This was a super cute book filled with joy and hope. The romance had me giggling and smiling. The tension in the romance was done so well and it felt very realistic. I loved that this was a second chance romance and how both characters needed to figure out how to repair their friendship and work together in the field. The plot was done so well and I was a little surprise by the ending in a good way. I highly recommend this book.

When Casey McQuiston blurbs something I instantly know I’m going to love it! Also one of my other favorite writers Anita Kelly gave it 5 stars on goodreads so honestly that means there’s no possible way I won’t love it. Reader, I loved it!

The story is about Gene who is the first openly transgender baseball player in the minor leagues and his relationship with his teammate Luis. The dynamic between the two is so great because they’ve known each other and I love a good friends to enemies to lovers romance.

This was exactly what I needed to read on a cold winter’s day, honestly it literally took me 1 day to read I could not put it down! Highly highly recommend!

Goodness this one was sweet. Such a fun sports romance with two characters who were both awesome and fun and deserved all the hugs. Thanks for the arc

I loved how vulnerable the characters are with each other and how much they care about each other. They push each other to grow and be truthful and most importantly to be hopeful and let themselves dream big. I also really loved that this book talks so openly about anxiety. And in a world where there’s hate everywhere it’s really wonderful to imagine a reality where Gene can be so true to who he is as a gay trans man playing amazing baseball. It would be really nice if someday that wasn’t something to need to imagine.

Gene, the first openly trans player in professional player, has assumed he spend his career in the minors and was happy with that. Until his former college teammate, Luis, is traded to his team. The two haven't spoken in years, since Luis had his shot in the big leagues and stopped talking to Gene, and the rift between them causes problems on and off the pitch. The two try to work out their differences, and ultimately make for a show-stopping pair on the field--and perhaps off it, as well. So successful, that a promotion may be in the works...

This was an enjoyable read. A tad on the long side, and extremely emotional, this book is perfect for fans of character-driven romances. But this sports romance is a true underdog tale, with beautiful descriptions of baseball and the developing romance between our main characters. Seeing trans rep not only in romance, but in sports is so important and you can't help but want to root for Gene. Gene and Luis are such an interesting pair, and I really liked where this book ended up with the two of them (no spoilers).

Thanks to Dial Press for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

This was such a wholesome read!! I loved this one! I love LGBTQ sports romances-- I'm not sure why but they are my favorite LGBTQ romance genre by far! This one was very good! I am not a part of the LGBTQ community so I cannot personally attest to how well issues were handled but I loved reading it and loved how diverse the characters were!

A lovely ode to queer joy, trans joy, and the great glorious game of baseball, The Prospects is a rivals-to-lovers sports romance between the very sunny Gene, the first openly trans player in pro baseball, and his college teammate and rival, Luis. The found family aspect is simply wonderful, Gene is a wildly charming main character, and Luis' struggles with anxiety are handled with a deft touch. Thank you so very much to the author, Netgalley, and the publisher for the ARC of this excellent read!

If this book has one fan it's me, however this was so enjoyable I know that will not be the case! This book made me laugh, cry, and want to read it again immediately after I finished.

The way that Gene and Luis supported each other through their respective struggles made my heart feel so full of the love they shared. The sexy moments between the pair were so heartfelt and tender that it felt almost as if I was interrupting on a private moment.

I saw so much of myself in Gene, both as someone with ADHD and the challenges that come alongside that as well as being a person who struggles with wanting good things for themselves. It was such a beautiful journey to watch Gene allow himself to want both Luis and a professional baseball career.

If you're a fan of Rachel Reid, Tal Bauer, and Cat Sebastian, I think you will enjoy The Prospects as much as I did. Thank you NetGalley and Random House-Dial Press for the advanced copy. Looking forward to reading more from KT Hoffman in the future!

Gene may be good at stealing bases, but The Prospects stole my heart! Let me tell you, we’re about to see a surge of queer sports romances. I’m calling it now. This is a romance filled with hope, longing, promise, and definite heart-melty moments. Okay, and steamy moments. More than a few. Also, cute moments that had me giddy and squealing. While this is a romance, we also have a true underdog story and the result of what happens when you let yourself want things in life.

What can you expect from The Prospects?
-mutual years-long pining
-ADHD & anxiety rep
-trans male main character
-so much banter

My first 5 star read of the year and bound to be an all-time favorite for me!!! This book really just ticked every single box for me and did it with flying colors. I absolutely love a sports romance, and this book was clearly written by someone who loves baseball and that love shows up on the page. I am a sports fan, but not the biggest baseball expert, and I still found myself absolutely engrossed in all of the baseball drama and plot.

I liked the choice to make the story take place in a realistic setting that was a slightly altered universe. As a very very light MLB fan, the world of the Portland Lumberjacks and their minor league counterparts, the Beavers, was so well sketched that there were multiple times that I found myself wondering and googling if Portland had a team that I just didn't know about. The slightly altered reality also made for a believable world in which we had our first out trans pro baseball player. This world balanced some realistic internal doubts for Gene and external criticisms/transphobia without leaning into trauma porn. As a queer cis reader, I think the way Gene's story as a trans athlete was shared was truly so perfect, it celebrated and shone light on his transness without devolving into a trans 101 instruction manual for cis readers.

The romance also was just so good!!! I loved Gene, I loved Luis, the tension was so great, the payoff was great. 10/10 for both the feelings and the hot parts!!

To me? This book is the best of the best kind of book that the romance genre has to offer. I can't wait to force all of my friends to read it!!!

4.5 rounded up for this one. It was funny, sad, emotional, beautiful, what else can you ask for in a romance really? The writing flows so well; this is a phenomenal debut. You can tell this author really loves baseball, in a good way. Gene and Luis are fully fleshed out characters that are so easy to love and root for, with a great cast of side characters also. The dialogue had me smiling, blushing, cheesing &c &c. LGBTQ+ rep + mental health rep + adhd rep. There is so much packed into these ~380 pages. I cannot wait for this one to be out in the world this April (perfect for the start of baseball season!)

Full re


ARC given to me by Random House via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

This is the best book I’ve read in a long time. The story is kind and hopeful and cute. It’s really well written. I can’t find the words to explain how wonderful this story is.

Before Gene Ionesco told anyone he was a he, he played on Stanford’s baseball team with Luis Estrada. Freshman Gene and junior Luis were close for the single season they played together. But, one day, Luis was gone. No goodbye, no call, no nothing. Luis was drafted in the 14th round, but he never told Gene.

The next time Gene saw Luis they were playing against each other in the minor league. The feeling of being abandoned by Luis still stung Gene. Gene avoided Luis, and Luis never made any overtures toward Gene.

Gene’s life is going well. He plays baseball professionally, even if it is in the minors. He lives in the attic apartment of the house owned by Gene’s current teammate, friend, and former Cy Young award winner, Vince, and his husband Jack. Gene loves his teammates, and Gene’s teammates love him in return. Gene has found his home. And Gene is pretty good at baseball, too. He stole 37 bases last season, and he hit .400 in September. Life was going well. Gene wants for nothing, but he hopes.

Gene was comfortable, until, on his birthday, 4 days before the start of the season, Luis is transferred to Gene’s team. Gene and Luis, who played together in college, can’t seem to overcome whatever it is that’s between them and manage to play baseball. Frustrated with their incompatibility, Coach Baker assigns Gene and Luis to the same room on roadtrips. Eventually, Gene and Luis are able to form a friendship, and Luis explains his sudden, silent departure from college, and from Gene.

Tropes, found family, enemies to lovers, forced proximity

Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Gene is the first openly trans player in the baseball minor leagues. He has pretty much everything he’s ever dreamed of, and has the perfect routine. That is until his current rival gets traded to his team, and his perfectly curated routine gets trampled. As the two of them grow closer and begrudgingly get a rhythm between them, things start changing between them.
I absolutely loved this book. Firstly the amount of gay that is the baseball team is absolutely amazing. And the amount of representation on and off the field, and people breaking gender norms everywhere was just amazing. I loved reading about Gene and Luis (and Dodger!) and all of the other players on the team and it was so much fun.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for an eARC of this book

I absolutely adored this book. I got the privilege of reading it early and if there was no limit to the number of stars I could give this book, I'd give it an infinite number of them. This book was a warm cozy hug that I didn't know I needed honestly. Gene and Luis made me feel so seen as someone with ADHD and anxiety. I adored their relationship and banter that came along with it. I cried, I laughed, I giggled and kicked my feet. I did all the emotions honestly.


I loved that this book was easy to follow being someone who literally knows nothing about baseball. I honestly wish I could read this all over again for the first time. It gave me such a good heartwarming feeling finishing it. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author and purchasing this when it comes out in April.

I had so much hope for this book but sadly it didn’t meet my expectations. It was hard to engage with the characters at the beginning. The writing was hard to follow at times. Has great potential, it just didn’t do it for me.

That you #netgalley for the ARC. This was their debut novel by this author. This was also my first ever trans novel by a trans author. I really want to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this. As a lover of MM novel I am really thankful as a straight cis female to be given the opportunity to review this story. The story follow Gene who is the first trans male baseball player that hopes to get called up to play in the MLB. I really enjoyed this story and how the author navigated all the issues that can come from being trans and gay in sports. I loved Luis, Gene’s love interest. I wish there was more on the back story on how Luis had this long crush on Gene. The spice was well done. This was my first trans novel and I enjoyed it. I do enjoy sports romance but being Canadian and following only hockey (sorry!!) all of the baseball jargon and references I did not get but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. I will be looking for more trans stories to read and watching out for this author. Well done KT Hoffman! 3.5 rounded up to 4

It was heavily expositional, slow paced, and not the most interesting to me. I stopped after chapter 1 (4%) but imagine it’s a solid three to four stars for the target. Must love baseball.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I am always excited to read a book with diverse characters. Gene is a trans baseball player and is the first in the country to be out in this sport. It has a small enemies to lover vibe in the beginning but quickly shifts to more of a contemporary sports romance. The theme of being enough is sprinkled throughout the book along with representation of mental disorders such as ADHD and anxiety. The characters are diverse but I didn't connect with all of them. I wish there was a tad more editing and less repetition. 3.5 stars.

I loved this book! I don't tend to reach for sports romance books (outside of Hockey) because I can't always follow what they're referencing as I don't follow any sports. This book made baseball approachable and I just adored both of the characters! This was the first KT Hoffman I've read but I am so excited to read more. Highly recommend this one!

I adore the level of queer joy in the this book as well as the thoughtful way that queerness and other identities intersect and interact is explored.