Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perrenial for providing the ARC.

I am a big sucker for sports romances, but this one didn't quite work out the way I wanted.

I will start off by saying that this book is short. It's only about 240 pages and it felt like it should have been longer to give the characters and the plot ample time to develop. Because of that this author struggles to impart any kind of deep physical meaning to the story. It is hard to relate to anyone.

I'm sure people will like this particular book, especially if they're baseball fans.

Jimmy though he would quietly date Lacey Logan!

Lacey Logan was at the top of career with albums that hit the top of the charts and a sold out concert tour all over the world. Lacey had a hard time meeting guys after the last one had a drug habit and a pregnant girlfriend that she didn’t know about. But meeting catcher Jimmy Hodges in a bar surprised her since he had nothing to do with music and he didn’t need her connections since he was on the moving to the end of his career in baseball because he wasn’t getting any younger.

Jimmy thought that quietly dating the most famous woman in the world was going to be easy but now everybody knew about their dating and now they needed to deal with the public and it wasn’t going to be easy.

Heavy Hitter is a book that takes the current headlines and twist them just a bit with a baseball catcher and singer but I wanted the book to be a little longer with dealing with Jimmy's retirement.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Right off the bat (hehe), "Heavy Hitter" is heavily heavily inspired by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, if not literal Taylor/Travis fan fiction. I don't want to dive too far into the ethics of fan fiction about real people, but I think that this was interesting given that one big theme of the book was Lacey's inability to lead a normal life due to the public's obsession with her (though the book frames this as her choice, and one she vehemently accepts).

This was a quick and fun read, but Cotugno's writing style leaves a little to be desired in terms of emotional and plot development. I know that her books are short and sweet, but the abrupt ending was a little unsatisfying and left much to be desired. I think this book could have been better if it was longer and took us a little past the closing scene. There was also several loose ends that were never resolved (ex. Lacey's relationship with Claire).

Ethics of writing books inspired by real people aside, I really liked both characters. I'm a sucker for dual-POV romance and think it really aids in the emotional development of the book. I loved seeing how both Lacey and Jimmy (though especially Jimmy) evolved throughout the book, and would have liked to see them grow together a little more (both during the course of the book and after). I also enjoyed the themes of celebrity the book explored from various angles.

This was a fun read, and frankly I would have rated it higher if not for the ending, which left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

There were things that I enjoyed about this book, but the feeling it left me with at the end was sadness. For a romance, that isn't the emotional response I want to have. Every in-person interaction Lacey and Jimmy had ended on a low note. There too much sadness and pain. Not enough happiness and love. Jimmy wasn't a hero. I wasn't rooting for them to get together.

This was a cute. albeit, short romance story - which is seemingly heavily inspired by Taylor/Travis. There was a lot to like, but there was a lot left to be desired as well. I really liked the main two characters - both aged in their 30's - which was a nice change from romances focusing on early 20-somethings. I appreciated they both were very established in their careers and didn't want to waste time or energy. This was the opposite of slow burn, with an emphasis on acting on instant attraction and developing something deeper from there.

My biggest complaint with the story is I wanted more. I read this book in less than three hours. Everything kind of felt surface-level. There were a lot of things that could have been expanded on, but were mentioned once or twice before the story moved forward. And then it just kind of ended. Hinted at a happy story for the main characters, but very open-ended. Overall, there was a lot to like, but I think a lot of people who pick this up will wish there was more to the story.

A very simple little love story between a very Taylor Swift coded pop star and an elder statesman baseball player, featuring a very John Mulaney coded ex-boyfriend. I thought this was fine for what it was going for, it wasn’t that deep and I wasn’t actually sure if Jimmy liked Lacey at all other that for her looks, but it was partially set in Baltimore so I have to give it some props for that aspect of it!

Would recommend reading this if you need something to turn off the brain! Thank you to Katie Cotugno and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

I loved Cotugno's writing in Birds of California, which is the main reason why I requested this ARC. There's also the fact that I'm a huge Taylor fan and even though things that feel like fanfic of Taylor and Travis freaks me out in so many ways, I was still intrigued by the premise of Heavy Hitter on the basis of my love for her/them alone. Heavy Hitter is about Lacey Logan, who is a superstar who knows, objectively, how lucky and fortunate she is to have the life she does. She is strategic as all get out about her career (a singer) and channels a lot of Taylor attributes as far as that goes. She also, though, is pretty isolated and doesn't really have a best friend, unless you count her assistant whom she obviously pays. Lacey has a chance encounter with Jimmy Hodges, a professional baseball player (catcher), and the two of them really hit it off, both conversationally and in a sexy kind of way. Jimmy also gets his own perspective chapters and in those we learn about how he's struggling with retirement thoughts (reminded me a bit of Jason Kelce, tbh).

Even as I'm writing this review, I'm still trying to sort out how I feel about it overall. When I could turn off the part of my brain that wanted to compare everything Lacey said to Taylor Swift, things went pretty well for me and Heavy Hitter. My problems were when I couldn't quite separate myself from making those comparisons. And, in all fairness, I think that while Cotugno certainly draws from things that are probably inspired by Taylor, she gave Lacey a distinct personality. But then there would be things like Lacey talking about Easter eggs and I was like, "Taylor??" So, you know. But that's also not something that's going to bother everyone, so do with that what you will. I certainly don't think I would recommend this book to you if you actively dislike Taylor Swift, but maybe there's a sweet spot between enjoying her music and being a HUGE fan like I am where the enjoyment will be easier to find. Before I move away from the sort of negatives, let me get my biggest out of the way, which is, this book just ends!! It felt so abrupt. I was like, excuse me?? And then there's an epilogue but it didn't tell me anything I wanted to know. The agony, honestly.

Anyway, moving away from the negatives, what I loved about this book was Cotugno's writing. I think she's a fantastic writer, who uses language pretty sparsely in my opinion, but gets her thoughts across tremendously well. She is able to put things into words that I struggle to even get across in the sanctity of my own brain. So I really appreciate that aspect of this book. I also love the chronic pain that Jimmy deals with and how that is represented. I think we got the realities of his career in terms of the physicality required, but with Lacey we get more of the burdens of super fame and I would have liked to see a mix of that for both of them.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, despite the things that didn't quite work for me. It won't be on my list of favorites at the end of the year, but I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from picking it up.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. Yes, I know, it's Taylor and Travis inspired, but Katie very quickly made me forget the real life romance and fall into the world of these characters. And as a major Swiftie would became a Chiefs fan last season, that's a real feat. This book is funny and sweet and hot and my only complaint (which is my complaint with all of Katie's books) is that I could have read like 100 more pages of these characters riding off into the sunset. But Katie's too good a writer to do that!

I’m going to be honest, this is a very generous 3-star simply because I don’t like giving lower than that unless I feel there is something truly problematic with a book. There’s not that issue here. It’s overall well-written, it just wasn’t for me. It had its moments that I enjoyed here and there, but overall I struck out with this one.

A positive thing I can say it that it was an interesting and thought-provoking take on Lacey being the ‘mastermind’ of her own career and how it can impact everyone in her life. Yes, she’s calling the shots, but there is a cause and effect for her choices that doesn’t only pertain to her.

I did appreciate that both Jimmy and Lacey were not perfect and had hardships in their past and present with their families. It gave situations outside of their careers to provide an opportunity to offer support and grace to each other.

However, as far as the romance went, it read more as two people hooking up to distract from the pressures of their lives than any kind of real, lasting love story. Most of the time I wondered if they even actually liked each other. Lacey was kind of brat and Jimmy was kind of a jerk. Their initial meeting was cute and started off promising, but from there it never really evolved for me.

I’m also an avid baseball fan and there were some very basic errors that would’ve taken bare minimum research to get right, so that took me out of the story at times as well.

I think I need to stop reading “popstar” romances for a while because they all seem to be written as a brunette Taylor Swift. I’m a huge Swiftie, and it’s gotten to the point where I can’t separate the real person from the fictional character anymore and I’d much rather just stick with the real person.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you are a TS fan, you will love this book. I'm not even familiar with her universe, and I still loved this book! I will say I generally like this author a lot and the way in which she writes romances is unmatched. They feel real and are still steamy but fun. Definitely add this to your TBR - you will not be disappointed!!

Heavy Hitter comes out next week on August 20, 2024, and you can purchase HERE!

Lacey sits at the bar for another moment once he's gone, sipping her drink and wondering why she feels so sad all of a sudden. Something about the idea of him retiring is faintly heartbreaking-she's going to miss him, she realizes with a sharp flash of clarity, which is a deeply insane emotion to be having, since they only met an hour ago and he's in the bathroom of this bar at this very moment—but that isn't the only reason. It's that she had the chance to be brave just now, same as she did with the Henrietta Lang show, and she whiffed it. It's that she could have said or done something to surprise herself, and instead she wasted her chance.

⭐️3⭐️

I love a celebrity romance, and I love a sports romance (especially baseball, my fave sport), but unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me.

This was a super quick read that I flew through in less than 12 hours amidst my work day! I wasn’t expecting it to go by so fast so love that!

Their banter was very fun at times, and I like the way they joked with each other! As it went on though, they quickly would turn from fun banter to mean throughout the middle/end of the book. Instead of shutting the other out as a way of self preservation, it felt like they would do so as a way of self destruction. Too much sabotage from both sides and too many cruel things said for me to want to root for them.

It’s definitely leaning in to Taylor and Travis fanfic at moments which others have mentioned, so if that’s your thing then by all means read it!!

Unfortunately the writing style didn’t work for me (3rd POV is the bane of my existence), but that is just personal preference.

Ups and downs in reading it but overall could be fun if the tropes are your thing, just unfortunately wasn’t vibing with it and won’t be thinking of it much post-read.

This was a super fast read which means it was a really engaging story, but it also felt really rushed. Like this was the abridged version of the story, highlights only. And I love celeb rom-com books, but these characters just fought and made up - lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe that’s just their type of relationship?

I devoured this book so quickly! With it being a baseball player, and pop star, this reminded me of Taylor Swift and a certain Chiefs baller. I loved that they continued to develop their instant attraction to one another through calls and texts, and they became each other’s person. It was cool to explore the aspects of a retiring professional athlete and aspects of the intensity of security for someone with large amounts of media attention. I picked up this title solely for the cover and fell in love with the author’s writing. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this free eARC.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. Some of the things I enjoyed were the banter between Lacey and Jimmy in the beginning. I liked how Jimmy was more on the normal side with how he lived. I also liked Lacey towards the beginning and how she did something that she probably shouldn’t have after meeting Jimmy. Jimmy finally telling Lacey how he felt was probably my favorite part because I felt the same way. I felt like Lacey got meaner and more snobby towards the end of the book.

However, I felt like this book was missing something. We get a lot of smaller conflicts in this book, but they’re never explored and we never really get a resolution for any of them, especially those revolving around their mothers or friends. The ending also really left us with no real conclusion to the story. I know we can make up our own, but honestly, with the little we were given, I feel like it’s tough to do that.

Overall, it was fine. It was a quick, easy read. I just would’ve liked more.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC for an honest opinion.

This was one of those ones that was really good up til the 3rd act breakup that was just a little bit too ouchie to be reconciled, in my opinion. If two people are having that vile of thoughts/arguments with each other, the relationship needs to be over. There was no saving them from the moment they started spewing those words to each other. +2 stars for the way Jimmy dirty talked to Lacey.

DNF at 54%

This is so clearly Taylor Swift fanfic that I couldn’t stand to read anything further. Changing the football player to the about-to-retire baseball player (hello, Jason Kelce?!) didn’t do enough to mask the outrageous attempt to recreate T & T’s story. I’m starting to see this author really lacks creativity when it comes to her adult work, and I think this is where we part ways.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

this is my first athlete x celebrity romance (think taylor and travis) and while it started off good, i was underwhelmed. i like that jimmy was original - he wasn’t good run of the mill hot and six pac athlete, especially with his character arc -so it felt like there was some realness. i could NOT relate to lacey - i had a hard time caring about her arc.

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

This is novel length fan fiction ala Taylor Swift. He author nails the character development, however the story is lacking. These two hook up way too fast. It’s a bit raunchy in places. But they do get their HEA. And that counts in the end of a good romance.

Heavy Hitter is a celebrity romance with sports romance added to the mix. I liked the concept because Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce (duh lol). I was totally in the mood to read a cute romance with their vibes in it. Heavy Hitter accomplishes that.

Lacey seemed to be heavily influenced by Taylor but I didn't mind that. I felt the character was different enough that I didn't get the ick while reading. I liked Lacey's personality and thought she was cool and confidant. Jimmy is a baseball player but he isn't a player. I found this to be really refreshing for an MMC in sports. I liked that he had depth and wasn't a macho man. I thought their pairing made sense and it was super cute to read.

There are some steamy scenes but not a ton. I did enjoy what was there though. Tasteful and sexy.

I enjoyed this but felt it needed to be expanded more. I felt there was so much more story to be had that was left open ended. I wanted more. It was too short haha.

Overall, an enjoyable romance that I think a lot of Swifties will devour.

Thank you so much to Harper Perennial for an eARC of this one! Honest thoughts are my own.

Well, this was a fun summer read! Baseball superstar at the end of his career and a super famous celebrity (a la Taylor Swift-ie)? Randomly meeting in NYC and having a magical night and chemistry? Talking on the phone for weeks every night. Helping each other to feel less lonely? Fighting off her ex-(douchebag) of a boyfriend? I loved so many things about this book!

This is my first Katie Cotugno story, and I couldn't put it down. I felt like I was reading a Taylor Swift + Travis Kelce-esque story, but with some fun insight, side characters, and celebrity adventure. It was a quick read, perfect for baseball playoff season. Their chemistry was... fire. I loved it a lot.

There were a few times that things were too similar to TS+TK? Like, I'm a big fan of them, but... it felt like it was a copy+paste of their love story and then applied to a baseball player and his celebrity GF showing up at his playoff game for the first time? A little planned PR hometown date as their debut? It just rubbed me a little bit, so that took away from my overall enjoyment.

This book still gets a 3.75 star rating from me (rounded up here), because I really did like a lot of things and it was un-put-down-able. Overall a really fun story of baseball + celebrity that I'd recommend if you like that sort of thing! :)