I want to start with thanking NetGalley & Berkeley for this arc 🫶 but …

The way this book made me care even less about baseball when I don’t even care about baseball to begin with…

First, rather than going into relationship building details, the author opted to give me run downs of baseball games (why?? Tf is inning?? You could have just gave me the result or described the last most important match?? Idk, maybe just me) she skimmed over what you’d consider conversations or interaction that would define a relationship (for example — Chris’s conversation with his father about their relationship, she didn’t even bother to write that part, it was fade-to-black)…

Second, the premise of the story itself.. I did not realized that this book was solely built upon catfishing.. ick. Quoting Sabrina Carpenter - “my give a fucks are on vacation” is the most accurate way for me to describe how I feel about all the characters in this book. Especially Daphne. For someone who claimed to be a an apologetic person, she was really good at pretending. Girl switched between persona faster than you can blink ☠️ she had so many chances to come clean and always chose not to. Literally outed herself by mistake.. like??

Also, Chris, my man, you would have been a victim on that Catfish show. The man falls so easily, never even questioned it. Like there is golden retriever energy, but this is just blankly dumb, and just a fool. The thing that gave me the biggest ick was him being with two people. Yes, they were both Daphne, but he didn’t know that. He wasn’t even loyal to either of the persona🤦🏻‍♀️

I literally skimmed through the last 20% because I got tired of Daphne catfishing this poor man. My give a fucks are still on vacation at this point for how they made up too. This couple will not last. Definitely breaking up after the epilogue.

With all that being said, before the catfishing started, it was okay. 👍 (about 10%)

Recommend if you like catfishing 😅

I gobbled this book up in a day. Easily my favorite Alicia Thompson story! I loved Daphne / Duckie and Chris together and separately. My palms were clammy leading up to the heckling because it’s awkward when you’re attending a sporting event and it happens near you. It wasn’t me, I swear! As Daphne kept pounding those beers, my anxiety climbed. The relationship between Duckie and Chris was wholesome, but come on, Chris! Red flags flying everywhere! Regardless, I enjoyed their banter and was ecstatic when Chris and Daphne started a flirtatious banter. Chris is my book boyfriend! I loved how genuine he was and open and caring. There wasn’t a single character that I disliked, the mains and the supporting cast were all so well written, that you felt connected to them in your own way.

If you’re looking for a fast paced, swoon worthy love story that has terrific character development and a will they / won’t they build, pick this up. I hope you love it as much as I did!

This was an absolutely delightful book! I loved the baseball elements. I loved Chris and Duckie's intimate friendship via text. I loved the spice! The phone call?! Phew! The oral scene?! Pass me a fan!
I think most of all I appreciated Chris as a character. I don't always enjoy MF romance because I'm not entertained by men who don't have much to offer in terms of thoughts and feelings, but Chris was refreshing.
I have to admit, once the story got into the thick of it, I was stressed about how it was going to come crashing down! I wasn't expecting how it actually happened, and I was relieved when that bubble finally popped.

Honestly, Alicia Thompson does banter so well, I have read her other books and have raved about them before , this one for sure has topped. For me, her writing style is so easy to fall into the characters and the book itself. I will say I was a little worried about the idea of another sports romance with all the others circulating, but it was more than a sports romance , you felt the pain of both the characters when Chris found out Daphne was Duckie. But also the emotional tension because Chris was hiding all of his emotional baggage of his brothers death. It was an overall great read for me! I can’t wait to see what’s next for this author !

✨The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson (Out June 18)✨
I’m obsessed with this book! This is a baseball sports romance mixed with You’ve Got Mail. Both characters were going through tough phases of life, and I loved how they were able to lean on each other while falling in love. Such a good romance to pick up during baseball season!

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

Thank you so much Berkley and NetGalley for the free eARC.

Blurb:
A professional baseball player and his heckler prove that true love is worth going to bat for.

✨My thoughts:
I loved it so much, I need to get my hands in a physical copy immediately! Although lying and miscommunication is my biggest pet peeve on a romance novel, I honestly enjoyed this story too much to care. I mean sure… Daphne desperately needed to come clean. But if she had, would we have had such steamy phone conversations?! Just sayin’! I keep seeing hockey romance but baseball romance is where it’s at! Chris really stole the show… sorry duckie! Another must read of 2024, you won’t want to miss this! Summer is right around the corner which means it’s the perfect time to get your summer reading list teed up. The Art of Catching Feelings is out 6/18/24 and you’ll want to read this one!

Happy reading 📖

Hey batter batter, SWING!

The Art of Catching Feelings is a home run. Daphne has struck out in love, and is now divorced. She's one of the most honest, authentic individuals, loves books and enjoys connecting life to music and her reads. Chris is a baseball adonis, and mentally struggling to overcome a family tragedy.

Daphne joins a friend at a game, becomes intoxicated and heckles Chris - " Your name should be Christopher Robin, 'cause you're hitting like Pooh!" Next thing she's knows, she's gone viral. Scrambling, Daphne sends Chris a DM to apologize but it doesn't go as planned. Their unconventional meet-cute leads to texting, creating an emotional connection. It's only when he wants to meet her that things go array...take a seat, grab some baseball fan fare and settle in for the remainder of this happily ever after game.

I literally had a BALL with this read!

Thank you, Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley

As a baseball fan I was so excited for this book. Unfortunately the deception and lying to the mmc was too hard to read. There was too much cringe to be enjoyable. The story with the mmc was vulnerable and honest while the fmc took advantage of his situation gave me such a bad feeling.

Content warnings: suicide

Thank you NetGalley & Berkley for the advanced copy. This is my honest review.

Oof I think baseball romances are my new obsession. These are by far Thompson’s best characters. The switching between the two POVs but not necessarily on the same situation was fantastic. There was so much depth to these characters without giving the full backstory which still left some mystic to them. The reader knows the immediate trauma that has put there where they are today, which is all you know since both characters were trying to be “aggressively present”. And that line “you’re the book I want to reread for the rest of my life”. Destroyed me. Done. Bye.

Okay now for the baseball, I know more about baseball than Daphne but I have never known every vocab word. This last weekend (as in four days ago) I was at a dodger game for teacher appreciation day. My coworker, a padres fan, sitting next to me, which ew but anyways she’s cool. She answered questions I had but was always too scared to ask. Like what exactly is a RBI (listen her team chose may be bleh but she knows baseball). So read this book a few days later, I felt almost empowered by the more things I picked up (and a little scared to text her some clarifying things). As for the baseball side,I love it. I need more dodger games in my life haha. But I think her review of the baseball side would be more meaningful. And yes I’m going to get her to read the book!

I loved Love in the Time of Serial Killers and Love from Cold World, so I was excited to get approved for Alicia's upcoming romance, The Art of Catching Feelings. I decided to start it at the height of baseball season because it felt...fitting. I wanted to love this one. But unfortunately, it had one of my least favorite plot devices--catfishing.

Even though Daphne stumbles into it on accident, and doesn't *mean* to catfish Chris, she does--DM/texting him as Duckie, while interacting in real life as Daphne...and she doesn't come clean for a good portion of the book. They're intimately acquainted FOR A WHILE, while she's still living with this lie. I was DYING.

I was listening to the audiobook, and I had to actually pause the book right after she accidentally reveals herself, because my anxiety level was so high. It was like watching a trainwreck in slow motion because you knew for LITERAL CHAPTERS leading up to it what was going to happen, and it was excruciating. Five or six days later, I finally circled back and finished the book, and honestly, Alicia did a great job making both characters' reactions and feelings feel realistic while not actively prolonging the angst. I'm glad I finished it, and I think it's a solid four stars...but good grief. The anxiety I felt was almost too much--which honestly might be a me problem, not a book problem.

If catfishing doesn't bother you or you don't struggle with severe anxiety (like I do), I'm sure this will be a great summer romance read to pick up while relaxing on the beach or by the pool. (Insert self-deprecating, laughing emoji here.) I, meanwhile, may need to schedule another therapy session to recover. (Jk...mostly.)

As a certified baseball hater I was worried that a baseball romance just wasn’t going to be for me but boy was I wrong. Within the first few chapters I was smiling and giggling and just overall having a fantastic time. The Art of Catching Feelings is a great example of a romance that balances comedy with more emotional and deeper topics.

I really loved the relationship between Daphne and Chris . You could tell they really cared deeply for one another. Both characters were very well developed and I loved seeing their growth from the beginning to the end of the story.

The side characters were also a ton of fun but I do wish they had been more prominent. I think there could have been a lot of really great moments if they had been more involved with the main couple and the story overall.

This was such a fun and quick read for me. I would highly recommend it to anyone that has this on their radar. Alicia Thompson did an absolutely incredible job and I can’t wait to read more of her books in the future.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Berkley, and Alicia Thompson for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

A swinnnnng and a hit for Alicia Thompson!

Daphne isn't the biggest baseball fan, preferring anything else. With present plans, she attends a Carolina Battery game and ends up yelling at Chris Kepler, player on the outs. Feeling terrible, she messages him and starts a friendship online form her bookstagram.

Chris has had a rough 6 months, with his brother's passing and dad's pressure. He NEVER responds to direct messages but can not resist Daphne's rubber duck profile picture. Striking up a friendship, he can't help it when his heart skips a beat. He needs to know MORE of her. But, Daphne is hiding who she truly is behind the screen and TV mic...a secret that could destroy everything.

I loved the trigger warning sat the beginning, especially because suicide is a subject that when discussed in books all should be given a warning for. There were times when I LOVED where Thompson was taking the story (bookstagrammer, lover of trying to be enough, baseball) and other times were the story dragged. I'm not one hundred percent convinced with how gullible Chris was to not think anything was up with Daphne but hey, isn't that what fiction is all about. The Art of Catching is a solid read that fans of previous Thompson novels will enjoy!

Ok, this book. THIS BOOK. It was sweet and sporty and sexy and just so much fun. I think I am falling in love with baseball reads? I loved this book so much that I think I might be diving wholeheartedly headfirst into sports reads. Now this book does deal heavily with miscommunication/ hidden identity, so if that’s not your thing, steer clear. I think this book is masterful in navigating that, though. The characters are so lovely, too. Daphne, I love you. You are stupid. ILYSM. Chris Kepler, baseball extraordinaire: take me out to the ballgame, but really, boy TAKE ME OUT. Ugh. So good. The plot was great, the characters were great, the sexy was EXTRA GREAT. I think what this book really smashed out of the park (pun intended) was the people dynamic. Every side character really made the most of their moments on page, no matter how small. They were fun and witty and memorable, I did get slightly irritated with Daphne being a bit wimpy about telling Chris, but also, that was kind of the entire point? Despite this, Alicia Thompson navigated the *third act breakup* feels perfectly, and I wasn’t mad at the fallout of her grand reveal. This book was great, I loved it. I loved it so so much. I need more,

Alicia has a way of captivating readers with her romances, and The Art of Catching Feelings was no different! The two main characters, Daphne and Chris will be that couple that will find each other in every lifetime. Readers who are fans of early 2000's rom-coms will really enjoy this sweet story. In a sense, it leaves you feeling nostalgic. Alicia always does a wonderful job of including heavy topics with such delicacy. This felt like so much more than just a cute sports romance. I have a feeling that this will be a romance that many readers will be loving this summer!

The Art of Catching Feelings started off so promisingly and I wanted to love it, but unfortunately the deception lasted too long and went too far for my comfort.

Daphne should have told Chris who she was a lot sooner than she did. Instead she allowed Chris - who was so nice - to share so many intimate details about his life and loss and his struggles with grief while lying to him online and in person. It was honestly off-putting.

I really struggled to understand Daphne's actions and in the end was left with mixed feelings.

The Art of Catching Feelings was sadly a miss for me.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was a fast, steamy, emotional read with a main character I could relate to who knew nothing about sportsball who then accidentally catfished the baseball player she insulted during a game on national tv and couldn’t figure out how to make it right. General romantic chaos ensues. Good stuff!! Love this author and each book is better and better!

I loved this book. WOW. It’s got some elements some readers may not like, but for me it was perfectly executed. Baseball, you’ve got mail style romance, and mental health rep means it’s a 5 star from me!

We have Daphne, a bookstagrammer, cat owner, fresh out of a divorce, drunk at a ball game and without a care in the world, heckling the players. Chris, silently fighting the battle of anxiety and grief after his brothers suicide, is the poor shmuck up to bat when Daphne yells out a particularly silly line. It hits home in a way that happens to make Chris cry, at bat, on national TV. What a great opening premise!

The rest of the story involves Daphne DMing Chris via IG to apologize but somehow she doesn’t actually admit who she is and they develop an online relationship in the style of You’be Got Mail where he doesn’t fully know her identity but begins to fall nonetheless. In reality, he doesn’t know she’s the newly hired team broadcaster with curly hair that he’s itching to get to know and she’s trying to be professional but just can’t keep her distance. As you can suspect, things get messy.

What I loved about this book though was the development of their relationship over multiple angles, the discussions around male athletes and mental health, and discovering yourself worth again after a failed marriage. The part people will dislike is the prolonged dishonesty from Daphne, who has many chances to come clean but chickens out time after time. I thought this plot point might take my rating down a star, but in the end it’s handled in a very mature way and feels realistic for the characters.

The romance is cute, the spice is incredible and the baseball was fun. Content caution for suicide off the page but discussed after the fact.

Thanks Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Vibes:
Text messages
Forced proximity
Dislike to love
Secret identity
Baseball galore
Sports romance
Mental health discussions
He falls first
Healing after loss

If I could just type incoherent screaming into this review box, I would. I CANNOT say enough good things, I loved this one sooooo much!

I’m a sucker for a sports romance but don’t actually remember if I’ve read a baseball one? If so, they all got knocked out of the PARK by this one. I didn’t really have many expectations going into this but was immediately sucked in until I finished it only hours later. I had the BEST time reading this; was absolutely screaming and kicking my feet and giggling like a maniac.

I absolutely adored Daphne and Chris, from their initial text interactions to their real-life relationship! They are both so charming and such a good pair. There were so many little things in this book that I loved—the focus on grief and panic attacks, the moment near the end between Daphne and her brother, Milo the cat, the deeper conversations between Daphne and Chris—it all just worked together so well. One big thing to commend- a third act breakup that did not feel AT ALL forced or randomly thrown into the plot, but was actually justified! And it made the resolution all that much better.

The ending was incredible, the last speech from Chris??? CHRIS KEPLER DREAM MAN FOR REALLLLLLL. There’s a line in there that legit stopped me in my tracks, had to take a few moments to recover from that one. This book just made me incandescently happy and I’m immediately going to dive into Thompson’s other books now too! One of my favorites of the year!

A professional baseball player and his heckler prove that true love is worth going to bat for. This was a fun sports romance. I felt like this was a unique take on a cat-fishing / love triangle / miscommunication romance. Both Daphne and Chris are overcoming big life hurdles. Daphne is trying to figure out how to move on after a divorce and Chris is dealing with the loss after his brother took his own life. I feel like in a lot of sports romances the characters are always so perfect and these struggles made them more well-rounded, likable, and relatable characters. I am not a huge miscommunication trope girlie. I get that it was necessary for the plot and the eventual conflict of the story so it didn't bother me as much as some others

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 6/18

The adorable cover of this sports romance had me ready to dive right in!

Daphne and her bestie attend a baseball game the day her divorce becomes official, and Daphne proceeds to get very drunk and heckle a player on her own team, causing him to become the main story on all the baseball broadcasts. When the pair later connect online, they build a friendship….but Chris is unaware that his new friend is his heckler.

There were things I loved here, and things that drove me crazy. I loved Chris and thought he deserved much better than the way things went with Daphne, but he also frustrated me by being fine with the anonymous online relationship they originally built and how far things went there. Daphne just drove me crazy with her cover-ups and lies, and the way that they made miscommunication such a huge trope in this book.

I loved the baseball setting and Daphne’s job and thought they made for definite bright spots in the book. The story was well written and I enjoyed the inclusion of the DMs between the pair as they got to know one another.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC. All opinions are my own. I’d rate this one 3.5 stars.