The Change Up

4.5 STARS!

The Change Up by Meghan Quinn is another great edition to an already epic series! The cover captured me alone, but this super sweet and sexy friend-to-lovers romance was a home run!!

Maddox Paige takes it out of the field!! He’s best known as the Rebels brawler. Tatted and one h*ll of a pitcher. But he’s such a dark and brooding man who lives with the demons of his past.

Kinsley Howard as a heroine is fun and completely sassy. She has been Maddox’s number one fan for the longest time and his constant supporter. I loved her spirit and kindness. She was truly special and quirky, keeping me giggling with her antics.

With Kinsley, you see another side to Maddox; he smiles and laughs. She is Maddox’s soulmate. There wasn’t anyone more perfect for him. Their history and their friendship is beautiful; and watching them realize they loved each other was truly wonderful. But, oh the sweet slow burn! Lots of off-the-charts chemistry and steam. Some drama but the groveling rectified that! I said it, the grovel is well worth it!

Enough said about Herman the bloodhound; he is a loyal companion. Some of the sweetest moments in this novel was those where Kinsley and Maddox bonded with the “old man”. Also, I loved getting lots of bromance moments between Jason, Cory, and Lincoln (I want his book!). These boys are wild, rowdy, and pure entertainment! Lastly, the epilogue warmed my heart and had me grinning like the Grinch.

Once again Meghan has written a story filled with laughter, angst, love, family and friendship. I absolutely loved it!!

I love the friends-to-lovers trope, and I adore Meghan Quinn’s writing. Put the two of those together, and you’ve got a story that I’m going to read. I’ve really got to hand it to her here. I’m not a baseball fan. I don’t watch the sport unless the Yankees are in game seven of the World Series, and even then, it’s really only because I’m outnumbered by males in my house. I’m a life-long, die-hard hockey fan, but I digress… Even though baseball is not my jam, this series has blown me away. I’ve loved every single book, and I’ve waited with bated breath for the next one.

Quinn took her readers on one heck of a slow-burn ride here—emphasis on the burn. I’ve read every single word this author has written since her release of The Mother Road in 2016. I can say with confidence that this is one of the hottest, headiest romances she’s ever written, and trust me when I tell you that that’s really saying something because Meghan doesn’t shy away from the heat in her stories. Readers met Maddox earlier in the series, but we got to know him a bit better in The Trade, where he played an integral part in the lead couple’s romance. I came into this book expecting a heavy dose of Maddox’s arrogant, cocky, alpha-hole, bad-boy ball player persona. While there definitely was a bit of that here, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by the real Maddox Paige.

Kinsley is the free-spirited, animal-loving, earth-saving, vegan girl-next-door and Maddox’s best friend since they were five. Having been through thick and thin and everything in between together, they’re each other’s person. When she’s offered her dream job in Chicago, Maddox opens his home to her, and it isn’t long before she’s turning his world upside down. I loved how she pushed Maddox outside his comfort zone, and I loved how he let her.

As a long-time Meghan Quinn reader, I know to expect a sucker punch to the feels from her at some point. Lulled into complacency by a sweet, sexy budding romance, witty banter and a tuxedo-wearing, three-legged dog, I was positively lost in this story, focused on the happily ever after when the heartbreak hit. But even though I knew it was coming, I still wasn’t prepared. She gutted me with the emotion portrayed here, and my heart shattered right along with theirs. There was plenty of humor, tons of heat and a gorgeous romance along the way to soften that blow, though.

The Change Up was everything I love about a friends-to-lovers romance wrapped up in a heat-filled, sometimes hilarious, heartfelt love story. This story took me by surprise in the best of ways, and it’s not only my favorite of the series, it’s a favorite for the year. Five smooches from me for The Change Up by Meghan Quinn!
~Danielle Palumbo, Red Cheeks Reads

I was excited to get the bad boy’s book! Maddox did not disappoint! Kinsley is his best friend and she’s so different from him. She has a big heart and when she finds herself needing him, he’s there for her. Their proximity is closer than they’ve been in years. And some things are hard to ignore, like feelings. This book was swoony and real and OH-SO-GOOD! I couldn’t put this book down. I found myself laughing at various times and swooning the next. I felt the emotions these characters were going through and I wanted these friends to take things to the next step. If you’ve read other books about the Rebels and Bobbies, you’ll see those characters again. I enjoyed the banter between Maddox and his friends. I liked the history Maddox and Kinsley have and I liked how they’ve been there for each other for major things in life. I didn’t want to leave their world and didn’t want this book to end. Be sure not to let this book pass you by!

Oh, my heart!! I didn’t think Meghan could make me love Maddox Paige but she did. Oh, she so did.

Kinsley is the kind of quirky that Meghan is phenomenal at writing. She’s the character you want as your best friend just so you can hear her stories, anecdotes and opinions on anything and everything! Her outlook on life is endearing and you can’t help but want to be around her energy and bubbly personality.

Maddox, despite his bad boy persona and all of those delectable tattoos, is just a little lost and in need of love, affection, and a three legged dog called Herman!! He’s shy, quiet and craves his privacy and you can’t help but fall a little in love with his vulnerability.

Written in dual POV, this is one epic friends to lovers romance that will have you swooning like crazy and hooked on every word, page and chapter.

Prepare for steam, an emotional backstory, some outstanding hilarity and much-loved cameos from the likes of Jason and Cory.

This book you guys! Anyone who knows me and me love for Meghan’s books knows that Tucker from My Best Friends Ex has been sitting pretty at my top spot when it comes to MQ book boyfriends. Well he is going to have to budge over and learn to share because Maddox Paige is sitting up top now!!

The Change Up is a fantastic best friends to lovers story sent in the Brentwood Baseball world. Maddox is known as the bad boy amongst the rebels; but this book shows how much more to this man there is. He is almost introvert a guy who loves his routine and his privacy, he loves to sketch, he is incredibly loyal and will do anything to support the people who mean the world to him and one of those people is Kinsley.

Kinsley is the heroine of the novel, Maddox’s best friend since the age of 5 they have had a strong friendship, she is the person that knows all their is to know about Maddox Paige…..well almost all. Kinsley is a big animal lover, a vegan and is passionate about saving the world, one bamboo toothbrush and toothpaste capsule at a time. I adored her, she was such a likeable heroine, not too sweet, she had spirit, she is content with who she is and embraces her sexuality as a woman.

Reading how their friendship changes to a romantic relationship builds up some crazy slow burn chemistry between Maddox and Kinsley. There is one scene in particular that was beyond hot. Kinsley took control and reading how the whole scene played out I have to applaud Meghan for writing it because it’s not something I see often enough in romance books, which is a shame because the steam was intense!

The Change Up maintains a great pace throughout, there were no down moments, there was a level of humour that strengthened the bond between Maddox and Kinsley and also brought her into the Brentwood fold perfectly amongst Knox, Jason, Lincoln and Corey. There was enough history and chemistry between Hero and heroine that when that moment came to bring in the angst, man did I feel it! How the story played out was so good, I got swept up in this book and enjoyed reading every word of it.

I though Cory’s story is heavy, but Maddox’s story is even heavier. He has his own demons from his childhood. It was a nightmare to lose a mother, then also lose a father to alcohol. Down the road, he was also betrayed by his only family left. The only constant and joy in his life is his very best friend, Kinsley. She’s his everything.

So when she got a job offered in Chicago, he offered for her to move in with him. Things escalated quickly from the moment Kinsley moved in with him. Everything in his life slowly started to change, that includes his feelings for Kinsley. Or it has always been there, but he never acknowledged and acted on it. But now she’s in this close proximity with him, there’s no way could he deny it anymore.

Wow, was this a slowburn! But it felt so good when it reached to the point where they talk everything about their feelings to each other. I think that’s what made Maddox different from the other guys in the series, he straight up just say everything he was feeling. Kinsley is really his safe place, they’ve built a very strong friendship and it made it easy for them to dive into a romantic relationship.

It feels so easy for them, but both of them is just waiting for a shoe to drop. What happened during his childhood, those demons are still seeping through him. Will their new relationship be all about rainbows and sunshine as they’d hoped? You’ll just have to read this one. I think this is my new favourite of the series! Can’t wait for the next player’s story, I hope it’s Lincoln’s next

My relationship with this book? It’s complicated. Kinsley isn’t my favorite and she kind of annoyed me. She’s preachy and inflexible, so much so that she has no friends. Maddox is awesome though, so he saved this book for me. I love a good friends to lovers and this one was fun because they really never thought of one another as more than a friend until they’re suddenly living together. Now there are feelings and nobody is sure how to handle them but the living arrangement can’t change at the moment so they’ve just got to suck it up.

His character has a lot more depth than hers but it works just fine. These two are steamy and I loved his teammates and their wives. Despite my initial inclination that Maddox could do better, I warmed up to Kinsley mostly and I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed their story.

I just love it when the big bad alpha male falls hard for the little fun loving woman.
This is an amazing series, but each book can be read or listened to as a standalone.
Best friends to roommates to lovers. Then everything hit the fan and it was over. Can she ever forgive him.
I listened to this on Chirp.

Yeahhhh… the story was cute, I’ll admit, but Kinsley was annoying as hell. Her quirkiness was not cute and she kept changing stuff in Maddox’s apartment and he did NOT seem at all okay with it.

Also, I would’ve liked to have felt like Kinsley and Maddox had some sort of deeper connection, more like love and not just like best friends, when they were younger and the author tried to portray that but I didn’t feel that at all. It felt like all of a sudden she showed up and both her and Maddox instantly felt different toward each other after 20 years of being best friends. Maddox saw Kinsley in person about a year before she moved in with him, so what about then? This feeling seemingly just came out of nowhere when she moved in with him. I know, I know.. they were supposedly feeling these things before but “didn’t know what it was” or both were just “ignoring their feelings” but I didn’t feel that was explained very well.

Maddox’s actions on his birthday pissed me the fuck off, and the things he said were terrible. I can’t imagine getting over something like that, honestly. No thanks.
Even so, yeah… I enjoyed the ending.

Love the bond between everyone