This book is great to read when you want a Sports RomCom! I really enjoyed the lighthearted touches but felt like this book really stuck with me when it talked about the loss of a family member and dealing with the aftermath.

Daphne was just trying to get over a divorce by enjoying a little heckling at a baseball game; she didn’t know that Chris would react so strongly to something she thought was harmless. When she realizes just how badly Chris Kepler took her joke; she decides to reach out to him on social media to apologize but forgets to mention she was the heckler!

I enjoyed the back and forth harmless flirting happening between Daphne and Chris but I was so irritated with Daphne! Like she had so many ample opportunities tell Chris the truth but decided to just keep it a secret until it blew up in her face. I wish she didn’t string Chris along. It felt really cringy when she kept the lie through most of the book. Especially when Chris was confused in his growing attraction for someone he knew ‘online’ while also falling for the new sports reporter for the team! Daphne had redemption at the end but it was hard to finish this book because of her. I wish she was not so complicated.

I love a good sports romance. I've gotten really into baseball recently so I was super excited to see this author write a sports romance book. I thought they did a great job. It had the perfect mixture of romance, funny moments, and both characters were vulnerable and open to change. Overall, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. It's more then just a romcom.

Enjoyable. Took me about 4 chapters to get into it. I liked it, I really liked Chris, but some aspects of writing felt flat. Characterization was uneven, and I struggled with Daphne’s duplicity even though I understood how it happened.

This adorable baseball romance got me in the feels! So cute and heartwarming. First book I’ve read by this author but I loved it! I will be reading more. The cover is sweet and so is the story! Read this one!

I love how this one initially started out, but the catfishing went on for entirely too long. It was frustrating.

First of all, being a fan of baseball is probably super important for liking this book. I love baseball, I love following a team that’s not always great, which makes it all the more exciting when they are playing great. And staying up past 1 am while in my third trimester of pregnancy to watch one of the wildest game 7s of any World Series to see my team end a 108 year drought! So loving baseball certainly made me love this book more.

Yes this book has a ton of miscommunication, but it’s in the form of mistaken identity. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I somehow felt alright about it. I loved that it was dual POV, and both characters were well fleshed out.

I am so serious when I say one line made this a five star read for me. When my love of books and baseball collide, this kind of magic happens for me. Daphne being a bookstagrammer was just icing on the cake. And that epilogue! It’s what we would all want!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was such a fun read. I'm in my sports romance era and this really met a lot of the criteria that I was looking for!

Read this book if you enjoy:
> Baseball player MMC/sideline reporter FMC
> Secret identity
> Mental health rep
> Friends with benefits
> Book lover FMC
> Open door spice

There were parts of this book that absolutely made me laugh out loud. I love Alicia's style of writing and the way that the dry wit and sarcasm can create hilarious moments. I thought both of the MCs were well developed - and I definitely felt the tension between them. The chemistry was hot and the friends with benefits arrangement led to some seriously spicy scenes. The third act break up was both predictable and incredibly emotional - the blow up was believable and warranted based on how the MCs got to that point in the story.

To that end, the miscommunication and 'secret identity'/catfishing scenario wore on me a little bit. I get it in the context of the story and it definitely fit in the storyline, I just wish it would have been resolved earlier on. It went almost to the point of being uncomfortable - and there were multiple times where I desperately wanted the FMC to set the record straight earlier on. That being said, the writing was excellent and I devoured this story - I definitely was invested in the outcome.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book!

My first book by Alicia Thompson and certainly not my last! A super cute sports romance with some grit and heartwarming moments intertwined. I really loved Chris — he was the perfect vulnerable, sensitive and sweet male main character. I loved the You've Got Mail vibes too! A great read for the summer!

This was a cutesy romance but also had depth in the plot and characters. I loved that a lot. Plus make it a sports romance?! I'm immediately sold!

I don’t know where to start. I went in blind as I always do with books and not read reviews but I wish I had.

The catfishing gave me the ick. It wasn’t even miscommunication, she had opportunities to come out with the truth and she still decided to lie. I’m all about miscommunication tropes too but straight out lying not once but twice. No thanks. It was about 60% when the truth finally came out and not because she wanted to tell him.

Also Layla, what a not so nice B word. She was constantly tearing Daphne down and her brother doesn’t do anything either (he seemed like he was good for nothing too).

Everyone feeling sorry for Chris but he knew what he was doing too. Daphne wouldn’t share her name, photo, any real details or even talk to him not be phone but he fell in love? Delulu much.

Don’t get me wrong I’m a sports romance girly through and through. But this wasn’t it for me.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced readers copy of this book.

Batter up! He slides in to home while she slides into his DMs. If you love a good baseball story, you'll love this one.

Alicia Thompson has quickly become a favorite author. After reading "Love in the Time of Serial Killers", I was pumped to get an advanced copy of her new baseball romance. She and I share a sense of humor and I totally feel like I am the target demographic for her writing. She's funny, a little cheeky, and the characters are lovable.

I docked one star for the unnecessary lack of communication. While I really enjoyed the overall story, I found that poor communication frustrating. Will I still recommend it? Of course!

[SPOILERS]
TL;DR: Heckler makes the baseball hunk cry. She anonymously apologizes in his DMs, friendship blooms, he falls for mystery internet woman. They're forced to work together - TENSION. She digs herself deeper into a hole by withholding truths. He's torn between internet girl and real girl, she knows and he doesn't. Internet girl leaves him high and dry - he's crushed, falls for real girl. Truth comes out, everything falls apart. Have no fear... Happy Endings for Everyone!


📚Trope(s): He Falls First, Grumpy/Sunshine, Secrets/Withholding Truths
What you get: ⚾️🐱📚🎥🎤
⭐️Plot: 4/5
🔥Chemistry: 5/5
🌶️Spice: 4/5

I have a serious thing for baseball players, so this book was like catnip for me. I loved everything about it!

Chris and Daphne were amazing together, and I adored how their relationship unfolded. The side characters, especially Chris's teammates, were wonderful, and the baseball aspect of the book actually seemed mostly plausible. Coming from an obsessive baseball fan that lives for the 162 game season, that is very high praise.

There was also a very well written and emotional mental health storyline that gave this book a little more seriousness.

If you enjoy a good sports romance, then this one is a must-read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

“You’re the book I want to reread. For the rest of my life.”

This book made my anxiety ramp up to the highest levels, like my goodness. I knew going in that the main trope would be miscommunication, “hidden identity”, and rely heavily on deceit. I absolutely knew that’s where it was heading but I didn’t realize that it would weigh so heavy on me! I needed these characters to just fess up!

Daphne was so messy. Such a messy and chaotic character! She was precious and I wanted the best for her, but there were points where I wanted her to come clean so badly so the entire story could be happy and it could all be resolved! Chris was so wholesome and you just wanted to hold him and give him the world on a platter. He had gone through so much and to be an outsider looking in knowing how it was eventually going to happen was so difficult.

I know it’s such a polarizing trope! BUT! I will say - the romance between Daphne and Chris is actually so hot and so freaking sweet that it is absolutely so worth it! There are gonna be times you want to scream at Daphne for being a chicken but you know it’ll all work out in the end 🫶🏼

Daphne is going through a rough divorce when, after a few too many ballpark beers, she heckles a baseball player during a game...who promptly begins to cry. Coming to her senses later, Daphne reaches out to the player on Instagram with a long apology where she accidentally forgets to note that she's the one who heckled him. The player, Chris, has been privately mourning his brother's suicide for months, and so when he gets Daphne's somewhat anonymous online message (he knows her only by her handle, Duckie), he opens up to her in a way that wasn't possible in real life. But when Daphne gets a job working with the media team for Chris's team, they're suddenly interacting in person (and naturally sparks start to fly), though Daphne can't find a way to reveal that she's also Duckie.

There's something a bit hard to believe about this book, when the entire premise could've been fixed with a quick "oh, btw, I'm the one who heckled you, sorry!" DM. Otherwise, the relationships and personal hang-ups seem fairly realistic, and it's a generally fun book. I just wish it didn't have such an easily fixable premise!

I enjoyed this book a lot!
I thought that it was fun and summery.
I am a sucker for baseball everything, and I think this did a great job of capturing the excitement of baseball.
The character was well done too!

4.5 stars!! I absolutely adored this book. Not only does this book have a sports romance, it has great representation of mental health, super fun main characters, great side characters, great banter and some great spice!! This book truly has it all. Daphne is the best and so is Chris. I loved the plot structure of this book, and honestly found the plot a unique twist on something classic like a sports romance.

The Art of Catching Feelings has cemented Alicia Thompson into auto-buy status for me! With Love from Cruel World was a favorite of mine from 2023, and I think I loved this book even more. After Daphne Brink (aka Duckie) gets a little caught up in drunken heckling at the baseball game, she reaches out to player Chris Kepler to apologize via Instagram (her book account, naturally). Except she forgets to tell him she was the person heckling him. Ooops. It's too late now, right, after they start falling for each other...and working together, as Daphne takes over on-camera interviews for her sister-in-law. Except Chris doesn't know that Duckie = Daphne. It's a hilarious case of mistaken identity and some miscommunication, but Alicia Thompson writes it so well, and I could not stop reading along! I was also lucky enough to receive an audiobook via PRH audio and bounced back & forth between ebook and audio. Narrator Kristen Sieh was phenomenal in bringing Daphne and Chris' story to life. I highly recommend this one for fans of romcoms and sports romances! Note: I received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

This was such a great read! I really think Alicia Thompson's writing has just been getting better and better. I was hesitant to read her second book because I didn't really enjoy Love in the Time of Serial Killers. I thought it was just boring, but her second book was better, and now her third book is great!

Perfect book to read during baseball season. I thought it was funny, charming, and cute. A dream scenario to fall in love with an athlete really, minus how they met lol. There are definitely some heavy topics in this so I would suggest checking the TWs first, but overall I loved it and can't wait to read more from Thompson!

Thank you so much Berkley and Netgally for the eARC!

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for the copy of the eARC!

I knew the moment I started reading Alicia's first book that she was going to be an auto buy author. And now we are into her 3rd book and the feeling is still the same!

Alicia is a baseball fan and you could tell by reading that she loves baseball. I also have to point out that I am a Chris Kepler fan simply for the fact that HE IS FROM PHILADELPHIA (don't think I gasped at the mention of Dorney Park) and in my head he would play for Phillies but I will settle for the Carolina Battery.

Listen, I know miscommunication is not a favorite trope amongst romance readers and with this I have so many realistic questions but I can suspend reality for the sake of the book. I just would like to think in today's society and someone who is a public figure phone numbers and conversations would not be with someone who doesn't have any profile picture on their Instagram. That was probably my only ick with the book but like I said I can suspend the reality for the sake of romance.

"If you knew me in real life, you wouldn't say that."
"I want to know you in real life. You have no idea how badly."

I love the relationship between Chris and Daphne and the book really takes off when they begin to have a constant texting relationship. I love seeing texting conversations in books especially because it's such a common thing that happens in today's culture. Most relationships of all kinds develop through messaging in some way.

I felt bad for Daphne because she was struggling on trying to decide if she should tell Chris the truth or not. There was so much at stake and she knew she was falling further and further for him only making it worse. I love their moments when it would be just the two of them after she started working for the team. Chris was so far gone for Daphne/Duckie and you could tell that he desperately wanted more from her on so many occasions. I just really love the two of these characters and I was rooting for them the whole time and possibly also was screaming in my house for them.

Side note: I thought the conversation between of Chris and his dad was beautiful. I felt Chris's pain of grieving his brother's death and trying to connect with his father and not avoid the topic of his brother.

Alicia's writing makes me believe in love and I love how she makes her characters fall for one another. I need her to write more baseball romances - please and thank you!

PS - I will say this in every review I do for Alicia but if you do not follow or subscribe to Alicia's newsletter - YOU ARE MISSING OUT!

4.5

This book is such a delight! It's full of summery baseball fun, and a hidden identity plot that feels insurmountable, but leads to a beautiful happy ending.