Hi there! Today I’m sharing my review for a New Adult contemporary romance released today from Katie McCoy. GAME ON pits a cub reporter against a reluctant pro prospect. It’s fun and flirty and gets downright dirty.

Check out my review and enter the giveaway for a $10 Amazon GC and an e-copy of GAME ON.

About the book:
Rule of reporting 101– don’t bang your subject.

Sophie Hall has just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime–to profile Nathan Ryder, the hottest baseball player since A-Rod, for her first solo assignment as a reporter. Rumor has it Nathan is going to be drafted to the Major league, and yet he still fits an intense training regime around volunteering at a animal shelter. He’s a prodigy with a heart of gold, as American as apple pie and has an ass that deserves a trophy all its own. He may be the country’s heartthrob, but Sophie isn’t going to fall for that. She just has to remain objective and cover the story.

But she didn’t bet on Nathan’s gorgeous green eyes or the way his arms flex with muscle when he’s holding a bat. And she certainly didn’t think he’d be witty and smart and caring. Nathan is completely untouchable, but she can’t help it if those lingering gazes turn into something more. How could she not fall at the thought of the hottest guy she’s ever met devoting his limited free time to saving puppies?

When Sophie’s scoop turns into Nathan’s scandal, Nathan needs her more than ever. With both of their careers on the line will they strike out – or hit a home run?

My Review:
Sophie Hall is a self-made journalist. She didn’t have the money for college, but she had gumption, and a love for baseball, so she started blogging and parlayed that into a junior staff position at a Houston newspaper.

She’s been assigned to get a piece on draft-hopeful Nathan Ryder, a pitcher at Univ Texas. She’s sent to Austin for a week and on her very first night her loser, unemployed guitarist boyfriend decides that she’s not into him enough, so he’s splitting to stay with a sexy bandmate—oh, and he neglected to pay her landlord the rent check she wrote out for him for the past three months so she’s being evicted in two weeks. Excellent. Sophie decides to kill her heartache with tequila poisoning, and she runs into Nathan Ryder in the bar. Nathan hits on her, and she uses her professional judgement to reveal that she’s got an appointment for an interview the next day.

Nathan, a notoriously shy guy off the field, is embarrassed and angry, and his attitude is not much better the following day. Sophie befriends a photo journalist, Mandy, who’s a good friend of Nathan’s and also smitten with Nate’s best friend, Chris. This gives Sophie a bit of an inside scoop, but nothing juicy enough for a feature article. And, she’s not really sure she wants to dig into Nathan’s past. He seems like a great guy, and she’s more than a little attracted.

As the story isn’t shaping up how her editor would like, he sends a senior reporter, and noted bigot/sexist to find the “story”. This guy is a classless hack, and his “investigation” finally yields dirt–not that it’s real. Sophie has a choice to make: Help herself, or help Nathan.

It’s not as cut-and-dried as all that. Sophie’s a smart gal and she’s ready to make Orangina from the bitter fruits of her labor. Her up-close contact with Nathan reveals him to be a regular guy with a nothing-special background who has made some admirable decisions that he doesn’t even want credit for making. He’s humble and decent and all that Sophie would want in a partner, but she’s too career-focused to consider it. Until, well, she’s smack in love. (She had lust at first sight, but that tempered over the week they spent together.) Nathan is also fiercely loyal, and when he thinks Sophie was digging up a contact that endangers a longtime friend, he’s beyond enraged. There’s some big “I’m sorry!“s to deliver after all that.

This is a decent romance with a bit of a baseball focus. Having been a player and fan of baseball for more than 3/4 of my life I recognize some deficiencies in the baseball bits, particularly the details surrounding Nathan’s draft, practices, end-of-season tournament structure, and hitting mechanics. As a reader it was frustrating, but I’m sure readers who know nothing about baseball will have no problems with these issues. Also, I found it hard to believe that a newspaper sends two reporters on a week-long trip to interview a draft prospect. Those details aside, this was entertaining. There’s a slow burn for all that attraction, which was nice. I liked that both Sophie and Nathan had some scruples regarding physicality, and waiting for the right time.

Interested? You can find GAME ON on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

****GIVEAWAY****

Click on the Rafflecopter link below for your chance to win a $10 Amazon GC and an E-copy of GAME ON.
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Good luck and keep reading my friends!

About the Author:

Katie McCoy is a self proclaimed sushi addict, Cardinals baseball fanatic, and lover of all things theatrical. A St. Louis native transplanted to Brooklyn, she acts, sings, and shakes her booty when she isn’t writing books about hot men and the girls who love them.

You can find Katie online on Facebook and Goodreads.