An athlete and a celebrity romance? Sign me up! Lacy is a superstar singer who has it all, or so it seems. But she's working hard to hide her dirty secrets from the press....her dirty secrets are in the form of her boyfriend who has a drug habit among other issues. Insert Jimmy...a rough and tumble baseball player. As much as Lacey doesn't want to admit it, sparks fly and soon the two of them are involved and the romance can't be stopped!

A new author for me and what a fun read this was. An celebrity/athlete romance. This book had so much potential that had me frustrated because it was almost perfect but it was a quick enjoyable read nevertheless

Drawn in by the cover and liking one of the authors previous works but unfortunately this one was a DNF for me. I didn't care for the characters and the plot was incredibly cringey. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

I gave this one 3 stars because of the potential. I like the romance between a superstar and an almost retired pro athlete. They're both smart and seemingly down to earth despite their huge careers. I love that although Lacey is larger than life and so successful, she has a crush on Jimmy, who's a little older and presents as a really average guy at the end of his pro baseball career. Katie didn't make him this super hot, ripped guy with no injuries/physical pain despite years of playing sports professionally -- she gives what I imagine is probably a pretty accurate look at a guy at the end of his prime in the sports world. And Lacey is described as outwitting the paparazzi and playing into what she wants her fans and the world to think rather than letting the paparazzi and gossip blogs call the shots, and it works for her for a while. I like the way these two super popular, public careers are portrayed because they're not completely idealized. And so I really wanted to love this one but it was a bit of a slow read for me, some of the dialogue felt forced and the pacing a little off. It felt like just when I started to get hooked towards the end it was over, leaving off where I would have wanted at least another few chapters to get into the events that happen right at the finish and have more of a built conclusion. There are also some issues that are only addressed on a very surface levelt that I think would have really added to my enjoyment of the story if they were delved into a bit more. But if you like celebrity romance, sort of a slow burn (lots of long distance), and don't mind some miscommunication, then this might be a good fit! It's on the shorter side so can be read pretty quickly.

I received a digital ARC from Harper Perennial & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Heavy Hitter
By: Katie Cotugno
Review Score: 4 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints
•Fiction
•Sports Romance
•Open Door
•Taylor and Travis coded

————

Heavy Hitter was kindly provided as an ARC by NetGalley and Harper Perennial. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy this wonderful book!

Yall, I know it is early to say this, but Heavy Hitter is the perfect beach read. You meet Lacey, a famous popstar with a VERY close relationship with her fans, who decides to hook up with Jimmy, a baseball player pondering retirement, but is trying to with the World Series once in his career.

I absolutely loved how Lacey and Jimmy met, the evolution of their relationship, and how Cotugno really highlights the struggles that celebrities have in their personal lives. I can’t imagine how hard it is to get to know someone when all eyes are on you.

This was such a fun book. My one complaint is that it just..ended? This is a book that I would have LOVED an epilogue. So that was a bummer. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book.

This is a really quick read, and I was excited about a pop star and athlete romance. I don't think that this is a sports story or story about a pop star. I don't even think I could call this book a romance.

Lacey is a pop star, and she meets Jimmy, who is a baseball player, at a bar one night. They hook up in the bathroom, and she disappears. She later finds him on social media, and she messages him. They start messaging each other while leads to texts and phone calls. It then becomes phone sex, and they eventually meet him on person.

When they are together in person, all they do is fight or hook up. It doesn't feel like a relationship at all. I don't like them as individuals or as a couple. They are both immature and selfish. Even though they are both in their 30s, they act like they are spoiled brat teenagers in their first relationship.

The spice was awkward. There would be some description, and then it would abruptly fade to black at some parts.

It was also written in third person, present tense Dual POV, which was really off putting. The book doesn't have a definitive ending, and it really bothered me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Publishing for an ARC of this book.

This one didn't really do it for me. I understand what Cotugno was aiming for, but it felt like it missed the mark. I wasn't engaged with either character or with their relationship and the spice felt almost over the top. I will definitely try another book from the author, but this one just wasn't for me.

Reading this, I can definitely tell it was modeled after the Taylor Swift x Travis Kelce romance. I love Katie Cotugno and was a massive Birds of Paradise fan. I think that she has a skill for combining humor, heavy topics, and romance. That being said, I feel like this one had a few more heavy issues than it knew what to do with. I feel like we didn't explore Jimmy's drinking or grief much at all. However, I adored Lacey. She's a bit of everything and always herself, she's very unexpected. This wasn't my favorite, but I really enjoyed it!

This book did not work for me sadly. I really loved the premise but the execution was off. Lacey felt so much like Taylor Swift that I found it a little off putting. The couple had good sexual chemistry but other than that they felt flat. I didn't feel like they actually liked each other. I feel like Jimmy will end up resenting Lacey's career. And the ending not telling the readers what happened at the World Series really felt like we read all about her being a distraction and them attempting to overcome that for nothing. This book was not for me.

I am a Katie Cotugno fan so of course I wanted to check out Heavy Hitter. Thanks to @harperperennial and @netgalley for the ebook.

✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ Dating a Celebrity
✔️ Sports Romance
✔️ It was Just One Night
✔️ Let's Keep Us a Secret

I feel like there were quite a few books inspired by Taylor/Travis but this is the only one I was interested in reading. Not every book gets celebrity right (or maybe I'm super picky because I live in LA and work in media) so I was eager to see Katie's take as I really enjoyed how she approached it in Birds of California.

I loved how this book set them up as Not Normal. Their lives and how the plan and think and perceive are different - not in a bad way but it did acknowledge the difficulty that living with fame would add to everything. Normal relationship paranoia ("does he/she really like me?") became "is he/she using me? and I liked that it was written so I could still empathize with that feeling

The build of their relationship felt authentic to me and I loved how both of them had to get over themselves a little bit in order to get to their HEA. 4⭐️

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

World famous superstar Lacey Logan has a life which is no longer her own. With four chart topping albums under her belt, and a worldwide tour about to start, all she wants is some time for herself. But then her boyfriend cheats on her, and her confidence is rocked. Lacey needs something for herself, so when baseball player Jimmy Hodges walks into the bar she's in, she decides to go for it. Lacey and Jimmy could not be any more different, but somehow it works. However, with fans like they have, will they be able to keep their fling a secret, or will they have to face their feelings in the public eye?

I'm not a full on Swiftie, but when I saw this book and the synopsis, I knew it would be somewhat based on Taylor and Travis' relationship. And though it is, it's also different enough that it felt right for the characters. Lacey has had her life controlled down to the minute since her first album took off, and she can barely think for herself. With an alcoholic mother who only comes into her life wanting money or gifts, and managers and assistants always hounding her, she is about to break. And it's not helped when she discovered her boyfriend - who's perfect on paper for her - has a Coke habit, and a pregnant mistress. Jimmy walks into her life just when she needs him, though he is the polar opposite of everything she ever expected she wanted. Their romance was not easy. Both are famous, though her fans are in a whole other league, and could put the FBI to shame with their investigation skills. While they were still just getting to know each other, they wanted to keep everything quiet, but it all became too much. I loved that the book didn't try to sugarcoat how hard it was for Lacey and Jimmy to have a proper relationship, and they really fought to be together. Such a great book!

This is a “ripped from the headlines” story about a veteran sports star who starts dating a well known singer. She writes some of her songs about her latest breakup, and her fans are devoted and loyal. Sound familiar? Well, in this case the MMC, Jimmy Hodges, is a baseball player. He meets global superstar Lacey and they start out texting each other until they can be in the same city again.
I enjoyed reading about the behind the scenes discussions between the two; the public never knows what happens privately in a relationship. I liked this entertaining book, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

this is a fun romcom inspired by taylor swift and travis kelce’s relationship. as a swiftie it was fun to see the connections and outside of that i really enjoyed the story. it’s a very short read, only about 200 pages, but i wish it were a bit longer so we could have gotten into different storylines in more depth. it is a spicy romance (for me! i’m sure some people wouldn’t even bat an eye). overall, it was an enjoyable, easy read that’s perfect for a cozy fall afternoon.

cw: substance abuse

thanks to harper perennial and netgalley for my copy of heavy hitter by katie cotugno. all opinions are my own.

When an almost retired MLB player meets an international pop star, and it results in insta-love, drama ensues when they try to navigate their relationship while the world watches.

This is an example of two people who are nowhere near perfect for each other, but continue to fight to make it work, so it felt believable. Lacey and Jimmy were both interesting and complex and I loved that they were in their 30s.

Overall I enjoyed Katie Cotugno’s writing and this story! I just have one question… did he win or not?! The book ended at the beginning of the most important game!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the arc!

Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the advanced copy! All thoughts are my own.

I love a good celebrity romance and this was a quick and fun one to read in a day. I found it incredibly funny that this book felt like I was reading what was essentially Taylor Swift fanfiction. The relationship development between these two was really sweet at times.

What didn't work for me was how...incomplete this book felt? There were a lot of details that felt like they were added to flesh these two out (his brother's death, his drinking problem, her strained relationship with her mom, her distance with her assistant) but Katie didn't do anything with these details other than briefly mention them. I also felt like the ending to this book was way too abrupt and leaves the reader very unsatisfied.

I wish Katie Cotugno had really stretched this out as I think it had really good bones, but there was just no meat to the story. It makes one wonder if either her publishing house, her editor, or Katie herself was trying to capitalize on the Taylor/Travis frenzy the United States has been in this year. There was some serious potential for this to be a "heavy hitter" but in actuality, this was a swing and a miss.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this title. I'm not sure the celebrity/sports star trope is for me...

This is a super cute romance and quick read about a celebrity, Lacey Logan, and athlete, Jimmy Hodges, insta love relationships that gives T. Swift and T. Kelce vibes from beginning to end. The book touches on the complexity of navigating successful careers and relationships while trying to maintain some type of personal boundaries and privacy. Lacey and Jimmy kept getting pulled into each other's orbits and as they start to form a connection through texts and messaging. This is the first book I've read by Katie Cotugno and while I enjoyed the reading, I really wished it would have been longer and there was a little bit more character development. I just wanted more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

Summer 2024 must be the summer of baseball romance novels. Earlier this summer, I fell in love with The Art of Catching Feelings, and now I have fallen head over heels for Heavy Hitter. This is the second or third book that I have read by Katie Cotugno and I think she is a fabulous writer. I especially love that she can switch between genres and her books are in a variety of genres. This book was super swoonworthy and will be on my list of favorite books of Summer 2024!

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Heavy Hitter ☾𖤓
by Katie Cotugno
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars!!

Heavy Hitter is a fun, quick read that blends celebrity romance with sports, clearly inspired by the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce dynamic. The chemistry between Lacey and Jimmy is engaging, and their banter keeps things lively. However, Lacey feels too much like a Taylor Swift stand-in, lacking her own distinct identity. The romance, while enjoyable, could have used more emotional depth, and the abrupt ending without an epilogue left me wanting more.Perfect for a light, entertaining escape, but not the most memorable read--especially for the swifties out there.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 | 🌶️🌶️

Essentially, this Taylor Swift fanfic, but instead of Taylor and Travis and football, it’s Lacey and Jimmy and baseball.

Overall, this was a fast paced, cutesy read. The meet cute was sweet, and I loved the sass and sarcasm between the main characters. I did appreciate the small amounts of character development the author was able to fit in such a short novel.

My chief complaints:
1. I love Taylor Swift, but does every FMC pop star have to be her? I wish the author would have put more effort into making Lacey her own person, and not just using snippets of Taylor’s actual life to create a character.
2. The spicy scenes fade to black at the strangest times. Literally going from explicit details for bases 1-3, only for it to cut out before the home run (I hope you all appreciate my baseball analogy).
3. NO EPILOGUE? Rude. We deserve a HEA epilogue every time. None of this cliffhanger nonsense. I want to see then six months down the road, living happily ever after. Please and thank you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.