We love a FAKE TAKING SPORT ROMANCE BOOK! This please every single day! I love the characters Ally gave us with a book with high stakes and served the homerun with Tommy and Maggie. The stakes were high for Tommy and how he and Maggie fell in love, because of course there is a ride to a HEA was so good! These two were cuties from the start and it gave us all the feels we need! I love their forced moments that turned into something more with the fake dating aspect! We love this book and hope to share more with our customers!

Clearing out the NetGalley backlog and… this one just didn’t hit.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: First Base by Ali Wiegand

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Chicago Heartbreakers character series. Book 1.

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book ARC from Netgalley and audiobook through Hoopla.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Sports romance

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Baseball, reformed bad boy, grief journey, fake dating.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Tommy is the bad boy of baseball who is trying to shed his image. Maggie is the team photographer. They’re seen together by the press and forced into a PR relationship to help both of their careers.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: Try as I might, I just couldn’t get into this book.

The book writing was just ok, but outside of that the story just felt forced. A lot of miscommunication that made my eyes roll. It kind of felt like one of those romances that just “check the boxes” - tragic backstories, one bed, emotional moments, miscommunication leading to a third act breakup.

It didn’t help that the audio had some editing issues as well, which distracted me several times.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 2.5/5 🌶🌶

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.

I had a good time with this book! It was super cute and I love cozy it was. I read it very quickly too!

This is a closed-doors, fake dating sports romance. It was a cute and lovely story but it was almost missing a spark because honestly the main characters were missing a spark too. Nothing terribly wrong about the story just nothing super engaging or memorable happens. I didn't love nor hate the characters. I didn't care about the outcome of their love in the end, I was happy for them but that was it. It might have been the insta-love element that didn't allow for me to connect with them as they connected with each other... I don't know for sure but it was enjoyable while it lasted.

I stalled out on this one at about 20% - it was cute but just didn't hold my attention unfortnately. Cute premise & I adore a good sports romance but this one just wasn't for me - however I think others will really enjoy it. This was a classic it's me, not the book.

I flew through the audiobook of this. I am a sucker for a good professional athlete romance. This one was cute, I do wish that there would have been slightly more character development to get me more invested.

This book made want to watch baseball! Im not a fan but Ally Wiegand might be inspiring me to watch a game. This was a cute, light-hearted romance about a sports photographer and a baseball … guy (I really don’t know anything about this sport). He has a reputation to repair and she’s the one to help turn him around. This gave Lynn Painter vibes and was a fun read.

cute, short, easy read sports romance with some awesome and really fun aspects! i LOVED tommy, and i LOVED maggie, and i think they made great couple. 4.5 stars, tysm for the arc.

Let me start by saying that this book isn't bad, it just wasn't for me. I tend to read open door romances and I didn't realize that this wasn't one. I also found myself not eager to continue. However, I think it would still be enjoyed by the right person, so I'm still giving it 3 stars.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Maggie and Tommy. Maggie is a photographer for a baseball team. Tommy is a player for the baseball team. They meet on the day of practice before the team’s first game. They keep being in the same place, then the photos of them together gets in the newspaper. The teams pr department suggest they be a fake couple. They decide to do it. They start dating then it is not fake. They fall in love.

This was a great romcom sports romance. I enjoyed the character development. The playboy attitude of the main guy in the book was both perfection with how the story developed, but also with how he changed throughout the book. I also enjoyed the main girl in the book and just her growth in way, she excepted her new found reality in the book.

First base was an easy quick read. I found the characters likable - but I don't feel like they will leave a lasting impression. I found the chemistry lacking and I was hoping for more sparks. I'm not sure I'll be picking up a second book from this author.

This was a cute read and a really solid debut novel by Ally Wiegand!

I haven’t read many baseball romances so this was new for me but I thought it was done very well and I always loved the fake dating trope! Maggie and Tommy were so cute and sweet and I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved watching their relationship develop and seeing them realize their feelings for each other were real.

I definitely recommend this one if you’re looking for a quick sports romance read!

This was a DNF for me. But I hope others loved it. It was just not my vibe and hard for me to get into.

Dual POV, Fake Dating, Baseball Romance, Workplace Romance, He Falls First, Reformed Playboy, Fake Dating

First Base is a fast paced, easy to read romcom. Tommy is down so, so bad for Maggie reading this gave me butterflies the entire time as the will they won't tension is top notch. Maggie is more reserved and timid compared to out going Tommy but they make the perfect pair. This book is the perfect pick me up if you are looking to get out of a reading slump.

First Base
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It was the perfect time to read this book with our @cleguardians making it into October baseball. I wanted to love this book you guys, I really did, and there’s a part of me that did love it, but the issues I had were too big to ignore! It was dual POV, but Maggie really drove the story, I would have liked to hear from Tommy more, his chapters were always shorter! Okay here was my big issue - there was like no dialogue, it was sooooo inner monologue heavy! I swear you can count on one hand the amount of times Maggie and Tommy actually spoke to each other and we got to read the conversation instead of it being brushed aside. Everything faded to black…the spice (closed door), conversations, the special moments, I felt like everything just stopped abruptly. It’s like we would be in the middle of something important, the conversation would stop and all the inner thoughts were happening and it felt like a retelling to me instead of experiencing it first hand. It made things feel a bit rushed and we miss out on so much banter that I love in romances! Also, something happened at the end that I found annoying, but don’t think I can say much without spoilers so I’ll just say to grant people the same grace and understanding that they granted you and don’t be a little b!tch baby about things. Overall I really enjoyed Ally’s writing because even though I felt like we needed way more dialogue, she still wrote in a way that I felt the connection and tension. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
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Ps. I’m kinda over the bad celebrity trope. Like if it’s a guy he’s always seen as this person who uses women and if it’s a woman she’s always seen as ditzy. I don’t know, maybe we try something else 🤷🏻‍♀️ I also hate when we’re reading about a celebrity and they always use their first and last name when talking about them 😂
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Thank you NetGalley, Ally Wiegand, and Embla Books for giving me this arc ages ago lol First Base is out now!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This was just alright. While the character occupations were unique, I feel like I have read this story many times before and nothing really stood out for me. It was just okay

This book was so cute, fun, and lighthearted! It had it's flaws within the writing, but overall, I found myself having a fun time reading it! The plot was incredibly fast paced and didn't require much building/development. I found myself really relating to our main character, Maggie, and her grief patterns throughout the book. I loved watching her grow into a woman capable of trust and love once again!

Final Rating: 3.5

Cute story - so glad I was allowed to read it. One concern I had was how quickly everything moved. I mean it wasn't a deterrent, but it sure gave me a bit of whiplash.