Playing the Game and Making the Play

The Bakers of Baseball #0.5

by Stephanie Doyle

In these two unforgettable prequel novellas, reader-favorite author Stephanie Doyle introduces the town of Minotaur Falls, where baseball and love collide with exhilarating—and unexpected!—results…

Playing the Game
Sports journalist Pete Wright is unsettled when the Minotaur Falls minor league team is sold to a stranger. What does billionaire Jocelyn Taft know about baseball? Still, no one—least of all Pete—is prepared when he teaches Jocelyn all about the game of baseball…and gets a lesson in love in return.

Making the Play
Tomboy Scout Baker has a wicked crush on her new apprentice, former ballplayer Jayson LeBec. Fortunately, the town's big upcoming wedding gives Scout a chance to show off her very best assets. But when the bride gets jitters, things get out of hand…and the town of Minotaur Falls will never be the same!

There's more Minotaur Falls in Harlequin Superromance's The Comeback of Roy Walker…when one man gets a second chance at bat and at love.

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

It all started with Shanna and Star Wars. An odd combination, I know, but what people don't appreciate about Star Wars is the deep romantic element between two of the lead characters. I wasn't seven years-old when I was able to clearly spot that Han and Leia were supposed to be a couple.

Sure most of my friends, who at the time weren't nearly as mature as I was – after all some of them were still six, thought that Leia loved Luke. But anyone really looking could see that Han and Leia were the couple to beat.

That's when I discovered romance.

Then at about fifteen or so I was babysitting one night, bored out of my mind – the children were fast asleep at this point – so I picked a book from the shelf. I wasn't much of a reader at the time, but I liked the orange cover. It was Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss.

That's when I discovered romance novels.

Making up stories – that's just something I've always done. It's like breathing for me. But it wasn't until I began to read actively that I thought maybe I could actually write a book. The benefit of writing over reading is that I get to have everything just the way I like it. I should mention at this point that I'm a little bit of a control freak.

But I didn't go to school for writing. In fact I went to school to be the President of the United States - make that a power hungry control freak.

I attended Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. And no, that is not a school to learn how to become a nun. Although, since I'm not married yet, my mother believes that subliminal messages were piped into the dorm rooms through hidden speakers.

I strayed from the presidential track. Figured instead of running the country I would do something really meaningful. I became a school teacher and spent two amazing years in Seattle.

Eventually I came back home to South Jersey. I got a temp job to hold me over until I could find another teaching position and have been at my current company for eight years. I keep telling my boss that I'm only staying for a little while longer. But he has since stopped listening to me.

So what else is there to know about me? I write. I work. I exercise. I try not to eat. I fail. I beat myself up for not succeeding to not eat. Then I drink. It's a simple life I lead.

I date. But that's a whole other story….

Reviews

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough novellas about a super successful 41 year old heroine, and the hero 31, with a receding hair-line, but a good man.