"Unwritten Rules" was absolutely lovely. I think it might be one of my first M/M sports romances ever, a baseball one at that, and it left me with a huge grin and a heavy heart. Not because it doesn't have a HEA (it does, I promise, one that brought tears to my eyes), but because it tackles some very important issues and it also kind of ends on a bittersweet, open-ended note, in some ways.
First things first, the story is told in third person, present tense: I'm not the biggest fan of this narrative style, because it always makes me feel like I'm reading something that is both relentless and hazy and dreamlike, and since I prefer books that are action-oriented, this style wouldn't work much for that kind of book, for me at least. But it does fit in here: there's hardly any action and it has a lot of introspection. K.D. Casey has a really unique and poetic storytelling style, and I really enjoyed it, preferences notwithstanding.
It is also told solely from Zach's point of you, our (closeted) protagonist, who's a professional baseball player with a hearing aid and a sweet, lovely disposition that will literally make you want to jump into the book to hug him. I really adored him: he was frustrating a times, but I really got where he was coming from, his insecurities and his worries about disappointing his family. And his relationship with Eugenio, a relationship that spans three years and a half and is chronicled through two time frames, past and present, was both magical and heartwrenching. I loved them together and even though I kind of wish we got a bit more of an epilogue at the end, I really enjoyed their story.
I must admit that I sometimes struggled to follow all the baseball things going on, the lingo was totally out of my league and I only pretended to understand what was actually going on on the field, but if you don't mind that and want a story about two people finding each other and themselves in the process, this is the book for you.

Slow Burn. Sexy. Emotional Time Bomb. Baseball. Page Turner.

This was a complete home run for me, everything just clicked. I loved the writing style, I fell hard for the characters and there was enough baseball magic to take the edge off of missing the sport (something I’ve played & watched since I could walk). Zach is a Jewish catcher who is hard of hearing in one ear and a closeted gay man. Cue Eugenio a catcher that Zach mentors and falls for. They date secretly then break horribly resulting in Eugenio moving to a different team when Zach can’t give him more.

For me, this story was an emotional time bomb due to the timeline layout. We start in the present at an All-Star game where Zach meets up with Eugenio 2 years post-breakup. We then spend a great deal of time ping-ponging between the past, watching them fall in love and the present, feeling Zach drown in remorse and longing. The story amps up to the inevitable heartbreak and then slams into the currently miserable and lonely Zach. It takes this meeting to make Zach realize how depressed he is and to light a fire in his gut to get back the things he loves, Eugenio, his passion for the game and his ability to be his true self.

I loved this book, the characters, the narration, how the story unwound, everything. However, the ending was too abrupt, I felt robbed, like a hug that’s too quick or a kiss cut off too soon. It needed a proper romance epilogue or even better a sequel or a bonus chapter at the very least. Please, give us something to keep that warm tingly feeling when the hero gets his happily ever after.

Special thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for sharing this digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

#NetGalley #UnwrittenRules

Holy moly I loved it! I’m not a baseball fan. In fact, my spouse has banned me from going to games at Fenway because tickets are too damn expensive for me to get bored and pull out my Kindle.

Still, I loved this story. And I found the baseball setting compelling because it was more than mere backdrop. I went down several rabbit holes of what pitch framing is, how bullpen norms have changed in the league over time, and why catchers are likely to become coaches. To be clear—you absolutely don’t have to have any idea what pitch framing is to appreciate the hotttttt teaching-tricky-professional-skill-as-reason-for-MCs-to-touch-each-other sequence. It’s just that Casey’s characters and setting are so good that she reset my longtime aversion to watching baseball and made me curious again.

The framing device, moving between the start of the relationship and present day…so skillfully executed!

What will stay with me the longest is the tone, set from the perspective of Zach, the main character, who feels deeply, but fundamentally doesn’t believe he can have the things he wants: love, intimacy, trust. Whereas Eugenio continually offers a refrain of gentle affirmation: Yes, it’s okay to say we’re together because we are together. Yes, it’s okay to hope for more because I want more. This deep emotion running throughout the book resonates with me; it’s like what I’ve felt with my spouse over the years. And the sex was v hot, but way closer to the hot sex I’ve had while married than, well, almost anything I’ve ever read ever.

I’m pretty straight, so I’m not equipped to comment on the authenticity of coming out narratives. I will say that I appreciated so much that here it wasn’t a once and done, HEA. It was a series of many conversations, with different risks and rewards, which required the support of a lot of people, a still ongoing process by the end of the book.

When I finished, I cried. I texted like 5 people to be like “pre-order this now; I’ll wait.” I immediately turned back to the beginning and began read it for a second time. And I even looked up tickets to see our minor league affiliate play.

This book was steamier than I expected and the writing was wonderful.

It is very baseball heavy, especially in the first 20%. I learned a lot about framing and tipping, even though I've been a baseball fan since I was very young!

The timeline switches back and forth from the present to three years prior. It was a little hard to keep track of sometimes. The POV is close 3rd and occasionally omniscient, which was a little unusual.

Both characters were interesting, and I wonder what it would have been like to be in their heads instead. It's certainly diverse - Zach is closeted, Jewish, and partially deaf. Euginio is Latinx and also closeted.

It's not an easy read, but it was beautiful.

I was sold in this book as soon as I heard it involved not only a baseball player, but a Jewish one as well. As a Jew, I’m always seeking out stories with Jewish characters to provide an OwnVoices review. I have mixed feelings on this story because it took me a very long time to get into. While I understand the long build up was used to establish the relationship between Zach and Eugenio, it almost had me DNFing this book. I applaud this book for all of the representation it had in religion and sexuality, and even if you know nothing about baseball it’s worth a read for those things alone.

Talk about steam.... this was full of great, great characters and character growth. I enjoyed this so much! Can't wait for more from Casey.

I love anything by Carina Press! It never feels like I'm reading pages of a mindless sexfest, which in some instances is fine if that's what you want. But I think balance is important, and real talk gives you emotionally more to ruminate on while you're basking in the afterglow.

In this case I felt like my concept of relationships gained another facet, as I was unfolding while Eugenio and Zach were unfolding.

And it's not that I demand ethnic diversity in my romances, but in the culturally rich world of sports especially, we can shift focus from who and what was represented back then to the splendor we have now. There are African American, Latino, Asian etc quarterbacks/pitchers/FL1 forwards/ NASCAR/F1 etc.

OK, back to KD Casey's baseball world.

Here we find that Zach's Jewish heritage isn't just mentioned in passing as an aesthetic in his character profile. And Eugenio is anything but the Latin-lover stereotype. Their ethnicities informed both their professional and love story and it made KD Casey's novel stand out miles above the average MM romance, Sports or otherwise.

So, well done you!

Notable mention is that the time jumping narrative was an effective technique, one that keeps the reader invested by way of "how did we get here from there?"

I have never read this author before but I will now. I love it when something lovely like a happy ending can be both simple and complex at the same time. The best part of Casey's work is that remnants of Zach and Eugenio pop into my mind and carry the patina of old friends.

Like, I've eaten Babka before and I have a thriving Aloe plant among other leafy green babies, but now my mind supplies "oh yeah, remember Zach's mama and Eugenio and THE recipe..." or "you're looking a little sad today, like Eugenio says," when I water my plants.

Ok this is also a much longer meandering-thoughts review than I typically give an ARC, much less a romance read.

I guess Unwritten Rules by KD Casey made an impression on me greater than I had thought before beginning this write-up, and I'm definitely not mad about that.

Ergo, 5 ⭐.

Because, weirdly, I feel like I had spent my time with some friends who were regaling me with their how-we-came-to-be story after reading this.

Thank you so very much to Carina Press and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

There are some 'sports' romances out there that only lightly touch on the sport in question. The characters play this sport but we only get a small glimpse of them playing or taking part. It was clear that the author K.D. Casey knows lots about baseball or has done a great deal of research. We get a real feel for the characters who play the sport and what that involves. I have to admit that I know nothing about baseball at all. (It's a bit like rounders?) I can only assume that someone who follows the sport would really enjoy the detail, but I can't comment on how accurate it is.
The romance is told on two different timelines. Zach and Eugenio were lovers when they played in the same team, but Zach couldn't face coming out. He worried about how the team would take it and how it might spell the end of his career and how his family, particularly his parents would cope with it. Eugenio, unable to take the secretiveness any longer, broke things off with Zach. We follow their story from when the romance first began and in the present day when Zach longs to work things out with Eugenio and make things right.
This was a story that pulled you in. It was hard not to feel for Zach and the issues that he faces, but at the same time, it's clear that Eugenio has little choice but to leave him. The chemistry between them was great and as a romance, it worked really well.
I really enjoyed this story, it's not a light and fluffy read, but not too intense either. Overall, a great read.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

*Disclosure: I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review. The author and I are mutuals on Twitter and interact occasionally.*

3.5*, rounded up

Zach Glasser is a gay, Jewish catcher with hearing loss, four years into his major league baseball career. Everyone knows the second and third things about him - although far too many people forget not to cover their mouths when they're speaking - but nobody, literally n o b o d y in the whole world, knows the first. At least nobody he trusts with his name, who isn't an anonymous one-night hook-up. Now rising 30 years old he's never had a relationship, and he expends significant energy policing his own thoughts and behaviour so that he doesn't give himself away. In his mind he can either be openly queer or play professional baseball; he can't have both. Enter Eugenio Morales - bi, Hispanic, also a catcher and vying for a spot on Zach's team. Thrown together in spring training the two men begin a closeted affair which, we already know at the start of the novel, is doomed to fail. The book runs along two parallel timelines: the first follows the development of Zach and Eugenio's initial relationship, and the second picks up with them three years later, after nearly two years of separation. The chapters alternate between timelines, so that we see both their first and second chance romance on the page. It's an intriguing structure, and one that enables Casey to explore the major conflict of the book in close detail: namely, the difficulty of being out in professional sports, and of overcoming deep internalised homophobia, shame and guilt in order to find happiness. It also makes the book feel very long and, sometimes, confusing, as you have to parse out which timeline you're in at any one time amidst very similar situations and cues. While this is an impressive first book in some ways - for one, the writing is gorgeous, for two, the consideration given to Zach's hearing impairment is brilliantly sensitive - it wasn't the home run that I'd hoped it would be for me.

I should say: I know absolutely nothing about baseball. Except that it involves hitting a ball with a bat and that it's a big deal in the US and other parts of the world. I know a little bit more about sports romances though, and I've really enjoyed some of them, even when I'm ignorant on the sport in question (cf. Rachel Reid's ice hockey series). I went into Unwritten Rules hoping that it wouldn't matter than I didn't know a mound, from a base, from a batting plate. (Did I even get that right?) Unfortunately it did matter, because baseball isn't just a background setting for this story - it is its beating heart. Casey's love and understanding of the game is clear right from the get go, and she writes about it with clear-eyed poetry. There were sentences that made me really feel like I was standing in the stadium dirt with the players. There were also plenty of times when I was completely at sea with what was going on, shut out by terminologies and technical language about stats, opt-outs, techniques and trades. I'm sure this is compounded by being a Brit as well as a baseball newbie. I Googled a lot and I stuck with it, but I've got to admit I found parts of it incomprehensible and other parts of it boring. And since a lot of the narrative hinges on these things directly, that definitely took from my enjoyment.

The more pressing issue though was that I didn't connect with the romance. On paper, from the synopsis, it sounds very much my thing and, beat by beat, it has the rhythm of a genre story: the getting to know each other, the first intimacies, the dark moment and the reconciliation. But overall I didn't feel there was enough of the characters and who they were, beyond baseball, to connect me to them, to get me rooting for them. There were little clues, like Zach enjoying graphic novels and Eugenio liking to cook, but there wasn't enough dwell time on them doing these things, of getting to know each other, of finding out they like each other enough to be in love rather than just in lust. And the majority of the time they spend together is tightly constrained by the fear of discovery. Every encounter in the first timeline revolves around not being outed, around not doing anything that might even lead to questions being asked. Zach is relentlessly anxious about it, and since we spend the whole book in his POV, I found it pretty joyless. While I acknowledge the difficulties of being a gay man in his position, even in 2021, there are multiple ways to build a romance that make space for moments of connection between the MCs in spite of their fears. Even in the second timeline, where Zach and Eugenio have a second chance, it revolves closely around the stress of what will happen when Zach comes out. It felt, to some extent, like his only character trait; like he had been so eroded by fear that all that was left was his self-denial. I was ultimately unsure who he really was. Eugenio, on the other hand, often felt like a catalyst for Zach's journey to self-acceptance rather than a man grappling with identity in his own right.

Towards the end I increasingly questioned whether this was a romance novel at all, deep down, or whether it was actually a conflicted, complicated love story to baseball, a contemporary fiction about homophobia and coming out in sport. Given the laser focus on Zach's development and the arc over and above the HEA, it fell more into the pattern of women's fiction. That's what I call it if Zach was a woman. That isn't entirely a criticism - I really loved the final pages of the ending - but it certainly didn't align with my expectations going in. I was left with the conviction that KD Casey is a talented writer, with an acute descriptive eye, but wanting more focus on the relationship to balance out the baseball and the institutional homophobia that comes with it.

CWs: internalised homophobia, fear of being outed, sexism.

Unwritten Rules was an emotional sports romance between catchers, Zach Glasser and Eugenio Morales. When Eugenio joins Zach's team, Zach doesn't expect to feel anything for him. Furthermore, he doesn't expect Eugenio to feel the same way. But along the way, the hiding and the secrecy gets to be too much and they go their separate ways.

When they end up at the same All-Stars game two years later, their feelings and their circumstances are unchanged. But Zach is tired of living half a life. He can't feel the joy anymore and he's desperate to break free.

This book was really slow. majority of the book takes place in the past, and it's a slow journey from who they were to who they are now. But it's also an emotional journey. The writing and the pacing definitely took me a while to get used to, but I did eventually like the way the book was going. One thing I definitely would have liked was to get Eugenio's perspective at some point. This was very much Zach's story, but it would have been interesting to get an outside perspective as well.

In most sports romances, the sport has its own role in the book. It's like the third person in every relationship and the MC's love it just as much as their significant others.

While baseball did mean everything to Zach, it felt like he was starting to resent it a little. He's given up any semblance of a personal life because he decided when he was young that he could only have one or the other. And now that he's had a taste of both, it's almost like he's holding on to baseball so tightly because he's given up so much for it, that he just needs it to be worth it. And some of that animosity is bleeding into his love for the game and it shows.

It's a long process in Zach's journey to learning that no matter how hard he tries, the game can't love him back. And that it's okay to put yourself first. After having and then losing Eugenio, he realizes that loving him made him happy in a way he never expected. And without that love, he was just drifting through life with no real emotions.

The last quarter of the book was probably my favorite. It felt like all the build-up finally paid of there and it gave us everything we needed and more. There is a whole lot of technical baseball knowledge here, and since I have zero baseball knowledge, it did feel like a lot at times. The actual romance did sometimes feel like second to everything else that was happening, even though it was the catalyst for majority of the plot points.

I really appreciated all the different cultures and the diversity in the book. Zach is hard of hearing and Jewish. And both of those parts of him were actually explored and not just mentioned once or twice. Same with Eugenio's Venezuelan history and his own culture. Their family dynamics were really interesting to see and I liked that when they were mentioned, their relationships were the main focus, so we could really understand their history and their past.

There is a lot going on in this book and it's definitely a journey you need to undertake. But if you like books that have a slow but steady pace with ample depth, then you'd like this. If you're just looking for a quickie, feel good romance, this probably isn't the one for you.

Set across two timelines, Zach is a baseball player who is trifling with his sexuality. His families religion, coupled with the heteronormative sport he plays is holding him back from being openly himself. When he meets Eugenio, a fellow player who he feels immediately gravitated to, he finds hiding his sexuality might start being more difficult. As the pair start dating, Zach promises Eugenio things that he knows he can’t follow through on…leading to Eugenio calling it quite. 3 years later, the pair find themselves in each others company again, and Zach has a choice to make: keep hiding for the sake of the sport he loves, or risk it all for the man he loves.
Sports books aren’t really my top choice as a reader, I’ll be honest. The first few chapters of this book are heavily about baseball, positions and technique and teams, and it was hard to get into. Once the story moved onto the romance, the sports were still present but fell more to the wayside in favor of the romance, and then I was able to get more it it he story.
Zach is closeted, and I totally get why. Sports and gay men don’t necessarily mesh. I liked his character a lot, despite how he treated Eugenio in the middle of the book. Eugenio, for his part, could of been more understanding of Zach and his fear. I do love Eugenio a tad more then Zach I’ll admit, purely for how obviously in love with Zach he was from the jump, and being more unashamed of it. A highlight is Morgan, a lesbian player who helps Zach with his identity along the way. I think this is a wonderful book, especially if your a queer person who loves baseball or sports In general.

Oh my heart.

Introducing Zach, a hearing impaired catcher who goes off to spring training not expecting to meet someone who has an immediate impact on him. Eugenio is a rookie at spring training - cheeky and confident, appreciative and aware of Zach’s attitude in helping other guys in training. The chemistry between them is palpable - the problem. Is it’s an all male environment, Zach isn’t out and their livelihoods depend on making it.

What follows is a growing relationship between Zach and Eugenio. Each wanting more from the other, but only Eugenio feeling confident in expressing his identity, and sharing more of himself. Zach struggles with familial expectations and stereotypes. There’s support and no pushing from Eugenio but an underlying frustration that things can’t continue the same way and it’s not healthy for either of them.

I read Unwritten Rules in one sitting I was so invested in these guys and wanted the best for them.

Loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: brief depictions of homophobia, ableism, sexism, racism, classism, antisemitism, xenophobia. The MC struggles with coming out throughout the story

I would recommend if you're looking for SPOILERS

-m/m friends to lovers
-sports romance
-elements of forbidden romance


I really enjoyed how this book placed a spotlight on conforming yourself in order to fit into the world of something you love. Zach doesn't go out of his way to ask for accommodations despite his hearing difficulties and is in the closet due to his fears how baseball will take it. The entire book is his journey accepting that his world should do just as much to adapt to him if not more.

I really enjoyed the contrast with his friend who had the opposite experience, out, but struggling to be a professional softball player. This book spoke to so many double standards and societal expectations.

The love story at the heart of the book was so soft and tender, yet steamy. My struggles with this one were entirely personal. It was a bit slow to start and the 3rd person POV felt almost too far apart, separated, passive from the MC. I would rather have been more in his head understanding his feelings. But I know so many are going to enjoy this steamy sports romance.

Rating: 3.5
Steam: 3.5

This was a very long book. It took me quite a while to get into it (about half way). The pacing and set-up is a bit wonky in the beginning, which acts 1 and 2 happening simultaneously (with flashbacks). Once that settles and the story take a more linear form, it begins to move a bit quicker. There's a lot of baseball here, often more so than the actual relationship at times. I think the author did a great job around telling a story about a closeted person, and the toll that takes on them and the people they care about. It felt really sad throughout the book, a hurdle that seemed so easy to navigate but just not being able to. I was happy for the ending, even if it felt a bit abrupt.

This is a very lovely, very angsty capital-S sports romance. It's told in two timelines, the present where our leads, major league catchers Zach and Eugenio meet up again at the All-Star game, and during their first meeting as teammates during spring training, where Zach mentors Eugenio and they fall in love and break-up crushingly. Zach is very in the closet and eventually Eugenio wants more than Zach can give him. The book is all from Zach's perspective and it's both about his relationship with Eugenio and both claiming his identity and his place in the sport he loves after his best playing years are over.

Yo get all the romance, all the twisty angst of a second chance where you get to see all the highs and lows and painful break-up of the first time PLUS quite a bit of behind the scene baseball with contracts and trade and cuts and PR and everything that is involved behind the field.

We also get to see Zach figure out how to manage his relationships and figure out where he fits into the world with his friends and his teammates and his family (Zach has the extra burden of being in the closet in a loving but anxious and meddling Jewish family. He is also hard of hearing so managing his image and PR around that provides an interesting peak into how things work for him in the future). Zach's arc is a lot about how hard he holds onto being competent and in control and how letting go a little bit, taking risks so we can be happy. A wonderful debut and great read.