Thank you to KT Hoffman and Random House Publishing for sending me an ARC of The Prospects in exchange for my review.

Gene is a semi-successful professional baseball player trying to make it to the majors, when his former friend turned nemesis, Luis, is traded to his team and successfully takes over Gene's position at shortstop, moving Gene to second base, making Gene dislike Luis even more.

That is, until he gets to know him better. After a rough start to the season, where the middle infield is not clicking due to Gene and Luis' animosity towards one another, they're forced to room together during road trips. This is when things start to change between them. They start to see eye to eye again, remembering their friendship and eventually, falling in love.

I really loved this book for its fresh take on gender and sports in a world that is still very saturated and dominated by men. I loved that the coach of Gene and Luis's team was female, and Gene himself was trans. It really called to question the future of the game, and I am looking forward to seeing where things will head in the real world, where female and trans players are brought into the fray to coexist as they do in this book.

The relationship between Gene and Luis was very sweet, grounded by friendship and a years long crush on Luis's end. I also really enjoyed the way the author tackled Luis's anxiety disorder, the use of the support dog Dodger and Gene as a means to help Luis cope when things got bad.

Overall, just a very fun and sweet book with likable characters all around.

This book is pure JOY. From the opening chapter, Gene Ionescu, was a character I could not help but fall head over heels in love with. His hope, his love of baseball, and his humor were contagious. I’m a self-professed baseball ‘non-fan’ and by the end of this story, Gene (and Hoffman’s writing) had me itching to become a season ticket holder- LOL!!

Gene is the first openly trans minor league baseball player who is seemingly satisfied with his position and career on the Beaverton Beavers. But when his former college friend, and rival, is traded to his team, his equilibrium is jostled. Gene, and rival Luis, can barely make civil conversation and their conflict is spilling onto the field as errors and a stack of baseball losses. In an attempt to salvage their season, Gene and Luis begrudgingly agree to practice together, learning more each other and eventually finding a on-field rhythm. But when the coach assigns them as roommates for road games, sparks and tensions increase until Gene and Luis give-in to their smoldering connection. But can this secret connection last in a sport that includes last-minute calls to the majors, late season trades, or career ambitions??

Oh boy, this book is hot!! And VULNERABLE. Luis battles crippling anxiety and panic attacks after a near career ending accident, and Gene is terrified of WANTING major league dreams or a true relationship with a partner like Luis. Watching these two support one another, on the field and off, was so raw and romantic!! I laughed, swooned, learned, blushed, and cheered my way to the final chapter!!

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for approving me to read this ARC. I would like to start of by saying this book took me less than 48 hours to read, that's how much it had me hanging onto every word. First off, you see some amazing LGBTQ+ representation in this book, with the main character being a gay trans male. I thought the storyline progressed smoothly and at a nice pace. It was a slow burn, but so worth the wait. The chemistry of the main two characters, the incorporation of what reality is like for trans/gender nonconforming people in sports, and how it's possible to make dreams a reality left me laughing, crying, and cheering to say the least. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good day romance with some spice, some awkwardness, and a whole lot of love.

This book was pure joy! I absolutely LOVED Gene and Luis as characters. They were both so sweet and perfect together. This was a delightful romance but it was also most definitely a baseball story down to it's nitty gritty.

-Transmasc Gay MC
-Cis Gay MC
-ADHD Rep
-Anxiety Rep
-Deaf Rep (side character)
-Multiple queer side characters

Thanks to @netgalley @thedialpress and @squashgoblin for the chance to read The Prospects early. It releases on April 9, 2024.

This beautiful, heartwarming book was as much a love letter to sports as it is a love story between two minor league teammates. KT Hoffman writes the ultimate underdog story that will have you rooting for the Beavers as well as Gene and Luis to get their HEA. As someone who played collegiate-level softball, I appreciated all the nuance that KT brought to the story. Pre-order this great book!

Gene is used to being underestimated. As the first openly trans professional baseball player, he's often discounted and works twice as hard as everyone else to show that he's earned his spot on his minor league team. But when his old Stanford teammate (and current rival) Luis gets traded to the Beavers, the tension between them turns electric. As the Beavers chase their playoff dreams, Gene allows himself to dream of a better future for Luis and him.

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: rivals-to-lovers, sports

Listen, there is far more baseball in this book than I expected or wanted as a non-baseball person. Sports in a romance are usually just the vehicle for the love story, not the main plot. As a result, this novel will be the perfect (insert sports metaphor here) for some readers, but for me, it was not quite what I wanted and I did a fair amount of skimming.

Hey! You! Don’t be put off that this is a sports romance. Think of Heartstopper, aged up 10 years, and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect here.

Just like Heartstopper, our setting is a single-sex male one: in this case, an Oregonian minor league baseball team. Just like Heartstopper, our main characters are teammates first, then friends, and our main character (Nes) develops feelings for his friend (Luis), who he believes is straight and whose developing feelings for the MC give him a bit of an (off-page) sexuality crisis. Like Heartstopper, the vibe is extremely sweet, minimally angsty, and depicts a world of queer acceptance (in this case, warmly affirming teammates and families) that is perhaps not yet verisimilar but which hopefully isn’t far off and which strikes exactly the right tone for this escapist genre. The last similarity with Heartstopper is the careful portrayal of mental illness: in this case, the love interest’s anxiety. Romances with anxious MCs usually make me claustrophobic, but it’s treated beautifully here. It’s pretty clear from the beginning that Luis’ anxiety is serious, and there are a couple on-page panic attacks, but his condition doesn’t otherwise crowd the narrative. The story being told from Nes’ (usually) fiercely optimistic 3rd person perspective helps a lot here, too.

There’s lots to love here beyond the similarities to Heartstopper, though. Nes is minor league baseball’s firstly trans player and is written by an own voices author. Both his family and Luis’ are so wonderfully affirming that some of the family scenes literally moved me to tears. The secondary characters in general are all lovable in their own way — refreshingly, there’s not a single villain among them. The romance itself is rivals-to-lovers with a little second-chance romance thrown in (Nes had a crush on Luis when they were teammates on their college baseball team, back when Nes was pre-transition.) And while I’m the furthest thing from a sports fan, the author managed to sell me on baseball. As he writes in his Author’s Note: “baseball is a sport that demands optimism in the face of steep odds […] I realized I wanted to write a book where that optimism paid off. A story that felt triumphant and giddy and freeing, the same way a hard-fought, walk-off win in the middle of a playoff chase does.”

And if that doesn’t sell you on reading this, I don’t know what will.

When two rival sports players end up on the same team old feelings emerge as well as new ones... and maybe they have a shot of romance together. Gene Ionescu loves baseball and hopes his career shoots up. As the first openly rans player in professional baseball, Gene almost has everything he could ever dream of... until Luis Estrada gets traded into his team and completely upending Gene's plans. Gene and Luis can't even manage to habe a civil conversation on or off the fuild but have to find a way to work together if they want to succeed. When they are forced to become roommates, they have to face their past together as well as get to know each other in order to play together. Gene has never allowed himself to want something or someone yet the more time he spends with Luis the more he finds that he wants Luis like he's never wanted anything else. Can these two play together on the same team while possibly dating?? Or will it be a hit and a miss for them? This was such a sweet and cute read. I loved how the relationship between Gene and Luis grew and how supportive and kind they were to each other. This overall book was just a cozy cute read and I adored it. I had so much fun reading it and the sweetness was perfect. I would absolutely recommend this book!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, Dial Press Trade Paperback for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Summary: A really enjoyable contemporary sports romance between a closeted gay man with anxiety and the first trans* professional baseball player, where the sport is both heavily intertwined in the marrow of the story and yet not a necessary prerequisite for enjoyment. Touching on tough topics but not dark, emotional and sweet.

Characters - the main characters are fleshed out and lovable. their flaws make sense for how their backstories and personalities are written, and the relationship between them works so well. This is truly a rivals to lovers set up without the negative bite or stereotypical sniping back and forth. I also appreciated the depth of some of the side characters. It’s not set up like a romance franchise where you are given a peek of someone who will clearly be paired off in another book; these characters just add depth and warmth to the existing story.

Atmosphere/Setting: so much baseball! is any of this accurate to the actual sport? honestly, I have no idea. It all sounded very believable. the interplay between the major league team and the minor team added such an interesting element.

Writing Style: very easy to read, enjoyable. I’ll say that a few times, I think the author accidentally jumped into Luis’ perspective for a sentence or two, when the whole book was meant to be from Gene’s, and there was a touch of confusion in a few spots about who was saying what as far as dialogue. Truly minor though and not at all a big deal.

Plot: loved it. the romance arc, the arc of the baseball season, of Luis separately, of Vince, of Gene… it all just fit really well together. Well paced; I appreciated the time jumps where they made sense so that it wasn’t just a hundred baseball games.

Enjoyment: very high. I flew through this in a single day and was almost crying at the end. Loved it.

5 out of 5 stars

Rep: Trans gay Jewish main character, Mexican gay love interest with anxiety and a service dog, queer side characters, Latinx and Asian side characters, side characters who are Deaf and have Down Syndrome

Content warnings: Societal transphobia/homophobia/racism, mentioned past parent death, on-page panic attacks, brief hospitalization, needles (used for HRT and piercings), on-page sex, mentioned social media bullying, sports-related injury of a side character

Happy #TransRightsReadathon! This is genuinely one of my new favorite books. All the characters are incredibly well-developed, it has the perfect balance of humor and hotness and sweetness and sports, and (most importantly) trans joy is at the center.

I’m obsessed with both Gene and Luis. They have ADHD and anxiety respectively, and I also have both. I felt so seen by Luis's needle phobia and neither of them having had much prior sexual experience. And speaking of which — my GOD, the spice! Admittedly I’m always a tad scared to read cis + trans sex scenes; as a transmasc nonbinary person, I worry about it feeling fetish-y or misgender-y. K. T. Hoffman blew me away, though, and this was just his debut!! It just goes to show why it’s so important to have trans authors write trans sex scenes.

I also adored the excellent support systems both leads had. Luis’s family is precious, and Gene feeling affirmed by being told he looks like his dad? *chefs kiss*

If I had to critique one thing, I would say that it might have helped to have a few of the baseball terms explained, or maybe a small glossary included. I’m unfortunately not a Sports Gay™️, so I sometimes felt a tiny bit lost. But it never took me too much out of the story, and made me want to go watch some baseball this spring and summer!

All in all, this might be the best debut I’ve ever read, and I will absolutely buy a physical copy when it publishes.

Also, I want a sequel about the Denny's server who hates their job.

**HUGE thank you to Dial Press for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

Profoundly heartfelt and beautifully written, this novel is romance gold. I give it a million trillion stars. It's such a joy to join Gene and Luis on their always sweet and sometimes VERY sexy journey from friends to enemies to friends to lovers. The Prospects celebrates queer and trans love, friendship, camaraderie, and family, and invites readers to bask in warmth and hope and acceptance. I finished this book feeling more optimistic and uplifted than I'd felt all year. KT Hoffman does a fabulous job balancing world-building with narrative movement and strong characterization. I could smell the grass as I cheered for the Beaverton Beavers; the team dynamics, and the stakes of the season for the different players were wonderfully well-realized. For anyone bored by baseball or unsure about sports romance--this is still the book for you! In The Prospects, baseball is integral to the plot, and to Gene's dreams and sense of self; the mechanics of the games, however, aren't belabored, and baseball never takes over or takes away from the love story. Rather everything is woven seamlessly together. The prose just sings! I also appreciated the deft inclusion of frank and nuanced discussions about gender, sexuality, identity, and belonging, both in relation to baseball / sports and in relation to social realities more generally. I adore the way trust is built in this novel, the way vulnerability is met with care. I adore that the underdogs get to have it all. I hope everyone on earth reads The Prospects. Thanks to KT Hoffman for writing it.

A truly wonderful and special book. I really loved main character Gene, who as an openly trans and gay baseball player brings a fresh, interesting and layered viewpoint to the world of minor league baseball. It was enjoyable to follow his professional and personal journeys throughout the season of play, and his evolving relationship with Luis had some unexpected depth and was a satisfying, sweet slow burn. I would have liked a liked a peek back at Gene and Luis's time on the team together in college to see what they were like when they first crossed paths and made such a huge impression on each other, some of the secondary and tertiary characters could have been a little stronger and the pacing sometimes was a bit slow, but these are minor complaints for a solid debut. Baseball appears to be on-trend this year in romance, and while my interest in following the sport dried up a little over 20 years ago, I appreciated all of the terminology incorporated here, feeling that long-dormant love starting to reignite.

Wow did I really enjoy this book! At times I wanted it to go faster, but that's just because I really cared about the characters and wanted them to be happy. Such a great story and so well done.

I feel like me saying “I’m going to buy this book when it releases” should be enough of a review but I’ll give it a shot anyway.

I want to start by saying how much I <i> adored </i> this book, okay? Like…I want to hug it and give it a special place on my bookshelf with a little hat and a rainbow flag bookmark.

As the first openly out trans gay man in the league, Gene Ionescu has put up with a lot. He is a shortstop in the minors— at least until his former college teammate Luis is traded to his team and bumps Gene from short to second. For that, Gene is resentful, especially after Luis didn’t bother to tell Gene he’d been drafted in their college days. But Luis’s anxiety gets the better of him, and the two men start having extra practices to learn to work together. What evolves is a friendship to lovers situation full of pining and delicious heat.

Disclaimer: I found the present tense a little hard to read, so if you struggle with that, be aware. Also, this book very prominently features baseball: games, jargon, etc. So be prepared to have google handy if you’re not familiar.

I received an advance copy through netgalley for review. This is my own opinion. Huge thanks to netgalley and Dial Press for this arc!

Baseball, Beaverton, Buds? The Prospects is one of those debut novels that you know is just destined to blow up when you read it. KT Hoffman has crafted something so full of joy, teamwork, friendship, and dreaming big.... and I feel lucky to have had the chance to read it early. It comes at a time when the Beaverton(ish) area is actually considering having minor league baseball, and it was fun to imagine running into Luis and Gene around town, as they grow from competitors / avoidant friends into something much more. I know a little bit about baseball from the few Mariners games I've been to and from my very short lived childhood attempt to participate in the sport (hand eye coordination is not something I was gifted with) and while you will get a lot thrown (wink) at you about the game from the start of the novel, the game is just another character in a book that is lovingly drawn and that will draw you in. Thank you to NetGalley for an early review copy, all opinions are my own.

I loved this book SO MUCH! It's a warm and joyous story of loving yourself and being brave enough to want everything you possibly can. Gene is a wonderful character, the first openly trans baseball player in the minor leagues who falls in love with a teammate. I love that his transness was just another thing about him, not his entire identity. I though Luis was a great love interest, and their slow relationship build was wonderful. Definitely recommend this to anyone who loves joyful queer romance!

Queer stories like this give me so much joy! I love the community, the team building and relationships, and the romance. I was screaming nearly every page from all the cuteness 🥹

Oh my gosh I adore this book!! It's so sweet and inspiring. I loved reading about a trans athlete in a way that acknowledged the struggles/extra hurdles he faces but didn't make that this whole character. The way Hoffman handled all the different types of representation was masterful honestly. There were many differences included (both MCs have different ethnicities and neurodivergences) and they were included in such a seamless way that they added to each character without ever distracting from the rest of the story or feeling forced. This was such a sweet romance and I'll definitely be on the lookout for KT Hoffman's next books!

I don't know how you put how much I loved this book into words. This story is beautiful and so sweet. The gay and trans representation is incredible. Gene and Luis are truly magnificent.

I also really enjoyed the mental health representation. As someone who also suffers panic attacks and has ADHD its makes me feel less alone.

Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!!

Where do I even begin with this book? Within the first 20 minutes of reading, I knew it was an instant 5 star book and that sentiment remained true to the very end. I began The Prospects with little knowledge of baseball and came out wanting to become a full-fledged baseball fan. This book took me on a journey of emotions, celebrating wins, mourning losses, rooting for each character's personal endeavors. I saw myself in Gene, a trans man with a big heart and not enough safe places to store that love. Gene brought a newfound hope and optimism into my life. The bits of representation were also extremely refreshing to see and none of it felt forced. It was all as sincere and as genuine as could be. The writing was fun and playful, yet never felt that it made light of any situation. It was fully immersive and I felt myself getting lost in this book time after time. This book was everything I could have hoped for and more, and I cannot wait to recommend it to everyone I know.