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Sliding into Home
They play the field...but can they play for keeps?
Rookie Brody Davis has all the right moves. But will they be enough to tempt sexy Naomi back into his bed?
Shortstop hero Lance Montero must prove to a bad-girl heiress that he's good at everything he does. Very, very good...
Superstar Javier Velasquez is getting a hot 'n heavy workout with Lisa, the team's trainer. But who's healing whom?
First baseman Rick Warren is on a winning streak...with the owner's daughter!
Rookie Brody Davis has all the right moves. But will they be enough to tempt sexy Naomi back into his bed?
Shortstop hero Lance Montero must prove to a bad-girl heiress that he's good at everything he does. Very, very good...
Superstar Javier Velasquez is getting a hot 'n heavy workout with Lisa, the team's trainer. But who's healing whom?
First baseman Rick Warren is on a winning streak...with the owner's daughter!
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Joanne Rock
588 books1,477 followersJoanne Rock is a USA Today bestselling author of over one hundred works of popular fiction, including domestic suspense and romantic suspense. A frequent speaker at regional and national writing conferences she enjoys giving back to the writing community that nurtured and inspired her early career. She has an MA in Literature from the University of Louisville and has taught fiction, film, and writing at the college level. When she's not writing, Joanne enjoys travel to gather new ideas.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 10, 2020
4 separate mini baseball stories, all taking place in the same baseball universe
Fired Up - 2/5 - Second chance romance about Brody, a professional baseball player who dumped his girlfriend, Naomi, a year earlier by cell phone so he could pursue his career. Well, he’s realized he threw away his shot at happiness when he did, so now he’s back in town to convince her to give him a second chance. Novella-length second chance romance rarely works because it’s too short to work through the issues and this one is the same. Brody arrogantly comes back into her life claiming he’s lost his mojo without her and talks her back into bed. She of course is thinking she’ll kick him out the following day after getting him out of her system. This doesn’t work so much. But he makes some big claims about loving her and being willing to give up baseball for her and she takes him back with a minimum of explanation or apology on his part. Within a day...after she a year without a word from him. Meanwhile, she was serial dating after he’d left her (presumably not celibate) and no idea if he was or wasn’t celibate without her, though she does mention him dating SI models. I certainly hope he was since he mentioned wanting to get her back 6 months earlier…
Squeeze Play - 3/5 - Lance Montero and Jamie McRae are no strangers to bad press. Lance is a baseball player for the New York Scrapers getting undeserved press for being a womanizer, while Jamie McRae had her celebrity face plastered all over the tabloids for a very public split with her ex. When they encounter one another and are filmed flirting, they have to control the damage. And yet, for Lance, having Jamie as his real-life love sounds far more interesting than finding a way to end their press. Another decent story that was hampered by the length requirement. These two meet and only know each other for 3 days within this story. They basically have sex their first night because Lance wants to see where the connection will go and Jamie has nothing to lose and then the next day they’re agreeing to go out with one another. Supposedly, Jamie kinda falls for Lance during all that, and he’s crazy about her, but I wasn’t really feeling the love or the connection between them. It was a sweet story, but not very memorable.
Talking Smack - 3/5 - Javier Velazquez is a risk-taker, an adrenaline junkie living life on the edge in order to make up for the life and opportunity lost by his brother when he died. But his baseball team doesn’t care for the risks he takes. Lisa Whatley is his athletic trainer, a former adrenaline junkie brought in with an ulterior motive...to uncover the reason behind Javier’s risky behavior. She opens his eyes to his own actions, but he helps her see the joy in taking just a little bit of risk. This one again suffers from being too short. Didn’t feel the connection or the love between Javier and Lisa...in fact, wondering what Lisa was seeing in Javier when he was such a pain in the ass and was romancing her without knowing the first thing about her. She didn’t once wonder if she’d be a notch in his bedpost. I did like the fact that Lisa was able to show Javier what he was risking and that he had to work to get her on board with a relationship after her past became an issue.
The Last Inning - 1/5 - Delaney Blair, daughter of the owner of the Atlanta Baseball team, has had her eye on honorable and serious third-basemen, Rick Warren for a year. After a cancer scare, she throws caution to the wind and decides to seduce him. Fortunately, he’s been eyeing her up for a while too and is happy to accept her offer. But when a photographer snaps a photo of their illicit moment, the fallout might affect Rick’s career and any future with Delaney. I pretty much hated this one because of Delaney’s actions in the first place. Here she is, the owner’s daughter, with full knowledge that if they get caught then Rick’s career in Atlanta is possibly forfeit. And yet, she STILL offers herself up to him. I mean first of all, what a mind-fuck of a situation. She has an immense amount of power over him - no matter what he decides if she says the wrong thing to her father, his ass is toast. And she doesn’t seem to understand that. Granted, he’s just as stupid for taking her up on the offer. He decides that a night with this woman that he barely knows is worth a shot as a baseball championship. Now I’m supposed to believe that after a year of making googly eyes at each other and then one night of passion that these two are madly in love and he’s willing to risk his career just for a night with her. Then she proves that she doesn’t know the first thing about him because she instantly believes the worst thing about him as soon as it’s suggested. And I’m supposed to believe that after a big misunderstanding about what he’s going to do to protect her (from her own frickin’ actions that affected him, not her) he’s totally cool proposing to her the next day because he loves her or something. Nah. Not buying it. I wanted her to face the consequences of her own rash decision making. She wasn’t sorry enough for the disaster she created. Yeah, Rick took the offer and risked his own career, but she stripped off in the locker room and he could have lost his job before he made any decision whatsoever if they’d been caught then. What the hell is the matter with approaching him and maybe going about it in a slightly less scandalous way? With her father’s permission?
Fired Up - 2/5 - Second chance romance about Brody, a professional baseball player who dumped his girlfriend, Naomi, a year earlier by cell phone so he could pursue his career. Well, he’s realized he threw away his shot at happiness when he did, so now he’s back in town to convince her to give him a second chance. Novella-length second chance romance rarely works because it’s too short to work through the issues and this one is the same. Brody arrogantly comes back into her life claiming he’s lost his mojo without her and talks her back into bed. She of course is thinking she’ll kick him out the following day after getting him out of her system. This doesn’t work so much. But he makes some big claims about loving her and being willing to give up baseball for her and she takes him back with a minimum of explanation or apology on his part. Within a day...after she a year without a word from him. Meanwhile, she was serial dating after he’d left her (presumably not celibate) and no idea if he was or wasn’t celibate without her, though she does mention him dating SI models. I certainly hope he was since he mentioned wanting to get her back 6 months earlier…
Squeeze Play - 3/5 - Lance Montero and Jamie McRae are no strangers to bad press. Lance is a baseball player for the New York Scrapers getting undeserved press for being a womanizer, while Jamie McRae had her celebrity face plastered all over the tabloids for a very public split with her ex. When they encounter one another and are filmed flirting, they have to control the damage. And yet, for Lance, having Jamie as his real-life love sounds far more interesting than finding a way to end their press. Another decent story that was hampered by the length requirement. These two meet and only know each other for 3 days within this story. They basically have sex their first night because Lance wants to see where the connection will go and Jamie has nothing to lose and then the next day they’re agreeing to go out with one another. Supposedly, Jamie kinda falls for Lance during all that, and he’s crazy about her, but I wasn’t really feeling the love or the connection between them. It was a sweet story, but not very memorable.
Talking Smack - 3/5 - Javier Velazquez is a risk-taker, an adrenaline junkie living life on the edge in order to make up for the life and opportunity lost by his brother when he died. But his baseball team doesn’t care for the risks he takes. Lisa Whatley is his athletic trainer, a former adrenaline junkie brought in with an ulterior motive...to uncover the reason behind Javier’s risky behavior. She opens his eyes to his own actions, but he helps her see the joy in taking just a little bit of risk. This one again suffers from being too short. Didn’t feel the connection or the love between Javier and Lisa...in fact, wondering what Lisa was seeing in Javier when he was such a pain in the ass and was romancing her without knowing the first thing about her. She didn’t once wonder if she’d be a notch in his bedpost. I did like the fact that Lisa was able to show Javier what he was risking and that he had to work to get her on board with a relationship after her past became an issue.
The Last Inning - 1/5 - Delaney Blair, daughter of the owner of the Atlanta Baseball team, has had her eye on honorable and serious third-basemen, Rick Warren for a year. After a cancer scare, she throws caution to the wind and decides to seduce him. Fortunately, he’s been eyeing her up for a while too and is happy to accept her offer. But when a photographer snaps a photo of their illicit moment, the fallout might affect Rick’s career and any future with Delaney. I pretty much hated this one because of Delaney’s actions in the first place. Here she is, the owner’s daughter, with full knowledge that if they get caught then Rick’s career in Atlanta is possibly forfeit. And yet, she STILL offers herself up to him. I mean first of all, what a mind-fuck of a situation. She has an immense amount of power over him - no matter what he decides if she says the wrong thing to her father, his ass is toast. And she doesn’t seem to understand that. Granted, he’s just as stupid for taking her up on the offer. He decides that a night with this woman that he barely knows is worth a shot as a baseball championship. Now I’m supposed to believe that after a year of making googly eyes at each other and then one night of passion that these two are madly in love and he’s willing to risk his career just for a night with her. Then she proves that she doesn’t know the first thing about him because she instantly believes the worst thing about him as soon as it’s suggested. And I’m supposed to believe that after a big misunderstanding about what he’s going to do to protect her (from her own frickin’ actions that affected him, not her) he’s totally cool proposing to her the next day because he loves her or something. Nah. Not buying it. I wanted her to face the consequences of her own rash decision making. She wasn’t sorry enough for the disaster she created. Yeah, Rick took the offer and risked his own career, but she stripped off in the locker room and he could have lost his job before he made any decision whatsoever if they’d been caught then. What the hell is the matter with approaching him and maybe going about it in a slightly less scandalous way? With her father’s permission?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2009
Wow, I didn't realize that abusive behavior that is later excused away by the heroine was still present in contemporary romance.
The racial stereotypes in the later stories didn't help much, either.
The racial stereotypes in the later stories didn't help much, either.
September 28, 2014
It is hard to tell four different stories in one 200-page book and the character development suffers for it. All of these stories had potential, but in the end they felt rushed and you didn't get the romantic connections needed to make the romance believable.
July 29, 2009
Four cute, short, sweet, sexy, and slightly hot little stories of hunky baseball players and the women who love/have loved/will love them.
April 13, 2010
A collection of 4 novellas about professional baseball players finding the right woman for each of them.
September 24, 2011
4 Interesting short stories in my one book..
December 18, 2014
Four cute stories. I'm not really into baseball, but I love Joanne Rock's stuff, so I gave it a try. Very sexy, and emotional at the same time.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews