Ok, obsessed with the series already. It was totally cute and a devoured it on a plane ride! I am a sucker for fake dating and a sucker for a MMC who is kinda obsessed with the FMC almost instantly (in a non-creepy way!)

Maggie and Tommy find themselves in a fake dating contract to improve his reputation when he starts on the baseball team where Maggie is a team photographer. They find themselves enjoying spending time with each other more and more but have some personal obstacles to get through to be able to fully accept each other.

This book was so sweet and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't wait for more in this world!

Definitely a slow-burn sports romance, but I enjoyed it! Loved the fake dating trope and the fact that Tommy is my new standard for men lol.

This was a feel good, low stakes romance. It took me about two hours to read, and was a good palate cleanser. I think people who love baseball will like it more than I did.

First Base is a second chance, baseball, friends to lovers, fade-to-black romance. This was a really cute, quick read. It was Fate that I checked netgalley with a baseball romance in mind, and this was the first book to be suggested to me.

Maggie hasn't even thought about dating in over 4 years after a loss, and Tommy has sworn off women completely after almost upending his career. An innocent picture on a night out gets taken out of context, and the next day, they find themselves in their company conference room with a contract between them.

This is Ally's debut novel, and she knocked it out of the park (pun intended). Thank you, Ally and Netgalley, for the ARC!

This book was a home run! I don’t often see a lot of baseball romances so this was a fun one. I enjoyed getting to see the FMC grow throughout the book. Maggie deals with grief through the book and I think it was written very well. I also like the character growth from the love interest Tommy. Something I also really enjoyed about this book was how it deals with overcoming challenges. It also doesn’t have too much or too little spice. It was the perfect amount. This book is definitely worth the read.

Not going to lie this is the first “reformed playboy” type romance I’ve ever read and don’t know how to feel about that part.

Everything else tho! I really enjoyed this. I’m not a big sports romance gal but this was so fun and such a neat concept. Very easy read in my
Opinion especially after I read a few heavy books. This helped relax myself into looking for more rereads rather than falling into a slump

This book was the perfect book to read during baseball season. Maggie loves baseball but she doesn’t expect to find love with Tommy a baseball player trying to fix his image. This story has tropes that many love such as fake dating. Maggie and Tommy were both awesome and relatable characters. This was a great story.

Overall I’d give it four out of five.

Fantastic debut by Ally!

I absolutely loved the fake dating aspect of the book!! And then thrown in the fact that it’s a sports romance… eek!! And baseball at that!! Who doesn’t love a MMC in some tight baseball pants-
Hellooooo eye candy!! My favorite of all!!

I loved the fact that the MMC is a MLB player and the FMC is the photographer! What a fun trope I have not read before, but throughly enjoyed! Such a fun read. Great character development and the storyline was so much fun!

Thank you @netgalley, the author and 8th note press for this eARC in return for my honest review.

Stars
Spicy
Tropes
Pro baseball player/ photographer for the team
Reformed playboy
Fake Dating cause team media wants to clean up his appearance
Insta attraction from both


I loved the first moment these to meet and the insta connect they had at liking each other even though they both tried to deny it for different reasons. I loved how they helped each other heal through their trauma.. I love how much Tommy cheered and always protected Maggie from the camera and how he cheered for her .. I also loved how Maggie gave Tommy the boost he needed in the dugout. Man the ending is amazing but man the feelings leading up to rip my heart out a little bit and almost had me in tears but man reading the final page and seeing how it ended Ally out did herself with this book !! I can’t wait for her to publish more stuff so I can devour it like I did this book!!

I enjoyed seeing both Tommy and Maggie find love after such tragic circumstances with love. He is a tattooed baseball star and she is a soft hearted but feisty reporter, however, they connect and find healing in each other's arms. It's a spicy / sweet romance, and not a very long book. I would have enjoyed it to be a bit more developed or a bit longer. if you love sports romance, I would give this a try for sure.
Thank you to the author and publisher for a copy of this arc.

I had no idea what to expect with this book. I just requested it on NetGalley after the seeing cover and reading the blurb. After reading it, I am absolutely in love and I need to read anything that this author writes.

Honestly, it’s not a super long book and it’s very fast-paced. It doesn’t go into extreme detail, but it does talk about the loss of her ex so if that’s not something you wanna read about don’t read this book.

Maggie and Tommy are so flipping cute. Maggie hasn’t dated anyone since her ex died four years ago. Tommy is known as a playboy and his last real girlfriend left him heartbroken. They go out with friends after their first time meeting each other and get caught on camera. Tommy just got in trouble for being a playboy so, they have to fake date.

I just thought it was adorable and that fake dating was the perfect way for them to get together. Maggie was obviously traumatized by her ex dying, and so she was never gonna put herself out there to be in a relationship. The two of them had an instant connection, but if it weren’t for being forced to be together , she wasn’t going to do it. I loved all of the little moments between them that were building their trust with each other.

Tommy didn’t know all of the circumstances, but he knew that he would have to work hard to win Maggie‘s love. He wanted to do better and be the person that Maggie deserved. The two of them were a little stupid in that they wouldn’t just admit their feelings, but I think it worked. I love both of their best friends kept encouraging them because they knew it was what was best for them.

I want books about the best friends and I wouldn’t be opposed to getting more. I also would love a bonus chapter of the proposal from Tommy or Maggie’s POV.

I received an arc through NetGalley.

- Tattooed Baseball Player
- Team Photographer
- Workplace Romance
- Fake Dating
- Overcoming grief
- Debut Novel

I am loving the fake dating trope lately and add in baseball romance and I am SOLD. This one was super cute and for this being the authors debut novel I was very impressed! I loved Maggie and Tommy. They both had past traumas that they were working toward overcoming and I just felt like they complimented each other very well and had great chemistry.

Thank you netgalley and the author for an eARC.

I was super intrigued by this one. Professional sports photographer and “bad” boy baseball player forced into fake dating situation? You’ve got my attention. Overall, I thought this was a really cute and sweet romance. I liked Tommy and Maggie. I really liked Maggie’s best friend, Olivia. She’s the only reason I let the miscommunication trope at the end slide! It reads a lot like a cheesy romance movie, which is not a bad thing at all. It’s a quick. Maybe a little too quick? I think I craved a little more of Tommy’s perspective, yet his perspective of the miscommunication trope could have been a little better. Felt very rushed and dismissive, which I didn’t peg him for (even if it was his ex).

I liked it overall, and will keep up with the series!

Maggie is a photographer for the Chicago based MLB team, the Cougars. She loves baseball, works with a wonderful friend, and is a talented photographer. New recruit to the team, Tommy Mikals, is a bit of a distraction though. He's known as a bit of a playboy and party goer - in fact, that's why he was kicked off his previous team. Needless to say, Maggie does not want to be distracted and is not ready to be in a romantic relationship after experiencing a tragic loss. Turns out, Tommy is not what he seems. He's grown up a lot and has turned a new leaf. After a photograph of the two of them ends up in the tabloids, the Cougars execs propose the two of them fake a relationship to help Tommy save face. Maggie agrees, and as they go on publicity stunt dates, the lines begin to blur.

This was a cute story, fast paced and under 300 pages! Some open door scenes, but also a lot of sweet moments as they got to each other and started to develop feelings for each other. The action/plot starts pretty much right away and the timeline of their relationship did seem fast. I do love a fake-dating trope, and then it was friends to lovers. Both characters had things from their past that were very formative and drove their decisions, making them hesitant to further their relationship. The way they stood up for each other, boosted each other up, and helped them to be their best selves was exactly what you would want in the person you love! Tommy was also new to Chicago, and it was a fun part of the plot to see Maggie introduce him to the city. If you're looking for a sweet sports romance, something fast paced, this is for you!

I enjoyed this debut novel by a Texas author. Perfect book to read now that baseball season is here. Each of the main characters had depth which I like. I can't wait to see who the has the next love story in the second novel in this series. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #advancedcopy

This was cute enough but my god, did I hate Olivia from the beginning. Her quips took away from the story. I liked Maggie and Tommy, I just wish this was a little longer and more developed.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I picked up "First Base" because I was craving a baseball romance. (I'm in my sports romance era). However, this one just didn't do it for me.

This is a book that had a lot of potential but just wasn't executed that well in my opinion. I liked the premise, liked both of the characters, and enjoyed a lot of the character choices the author made. The FMC and MMC had personal issues that made a lot of room for them to grow together, but there was just no follow through. This is Wiegand's first novel, and I'm looking forward to seeing her develop as an author in the future. All of the ingredients are there.

As for the things I didn't love, the FMC had major "she's not like other girls" and "she's pretty but she doesn't know it" energy. Which feels a bit tired in 2024. As far as how the emotions were written, there wasn't a ton of substance and I felt like there was a lot of back and forth. I wish characters would sit with their feelings a little more. Maggie would feel anxious, and then have all her anxiety disappear (literally), and then have it all come rushing back, over and over. I also wish there was a little more development in Tommy. There was such a great opportunity to explore his drunk driving incident in the context of the story, but it was mentioned once and never returned to.

I wish there was more inside baseball (literally). The sports details felt sparse and not super well researched (a 12 strikeout game is good, but not record setting). And I was able to suspend my disbelief on the premise to an extent, but it didn't totally sell me. If a professional athlete had a large online following of fans and ended up in the tabloids a lot, wouldn't that drive ticket sales up not down? And the premise posits that Tommy was released from his former team, and the Chicago team begrudgingly took him as somewhat of a liability, but it's also mentioned that he's one of the highest players in the league?

Again, this book had really good bones. I'm definitely going to pick up future books from this author. But there were a lot of pieces that just didn't quite click for me.

2.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and 8th Note Press for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was a very cozy and lighthearted romance. I had a good time following Maggie and Tommy as they had to fake date. The concept of why they had to date, and the overall inclusion of baseball made the story very fun. This was a fairly simple story and I do wish there had been a little more character development. Even though I had a good time, I wanted a bit more especially about the backstories about our main characters.

This book was pleasant but also not very original. It was an easy read and went by very quickly.

This was a solid book, and with it being under 300 pages I expected the plot to happen very quickly. If I wasn’t prepared for that I would have been totally blindsided. I ate up the playboy wanting to be reformed trope, and cannot wait for the next book in the series!

"How could you not be romantic about baseball?" 🥹

Maggie and Tommy had great personal growth throughout the story, but I feel like their relationship was soooo slow going. Once they finally admitted their feelings to each other, the lack of trust and miscommunication in the last quarter of the book had me struggling to get to home plate (pun intended).

I still enjoyed this read and definitely think we need more baseball romance!