The story quickly jumps into the love story between a fan and her favorite MLB player. I wish there was more of a slower build as by the fifth chapter they already had been together three times. While this is something every sports fan probably dreams of, parts were unrealistic. I found myself wishing that her friend was dating a silicon valley techy rather than an earl, which seemed like it was out of place.

I like a steamy, open-door romance, but this book was ALL STEAM, NO STORY.

The characters had no depth and the book just skipped overwhelmed anything meaningful fof the sake if mire steamy scenes .

DNF

*2.75 stars

I almost DNF’d this book at 15%— it was so cringey. Gretchen sees her favorite baseball player at airport who was just booted to the minors. She decides to buy him a coffee (knowing his exact order — coffee with cream, no sugar) and they immediately hit it off. From there he upgrades her to a first class ticket on the flight to Las Vegas and they’re smitten. It felt too much like insta-love which is not my cup of tea.

Thankfully it picked up after that and I was intrigued to see where this went. This book felt very fanfiction-esque to me, so while it was a fun ride, I could not take it that seriously. I will say it left me with a smile on my face though. The cuteness factor definitely brought this up a bit for me.

Read this if you are looking for a quick, fun read centered around baseball. Also, there’s a good amount of spice

I just finished Out of His League by Caroline Richardson. Thanks to Netgalley and Wattpad for the gifted eARC.

Out of His League is a romance about Gretchen Harper and she is a pretty predictable woman who doesn’t take risks. But she comes face to face with her favourite baseball player Josh Malvern at the airport and buys him a coffee. Now their sexual chemistry is off the charts from the first moment they meet each other. What starts as a one night stand ends up moving into a weekend fling and potentially something more.

This was a story that had a good premise but there were things that fell a little short for me. I loved the baseball theme and really liked the Canadian content. Although team names were changed, Caroline was totally inspired by the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre (even calling it the Dome!!!). I totally read this in one sitting and although there were some relationship challenges and misunderstandings the steam did not disappoint. The sexual content in this story happens right from the beginning. Neither Gretchen or Josh normally act upon lust but within the first 12 hours they are hot and heavy and cannot get enough of each other. Was their relationship perfect? Totally not but if you enjoy a steamy romance then this novel is for you.

Out of His League publishes on April 5th, 2022. If you like supporting Canadian authors and books with steam then I say you should try this one on for size!

The bare bones of this story was really good. I was interested in the plot and it did keep the story moving. I thought the author relied a little too much on the sexual chemistry and not enough on the dialogue between the two characters. It wanted to feel a little more of their emotions behind their decisions and attraction for each other. Losing some of the steamy scenes with dialogue would have been really helpful to take this book to a 4 or 5 star level.

Here are my initial takeaways:
▫️Sports related romance.
▫️Miscommunication trope.
▫️Fast-falling romance.
▫️Immature narrators.

I enjoyed reading it but it wasn’t a favorite. I loved the concept of Gretchens career, being a sommelier. I loved reading about her career adventures even how limited they were. There was more of an emphasis on Josh and his career, being a professional baseball player. I wish we could have gotten more from Gretchen.

The miscommunication/lack thereof resulting in the conflict was frustrating. Plus Sharla, Gretchen’s best friend, was one of the reasons her relationship blew up - she ended up being an overprotective and somewhat toxic friend, IMO. I felt like between Sharlas and Josh’s overprotective nature Gretchen was very much shoved into a bubble of pleasing them, which frustrated me. Overall I think that all the characters had very immature mindsets and reactions considering they were 30.

The steam was good and there was some cute heartfelt moments but overall this was just okay.

This was SO FUNNY! I loved the chemistry between the main characters and the fact that neither of them was perfect. I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of the book in exchange for a review. Out of His League is a baseball romance centered around Gretchen Harper and her favorite MLB player, Josh Malvern. It will be released April 5, 2022.

Gretchen is Josh’s biggest fan and meets him for the first time at an airport. She notices he seems down, as he just got sent down to the minor leagues, and buys him a coffee. They sit together on the plane and spend a couple days in Las Vegas together which is home to Josh’s minor league team. The plot continues on from there as the relationship progresses. The story is very fast-paced with a lot of insta-love and miscommunication between the two. I was really looking forward to this story as I love sports romances, but it was just too fast-paced for my taste as it did not seem like the relationship had time to grow. However, I absolutely adore the cover! Readers looking for a New Adult sports romance might enjoy this if they are looking for a quick read.

Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I was really intrigued because of the book cover and the plot of the story. I was really excited to read this, but unfortunately, I was disappointed.

It's just unrealistic when the two leads fell in love with each other in a short period of time. I never thought I would feel this way the moment I start reading it. I guess, if I read this back then when Wattpad was still hyped, I would really enjoy this. I'm sad to say that this book is not for me.

I was so excited going into this book. I love a good sports romance, and i rarely read ones featuring a baseball player. I loved the main heroine in this book, and the fact that she was not a stereotype, had a personality and was multifaceted.

A sommelier on her way to Vegas for a conference has a run in with her favourite baseball player and she decides to buy him a coffee to break the ice a bit and talk to him. He is also on his way to Vegas for a work thing. They get to know each other on the plane and continue their weekend fling, and where is does and does not go from there.

This book suffered by a lack of good communication between characters, and being very insta love and relying on chemistry to come from sex and not actual conversations.

A WattPad story with a cute cover. This definitely didn't work for me and I could not get into this book at all, no matter how hard I tried. Extra star for the cute cover.

I found that there wasn’t a ton going on in this book. The romance was cute and steamy but I felt like that was the only part I liked. If you’re looking for a quick romance with not a lot to it then this is the book for you but wasn’t really the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the eARC copy of this book!

⚠️SPOILER ALERT⚠️

I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting going into this book… and I’m still not fully sure what to think about it. I enjoyed it enough that I finished it quickly and I spent hours at a time reading it. But, I don’t think I would read it over and over again. I might read it a couple times, but not to an extent that I would other books.

My main problem with this book is the instant infatuation the two main characters, Joshua and Gretchen, have with each other. I’ve never been much of a fan of insta-love and this wasn’t very far off from it. From the very beginning when Gretchen first buys a coffee for Josh- they have this instant connection that, at first, I found interesting. But, within the first couple of chapters it very quickly becomes what I can only really describe as the closest thing to insta-love without actually being insta-love.

I am not a huge fan of baseball, neither am I a fan of wine… but the moments when Josh was focused on the game and his teams, and the moments when Gretchen was focused on wine and her business- those were my favorite parts. Throughout the book, there are a lot of times (most of the time really) when all Josh and Gretchen are thinking of, is each other. It got pretty frustrating when all they were thinking about was having sex. But, when Josh got into his game, when he was coaching players and when he was actually playing… he was focused on that and you could tell just how much he loved it. And when Gretchen got into the role of sommelier and she was working to make perfect pairings for her clients- you could feel her love for her job. I admired that about them. Their love for their jobs and their dedication was something that I inspire to be like one day.

This book was a genuinely good book, and I enjoyed reading it. But, I can only give it 3.5/5 stars because of the insta-love like relationship they had. It didn’t feel like there was much growth between them- it felt like they jumped into the deep end before really knowing how to properly swim.

3.5 stars

When Gretchen finds herself sitting next to her favorite pro baseball player at the airport, her first impulse is to ask for his autograph. But she can tell from his posture that he's feeling down, so she buys him a coffee instead to cheer him up. They strike up a conversation, which leads to attraction, which leads to…more. But her business is located in Toronto, and he's in the US. If he wants to stay in the major leagues, he has to go where his career takes him. Can they find a future together?

This is a cute, well-written, emotional story with likeable characters and enough conflict to keep the pages turning. It's super steamy, and the intimate scenes are well done.

The cover looks like a rom com, while this is solidly steamy contemporary romance. The cover should be a shirtless guy wearing a baseball glove or something. This cover appeals to the wrong audience.

The pacing is off—the breakup should happen at about the 75% mark. Instead, it happens at 50%. As a result, the climax comes too soon, and the last 25% or so of the book is denouement. The last half of the book is engaging, though, and includes some poignant moments.

Overall, this is an enjoyable story for readers of steamy contemporary romance.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

First of all…thank you so much NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a review! I am new to reviewing books and I was so excited to be approved for this one! That feeling hasn’t changed now that I have read it!

This was so cute! This isn’t popular opinion by the looks of it but I really loved this one! Out of His League had it all for me. I loved that the male role was a baseball player…because who doesn’t love baseball? Come on people!! Also he plays for the Toronto Sixers and I’m from Toronto so I was all for a book that gives a little shout out to my hometown!

Josh Malvern is a left fielder who loves the game but doesn’t really enjoy being in the public eye. He is careful to avoid the tabloids and doesn’t draw attention to himself. Meeting Gretchen in an airport and deciding to take her home for a weekend of steamy sex is completely unlike him, but he’s been sent down to play in Vegas and you know what they say about what happens in Vegas. As the weekend comes to a close both of them realize that they don’t want this crazy adventure to end. It started with a much needed coffee, was fuelled by baseball and wine but it’s too good to end; so how will Gretchen and Josh manage living their separate lives while following their hearts about how they feel for one another?

I loved that Josh and Gretchen were both very independent people who were truly enjoying their lives. Fate brought them together but it’s not enough to keep them together. Real love takes work and I loved that this couple had some real struggles with finding a balance between who they were as individuals and who they were becoming as a couple. Also I really enjoyed all of the little iconic Canadian tidbits, especially the true Toronto ones that were thrown into this story to make it feel genuine. This was so much fun for me to read, it was fast, it was sweet and wow does Caroline Richardson know how to write a sex scene (or two…or more) in her novel.

One thing I didn’t like was that Sharla (Gretchen’s friend) had some issues of her own that I didn’t feel really got resolved. My hope is that there will be a sequel that follows Sharla and Kyle and that we find out more about Coach and Felicia. I just felt that there were loose ends…but it also made me feel that it left room for this to become a series rather than a one off. Fingers crossed! I don’t like unfinished business in my novels so if it’s not going to be a series I will be pretty disappointed in the ending for some of my favourite characters.

My Thoughts
I was quite excited to read a sports romance and it was quite sometime that I read one!! Being an ex athlete I enjoyed the sports mentions .the life of a sportsman..the games, traveling, injuries..life after retirement etc.
What I didn't enjoy as much was the romance between Gretchen and Joshua..the chemistry was there and quite a bit but the substance between the 2 I felt it lacking.
The insta love for this one unfortunately didn't quite work well.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book wasn't for me. I'm not a huge fan of instant-romance, and there wasn't much plot going for it other than the smut.

This could be great for some romance readers (especially if they like sports) but it wasn't for me!

I love that this author is Canadian and this book was based out of Toronto! But I found that this book was missing something. It jumped right into it at the beginning, it should have had more of a build up. I couldn’t connect with the characters because I felt like I didn’t know them. I think this book had a lot of potential, as I did enjoy it halfway through, but the beginning just threw me off. Also a side note, that a X-ray and ultrasound tech are called technologists and not technicians. Coming from a medical background this really bothered me 😅

This book was okay. It was pretty spicy, so if you are looking for a quick NA romance, go for it. However the miscommunication trope is a bit unrealistic and it was very insta love.

This book was not for me. There were too many sub plots going on for any of them to feel fully developed. The steamy scenes were good but there weren’t enough of those scenes to make up for the weird pacing and chaotic plot. The conflict that caused the inevitable mid book break up made me mad and made me not like the best friend at all. The rest of the book I was annoyed with the best friends behavior. I needed less sun plots and more steam to make this book better.