Synopsis:
An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.
The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.
Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.
Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.
REVIEW
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Being my first Cat Sebastian book, I really didn't know what to expect. I just know I saw a baseball player (which I LOVE) on the cover with a news reporter (my HS dream job) and I was instantly wanted to read.
Set in 1960's New York City, we have shortstop Eddie O'Leary, who was publicly informed that he was being traded to play for a losing record team with a drunk manager. Needless to say, he was not very happy and he let the reporters know about it.
When he gets to New York, nobody in the clubhouse likes him, resulting in the greatest hitting slump he has ever had. His teammates don't talk to him and the fans don't exactly give him a warm welcome.
The team owner makes him give a whole bunch of interviews with a seemingly closed off and snobbish reporter, Mark Bailey. He will follow and talk with him for a few weeks and the articles will ultimately be published in the newspaper as diary entries of Eddie.
First off, I loved Eddie's character. He wasn't an asshole like the reporters and media made him out to be. He was just misunderstood and was told a life changing event in front of people who shouldn't have seen it because he didn't even have time to process what had happened. He was really sweet. I'd say he was more of a golden retriever personality and just needed to find people who understood him. The treatment of him in the clubhouse by his teammates was really crappy and mean and it made him feel like crap and in a time that mental health was not a thing, led to him not taking it very well.
Mark Bailey was so closed off. Understandably so, because he was grieving the loss of his partner. At the time in 1960's America, it was not acceptable to be queer so his grief had to be hidden from the world which is just so heartbreaking because he basically alone in his thoughts and had no one to really turn to.
This book really touched on how it was for queer people in the 60's and it just breaks my heart that they had to hide themselves from the world and could never truly express their true identities in public without fear.
The way the author was able to captivate their love story really awed me because it was written so well. They were both trying not to give in to what they thought might be a disaster waiting to happen, but the heart wants what it wants and what destined to be will always be.
The way his teammates and manager eventually came around and were accepting without publicly talking about it warmed my heart because they knew how the world worked and what would come about being associated with queer people.
This was such a sweet historical romance book that focuses on accepting ones true self. I loved the basis and the storyline of this book, plus its centered around a baseball player which of course is my favorite.
Thank you NetGalley, Avon Books and Cat Sebastian for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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