fuonlyknew

This is my stop during the blog tour for A League of Her Own by Karen Rock.

This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours.

The blog tour runs from 1 till 14 December, you can view the complete tour schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.

A League of Her Own
By Karen Rock
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 1 December, 2014

Blurb:
He was attractive, talented…and way off limits.

Heather Gadway may have been a world-class college pitcher and a top university coach, but she’s a rank amateur when it comes to managing the Falcons, her father’s struggling minor league team. And when it comes to managing her aggravating attraction to Garrett Wolf, their talented new pitcher. It’s going to be difficult enough to make it as the first female manager in the league and prove to her overly critical father she’s worthy. No distractions. No missteps. And certainly no romances with players. Everything stands between them—including their troubled pasts—even as Heather’s world falls apart and Garrett’s the one who’s there to catch her…

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MY REVIEW

This was a sweet romance. It also had a lot of depth to it.

Heathers return home after her father has a stroke is difficult. Even after proving herself as a winning pitcher and coaching a team of her own, her father is hesitant to let her manage their minor league baseball team.

 Heather felt like no matter how successful she was, her father was never satisfied. Determined to prove she can do it, she’s all business until she bumps heads with the new pitcher, Garrett Wolf. Her attraction to him is strong. But she knows better than to mix business with pleasure.

As her feelings for Garrett grow stronger, so does her need to prove herself to her father and to save the team.

Heather and Garrett are strongly written.

She’s  vulnerable where her dad is concerned. Still feeds a need to gain his approval. And her mother’s return after many years of absence has Heather reeling. I could understand what she wanted from her father, but felt she forgave her mother too easily. Growing up with a drug addict for a mother and then to be abandoned by her for years had to leave some lasting scars and a boat load of anger. How she chooses to forgive and to trust takes strength though.

Garrett also wrestles with some demons. His alcoholism is put to the test daily. He’s bound and determined to stay sober and take advantage of the second chance Heather’s father gave him when he signed him.  Can he accept Heather’s instruction to improve his pitching? Can he stay away from her? Resist her allure? The poor guy has a lot on his plate.

I liked his vulnerability. His determination. Garrett’s issues with alcohol stem from something that happened in his past. When he stepped in to mentor a foster boy, Levi, he showed his true character.

A feel good story with a slow blooming, sweet romance, flawed characters who have you pulling for them, and baseball. What more could you ask for.

4 Stars

A little tease I want to share from the book:

When he caught her stare, he nodded and shrugged, a small smile tugging up the corners of his handsome mouth. Inside, she melted. There was a difference between a good-looking man and a good-looking, good-hearted man, and Garrett was the latter. Infinitely more attractive.

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Enjoy this glimpse inside:

Garrett’s grumbling teammates filed out of the pre-game meeting, followed by the coaches and Heather’s father. Garrett, however, remained in his seat, watching the lithe young woman as she stood by the door.

At last she turned to him.

“We meet again. Garrett, right?”

He stood and strode to the door. When he stopped, her eyes widened, caution swimming in their depths.

“You mentioned having individual meetings,” he said, keeping his voice even, hiding the irritation shimmering through him. “I thought we’d have ours now.”

She blinked up at him, and her lips moved. Though he strained to hear, he couldn’t make out what she’d said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

A bright pink suffused her cheeks, and he forced himself not to notice how pretty the color made her.

“I said that I haven’t finished my notes for you yet. I’ll watch you pitch tomorrow. We’ll meet after that.”

He had to give it to her. Soft-spoken or not, she had a direct way about her. He didn’t doubt that she could lead…just not professional baseball players. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m requesting to be released from my contract. This isn’t the right place for me to advance in my career.”

Her mobile face stilled. “And why would that be?”

“Look, I’ll be blunt.” He tapped his fingers on the sides of his legs. “This team isn’t hustling, and it’ll be a long time before they come around to supporting you. Things will get worse instead of better. I have a limited window of opportunity to advance. Given these factors, my bottom-line pitching won’t look good with a losing team behind me. I’d like to help you, but selfishly, this is my last shot.”

A speculative gleam entered her eyes. “So you’re asking to be released because you think I can’t help you reach your goals.”

A long breath rushed out of him. She was going to be reasonable. “That’d be great. Thank you.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You’re wrong, and I’ll be as frank with you as you were with me.”

His relief turned to irritation. So she wasn’t going to make this easy. He held his tongue and waited to hear her out.

“I think you’re overvaluing yourself.” She nodded when his mouth dropped open. Guys talked this way to each other. Not women…especially not pretty women…to him.

“Your control isn’t where it should be, and if that’s not addressed, you’ll also be another reason why this team isn’t doing well. But you have potential, and I can help you.”

“Right,” he scoffed. What could a softball pitcher do for him? “No offense, but I need someone with more experience.”

She tapped her chin and angled her head, her eyes flashing up at him. “If I can change your mind about that, will you drop your request and give me your support and a hundred percent effort?”

He held in a laugh. Was she for real? There wasn’t a chance she could change his decision. “What do you have in mind?”

She stepped closer, and her subtle citrus scent curled beneath his nose.

“A contest. If I get more strikes out of twenty pitches than you do, you stay. If you have more, then I’ll release you.”

He stared at her. Processing. She couldn’t be serious. Sure, he had control issues, but he was still better than a college-level player. She was making this easy. But if she was foolish enough to offer him this out, he’d take it.

They eyed each other for a long, tense moment before he jerked his chin at her.

“You’re on.”

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You can find A League of Her Own on Goodreads.

You can buy A League of Her Own here:
Amazon (Kindle) ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo ~ eHarlequin

About the Author:
Karen Rock is an award-winning YA and adult contemporary romance author. She holds a master’s degree in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and her first novel for the line, WISH ME TOMORROW, has won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2014 Golden Quill Contest and a finalist in the Published Maggie Awards. The first novel in her co-authored YA series, CAMP BOYFRIEND, has been a finalist in the Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards.

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You can find and connect with Karen here:

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Tumblr ~ Quarterly Newsletter

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I have two giveaways today.

The first is for an eBook copy of A League of her own (Open Internationally

or your choice of eBook or Print copy (Open US ONLY)

To enter, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win and answer this question:

“What’s your favorite sport to go with your romance read?”

And there is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of A League of Her Own. These are the prizes you can win:
a 100$ Amazon gift card (INT)
a set of signed paperback of Wish Me Tomorrow, His Hometown Girl, Someone Like You and A League of Her Own (US only)

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For all of my giveaways click on the  Southern Christmas Charm below.