An easy-read rom com that is perfect for summer!

When MLB sports trainer Sophie finds herself in need of a new job, she begins to work at a boarding school that specializes in performing arts. Not only is baseball not valued, but she is stuck living with the grumpy orchestra teacher who perpetually gives her a hard time.

This light hearted romance is easy to escape into, and it incorporate some more serious issues that add welcomed substance to the characters and plot. Sophie is a very likeable FMC, and the chemistry between her and Jonas (MMC) is very well written (gotta love that grumpy/sunshine dynamic!). The supporting characters were equally as enjoyable. Overall, a very solid romance that I am confident others will enjoy!

This is my new favorite from Hubscher!

After her professional and personal life crumbled, Sophie fled to a New Hampshire boarding school, taking a position as an athletic trainer. Though it was supposed to be a place for her to lie low, it ended up being "home", a place where she felt loved, welcomed, needed. Sophie was able to find her way through the rubble of her life, but most importantly, she found love.

Sophie and Jonas had some serious tension from the start. I adored their sparring, but I loved the genuine friendship that grow between them even more. Jonas was quite an enigma. He kept everything close to the vest. He was gruff, but underneath all that bluster was a kind and generous man with a heart of gold. Learning about his past and what he lost made my heart ache, but that was why his union with Sophie was so special. And he was swoony in the most low key way. Actions always seem more special when they are done without grand announcements. To me, they appear to be more real, and that was how Jonas operated. Definitely a man after my own heart.

Yes, it was lovely the way Sophie and Jonas had each other, but they also had a wonderful troop to support them as well. The roommates, Sophie's dad, and her best friend were all such amazing supporting characters. I have to mention the students and the ways Sophie became part of their community as well. Fun events and bonding were a regular occurrence. These auxiliary characters provided something special to this story, and I adored them all!

Overall: A warm and wonderful grumpy-sunshine romance with a ton of heart.

Pub date: 6/20/23
Genre: romcom (grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, workplace romance)
Quick summary: Sophie's job as Boston Red Sox trainer goes up in flames when she refuses to clear a star pitcher to play. She finds a job as a trainer at a small NH boarding school, where her 3 male roommates include Jonas, a very grumpy music teacher.

Libby Hubscher's books are faves of mine, so my expectations were sky-high! Good news - PLAY FOR ME was a five-star read for me. I loved the Boston/greater New England setting; Hubscher nailed the boarding school vibes. It was easy to connect with Sophie - her concern for her players' and students' well-being was evident. I also enjoyed her unraveling Jonas' past and helping him overcome the obstacles in his career. Their HEA was incredibly touching but also realistic, and I teared up a bit at the end.

If you enjoy sweet, slow-burn romance, don't miss this one!

Thank you to Berkley and @letstalkbookspromo for my e-ARC and @PRHAudio for the complimentary audiobook.

Play for Me is a fun grumpy-sunshine romance story set in the background of a boarding school in New Hampshire. I enjoyed the slow-burn romance and reading about a heroine who works in a male-dominated field of professional sports.

This book was surprisingly charming! It wasn’t what I expected but it ended up being better than I expected. Quick read. I enjoyed the characters and that baseball parts were so interesting!!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This quiet contemporary romance packed quite the punch! It was soft, funny, sad, inspiring, and swoon-worthy all at once. Baseball, music, supportive friends and parental figures, grand gestures, and the grumpy/shine trope are among my favorite things so, obviously, this book was a win for me. Oh, and now that I've read the book, the title is very clever!

I knew I was going to love this book because 1) practically set in my backyard, 2) it opens with the Phillies beating the Red Sox (as a Philly transplant to NE - hell, yes), and 3) Libby Hubscher wrote it. Hubscher has a way of hitting all your emotions - and hitting them hard - in her books, and she doesn't disappoint with this one. This is a grump/sunshine, forced proximity romance between a baseball-obsessed FMC and a musician MMC that is utterly sweet and swoony, and has a charming supporting cast - an absolute homerun!

This was a really adorable book.

Sophie and Jonas are characters who are two sides of the same coin: they have both lost something they really love, and have to find a way to move forward from the loss. Both are in positions they don't particularly want to be in, but neither has another choice.

It was really lovely to see them begin to understand one another, and discover how they could be allies, rather than enemies. While at first they couldn't see any common ground between sports and music, the more they open up to one another, the more they see threads that connect.

Overall, this was a really sweet, uplifting read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 3.5/5 stars

Play For Me is about a disgraced athletic trainer who is forced to work at an arts-focused boarding school in New Hampshire. Upon arrival, Sophie realizes she will be rooming with a group of guys, including the mysterious pianist, Jonas. Sophie is an optimist. Jonas is angry at the world. The two clash, but all that fighting may lead to love.

This was a cute grumpy/sunshine romance with a fun setting. I loved the boarding school storyline, as well as Sophie and Jonas’ journey to achieving their dreams. A heartfelt and witty romance.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars

After Sophie gets fired as the Red Sox’s trainer for benching their starting pitcher for an injury, everyone blames her for the World Series loss and she gets fired. She finds herself at a New Hampshire boarding school as the trainer for kids who would rather be practicing the arts than competing in athletics. There she rooms with three men, couple Andy and Remi (who were awesome side characters), and Jonas, an ex-prodigy concert pianist who’s now a grumpy but dedicated orchestra teacher.

This is a book full of heart. A slow burn romance that focuses on friendship and family as much as romantic love. There are deep and heartfelt moments, but there is also plenty of laughs. I loved that Sophie was into sports and Jonas, art. It was refreshing to have that gender switch from the typical tropes. They are both so passionate about what they love, and while they definitely get off to a rocky start, in the end they have the sweetest romance.

I quite enjoyed this book. I loved the scenario where 4 adults end up rooming together like school students and still fighting themselves to get to the dining hall first. It's like the college rom-com books, but with actual adults, not 22 year olds who I can't even imagine anymore. :) It's sweet (not in the terminology for sex in the book way), slow burn, forced proximity, brooding Hero, a little bit of it all thrown in there.

Nice escapism read.

Not every romance has to involve a book store of bake shop. When the rookie pitcher is too injured to play, trainer Sophie Doyle makes a controversial call on a player that rabid Red Sox fans think cost the series — and costs her the job, as well as her relationship and housing. She finds work at a New Hampshire boarding school where her clients are wrestling with academics and other extracurriculars as well as athletics. Faculty housing is sparse and utilitarian and all-male, but it only takes one almost-glimpse of skin in the shared bathroom for a lock to get installed. Conflict arises when a student who excels at both baseball and piano is pulled in two directions, and music instructor Jonas is as convinced is a prodigy at piano as Sophie is that is a prodigy at baseball. When grumpy Jonas, a former concert pianist, reveals he can barely play, Sophie has physical therapy exercises that may help him limber his hands.

The writing and relationships are excellent. I love both music and baseball, and found the entry point fairly low, readers do not need to know a lot about or be passionate about either to engage with the story and characters. The subplot of Sophie’s dad, struggling with a Parkinson’s diagnosis, adds depth and the other roommates (a gay couple) add color. As might be fitting with a private school setting, the sex is discreet and behind closed doors even though their attraction is evident and encouraged by students.

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #PlayForMe from #NetGalley.

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Play for Me!

Truth time...I was hesitant to accept this arc! But, I'm so glad that I did. I think this is the most romantic of all Libby's books so far!

First, I think this setup is just so cool! An athletic trainer at a private school, three roommates, and one is a total grump with superiority issues. I'm not normally a big fan of the grump/sunshine trope, but this one worked for me! The writing in this book made these characters feel real to me, and I was transported to their world. I love it! While I can't say I fell in love with the characters, per se, I did thoroughly enjoy them. These are the type of characters I'd like to grab dinner with, and I think that showcases how good Libby's writing is!

Second, this story packs an emotional punch. I don't want to give too much away, but be warned...this story has the typically Libby emotional whammy in it!

Rating: 4⭐️

A fun, easy rom-com that hooked me from the beginning.

A disgraced MLB sports trainer finds herself working at a performing arts boarding school where baseball is not king and the grumpy orchestra teacher is a little more than she bargained for.

Play For Me is a light hearted romance that easy to escape into. Although it handles some tougher issues like sick parents, abusive parents, and perfectionism, the characters and premise stole the show.

Sophie, our hard working and loving FMC, is fun to follow alongside. She's fiesty, a little oblivious, but easy to love. Jonas, our talented MMC, is just enough of a grump to be endearing and his story was so relatable and understandable. I had no doubt these two would and could make it!

Plus a fun cast of side characters and a great execution showcasing the love of music and sports sold this oen for me.

Only downsides to this read were:
- Pacing. Although it had smooth transitions that help move time, it did drag and take to long to get to the inevitable resolution
- Fade to black. All that tension and not even a little bit of smut!? Color me disappointed...

Overall, a solid romance that I'm sure others will enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Romance for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun book! She is fired, kicked out and made a pariah in the baseball world all in one day. With no place to go she confides in her best friend and she gets a job at a boarding school in New Hampshire. She gets there and finds out housing involves a grumpy roommate. They manage to fall for each other and fight the fall at the same time. Highly recommend!

Okay, so I'm not into baseball. I'm also not much into professional teachers acting like college students. I guess I wasn't into this book. The author had a good plot and the side stories were interesting, but I just couldn't warm up to the whole grumpy curmudgeon as worthy of Sophie's time or interest. For me this book is a case of it-is-me-not-you.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Closed Door

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- He Falls First
- British/Musician MMC
- Baseball loving FMC

This book has everything that I love in a romance (with the exception of zero spice) - excellent relationship development, sweet and tender moments, grumpy/sunshine vibes and no third act breakup!

Sophie and Jonas's relationship develops for months and the build-up pays off. The prep school setting was such a unique way to force Sophie and Jonas to be around and depend on each other. Jonas falls first for Sophie but his rock hard exterior leaves Sophie feeling like he hates her. Luckily, we slowly see Jonas's true self come out and we see that he was a top tier book boyfriend all along!

In addition to the romance, we get the second best thing - supportive friends. Astrid, Revi and Andy, along with Sophie's dad and nursing home crew are the ultimate supportive friends/family that help guide our MC's along the way.

There is zero spice but who knew a sports trainer touching a piano player's hand could be so steamy?!

Play For Me was my first Libby Hubscher book and what a great one to start with! She will be joining Sarah Adams as my favorite closed door authors.

I didn’t like this authors last book but I figured I would give this one a try in case it was just the book. It wasn’t. They aren’t bad books, just not right for me personally.

PLAY FOR ME by Libby Hubscher, has to be the most romantic of her books so far. Hubscher excels in the place where women’s fiction and romance meet, most recently in IF YOU ASK ME which examined facets of Southern womanhood while introducing us to a sexy firefighter. In PLAY FOR ME, Hubscher gives us another compelling female main character, Sophie Doyle, a sunshiny athletic trainer who ends up in a temporary position at a New England boarding school. Of her three male roomates, one is a grumpy orchestra teacher who obviously thinks Sophie is beneath him. Or does he???

I am the biggest sucker for grumpy/sunshine, so Hubscher already had me at hello, but what I absolutely love about her writing is the unadorned prose that turns these characters into people you want to meet and befriend. I was very taken with the subplot of Sophie’s relationship with her father, who has Parkinsons’ and is living in an enriched care facility. Sophie’s father is not a burden to her, instead he is her biggest cheerleader and a positive part of her life despite her worry for him. (Old people aren’t plot points, folks, they’re people, and Hubscher gets this.)

Another memorable and heart-rending read, PLAY FOR ME, is a sure bet for readers who crave a little sweetness with their swoon and appreciate a well-told, well-written story.

There’s nothing that this author does better than writing characters that are multilayered and interesting. This author thinks out of the box to give us unique characters to enjoy. She’s great at creating a story that goes beyond romance and focuses on character growth. But for someone who went in looking for the romance aspect, it was a bit lacking for my liking.

I loved Sophie and Jonas. They were the epitome of opposites attract and had so many swoon-worthy and heartfelt moments, but something was missing for me. I think that if this book was written in a dual POV, it would have helped me connect with their story more. I felt this was supposed to be Jonas' story as much as Sophie’s and getting his perspective would have helped me understand him more. For me I was at the cusp of falling, but I just needed a little extra to push me over the edge.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this ARC