"The pressure cooker of minor league baseball leads to major chemistry in this exhilarating, sexy, and triumphant rivals to lovers debut romance.
Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he's built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he's ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene's former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene's life.
Gene and Luis can't manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there's also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he's never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis makes feel possible.
A joyful, heartfelt debut rom-com revealing what's possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences."
I got an ARC of this book.
When the author bio includes a mention of "trans joy", I knew I needed this book. Trans joy is something I need desperately.
This book is full of trans joy. The transphobia level was pretty low. It was not a plot. It was more people not knowing what to do. It was more people trying their best. I felt safe reading this. I didn't have that gut wrenching panic that can come from reading cis people write trans characters. I have no idea if Hoffman is trans, but based on this book I would not be surprised if he was. Gene is too human and the plot is so mildly trans that I thought a few times throughout the book that Hoffman probably was.
The sex. Oh god. The sex.
The baseball aspects were legit. This was not a book that has the idea of baseball like a lot of sports romances. Instead baseball was an integral part of the story. You don't need to know the rules to really understand what is happening. There is some stats talk that will make more sense if you have some basics. But without it, you will be ok. It is more about the feeling of doing something that feels so freeing and so intensely you that the details are just icing on the emotional cake.
Gene was wonderful. He was a bit of a ham. He was a golden retreiver boyfriend in the best ways. He was supportive, he was eager, he was adorable. I was all for Gene and Luis getting together. The backstory at first made me concerned, but it grew on me. The few offhand comments that come from that were so affirming for me as a trans guy. Luis's sister had one of the best lines and I am here for that family. This book could easily have a sequel of the men later in life. It doesn't feel like a spoiler for a romance that there is an at least HFN ending.
Luis. Luis. Luis. I wanted to hug him so tight. He was such an anxious guy and even had an ESA. I was so excited. I wanted Gene to win him over with his golden retreiver energy and help Luis feel safe. It just really felt like it was meant to be.
I really enjoyed this book. I am pretty skeptical of sports romances, so this one stands out in a lot of ways.
4.5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book.
You can buy the book here.
~Isaiah
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