On the field and off the field, bartender Jeanine Jewell plays, collecting one-night stands like baseball cards. She doesn’t need a man, except to curl her toes and make her scream. She’s learned the hard way that love is about control and manipulation—and the last thing she can handle is letting herself be vulnerable, or having anyone discover her shameful secret.
Scoring women is easy for … easy for catcher Kirk Kennedy—they don’t call him “Catch and Release” for nothing. He never goes back for a repeat performance. Being traded to a new city is an opportunity for new adventures—until he runs into Jeanine and she refuses to go home with him.
Intrigued, Kirk is determined to catch the elusive blonde and keep her to himself. When he proposes a wingman-to-wingwoman, friends-without-benefits relationship, he’s surprised she accepts.
The no-benefits clause soon falls by the wayside when neither Jeanine or Kirk can resist their explosive chemistry. Despite the sparks between the sheets, they both refuse to acknowledge they’re anything more than friends.
Everything changes when Kirk discovers his past is the one Jeanine is hiding from.
Trigger Warning: The heroine was sexually abused by her foster father and has flashbacks.
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Update: Audio version: This is an already good, compelling story and Charley Ongel and Tor Thom ramped it up. They took an already emotional book and gave it so much more oompf! The way they work together is just amazing.
I am going to warn anyone with emotional triggers this story deals with Child abuse and rape, I will add that it is well written and handled tastefully with a happy ending.
Jeanine appears to be a strong independent woman. She is part owner of a bar with her best friend Marsha and is supermodel beautiful. All men want her which makes it easy for her to have her one night stands. She has rules. She never plays in her home territory ( her bar or the home team), she never sleeps over, never brings a man into her home, and never sees him twice. Everything is fine. Until she meets Kirk doing the same walk of shame she is.
Kirk has his own issues and never sees the same woman twice, doesn’t want a family or children because he doesn’t want to chance to bring a child up like he was, left at baby sitters while his parents have flings. Until he meets the beautiful Jeanine and wants to know what makes her tick.
This is a fabulous story of two broken people finding each other and falling in love. It is not instant love, but a slow burn that has many obstacles. There are lots of twists and surprises. Some rather shocking.
I will say one thing threw me off. There were a few things that happened towards the end that threw me off and I would have liked a little more on that. It didn’t really have a bearing on the story was just a couple character and also Kirks’ brother. There was a mention od Marsha and Brock getting treatment and I am like where did this happen and why was it brought up? The story seemed to get rushed at the end. Other than that it was awesome.
If you like strong women, baseball players, stories dealing with surviving child abuse and emotional abuse, and a great love story this is for you
Audiobook review: Playing Catch: Men Of Baseball, Book 2 bring together two catch & release players, Jeanine Jewel & Kirk Kennedy. Character’s are complex with well detailed backgrounds. Supporting character’s crossover from book one, which is peachy. Romance, humour & witty moments are intertwined into this narrative with a painful topic. Told in duo naration which is my favourite type of naration. Charley Ongel & Tor Thom voices complement each other and are able to capture all the intense moments of the narrative. Overall, writing is vivid, passionate, & dynamic as well as narrators are able to bring out the tenacious, cogent, and adept characters. Looking forward to listening to the next audiobook in this series.
Audio review from 2018
I went into this story Blind as the author is new to me.
I really enjoyed the story. The characters had its ups and downs and their HEA was hard fought and well earned.
I would happily recommend this book!
A bartender and a major league catcher, both dedicated to the art of the one night stand discover that there’s more to life if they can just overcome the abuse of their younger lives and mend the damage that their childhood traumas has caused.
Steamy sex scenes and a twisted story line make this a read that’s not for everyone but it’s a good story with an HEA on several levels.