I thought I was helping a friend, but instead I only managed to get myself in a heap of trouble which left me with two options. Coach little league as part of community service…or face jail time. So here I am…coaching little league, a project I wasn’t looking forward to—that’s until I see Stella at the field with her son. Unfortunately for me it takes a lot longer than I’d hoped for her to give … her to give me the time of day.
Yet, now that I’ve caught her attention, things are much more complicated than I thought. Who knew juggling a struggling friend, community service, a team bully and a girlfriend would be this hard?
But I won’t let it get me down. Someone once told me the secret to success, and come hell or high water I’ll show everyone around me that I…
…refuse to lose.
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Refuse to Lose ~~Stella and Trystan
The first book in a new sports series by Alison and she hot it out of the park.
Trystan and his poor choices has now put in in quite the predicament . Coach little league baseball or end up on the wrong side of the law .
Stella has been though a tragedy and has come out on the other side. She has moved her tween son and herself to a small town and a new beginning . When they meet it is casual but they soon realize that it could be so much more . Stella deserves a second chance at love and Trystan could really use a great woman to be there for him!
Loved their sweet sexy story !
~~Michele McMullen ~~
Alison Mello gives you all the feels in the sports romance Refuse to Lose, about a small-town hero who gets in a bit of trouble and falls for the newcomer.
After the untimely death of her husband, Stella sets off for small town living leaving the Big Apple in her wake. She wants to protect the only thing she has left from her marriage and that is her son, DJ. She can’t stand to step a foot outside in that city any longer, so Stella packs up a few boxes and sells the rest. She loads everything in her van and sets out for a new life. One stop at the local diner, seals her fate. Help Wanted the sign reads and well the rest is history.
Trystan is the hometown hero, who after serving our country comes home and ends his baseball career by a freak accident that shatters his ankle. He doesn’t let that slow him down and starts working construction in the sleepy small town. A wrong move to save his buddy from a DUI ends Trystan with one himself. The judge that sentences him is fair, but what Trystan learns is worth it’s weight in gold. His punishment. Take the Bad News Bears of the town and coach them. The kids and Trystan learn a lot from one another. Trystan finds his happily ever after, and escapes the clutches of a vindictive ex. I give this book a solid five stars. You will not be able to put it down.
**Review by Terren, Late Night Reviewer for Up All Night w/ Books**
Refuse to Lose (A Coach’s Love Book 1) by Alison Mello is the fie first book I have read by this author. It is a second chance sports romance book with a twist because it is based on a little league rec ball team instead of college or pro ball.
Trystan, the lead male character, has made a mistake by drinking and driving to prevent his friend, who is struggling with the loss of his family and has been drinking a lot more than Trystan, from driving.
The judge, a small town character, knows just how to punish him in a way that will help the town’s young boys, including his troubled grandson, but also use Trystan’s previous baseball experience for good. What is the use of wasting perfectly good and free labor sitting in a jail cell?
Stella, the lead female character, has decided she no longer wants to raise her son, DJ, in New York after losing her husband to a senseless mugging attack three years before the beginning of the book.
Here is where things get a little wonky for me. Why wait three years then decide to pack up and leave without even telling your child you are picking up roots and moving to parts unknown. Then we drive with no real destination in mind and stop in a small town in the middle of nowhere and decide to apply for a diner position just because there is an opening? But, that is neither here nor there. She settles in and during the first six months meets Trystan, and some flirting commences. Then Trystan becomes DJ and his best friends, Mason (Stella’s boss lady and friend’s child) little league coach.
Within a week, they are hardcore dating, even though they agree to take it slow. Within a month Stella and Trystan are talking about living together, and the central conflict, Trystan’s ex is haphazardly introduced and thrown in to cause mayhem. The scene with her at the end was unreal and prompted an eye roll or two on my part.
I was glad there was an epilogue letting me tying up all loose endings, but it followed along with the timeline of the rest of the book and was too fast. I would have liked this book a lot more if the timelines had jived a little towards normal. My daughter has played softball for the last several years and winter would be an odd time to play this sport or to have as many backyard barbecues or do gardening.
I will end it saying that I did like the overall storyline positively dealing with childhood bullying and the friendships developed and the overall camaraderie. I would love to have these people as lifelong friends.
This book took me by surprise. I went in expecting to love it because it checked a great many of my favorite boxes. Sports Romance, Second Chance Romance, Single Parent… check, check, and check. But I didn’t expect the sweetness that Trystan displayed in this book. Or the patience. I always think of sports romance heroes being a little more cocky, but Trystan was trying to do the right thing and he’d ended up paying for it. He was trying to balance being a good friend, with being a good coach and a good boyfriend. He totally pulls it off too. He puts Stella at ease as she slowly starts to make her way back out into the world after raising her son alone after losing her husband. Stella and Trystan have amazing chemistry but they didn’t rush their relationship. This story has some twists but kept me interested from page one. It’s an amazing story of second chances and hope and I can’t wait to see what this author comes up with next!!!
Refuse To Lose is book one in A Coach’s Love Series and a sweet, heartwarming, second chance at love story. Trystan and Stella are perfect together and I love how they are both trying to get past life’s disappointments and tragedies. After the loss of her husband Stella did what she thought was best for her son DJ and moved out of the city to a small town. While trying to help a friend Trystan ends up in trouble and gets sent to do community service coaching baseball at the local little league. Trystan and Stella have amazing chemistry and I love the way the author brought them together. One of my favorite part in this book is the bond between Stella and her son DJ and how much respect and love they have for each other. This well written book has amazing characters with heart and I look forward to reading the next book in this series.