In a League of Her Own by Kaia Alderson was not the book I was expecting. I enjoy baseball and history, so I expected to thoroughly enjoy this book. Although I did enjoy the book, there were times I got bored. It wasn't what I was expecting;: there was baseball and history, but not much depth on either topic. This book did pique my interest in learning more about the protagonist, Effa Manley, who was a real person running a Negro League team in the 1930's and 40's. Her story is intriguing and I appreciated learning about this piece of history that is often overlooked.

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for this ARC.

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow Publishing, and Kaia Alderson for the advanced reader copy of the book. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

I had recently seen a documentary of Negro League baseball which mentioned Effa Manley, so when I saw she was the subject of this book, I knew I had to read it. This is a fictionalized account of her life, based on what could be gleaned from accounts of her life.

Effa Manley was born a mixed-race woman at a time when just the hint of black ancestry defined a person. Her stepfather was black, but her mother's ancestry is up for debate and it's believed she was the product of an affair her mother had with her (white) boss. When she moved to New York City, she lived in Harlem but was white enough to get jobs normally reserved for white women. She had dreams of opening her own business designing and selling hats.

It was at a New York Yankees game that she met the man who would be her second and most beloved husband, Abe Manley. Manley had a background as a gambler, and considerable wealth, which enabled Effa to be embraced by the wealthy Harlem socialites. Almost immediately she began organizing protests in Harlem over the businesses which catered to black clientele but refused to hire blacks to work for them.

Embracing their love of baseball, Abe bought a Negro League baseball franchise. It started out in Brooklyn, but the competition for attendance proved difficult and after just a year the Manleys moved it to Newark, New Jersey. At a time when there were few women baseball executives, white or black, Effa worked in the league office and ran the day-to-day operations of the team. She advocated for better treatment of the players and scheduled promotional events that highlighted civil rights. She also had the foresight to know that sooner or later, Major League Baseball would integrate and pleaded with the other Negro League owners to plan for that day. Her pleas fell on deaf ears.

The book tells her story based on the information available. Much of the plot is conjecture, such as Abe Manley's condition that might have prevented their marriage from ever being consummated. Much was written about her in the newspapers was derogatory, but there is no way to know what was true. There was such hostility to her both as a woman and as a black woman that it cannot be taken at face value. Alderson has done a great job of piecing together what is known about Effa to craft a story that explains how much of what was written was a product of the times as well as the hostility she faced.

I felt In a League of Her Own is a great story of a woman who defied the odds at a time when women weren't thought to be capable of accomplishing all that she accomplished. She had a better head for business than many of the men she was surrounded by. She fought for civil rights before it was making headlines. The story here is a great bit of insight into that time and what it was like for a person of color who was so light-skinned they could pass for white.

Effa Manley is a woman on a mission – she wants to be important and she wants influence. When her second husband buys a Negro Leagues baseball team, Effa gets a chance to prove herself in ways she hadn’t imagined. Being a woman of color in the 1930s, she already has two strikes against her. Having strong, smart opinions is just another way she doesn’t fit into the male-dominated world of sports management. As Effa gets caught up in the minutiae of running a professional baseball team, her personal life gets messy as she gets caught up in flirtation gone too far with one of the team’s players. Despite personal and professional setbacks, Effa’s Newark Eagles end up Negro League Champions of 1946. But will the MLB’s new integration policies threaten the success she’s worked so hard to create?

I first read “Sisters in Arms” by Kaia Alderson and was so excited to see she had another book coming out. The thing I love about historical fiction is discovering the stories of oft-overlooked people – particularly women and people of color. I enjoyed learning about the Negro League as well as the boycotts at stores that accepted Black women’s money but refused to employ them. Ms. Alderson’s writing paints her characters as the real people that they are based on – well-intentioned but flawed, smart but imperfect.

This story comes out at a significant time as the MLB has recently announced they will update their statistics to include data from the Negro League. This will shake up some of the MLB records and give attention to some of the greatest players of the time that were previously excluded due to color.

Interesting story that I never knew before. Effa is given a Negro League Baseball team to run. She puts up a fight with men and gets things done. I liked that before she gets the ball team, it talks about her civil rights among blacks, especially black women in the workforce. Enough dialogue to keep it moving.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

I really wanted to love this one. Baseball is one of my favorite sports, I'm an avid fan and watch so many games. I was so excited to read a book about its history that highlighted a diverse character and her making a place for herself within the sport. The book didn't quite deliver what I was hoping though. It had a slow-moving plot and I didn't feel like baseball itself even played that big of a role in the story. The main character wasn't very likable and I had a hard time rooting for her for a lot of the book. I wish I had enjoyed this more but it just didn't work for me.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this because I was so intrigued by the setting and world of that time ... but the characters were so unlikeable, and the action was slow.

I love baseball and learning about women history should have remembered. I was so excited to read this book for those reasons, and it unfortunately fell flat for me.

There isn't much baseball, and I never understood why Effa liked baseball at all. This YA book is extremely heavy on the telling with no showing to even hint at backing up the telling. For example, the book opens at a baseball game with Effa not caring what's happening on the field until she happens to catch a homerun ball. Then we are told she falls madly in love with baseball at that exact moment. But her actions suggest she loved the attention of catching the ball, not the sport. And baseball doesn't really come up again save a few mentions until halfway into the book.

The writing is extremely confusing, which makes getting to know Effa's character quite difficult. One example: We read marrying her husband "was, hands down, the smartest thing Effa had ever done." And four sentences later, we read, "But at the same time, she was convinced that she made a huge mistake" in marrying him.

Reading about Effa on the Baseball Hall of Fame's Web site is far more informative, I thought, about what she contributed to the sport, what she accomplished and why she is an inspiration. I really didn't learn much about her by reading this book, and the lack of baseball really was disappointing to me. Plus, the YA writing and confusing storytelling made finishing the book a struggle, unfortunately. Maybe I'm not the target audience.

I received a free advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The description, title, and cover all led me to believe that the focus of this book would be Effa's role in the world of baseball. However, it wasn't until halfway through the book that the sport became a central part of the story. I found Effa a more sympathetic character during the second half of the book, as she tried to make her way in a man's world. During the first half, though she got involved in fighting for the rights of others, getting her name in the papers for her efforts seemed to be of equal importance to her as effecting change. That made it hard for me to root for her. And while baseball had a smaller than anticipated role in this story, romance had a bigger part. I did not enjoy wondering whether Effa would prove unfaithful to her husband.

Thank you to William Morrow and to NetGalley for the early read.

Effa Manley's story told in In a League of Her Own was one I was not familiar with before reading this novel. Alderson did a very commendable job bringing her struggles and the time period to life. While I think there are some edits that could be done to help with pacing, I found the topic very interesting and appreciate this novel for diving into a less covered time and audience in history.

Thank you @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for a chance to read this book before publication in exchange for an honest review. I LOVED Sisters in Arms so I was so excited to read In A League of Her Own by @kaiawrites

At first, I thought it started out slow but in the end I really enjoyed this book and the writing. Effa was a very ambitious woman who had big dreams in a man power world. She was a woman of color who faced discrimination because of gender and race, but that didn’t stop her from accomplishing what she set out to do! She had the courage to fight for women of color in hopes of employment and fair treatment for them. It was a very empowering book and shows what the world was like In the early 1900’s as a woman.

If you love books based off real women who made an impact, read this one! Fun fact: She was the first woman to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 3.5/5 ⭐️

When I first heard Kaia Alderson was coming out with a new book I was so excited because I loved Sisters in Arms. I really wanted to love this book as much as her first, I mean woman empowerment and baseball how perfect? The pacing was just a little off for my liking. I'll admit I had never heard of Effa before reading this book, and I do think the reader really gets to know her throughout. That being said I felt that the book was an easy quick read and I did enjoy it. It just wasn't necessarily what I was expecting. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Thank you @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the eARC of In a League of Her Own by @kaiawrites in exchange for an honest review!

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 In a League of Her Own brings a whole new love and appreciation for baseball. I will admit that I had never heard of Effa Manley, the first and only woman inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a female entrepreneur ahead of her time and a civil rights activist. I am eternally grateful for this beautiful book written by Kaia Anderson so that I could have a proper introduction and deep dive into Effa Manley’s life! And what a remarkable life it was. The journey back into the past is remarkably written and gives an honest look at what was like for black people at this time. In A League of Her Own is a fantastic read and a wonderful journey through a deserving history that is not represented enough.

4.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review is posted on Goodreads and will be on Instagram well ahead of publication!

DNF at 22%

I’m not saying this is a bad book because it has A LOT of potential, which is why I rated it 3 stars even without finishing it!

I wanted to love this one so bad, especially with all of the black women power AND baseball. However, I wasn’t a fan of the pacing. I felt like things were skipped over and rushed along. The timeline jumped around a little too much for me to comprehend. I think this may just be a me thing, but I caught myself skimming the paragraphs in hopes that the plot would grab my attention. Also, what little of the romance that I read felt very rushed to me. And I really didn’t connect with the relationship because I didn’t have time to get to experience them getting to know each other.

I just don’t think I can get past the pacing issue, but I feel like this is going to be the right book for so many people!

Please give this book a shot because it’s going to be someone’s next favorite book.

Thank you to Kaia Alderson, William Morrow, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a honest voluntary review!

DNF @ 30%

Unfortunately I think this is a case of “not necessarily a bad book, just not the book for me”
I picked up this book under the assumption that it would be mainly about baseball. However, 30% into this book and there really hasn’t been any development in that story line and honestly not much happened at all. I think the pacing just wasn’t what I was looking for. It was told in short segments that didn’t add a whole lot to the plot and didn’t really keep my interest. I did think it was well written I just wasn’t invested enough to finish the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for the ARC

In a League of Her Own by Kaia Alderson
I received an eBook ARC to read and review and to give my honest opinion of.

First, I first learned of this book in the back matter of "Sisters in Arms" which is also written by Kaia Alderson. I knew I wanted to read it, and hoped it would be put on NetGalley. Yeah, it was.

Okay. to the review.

This book was quite good, but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting more about Effa and being a female baseball owner. of a Negro League team. So much of the time was spent with Effa wishing she were still making hats. It turns out, Effa did a fair bit of advocating for the Black women of her time. Trying to help them get hired at the stores in their neighboorhoods where the shite owned stores were...

The story of her second husband, Abraham Manely is woven throught the book. There are some things that seem not quite finished about that relationship.

There is a scene near the end of the book that you'll want to watch out for if like me, violence against women can trigger your PTSD.

I do recommend thsi book for reading. It's worth it.