor league team. And when it comes to managing her aggravating attraction to Garrett Wolf, their talented new pitcher. It's going to be difficult enough to make it as the first female manager in the league and prove to her overly critical father she's worthy. No distractions. No missteps. And certainly no romances with players. Everything stands between them—including their troubled pasts—even as Heather's world falls apart and Garrett's the one who's there to catch her…
You can find A League of Her Own on Goodreads.
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Excerpt:
Garrett’s grumbling teammates filed out of the pre-game meeting, followed by the coaches and Heather’s father. Garrett, however, remained in his seat, watching the lithe young woman as she stood by the door.
At last she turned to him.
“We meet again. Garrett, right?”
He stood and strode to the door. When he stopped,
her eyes widened, caution swimming in their depths.
“You mentioned having individual meetings,” he
said, keeping his voice even, hiding the irritation shimmering through him. “I
thought we’d have ours now.”
She blinked up at him, and her lips moved. Though
he strained to hear, he couldn’t make out what she’d said.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
A bright pink suffused her cheeks, and he forced
himself not to notice how pretty the color made her.
“I said that I haven’t finished my notes for you
yet. I’ll watch you pitch tomorrow. We’ll meet after that.”
He had to give it to her. Soft-spoken or not, she
had a direct way about her. He didn’t doubt that she could lead…just not
professional baseball players. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m
requesting to be released from my contract. This isn’t the right place for me
to advance in my career.”
Her mobile face stilled. “And why would that be?”
“Look, I’ll be blunt.” He tapped his fingers on
the sides of his legs. “This team isn’t hustling, and it’ll be a long time
before they come around to supporting you. Things will get worse instead of
better. I have a limited window of opportunity to advance. Given these factors,
my bottom-line pitching won’t look good with a losing team behind me. I’d like
to help you, but selfishly, this is my last shot.”
A speculative gleam entered her eyes. “So you’re
asking to be released because you think I can’t help you reach your goals.”
A long breath rushed out of him. She was going to
be reasonable. “That’d be great. Thank you.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You’re wrong, and I’ll be
as frank with you as you were with me.”
His relief turned to irritation. So she wasn’t
going to make this easy. He held his tongue and waited to hear her out.
“I think you’re overvaluing yourself.” She nodded
when his mouth dropped open. Guys talked this way to each other. Not women…especially
not pretty women…to him.
“Your control isn’t where it should be, and if
that's not addressed, you'll also be another reason why this team isn’t doing
well. But you have potential, and I can help you.”
“Right,” he scoffed. What could a softball pitcher
do for him? “No offense, but I need someone with more experience.”
She tapped her chin and angled her head, her eyes
flashing up at him. “If I can change your mind about that, will you drop your
request and give me your support and a hundred percent effort?”
He held in a laugh. Was she for real? There wasn’t
a chance she could change his decision. “What do you have in mind?”
She stepped closer, and her subtle citrus scent
curled beneath his nose.
“A contest. If I get more strikes out of twenty
pitches than you do, you stay. If you have more, then I’ll release you.”
He stared at her. Processing. She couldn’t be
serious. Sure, he had control issues, but he was still better than a
college-level player. She was making this easy. But if she was foolish enough
to offer him this out, he’d take it.
They eyed each other for a long, tense moment
before he jerked his chin at her.
“You’re on.”
My Thoughts:
Heather Gadway’s family lives for baseball. Garrett Wolf is a pitcher with personal
issues. How we handle those issues is one
of the themes in this book. Heather
shows how frustrating it can be dealing with an older parent. Sometimes our parents lose their “filters”
and may say or do things that seem hurtful to their children. It also shows that you will never be able to figure
them out – they will always surprise you.
Just don’t let your parents stop you from your dreams.
You’ll
find that either this author is a fan of baseball or she’s done a lot of
research. If you like books with a
sports theme then this book is one to have at the top of your list. And the author shows that you don’t need to
have sex in the story to have a book that will hold the reader’s
attention. It also makes you wonder
which is harder to write, a story with or with out sex scenes. This is the second of her books that I have
read and I’m looking forward to reading more.
She
has a way of getting her readers to be able to relate to what her characters
are going through. You get to care what
is going on with them and that by the time you get to the end you want to know
that everything is going to turn out all right.
I stopped over to Karen’s web site to see what she’s got in store for us
next. The good news is, the title is A Forever Home and the bad news is that
we’ll have to wait for Spring. But just
think, that’s not all that far away since this year is almost over.
This
would be a great book to read during baseball season – to get you into the
mood. But if you follow some of the
clubs during Spring training, you could bring this book along. Maybe you have a friend that loves romances
that revolve around sports – one Christmas gift down. This is a story that you can’t go wrong with –
and there’s a young man that will steal the scenes he’s in as well as your
heart. One good thing about reading this
story during the Winter season is that it will have you looking forward to
Spring.
About the Author:
Karen Rock is an award-winning YA and adult contemporary romance author. She holds a master’s degree in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and her first novel for the line, WISH ME TOMORROW, has won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2014 Golden Quill Contest and a finalist in the Published Maggie Awards. The first novel in her co-authored YA series, CAMP BOYFRIEND, has been a finalist in the Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards.
You can find and connect with Karen here:
- Website
- Goodreads
- Tumblr
- Quarterly Newsletter
Giveaway:
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of A League of Her Own. These are the prizes you can win:
- a 100$ Amazon gift card (INT)
- a set of signed paperback of Wish Me Tomorrow, His Hometown Girl, Someone Like You and A League of Her Own (US only)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for this beautiful review, Lynn! I appreciate it so much :) Happy Holidays ahead ((HUGS))
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays to you and yours :)
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