As a fake sports fan, I love reading books about sports and The Prospects is no exception. I started the book because I was excited about the trans representation, but I stayed for the realistic and lovable characters. There was so much diversity through the book that was so lovingly and carefully written where everything felt so real.

I am just full of sunshine after reading The Prospects. Gene and Luis brought me so much joy in a moment where I really needed it.

Gene is the first trans athlete in American baseball. He’s completely comfortable in the minors playing in his home(ish)town Portland, OR for the Beaverton Beavers (btw I live a stones throw from Beaverton and I would be so happy to have this team). But lo and behold his ex teammate from Stanford, Luis, has been traded to the Beavers and he’s coming in for his Gene’s position at shortstop. The 2 have to figure out a dynamic and to play nice but old crushes come out and they just can’t help themselves.

(There’s just something so inherently cute about a romance between a shortstop and their second baseman)

This was honestly so much fun and I’m happy I was able to partake in Gene’s story.

I will 1000000% recommend this to anyone who will listen.

What you’ll get:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Forced proximity
Mutual crush
Enemies to lovers
DIY earring piercings
Anxiety rep
A support dog named Dodger
Lots of baseball

This is a happy, hopeful, gay, baseball book and I loved every minute of it. As KT Hoffman acknowledges, Gene’s story isn’t likely. But like KT, and Gene, I hope it’s not impossible. This is an important book for so many people *because* it is happy and hopeful.

Listen, I love baseball. We’re in spring training right now. It was not a hassle for me to read about the nuances between short stop and second base or getting called up. But even if you’re not a baseball (or sports) person, this sports book has so much more to offer. I love reading about Gene and Luis as main characters and love interests as much as I loved them as professional baseball players. They are happy, they are soft, they are true, they are proud, they are in love. The (second-chance) romance developed so beautifully, and I loved the conversations Gene and Luis had about what intimacy looked like for them. There’s just so much good in this book and I want everyone to read it.

4.5!!
What a joy to read about a trans athlete who is celebrated, loved, and admired, given our current reality. Don’t get me wrong, Hoffman doesn’t pretend transphobia doesn’t exist, but The Prospects is an overall joyous and hopeful sports romance that really lifts your heart.

Gene has never let himself want anything because he’s been conditioned to think wanting is selfish and only results in disappointment. He’s the first openly trans professional baseball player, an achievement in itself, so shouldn’t the minor leagues be enough for him? Big dreams aren’t for people like Gene, right? And you can’t be disappointed if you never let yourself want anything in the first place…right? But what would happen if you opened yourself up to those possibilities and imagined you could have bigger dreams? That you deserve those big dreams.

Do I know one single thing about baseball? Absolutely not. Was this delightful all the same? Absolutely. It’s so full of heart and humor. It’s bursting with joy and hope and just so refreshing to read. The characters are endearing. Gene and Luis are sweet and complementary with lots of chemistry on and off the field.

Also, there’s so much included in the back of the book (a very gay playlist and Gene’s bagel recipe!! what more could you want??) that continued to put a smile on my face even after the story ended.

Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📣 a fantastic queer baseball romance that made my heart feel so full!

📖 where you a sports movie fan when you were younger? I was! The Mighty Ducks, The Little Giants, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken…

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

You know those feel good sports movies where you are rooting for the honorable underdog team & they finally win & you’re like YES, YOU DID IT, LOOK AT YOU GO!?!

That’s how I felt reading The Prospects by KT Hoffman, with the added loveliness of rooting for one player extra hard, a trans hero named Gene who’s loved baseball for years & is shining on his minor league team.

An old college teammate is traded to Gene’s team & what is initially annoyance & frustration turns into deep friendship, understanding, affection, & love.

This book has so many sweet moments & they had my heart singing. Gene & Luis show so much care for each other—I had every sense that they completely had each others’ backs whether it came to the team they played on or in non-sports life.

With anxiety rep, trans rep (including a scene where Gene injects himself with testosterone), strong friendships, & about a thousand other things I love, The Prospects is truly a stellar mix of hug-in-a-book-emotionality meets joie de vivre!

5 ⭐️. Out 04/09.

CW: please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a pastel patchwork brick wall.]

I have been hearing about this book since it was in the Pitchwars showcase so I had very high hopes for it. Gene and Luis met every single one! This book is so fun and sweet and funny. The baseball is woven in so well and the large cast of characters is full of memorable people who support our heroes perfectly.
Loved it!
(Now let’s have a Baker spin off please)

Gene has not seen Luis off the field since they played college ball together 7 years ago, and Luis ghosted him as soon as he got drafted into the minor leagues. Now, thanks to an unexpected trade, Gene and Luis are playing on the same team, and have to find a way to work together in this rivals to lovers sports romance.

This is a giddy, joyous, feet kicking, giggling and blushing into your book romance. Gene is a joy of a character with a sharp wit and an endless optimism that can crack anyone's tough exterior, and the sparks that fly between him and Luis are unreal. There is an absolutely delicious slow burn filled with yearning, flirting that the awkward idiots are totally oblivious to, and some intense pining. It's everything I love in a romance.

The sports drama was very well woven into the personal drama of the characters, and the conflict and struggles Gene and Luis face felt honest and believable and hard. It's also filled to the brim with trans joy, and the way the characters find their way is so heartwarming and satisfying. An extremely well done debut, I highly recommend it.

I absolutely loved this book and the plot. Readers will struggle to not fall in love with each character and will root them on and their love throughout the entire book. An LGBTQ+ book involving sports is so fantastic, every reader should give this a shot. It was eye opening, it cracked my heart wide open. I love their love the most.

I’m so happy that authors are finally recognizing the gay potential of baseball <3

This was a wonderful lovely romance brimming with trans joy and had a lot of hope and heart. I loved all the platonic and familial relationships in this book, as well as the amazing communication amongst the characters. I appreciated how much Gene genuinely loved baseball, keeping alive the fun and excitement of the sport despite the pressure. It led me to feel true pride for all his accomplishments.

While this book is marketed as a rivals to lovers romance, I found it to be more of a friends to lovers situation. Gene and Luis were on the same team in college and had a casual friendship. However, they lost touch for a few years after Luis cut contact. Now they’re in the major leagues and back on the same team. And while there’s an adjustment period, they quickly fall back into their old familiarity. I thought they had a really healthy dynamic, and a more playful rivalry that pushed each other to be better athletes.

My only complaint: Dare I say, kind of hoped for more baseball. I was disappointed that we skimmed through most of the games and didn’t even get to witness the championship game. I felt its omission made the ending feel rushed.

Overall, a really fun story with great characters, strong relationships, and amazing representation.

Rep: Trans MC with ADHD, Gay Mexican LI with anxiety + emotional support animal
Lesbian, gay, and deaf side characters

The Prospects by KT Hoffman
- rivals to friends to lovers
- openly trans and gay MC
- 3rd person, single POv, present tense

“The fact that Luis has the audacity to have gotten hot—and not even yeah-he’s-fine-for-a-straight-guy hot, but legitimately hot—in addition to being the world’s biggest pain in the ass? Gene doesn’t care for that shit at all.”

This was an incredible, heartfelt, emotional experience and I loved every minute of it. Gene is so relatable, with all his insecurities and his stubborn reluctance to get his hopes up. I adore him and his narrative. I loved being in his head, as much as I also ached for him. I adore Gene. And Luis is so sweet, such a perfect little teddy bear who just wants the entire world for Gene.

The plot line is fantastic. Truly, I was captivated the entire time. It’s well balanced, and moves at a great pace. Several scenes had me breaking internally, but the ending is absolutely perfect and makes everything worth all the beautiful pain.

I adore this prose. Just a little bit flowery, and in 3rd person present tense, which always makes books feel ethereal to me, like someone has stopped the world to describe the color of a flower or the shape of a cloud in one perfect moment.

Loved, loved, loved this. I truly can’t say that enough.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

#netgalley #arcreview #mmromance #baseball #transmc #theprospects #kthoffman

This was such a well crafted novel, all the characters had believable flaws and strengths, and dreams and doubts, that made you root for them and yes, sometimes, get you a little frustrated , but it was all worth at the end, because it was lovely, and having the background of baseball was a nice change, as they are not very many romances that focus on this sport.
Gene being trans was very well handled, I thought, what it meant for him, how it made his job more difficult in a way, but how he wouldn’t change being out because he could be himself and it was all worth it at the end.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Gene 'Nes' Ionescu is a minor league ball player, and he absolutely loves it. His dad was a pro baseball player, and it's all he's ever wanted to do. He's got his best friend, Vince, an older (lol, 38) player who is closeted but happily married to a rather charming man called Jack, and he's got baseball. Then Luis 'Nada' Estrada gets traded into the team. Luis and Gene used to play ball together for Stanford, but Luis got drafted and left Gene behind without a by your leave.

This is as much a story of growing up as it is of sport and falling in love. Throughout the book Gene slowly learns to accept that people moving on and growing doesn't mean they have to leave your life. It's a lesson I've really struggled with, that mandatory seeing a person every day because of work, etc, isn't the only reason you're friends with someone, and if they're important to you then you will still be in each other's lives as your lives continue to chug along.

The relationship between Nes and Nada goes from sorta-enemies, to friends, to lovers, and its really beautiful. It's not a perfect world, where no issues exist, but maybe it's a world that's a little better than ours.

This books was an absolutely delight to read, and I'd really recommend for, well, everyone. It's a brilliant debut from KT Hoffman and I can't wait to see what they write next!!!

This book was such a delight to read. Gene is a lovely character - funny, sweet, full of hope. You want nothing but the best for him. Luis is also so sweet and you just want to give him a big hug. The story had its hooks in me from the get-go, and it was a struggle to put it down to, like, work and sleep.

This book was SO FREAKING SWEET! Another one of my most anticipated reads that totally lived up to expectations, Gene and Luis were EVERYTHING and more. Not only is The Prospects a beautiful romance, it's also an enlightening commentary on trans people in sports, mental health rep, finding a place where you belong, and living your dreams even if they seem impossible.

Gene Ionescu, the first trans man to play professional baseball, is living his lifelong dream playing for the minor league Beaverton Beavers. He's looking forward to playing shortstop for the season when an unexpected trade brings Luis Estrada, one of his teammates from college, back into his life. Luis, who is expected to be called up to the majors at any time, takes his starting spot and acts standoffish, throwing the normally unflappable Gene completely off balance. As they struggle to get along, their performance starts to suffer, and something has to give. Will the two men be able to work out their differences and find a way to lead the Beavers to a playoff spot?

Y'all, Gene is just a ray of sunshine (most of the time), I loved him so much. He's come so far and he's so optimistic, yet he holds himself back from hoping for more and that just broke my heart. I love how his romance with Luis unfolded, from supposed unrequited crush/enemy to unlikely friends to lovers who cannot keep their eyes and hands off each other. And oh gosh, Luis is so special. He has overwhelming anxiety (to the point where he has a service dog - I'm OBSESSED with Dodger), but despite that he finds the strength to come out to his family (with Gene's help) and figure out what he really wants out of life.

I ended up tearing up constantly (for sad AND happy reasons) through the entire second half of this book. I can't believe this is KT Hoffman's debut novel, it's so heartfelt and absolutely beautifully written. These men (and this team) just had my heart bursting with joy, I loved every moment so much. I like to think we will someday live in a world where situations like Gene's are totally normalized and celebrated - I certainly have hope!

With a sexy, slow-burning rivals-to-lovers romance, a loveable cast of underdogs and misfits, and plenty of baseball action, debut author KT Hoffman’s “The Prospects” is a joyous, big-hearted, hopeful, triumphant home run of a book that will make you cry and cheer in equal measure. As a gay sports fan, I want to live in the world that this book created. I hope with all of my heart that, someday, it will be a reality.

Thank you to Penguin Random House/Dial Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early, in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC of The Prospects.

The story follows Gene, a baseball player for the Beaverton Beavers who is the first openly trans player in the Minor League. Luis, his college teammate that ghosted him after getting drafted, gets transferred to the Beavers. The story shows their awkward relationship growing into a romance, while also following the Beavers’ season.

I was so shocked to see that this book was debut, because I thought it was fantastic! This has everything that I want in a sports story and everything that I want in a queer romance. The cover of this book is goregeous (and it ties into the story really well)! loved the writing and the humor, and I will be keeping an eye on the author!

I love that this book has a lot of baseball in it. I find that a lot of sports romances don’t feature much of the sport itself, choosing to focus on the athlete lifestyle. In The Prospects, baseball was essential to understand the characters, and in return the characters really made you care for the sport. I wish that more sports romances showed the sport actually being played.

I also thought that the progression of the romantic relationship was done very naturally. The story is told from Gene’s perspective, but Luis’s feelings are made clear to the reader. The two of them had different but compatible personalities. There was the right amount of a slow burn to keep you interested, and the “true love” aspect was convincing. I won’t spoil the story but the romance was beautiful.

I am not trans, so reading from Gene’s perspective was different for me. I appreciated that he took pride in being trans and being gay. While the story touches in issues he faces for being a trans athlete, it generally stays a happy and fun romance. The story also touches on ADHD and anxiety in ways I thought were appropriate. The book never feels too heavy.

I thought the story was fun and the ending was satisfying. If you like sports or romance, read this. If you like both, you NEED to read this one. I love a story that’s just as good as its cover!

i may not know anything about baseball, but even with zero knowledge of the sport, i wholeheartedly loved "the prospects." i didn't understand any of the baseball that happened in the book besides whether they won or lost, but that didn't take away my enjoyment of gene, luis, and their love story (not to mention the incredibly loveable cast of characters). it's so special to see trans and queer joy in novels and especially in the sports subgenre. gene and luis were both such delightfully imperfect characters, complex and flawed and real, that you really couldn't help but root for them and their love. this is such a strong debut and i absolutely cannot wait to see what kt hoffman does next!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of The Prospects.

My usual sports romance selections involve hockey, so a baseball book was a nice change! I liked both Luis and Gene and feel that they both had very nuanced and fully explored characters. It’s so important to explore different perspectives and life experiences.

I definitely recommend this to all sports romance aficionados

i’ve been wanting to get into sport romance books and this was exactly what i needed. i found our main character, Gene really relatable and i loved how much different kinds of representation was in this book! definitely give it a go if you’re in a mood for a book that’ll leave you in good spirits!

thank you netgalley for the e arc!

Minor League Baseball— where dreams are made and crushed.

Gene Ionescu has been playing for the Beaverton Beavers for three years, and he loves it. Like all minor leaguer players, he dreams to reach major league status. But as an openly trans and gay man, he is both confident in his skills and realistic about his prospects. Enter, Luis Estrada, an old college teammate of Gene who was drafted into the majors until an accident knocked him down. Both professional and personal sparks reignite leading to Gene rethinking his future.

It doesn’t take much for me to enjoy a good sports romance. While I’m not a fan of watching most real life sports, there is something fun about reading about them. Baseball isn’t my favorite sport in real life or in books, but the heart of this book overcomes it. The focus on anxiety and fear of the future and wanting more comes through clearly with the main characters. While we only see Gene’s POV, Luis is able to communicate his anxiety and pain in a realistic and matter of fact way.

Even the things we want, or think we want, aren’t always what we need. Sometimes, we hurt ourselves more rather than taking stock of our lives and facing the facts. It’s easier to keep with the status quo and not want better or different, but when you take the chance magical things can happen. My hope is that all the readers of this embrace the difficulties of life and face them head on. You never know, you might just like what’s the other side.

PS- I did make the bagel recipe in the book. It was my first time making bagels so any issues were definitely user error. The bagels came out denser than they should have but the taste and look was there. 7/10 would try again!