Tag Archive | Baseball

Interference (Bases series 1) by Hazel Grace–Review

I don’t believe it’s a big surprise when I say I have a huge crush on Hazel Grace leads; Garrett (An Array Series), Wyatt (Deceived Duet) and now Colson Hayes (Bases Series).
She has an infinity for writing strapping men with looks for days! They are everything a girl wants in a guy, tall, dark, handsome, charismatic, smirk-able, lick-able and downright edible. Although, there is one teeny, tiny thing that could be a drawback. They are downright a-holes and God, help me, I don’t care. I still want them. I’m not sure what that says about me, but, man, I love the guys that are assholes.

Colson Hayes is one of those assholes, he’s an alpha and has a penchant to be a big bully. He and his best friend, Gavin are the top dogs at their school in Fremont, OK. Gavin and Colson have had plans for a long time to reach the MLB together to get out of their small town.

Sawyer Boyd is the girl all the bad guys want (thank you Bowling for Soup for getting this stuck in my head). Sawyer is the new girl in town and her only source of comfort is being a member of the softball team. She is smoking hot and every guy wants to date her, the ‘Alpha A-hole’ included, however, he is a true mixed up high schooler keeping his eyes on the prize (MLB) and doesn’t take the time to analyze his feelings.

Colson and Sawyer are undeniably hot together with chemistry and sexual tension that jumps off the pages. Through the eyes of Colson and Sawyer, we get to experience their lives, both past (ten years prior) and currently. These flashback sequences are written beautifully and flawlessly with a natural flow from one scene to the other.

I am so addicted to this series and can’t wait for the next one. I have found only one thing that I don’t like about this book. It is two words that are written together…’The End’. Worst two words an author could put at the end of their book. I’m telling you this hasn’t stopped me from continuously pushing the next button for more. Sadly, I was left longing for more. So, with this being said, I beg you Hazel Grace, can I have some more? I love you, you evil woman and your wicked vile ways! Do you yourself a favor, check out Interference and then some of her other great reads!!

Drifter by Kristy Marie–Review

Jan26

For those of you who haven’t hopped on the Commandeer in Brief series yet, don’t worry, Drifter is a great place to start (and then go back and catch Commander in Briefs and Gorgeous). Once again, we find ourselves back in the wonderful little town of Madison at the McCallister Jameson Foundation that was started by Anniston McCallister for Marines. Now that we have the formal stuff out of the way, let me bring your attention to two words. Connor…Hayes! Drifter is about Connor and Bianca.

Connor is not only the hero of Drifter, but also one of the most enigmatic characters in Kristy Marie’s newest release. Connor oozes charm from every pore, darlin. He is the quintessential playboy who also resembles that ‘boy next door’ with dimples, rocking body and full of humor.

Mason: ‘Hayes, I swear if you pull your dick out in my car, I am going to beat your a@@.’

Hayes: ‘Don’t say beat and dick in the same sentence, that’s just teasing me at this point.’

I was pulled in immediately from the opening scene with not only ‘what is going to happen’, but with a boatload humor. Kristy wrote with such passion and vision that I was right along for the ride. I challenge you to read the prologue without laughing. It can’t be done.

Hayes: ‘Dude, I just came in my pants.’

When reading a book, you immediately start to gravitate to one character or the other. Sometimes, it can be both characters. In my personal experience, I am mostly drawn to the hero. Regarding the heroine, it is easy to get behind the heroine that is downtrodden, suffering emotionally, being bullied or is the underdog. However, there are times that there is such a strong, kick butt heroine that I am all about, ‘you go girl’. Now, is it difficult if said heroine also happens to be a criminal? That is what we are faced when reading about Bianca.

On paper from the beginning, it’s easy to typecast Bianca as a thief, a criminal, a person with no feelings or disregard to what she is doing and how that affects other people. Well, Bianca meet Hayes. Let’s see if you feel the same afterwards girl. Bianca has so many layers to her story, that I was full-on on the Bianca bandwagon along with being a staunch Connor Hayes supporter. Bianca was forced to make decisions for two reasons. 1) She was in an extremely disastrous relationship where she felt cornered with no way out. 2) One simple word, her mother. Bianca’s mom is huge driving force in her life and at times, heartbreaking to read about. Despite this, they have a beautiful relationship, which is only more fulfilling to read about when Hayes becomes involved. She portrays herself as a woman with a tough exterior, a true ‘tough nut to crack’, yet in reality, she’s all layers of ooey gooey-ness. What she didn’t realize is that she just needed the one person that will stand by you, make you stronger and build you up. Someone who is proud.

‘A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.’

-Maya Angelou

Drifter is a book about second chances, redeeming yourself from the past, growing and evolving into who you want to be and deserve to be. In reading Drifter, I experienced all four polar opposite emotions; joy-sadness, anger-fear, trust-distrust and surprise-anticipation (you’ll have to read Drifter to how these all fit in). Kristy Marie did an outstanding job with not only her primary characters, Hayes and Bianca, but all the secondary characters as well. Thank you, Kristy, for expanding this wickedly delightful Marine family and bringing them into my life. One last nugget from Drifter…Theo and Aspen are flipping adorable. I want one…of Theo and Aspen in my life, so I can laugh and swoon at this touching relationship.

Readers, do yourselves a favor and pick up this exquisite book. There is no losing when reading about a houseful of Marines, the women that attempt to tame them and a deliciously adorable baby.

5 stars

Baseball Lover by Rose Croft–Review

Nov14

Let me start this off by saying, I LOVED John in the ‘High School Lover’. He had such an energetic, playful, mischievous, down to earth and flirtatious personality, it was hard not to like him from the beginning. I was secretly praying that John would get his own book and I’m ecstatic that he did.

Depending on where in the timeline of John and Rose’s story, will determine a couple different facets to Rose. Five years previous, Rose was on the top of the world. She was just finishing college and had a prosperous career to look forward to and then, BAM, tragedy strikes. Back in the present, Rose is working as a high school teacher. She has a best friend, Loren, who is dating her high school sweetheart, Andrew, but other than that she’s living her life of solitude. Rose is enigmatic, hurt, afraid to fall in love again and has walls built up high around her. All these personality quirks may come off as slightly bitchy, but she is trying to survive and not lose herself in the process of men, dating and love. She is a lovable woman with a great heart, she just portrays this prickly attitude to protect herself. She knows, however, that there is something different about John.

John and Rose as a couple didn’t happen overnight. It was beautifully written with a magnificent hero who was willing to do anything he could for the woman that he loved. John was truly a saint when it came to pursuing Rose. He is an unpretentious guy with the heart the size of Texas. When they finally were in a relationship, they had a whole different set of issues to work through. The biggest one being distance. John played baseball in Chicago, while Rose taught in Texas. Ms. Croft explores the issues of a long-distance relationship, not to mention when one person is in the limelight. Eventually, they work through their issues. What I love about them is that they were extremely supportive of each other.

Baseball Lover is a sports romance that is so much more than just sports and romance. There are moments of heated passion, emotional up and downs, personal growth, along with ‘oh no she didn’t’ frustration levels. I thoroughly, enjoyed, Baseball Lover. I was captivated from beginning to end.

5 stars

Hothead by Stella Rhys–Review

Apr6

Hothead Teaser Reveal March 29.jpg

Evie has had a recent run of bad times. Five weeks prior she was happy, engaged and looking forward to moving into a glorious apartment that she picked out for her and her fiancée. Now, she is continuously leaking tears, calling her ex just to hear his voice and find out what went wrong, and inquiring if they could get back together. Leave it to her ex, Mike, to give her false hope on that topic.

‘We could get back together, Evie. I mean that’s the plan. We’re soul mates. But I need some time apart first.’

Let me just preface this by saying, Mike is a total scumbag (as you will soon see when you read the book). There, now we can move on to the next topic.

Drew, Drew, Drew. (insert sigh) Drew is the cocky a-hole that you love to hate AND hate to love. Oh man, he was one delicious character and written so well. Drew is a pitcher in the MLB and in recent years, hasn’t had the best reputation. There is only one person that knows what makes him tick and what went on when certain names/topics are brought up and that is his agent, Iain. It is only recently that Drew finds out that the word ‘trade’ has been linked with him. He is upset and furious, because his best friend, Emmett is his agent’s partner and younger brother of the owner of his team. Iain has told him that he needs to clean up his act.

Drew ends up at a bar, where he is sitting in the corner sulking about this recent news. While sitting there he overhears a woman on the phone crying and begging to talk to whomever was on the other end (Evie was leaving a message for Mike). He interrupts her and they get into a heated argument which ends in a kiss. This very public scene turns into the latest headlines, ‘Drew Maddox publicly grovels with girlfriend.’ This turns into a plan initiated by his agent, to restore Drew’s wild ways and party lifestyle. Insert Evie. The plan is for her to play the part of girlfriend to fiancée who moves in with Drew, to give off the appearance of a solid, steady and stable relationship.

I loved Evie and Drew together. Each displayed their own character tics, but what was pleasant to read was the many layers to each character. Evie may have appeared to be a whiny, sniveling doormat, but she truly had an enormous amount of inner strength and eventually a positive self-esteem. As I said earlier, Drew was cocky and an a-hole on the surface, but when pulling those layers back, he was a big teddy bear.

This couple experiences ups and downs, rough times, good times, emotional times, but where does this lead to? Do they get their happily ever after? I completely recommend this book!

Commander in Chiefs by Kristy Marie–Review

Dec5

I got done reading this yesterday, but needed to ponder this for a moment. It was a strange book hangover mashup and, honestly, I still don’t know how I feel. Let me try to explain. It begins with one word, Theo.

scratch donkey GIF

Theo is an ass. There is no other way to put it. His asshole tendencies seem to increase when he didn’t get his way and Anniston started to do her own thing. He is like a splinter caught under your fingernail that keeps burrowing its way further under your nail. He’s annoying, childlike, pampered and completely an ALPHA male. Here’s the thing though, I’m not mad about it. I hated it so much that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this book. Kristy Marie has a knack of not only bringing these characters to life, but make you feel like they are your best friends. Every dumbass thing he did, I wanted to scream and smack him upside the head. (Apologies to our dear couch who had to endure the ‘smacks’ upside the head and to my husband who jumped every time I did this, asking ‘are you alright? That good of a book that it requires reader participation?’. Sorry dear)

Anniston was my home girl. What turned into a simple 😉 request among friends turned into SO MUCH MORE (and I’m not talking about her relationship with Theo). She is the be all, end all IT heroine. She has endured so much in her life, yet just like the rest of us is trying to figure where her life is headed. As a Doctor in Sports Medicine, she is basically everything to Theo and his playing career. His personal 😉 MD, trainer, coach and morale support. She grew up with a love of baseball from her grandfather and it never left her. To see her interact with Cade and the other men, is INCREDIBLE. Oh yeah, did I mention that this book is a ‘hybrid’ of sorts between a sports romance and a military romance. (Kristy Marie two thumbs up for phenomenal writing of this mashup. ABSOLUTELY loved it!!)

Cade. What can I say about Cade. I FLOVED HIM and I can’t wait to read his book!!! Being the bleeding heart that Anniston is, she finds him on the street and can’t help herself, she has to help him. She takes him in, nurses him back to health and makes him feel loved and wanted. Her thought process of returning to the Marines was brilliant (reverse psychology at its best). She works him to the bone and in the process, they develop a Commander and Major relationship. Here’s the sticky thing with our asshole hero, he doesn’t like someone sniffing around ‘his’ goods. He feels threatened by Cade and his relationship with Anniston. Cade thinks he loves her, but knows that nothing can happen. Let’s just say that Theo asserts his dominance (aka…pissing contest) frequently to show the other men in her life to keep their hands off. Anniston is Theo’s and vice versa, but neither have gone to next step of making it ‘official’. Besides being a medical doctor, Anniston, takes it upon herself to heal war veterans back to health. Now, don’t think she is the Florence Nightingale type, she is more the drill Sergeant type to whip these men into shape. Hence, where the Commander came from. The way it was written and how she went about loving these men is downright ingenious. She truly deserves a medal.

Now you may question why I started writing about three characters. Well, that’s because this story is about Theo, Anniston and Cade (including a few other military men). I know what you may be thinking, but no this is not a love triangle type of book. There is no cheating, so if you’re squeamish about that, there’s no need to be. Relationship boundaries are tested, but that make this a fabulous, explosive read. The connection between the a-hole and the firecracker heroine is undeniable. There will be fireworks for you as a reader long after the read is done. They are hands-down a steamy couple with no regards to when and where that steam takes place. Theo and Anniston take you on some crazy shenanigans and rampant rides, but their love for each other is truly evident. These capers that they take you on are hilarious, heart-warming and downright bloody brilliant.

Commander in Chief is a book like no other. Kudos and hands up to Kristy Marie for an astounding, breathtaking and mind-blowing first book. I devoured this book and have no qualms in saying, ‘I want more’. I can’t believe their wild ride is done. Kristy Marie, you left me in an emotional upheaval! I want to THANK YOU for that epilogue (insert sigh). I love epilogues and that was a perfect ending to a perfect book. I must say you have skills, girl, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Tiny request from one little reader/blogger…Do we REALLY have to wait until mid-2018 for Cade’s book, because, I so want it. Like now😊! I, truly, highly recommend this book. If you love your asshole heroes and your incredibly strong and quick-witted heroines, you will love this book.

“I am certain I’ve loved Theo Von Bremen since middle. His quick wit and assdole personality appeasled tome like chocolate and sweatpants on a Friday night. We became fast friends, but anything further was too complicated.”