Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC!

I know next to nothing about baseball, but that didn’t stop me from loving this book. What an amazing debut! This book was so full of hope and joy that I found myself smiling the entire time I was reading. I was rooting for Gene the whole time. I also loved seeing Gene and Luis' relationship evolve throughout the book. I'm definitely looking forward to whatever else Hoffman has in store!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy. I enjoyed the storyline and learning more about Gene and his history. The baseball aspect added a fun dynamic.

This was a more emotionally intense romance than usual, but in a good way. Our characters are both learning about themselves and each other, while navigating the sports world that isn't so friendly to trans and lgbtq+ people. I think the author did a really good job of this, while also not romanticizing the reality of life too much.

I always love a good sports romance, even if I don't exactly enjoy sports in real life.

I haven't read a minor league baseball romance before and I thought it was a great concept. I'd actually really love more minor league focused sports romances I think. The pressure to perform well enough to be called up to the majors cannot be easy and our characters were facing that plus dealing with transphobic people, mental health concerns and just trying to survive life. The Prospects by KT Hoffman focuses on Gene and Luis who were friends in college that lost touch due to...reasons, only to reconnect when Luis gets traded to the same minor league team as Gene. As the tension between the two builds, they start to realize that they make each other better both on and off the field.

As if the minor league romance wasn't new enough, the book also took a different approach to sex between the characters than I have read in other romances with a trans lead character. Typically, the details of any sex between the leads is sort of glossed over with little to no reference to genitalia. KT Hoffman did not, in fact, gloss over anything. I thought this was so different from anything I'd read before and worth a mention so you don't go into it with the same assumptions I did based on previous reading. I love it when a book turns your assumptions on their head and makes you confront your thinking. Romance authors are out here doing the work and I am here for it.

Overall, I loved the friendships in this book even more than the friends to strangers to friends to lovers romance between Gene and Luis. There is something to be said for a well bonded sports team. I look forward to more from this author in the future! The Prospects is out now wherever you buy books!

The Prospects by K. T. Hoffman is a smile-inducing, heartwarming sports romance between two surprisingly different teammates, the reserved grump along with the ever optimistic & energetic sunshine. This book felt like drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate whilst eating two cinnamon rolls to give you that achingly sweet & gooey feeling. I was giddy in glee while all up in my feels. This was a refreshing story of optimism, hope, an epic sports novel with the right amount of emotions, steam & the sweet feeling of falling in love.

The Prospects is great for readers looking for…
⚾️ Baseball Romance
⚾️ LGBTQIA+
⚾️ Mental Health Representation (& Service Dog)
⚾️ Forced Proximity (Teammates)

If you’ve ever watched a sports movie that ends with a triumphant win after unfathomable obstacles that then leaves you with a relentless optimistic & energized feeling, this book will give you that plus a heartwarming love story all wrapped in one. There’s also a bonus reminder of coming into oneself & loving thyself as well as healing from past hurts & the reminder of hope & dreams.

I am always grateful for mental health representation & as someone with both ADHD & anxiety, I thought they were done well. I would love to see this made as a TV series.

I am excited to see what this author writes next!

If you are looking for an enthralling sports romance full of sweet & steamy that will leave you full of hope & feels, I highly recommend reading The Prospects!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Dial Press Trade Paperback for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

THE PROSPECTS BY K.T. Hoffman  

I read this book while out in The Wild and amidst the hours of freezing cold rain, lack of pillow, and (shudder) uninterrupted time with my family, it kept me tethered to reality. Or rather, the beautiful ideal version of it, where the jerk you used to be friends with on your college baseball team is actually a big-eared romance guy with a propensity for building IKEA furniture.

When Luis gets traded to Gene's minor league team, Gene is a near to devastated as he is to annoyed. Not only did Luis dip on him when he got drafted, he's shunting him from shortstop to second base. But as the season stretches out in front of them, ice-cold interactions turn into extra practices, and before long they're hurtling toward a romance that I crossed my fingers would last through the playoff race (spoiler alert, it does ).I loved this book. It's tender and funny and romantic, and I want everyone I know to read it immediately.

Here's a very truncated list of the things I loved about The Prospects:
The Kyles Making an extra bagel for your LI
How can you not be romantic about (minor league) baseball
Home is where as many mugs as you want are

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A cute hopeful story that is meant for romance readers who also love the sport of baseball. Gene is a great character than radiates hope and I really enjoyed the relationship that unfolded with Luis. I also liked the extra touches at the end like Gene’s bagel recipe and the playlists.

4⭐️

<b>It’s a lot of pressure, doing something people don’t want someone who looks like you to do.</b>

I’m genuinely impressed that a book could make me care about baseball this much. This book was incredible and I loved every minute of it. I was wary of Luis at first, but he really grew on me and he and Gene are so cute together. Vince did annoy me a little at times, but Gene and Luis were so adorable that I forgot how annoying he was being. The trans representation in this was also really refreshing and well done!!

<b>He wants to hold Luis’s hand and play a little to his left; he wants Luis Estrada, Baseball Player, to bat him home, and then he wants Luis Estrada, the person, to take him home.</b>

This book was honestly SO GOOD. I was in a reading slump for a while and decided I would read one of my NetGalley approvals, and this did not disappoint!

I read this during Pride month and absolutely loved it. While I explicitly focus on Queer and LGBTQIA+ books during Pride month, don't forget to read queer all year.

thanks to netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for a review!

i am a sucker for a sports romance, so i knew that this one was going to be up my alley. and boy was i correct! i loved gene from the start, and i found his relationship with luis so so sweet. it was kind of a slow burn at first, which i found held up because there was actual plot going on aside from the romance. this is a standout for me, highly recommend to anyone looking for a sports or queer romance.

amazing!! this was excellent representation of trans & lgbtq issues! the characters were fleshed out as was the writing & plot development & pacing!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the summer of gay baseball books and I couldn't be happier about it. This has easily sailed right into my top ten favorite books of all time. I love sports books, I love trans representation, I love queer romances. There was even a super casual comment about the MC being Jewish somewhere in the middle that I almost screamed about because truly I couldn't believe I'd managed to stumble upon something that managed to tick all of my boxes.

I could barely put this down once I started. If I could have, I would have happily read the whole thing in one sitting. This was equal parts joyous and triumphant in a way I feel only queer sports like this can be. Gene is such a relentless wave of positivity that more than balanced out the moments of transphobia and disappointment. Because ultimately this is a story about trans joy and triumph.

This book started out slowly for me but picked up steam about 25% in. At first, i was thrown by all the names of the characters. The main character is called Gene, Ianescu, and Nes all in the same context. It was hard to keep track that that is all the same person. Once I got used to that, I enjoyed the banter. I adore baseball and love the setting of the minor league teams with their fun quirks and silly traditions. I also love the trans rep and queer joy! Overall I would recommend this book!

Had to restart this book multiple times over the past several months. Will still recommend to readers of queer romance but it was too long and the writing and characters didn’t grip me like I had hoped for in a contemporary romance.
What worked:
-Trans rep
-Found family elements
-Grumpy/sunshine
-Working on self improvement in addition to the relationship
What didn’t:
-Writing style
-Lack of engagement and investment in the relationship and stakes

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

I purposely saved this book for Pride Month, and I'm so glad I did. Gene is the first openly trans man in minor league baseball, and a self proclaimed optimist. He knows there's not really a chance to make the majors, but that's ok - he loves his life and career. Until Luis Estrada gets traded to his team. Luis is a former college teammate and for whatever reason, him and Gene can't even have a conversation now. The problem is that's translating to their performance on the field, and the team can't win a game. Their manager forces them to share a room, and they decide to start extra workouts together to try to fix their on field issues. While doing this, they become closer, and in addition to becoming better teammates, they start to become friends, plus something more.

The chemistry between Gene and Luis was pretty great, and I enjoyed watching their relationship blossom. I definitely think having an understanding of the actual game of baseball made me like this book even more, because the on field chemistry between a shortstop and 2B is so important, and the author really zeroed in on that and the nuances of the game well.

I did think the third act breakup was a bit frustrating, but I understand that it's necessary for the plot. It was all worked out well in the end though.

I like that at the beginning, the author put a disclaimer about the sex scenes in the book, and noted that trans people are comfortable with sex in different ways, and have their own preferred terms for their genitalia. The way it's all written is specific to this book and how Gene feels and refers to his body.

Overall a fun read. I. will definitely read more from this author.

I loved this book despite not really understanding baseball even a little bit. Gene is such a delight and I was almost immediately endeared by him and his singular joyful voice. Sometimes a protagonist feels like your friend and Gene was very much that for me.

This was fun and sweet! I love a baseball themed romance! I wish there was a bit more nuance and grit. It felt a little too "perfect"/stiff. I wanted to see more depth and realness to the characters.

This one was the perfect spring time / summer time read. The character development was like no other! The trans, gay, lesbian, and anxiety representation was flawless. I loved Dodger most of all.

This was such a tender and hopeful read! I loved Gene as a character - his struggles navigating identity as both a trans person and as an athlete really resonated with me, and I enjoyed that aspect even more than the romance. I found myself rooting for the Beavers, and looking up the rules of baseball so I could understand how the team was doing - something I never thought I'd do as a die-hard hockey fan who resolutely believed baseball was the most boring sport on planet earth. And, KT's writing is so smooth and fluid - I flew through the book in an afternoon.

The only reason I didn't rate this higher is because the romance felt a little too easy for me. There were no real stakes, and any conflict was resolved pretty quickly. But, sometimes a sappy happily-ever-after is exactly what you need, and I still had a lot of fun reading this.

Thank you for the advanced copy!