Talk about a wild day… As if being summoned to the deathbed of a grandfather she didn’t know existed wasn’t enough–Isla Bennett meets the man of her dreams. Spends an amazing day playing tourist around Nashville with him. And then finds out she’s inherited the Nashville Slammers major league baseball team. Oh, and her new dream man? He’s the Slammers’ star power hitter. Isla just went from … amazing first date to holy heck I’m your boss in the span of a day.
Liam Cruz can’t believe how refreshing it was to spend a day with someone who didn’t know his batting average, the size of his last contract, or heck, even that he’s a baseball player. Now Isla’s thrust into the spotlight, and though she’s more than capable of handling herself professionally, he takes it upon himself to teach her everything he can about the game that is his whole life. But they’ll have to keep it on the DL.
Because doing what’s best for the team means they can never be together–and that might be the toughest play of all.
Each book in the For Love of the Game series is STANDALONE:
* Covering All the Bases
* Catching Her Heart
more
Let me start of saying that this reminded me a bit of another particular lady that inherited a major league team unexpectedly. I love watching how these strong women in their own right rise to the occassion and prove their nay sayers wrong. In more ways than one.
There was just something about Cruz and Isla’s first meeting that drew me in and allowed me to enjoy them as a couple before they were a couple. The innocence of their meeting and spending that day together was nice. The best part of this romance was it was light, fun, and sweet.
Looking for fun, light, sweet, easy to read then you have found your ticket. Grab a towel, sun block, floppy had and head to the beach or poolside and read this one right here.
Time just flew by. I am utterly in love Isla and Liam. Holford draws from the adage that good things can happen to good people. Isla is proof of that. In one day, her whole life changes. Then she falls in love and her happiness starts to unravel. Liam is the man, She’s waited her whole life to find. Too bad, she’s his boss. Covering All The Bases hit a homerun for me. My heart says a repeat performance is in order.
4.5
I liked it!
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: For the Love of the Game
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from NetGalley.
“Covering all the Bases” is the first book I’ve read by Jody Holford, but it won’t be the last. This story was cute and sweet, featuring likeable, well-developed main characters who seemed like an excellent match for each other. I’m not usually a fan of stories in which the main characters seem to fall in love at first sight, but this one really worked for me. Liam and Isla were able to get to know each other very well, very quickly. They met coincidentally, but it seemed natural for them to continue spending time together after that due to their connection through the Nashville Slammers baseball team. For this reason, the evolution of their relationship felt believable to me even though it took place over a relatively short period of time.
I also appreciated how mature both Isla and Liam were. They trusted in their feelings, communicated with each other instead of bottling things up inside, and didn’t allow petty jealousies to complicate their growing relationship. There was a bit of mild jealousy on Liam’s part over Isla’s friendship with her contact from Conroy Hotels, but they actually talked about it and were able to keep it from blowing up into a huge problem for them. As for Isla, she embraced the women in Liam’s fan club and decided to use them in her marketing campaign for the team, which was a very clever idea. I really liked how well Liam and Isla were able to communicate and work together, which bodes well for their future as both business partners and spouses.
Finally, the book’s secondary characters added a lot of interest and fun to this story, and there are several I hope will be featured in future books. As a result, I am very much looking forward to reading the next installment in this series.
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was an ok book to read, I honestly do not have to continue the series. Liam is a baseball player who is on the verge of retirement but has finally got the chance to play for his hometown team something he has always wanted to do his whole life. Working for his families bar he meets Isla who has no clue who he is since she knows nothing about baseball and that instantly attracts Liam. Isla is heartbroken, she has just found out that not only does find out that she still had a grandfather but that she didn’t make it in time to meet him and he has left his beloved baseball team to her. Isla and Liam are instantly in love but now they can not be together since she is now his boss and to top it off her father is a horrible person who is doing his best to take the team away from her since he feels it is due to him and she is not good enough for it,. Boy is he going to get a surprise.
Rcvd and ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
I’m a sucker for a good underdog, sports-themed romance. Great characters with lots of chemistry but not a lot of explicit details.
I enjoyed this sports romance. Most books in this genre have a hero who is a stud sports dude who humbles himself to be with the woman who takes him down a peg or two. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this story was different because Liam Cruz was a sweetheart from the very beginning. It was so nice to see a guy who was comfortable being a nice guy in spite of his sports stature. I liked the chemistry between Liam and Isla, and I really liked Talia – I hope there is a story for her coming up next. I also enjoyed the plot; I thought it was unique. And frankly, I’m a sucker for a baseball story. Since we are heading into the heart of baseball season, I’d definitely recommend the book. This review was written based on a complimentary pre-release digital ARC.
Such an adorable read!
I really enjoyed Liam and Isla’s story. I’m not a huge fan of baseball–neither is Isla, before she inherits a baseball team!–but of course you don’t have to be to enjoy a baseball romance 🙂 Isla and Liam have incredible chemistry together, and even when they know and you know that they really shouldn’t be together it’s hard to argue with exactly how good they are together. Even when you know it’s all going to blow up at some point…
And blow up it does, of course. The black moment is really, really black, and for a while there it does look like all is going to be lost. But Ms. Holford has a few things up her sleeve and manages to pull an HEA out of the depths of despair, giving us an absolutely adorable ending and epilogue.
I can’t wait to see where the rest of this series is going!
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Entangled Publishing and NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing.
I adored this story. Unfortunately I started it late in the day and stayed up late to finish it. I could not put it down. I was so thoroughly enchanted with Isla inheriting a professional baseball team from her paternal grandfather that she didn’t know was still alive (due to her manipulative and controlling father). Isla is too late to meet her grandfather before he passes away. In her grief and despair, she enters into a bar to get out of the cold rain. There she meet a gorgeous man behind the bar, Liam. Isla thinks that Liam is just your typical bartender. She doesn’t normally go to bars so she has no idea. She is intrigued with the handsome Liam and vice versa. Liam offers Isla the use of the upstairs apartment over the bar as he realizes that he would like to spend more time with her. Especially as Isla has no idea that he is a MLB heavy-hitter for the hometown team. It is the next day when Isla is informed of her inheritance and then later discovers that Liam, the man who showed her around town and who is taking up more and more of her thoughts, is a player on the team. These two go through so much to get to their HEA that I just could not stop reading. Ms. Holford did such a wonderful job in creating such wonderful and realistic characters that I just become too attached.
The story was beautifully written. There was no part in this story that felt forced. It flowed smoothly. In fact, I really hated to see the story end. I would love to see another story with Isla’s assistant Addie or even Liam’s sister, Talia (really I’m hoping for both!)
The story was written in a dual POV format. That is my favorite as I can get into the characters’ thought processes. It really helps me to identify with them and to understand their actions and speech so much better.
This is just a great story. I highly recommend this to anyone. There were a few “bedroom” scenes but the way that the author wrote them really left it up to the reader’s imagination as to what actually went on.
4.5 Stars
I loved this book so much! I was hooked right from the beginning and I couldn’t put this one down. Isla and Liam are so adorable together. Liam is just book boyfriend material, period. I was drawn to this book because Liam is a baseball player and I’m a fan of Jody Holford’s writing. She created such great characters even the antagonists. Boy did I wanted to pop a few characters in the head. I loved the whole idea of Isla being the owner of a baseball team. Being a huge baseball fan myself I was all in on this book. This is definitely a make you feel good book from start to finish. It’s a book that got me so invested in the characters from from the start that you’re rooting for them the whole way. This is a book highly recommend. I can’t wait for more from the series!
Sports romance is one of my very favorite romance genres, and I am also a big Jody Holford fan. It took just one peek at the synopsis on this book, and I knew I was going to need to read it!
I completely adored this premise and Ms. Holford nailed the meet-cute. I was sucked in immediately and charmed by the chemistry between Isla and Liam. Their connection was a bit fast and furious, but it was also incredibly sweet and there were moments between them that took my “awww” to the next level. That is, they set my heart to fluttering and kept a smile glued to my face.
There’s quite a bit going on in this story, between Isla’s tenuous (at best) relationship with her family, and the challenges she faces as the new (and decidedly inexperienced) owner of the Nashville Dodgers baseball team – there’s a lot on Isla’s plate. Not the least of which – her feelings for the charming and irresistible Liam – who is technically forbidden, but, well…irresistible.
I loved how this played out. I loved the strength Isla showed as she navigated what seemed like an impossible situation, and I loved how she turned that into her own happily ever after. Heartwarming, sweet, and completely satisfying, Covering All the Bases is a light and lovely sports romance, and I can’t wait for more!
Covering All the Bases by Jody Holford was a sport romance with a twist! Isla Bennet goes to see a grandfather she never knew she had on his deathbed. Suddenly she finds herself the owner of a baseball team. But before that, she spends a day with a man that rocks her world. Liam Cruz can’t believe the day he spent with an amazing woman. A woman who liked him for him and not his batting average.
Now Isla is Liam’s boss and off-limits. I loved how they meet and their chemistry. But when she becomes the boss, Liam decides to help her out. On top of all that Isla has to deal with her father and brother, who do not have her best intentions in mind. Liam is charming, smart and helpful and their connection is undeniable. A sweet and charming sports romance.
Read and reviewed for Sultry Sirens Book Blog.
Happy reading!
A charming and sweet story. Liam is a gentleman to Isla from the moment he meets her. She is alone and grieving and he immediately seeks to comfort her. She has some doubts in her abilities but also has a steely resiliency that gets her through. Liam becomes her biggest cheerleader as she faces her many challenges and supports her every endeavor. It is filled with two very different views of family and love and how much it shapes a person. Very poignant.
Talk about a wild ride!! Thinking back on all of the books I’ve read by this author, I don’t think a single one was a sports romance. I’m a casual baseball fan and I loved that Isla had to be taught EVERYTHING about the team she just inherited. ‘They’re going to bring home the cup!’ I swear I died!!
Isla and Liam were absolutely perfect together. Even when they were attempting to just be friends, they were supportive and understanding. Isla comes from an awful family and I hated every single second that she had to interact with them but Liam’s family was the perfect opposites of them: kind, loving, helpful. I loved that friendships were building all around and a new family was created.
This is an awesome start to this series and I’m so looking forward to what might come next!!
I’ve had the opportunity to read one other book of this author’s, and enjoyed it very much, so when the chance came up to read another, I jumped at the chance. Covering all the Bases is a story about a Major League Baseball player, Liam, who is bartending in his and his twin sisters bar when Isla, a woman from Colorado who just lost the grandfather she never knew, walks into the bar needing to get out of the rain. Chemistry is definitely an immediate reaction between these two, along with a lot of family drama, but overall I found this book to be very enjoyable. There were parts where I wasn’t sure I would finish this book, Isla is a bit insecure which really doesn’t add much to the book, but you find out that it all plays out in the end, making it all worth the read. Loved Liam’s family and Addie, and the people who ended up on Isla’s side were pretty cool too. You love it when the hometown favorite wins in the end!
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC copy of this book.
Home Run!
Jody Holford is a new to me author but I was truly pleased!
Isla and Liam have an instant connection that is edging toward instant love but then they find out that she’s is new boss!
I really liked that Holford didn’t drag out the big reveal and that she allowed the romance and relationship to develop with all the cards on the table. It was little sweeter than I prefer, very much a closed door/fade to black approach to love scenes, but still had enough chemistry and emotion to keep me turning pages. I also loved the explorations of familial love and Isla standing up for herself in such a fantastic way!
I’m hoping this is the beginning of a series because I’m think Talia and Ethan have a story and Addie needs her a baseball player who needs or loves a good cause!
I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.
Covering All the Bases is such an amazing read. I love how Jody Holford created such a strong female lead in what is usually a mans world. Isla is smart, strong and just trying to figure out how to navagate in the big leagues against a sea of men. Even though she may not know much about baseball she sure holds her own. I love how she stands up to everyone getting in her way including family. Liam is amazing and supportive of Isla through everything. It’s so cute how they meet and you can feel the chemistry build. I loved this book so much. Go one click it.
Isla Bennett has never had a choice about how to live her life, her manipulative father had it all planned out for her and it was his way or nothing. For years he has ruled her life with an iron fist, and kept her in the dark when it came to her family.
She never knew that she had a grandfather that loved her, or that he owned a baseball team…until now. When she learns that he has has passed away and left the ownership of his team in her hands, she knows she needs to head to Nashville. Of course her father has his opinions about what she should do with it, but for once in her life she is taking matters into her own hands, and making her own decisions.
But nothing could have prepared her for what she finds in Nashville…
What you find waiting for you between the pages of Covering All the Bases is certain to keep you captivated from beginning to end. Between the family drama, and the developing relationship between Isla and Liam, there is a lot to get wrapped up in. The words are engaging and heartfelt and the characters come with a real feel quality that make them very easy to connect to. I really enjoyed this one, it tugged on the heartstrings and left me with an unshakable smile! If you are in the mood for a feel good story with bits of steam then I highly recommend you take a chance on this one, it’s just what you need!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley request, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.
Covering All Bases by Jody Holford a five-star read that will smash you out of the park. This was m first read by this author, but it won’t be the last, I enjoyed the writing and the story. Sweet and romantic with a good plot and enough drama to make it grip. Isla Bennett was a great character, she showed us just how strong a true woman can be. There was just something about her that I immediately warmed to. Liam Cruz was a man of many hidden talents, a friend, a baller, a family man and a man who skirts the truth. Most of all he is a man who will show many how a true family man will show how much love there can be in family. This was a great story and I will definitely be going back to read the rest of the love of the game series, as I adored this stand-alone and this one was easily read as stand-alone.