Thank you to NetGalley and Ally Wiegand and 8th Note Press for this ARC.

This book was cute, but overall I felt like it was rushed. I love sports romance and I loved adding a baseball book to my library. The plot felt kinda forced as the book is so short so not a lot of time for development. There is also a major TW for a Car Accident.

What you can expect
-sports romance
-fake dating
-closed door :(
-trauma from both MC's
-cutesty dates
-healing with eachother

3.5/5 Stars (rounding up to 4 stars to be fair)

I enjoyed this book. Baseball is my favorite sport so happy to read baseball romances. This story is so cute and such a well-written, easy read; I can’t believe this was Ally Weigand’s debut novel, and I can’t wait to read more in the Chicago Heartbreakers series. Maggie is the team’s photographer, and Tommy is the team’s new bad boy who’s trying to clean up his image and save his baseball career. When the paparazzi catches Tommy and Maggie leaving a club one night, the PR team devises a fake dating plan. Tommy and Maggie both have demons from their pasts and challenges to overcome, but they both help each other heal and overcome their demons and challenges by being supportive and being there for each other.

It's important to remember that this is much more than a frivolous romance, despite the charming cover. It's been a great surprise to discover that the characters have far more depth than I had anticipated. Even though I felt there were some problems, overall, I felt this was a good introduction to a new world with some potential. Because the novel is only 300 pages long, the plot moves along very rapidly. I enjoyed how both characters' shortcomings were handled.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, Romance...I really want to love you.

The thing about this book is that it's FINALLY about a sport that doesn't get a lot of love. And I adore baseball, so I was excited to try this one.

I liked that there wasn't a lot of smut (it just isn't my kind of thing), and I didn't even mind the characters. It was nice to see not only a baseball player, but a photographer instead of a fan or something. I even didn't mind the fact that Maggie had a crush on Tommy pretty quickly. It wasn't too much like insta-love for me to be completely turned off.

But I will say that the fake dating didn't really seem necessary? It was so fast and barely had a play in their relationship. And then there was the whole miscommunication part that almost had me pulling out my hair (thankfully Maggie's friend is smart because I think I would have given up if the friend hadn't told Maggie to think things through before assuming).

Overall, it was an okay read. And if you're into cozy, relatively quick romances, this will work well for you.

for once, i just want a cutesy sports romance that DOESNT HAVE FAKE DATING. don’t get me wrong, i love a good fake dating romance, but why is that the main trope of every sports romance?? i just wanted tommy to love her for her, especially when they had so much chemistry right off the bat (baseball pun). the fake dating was so unnecessary.

Solid 3 stars! I had fun while reading this book and of course, loved a good sports romance. The only aspect I felt was lacking is that their relationship felt very physical and about how the other looked. Personally I like it when a book has something deeper going on, but overall a great book.

This book is a super cozy sports romance. “How could you not be romantic about baseball?”

I was the amazing opportunity of receiving an ARC of this book. Thank you to Ally and 8th Note Press for sending me a copy ❤️

This book followed the love story between Maggie, team photographer, and Tommy, bad boy getting a second chance at his baseball career. The growth both these characters was so beautiful. I wish there was more!! Tommy paid so much attention to Maggie that I caught myself all smiles and giggles several times. I’m smitten for Tommy and I can’t wait for the rest of the series.

Favorite quotes:
“I would never get over that smile. It lit up my insides and filled the parts of me with enough joy…”

“And every time I look into her eyes, I feel like I’m being transported somewhere magical where only Maggie Redford has been.”

Tropes:
One-bed
Fake dating
He fell harder

“How could you not be romantic about baseball?”

As a baseball fan myself, I was excited to be selected for an advanced copy of First Base.

A sports romance centered around baseball? Yes, please!

This book has everything from fake dating to he fell first, from past struggles to dual POVs, readers will not want to put this one down.

I cannot wait for more books in the series!

Add this to y’all’s tbr, you won’t regret it!

Thank you to Ally Wiegand and 8th Note Press for gifting me this one!

this was such a fun, cute and fluffy sports romance. there was a lot more depth to the characters and book than i anticipated.
tommy stole my heart, he was so sweet and i love how he would do anything for maggie 🥺
i love all the tropes and i eat up fake dating every. single. time.

while i adored the story, i would’ve loved more of a slower build up on their relationship it started very fast and the ending felt a little too rushed.

overall, what a great debut novel! i can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series when they come out!

baseball romance
reformed playboy
he falls first
fake dating
dual pov
player x team photographer

thank you ally, 8th note press, and netgalley for this arc 🤍

Rating: 3.75 stars

This was a very cute, quick read!

I enjoyed many parts of it and enjoyed both characters.
I loved how protective and caring Tommy was with Maggie. I feel like both characters definitely had some growth and development throughout the story.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the miscommunication/third act break-up part, but I didn’t hate it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

such a cute book. I loved how real it was for Maggie to move on to another relationship while still trying to respect her former fiancé. I loved how supportive every single person was for Tommy and Maggie. The very much deserve the world and I cannot wait to see what happens with the rest of the team!

I really really enjoyed this one! I love fake dating and I think this book really balanced the fake dating and real relationship well. I loved Tommy and how he was working on himself and that his past was still relevant to the story but didn’t impact their relationship. I thought this was really well done and I loved the baseball aspects so so much. I do wish the ending had played out a bit differently but overall really enjoyed this book.

This one was really cute! I’ve only read one baseball romance before and this one didn’t disappoint- the characters were flawed but there was growth, and it didn’t feel instalove.

The only reason i’m rating is because everything felt SO fast, one minute the two MCs are meeting and the next minute they’re being forced into a PR relationship then the next minute Tommy is falling for Maggie?!

Closed door, fake dating, reformed playboy, loss and the cutest best friend (olivia) - i’m hoping the next book is about her lol!!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An absolutely adorable sports romance! Maggie is such a lovely character, and you can’t help but root for her to find and enjoy her best life.

There’s a bit of a whirlwind romance element that moves the story along quickly, but there are also some heartfelt themes that ground you to certain points in the plot. The pacing feels pretty unique because of this juxtaposition.

In the end, after all of their ups and downs, you definitely feel their HEA 💕

4 stars- 1 chili pepper
* Baseball Romance
* Workplace
* Fake Dating
This was the perfect book to bring in the baseball season that will get you all in your feels!

Maggie is a sports photographer for the Cougars baseball team. She has kept far away from boys and relationships for the last three years and worked her ass off to make it on her own.

Tommy is the ex-playboy with one last shot to clean up his act before losing his chance at playing professional baseball.

Both of them have reasons for staying away from one another, but when the paparazzi capture an innocent interaction one night at the bar, they have no choice but to either play into a fake dating PR stunt or get Tommy kicked from the team.

We love a good fake dating moment, and as these two spend more time together, they realize they may be precisely what the other one needs.

This was a laid-back, heartfelt sports romance that also touches on the process of grief and the importance of self-forgiveness.
*I recommend checking any trigger warnings in advance regarding the loss of a loved one, grief, or car accidents.*

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy in exchange for my honest review :)

I love everything about this book. It had depth to the characters; Maggie and Tommy, and was done so well. It didn’t feel forced on the reader. I wasn’t to cry a couple times because the emotions and topics being discussed were hard ones but also realistic. Amazing story for a debut.

I really liked the idea of this book but for me it didn’t hit the mark. I am a huge baseball fan and was excited that this seemed to be more than just about a character who happens to play baseball. Maggie and Tommy just seemed very bland. Their chemistry didn’t really come through for me. I also found the dramatic changes from his dad all of a sudden saying he was proud of him and recognizing he had been too harsh to be wildly unrealistic. When Maggie saw Tommy hugging Sutton and overreacted, it seemed like it was a reach to give the book some excitement.

3.5 ⭐️ Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the E-arc. This was such a cute one!! Loved all the tropes involved and the ending. I’m still wanting to know more about Olivia and the other baseball players. This was a slow burn, cute sport romance, fake dating and at some point only one bed! Looking forward to the next one.

I love a good story about two beautifully broken people working through their trauma to become better versions of themselves.
I don’t read a lot of sweet stories, but this one was a good balance of sports, fake dating, and healing from the past.

The whole story is just very sweet and wholesome. While I didn’t love the way a certain aspect of was half hidden (you could easily guess) from the reader, I do think how it’s touched on gets better as the book goes on and I appreciated that.

It’s closed door with a teeeeny peak inside for one quick scene but you do still feel the tension and chemistry between Maggie and Tommy throughout the whole book and it was a lot of fun!

That third act conflict was just not it for me. Maggie is just suddenly so juvenile and I hated it. I understood that she’s still a little more fragile and working her way through her feelings but the way she handled the situation felt so disjointed from how she was throughout the rest of the book.

Without that issue and a couple things, I think the book in general is a very sweet, easy read!