Home Run

Heidi McLaughlin

Jan 2017 · Sold by Forever

About this ebook

From the New York Times bestselling author of Forever My Girl comes a sports romance with "a hot, complex hero and a gutsy, multidimensional heroine" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

I've given up everything for the chance to play major league baseball. Everything. Now I'm so close I can practically hear the crowd chanting my name. There's nothing that could take my dream away from me . . .

Unless I lose focus. And Ainsley Burke is the most beautiful, distracting woman I've ever met. When I'm with her, I can't think of anything else.

But no matter how much I want Ainsley, there's no room for love in my game plan. I can give her a quick tour of the bases, but that's it. Then I have to let her go. If she wants to think I'm a love 'em and leave 'em player, fine.

All dreams require sacrifice. I just wish this one didn't mean tearing out my own heart.

Ratings and reviews

3 stars — This book started off pretty good, even with the insta-attraction and fast moving feelings. But unfortunately the characters didn’t behave consistently, and I got a little bit cranky with them. At the start of this book Cooper comes across really earnest, hard-working, and sweet! I mean, there were some moments during training that his personality seemed two-sided, and I couldn’t figure out if he was a jerk or not, but in general I really liked him. I loved that with his concentration on baseball and his career, he seemed to have a very romantic side. He didn’t have much in his romantic past, and his crush on Ainsley was kind of endearing. And then those moments where he was a jerk became more frequent, and his personality really became dichotomous…these two halves of him just didn’t make sense in one person. Ainsley kind of suffered from a similar schizophrenic personality problem, but at least I kind of got why she was so torn (what with the stress she was dealing with). Honestly, I can’t really tell you too much about Ainsley as a person, b/c so much of what we learn of her is wrapped up in caring for her Mother in her battle with cancer. So she’s stressed, confused, depressed. We know she’s involved with the giraffe’s with the zoo, but that really doesn’t come into play one way or another in the rest of the book. And in the end she ran very hot and cold with Cooper, all-in one moment, pushing him away the next, then wanting him back a few hours later. It was enough to give me whiplash. Having one character behave in this way is one thing, but both of them was frustrating. As for the two of them together? Well, they started off sweet, then got deliciously steamy, and then the feelings came UBER quickly, and then they turned toxic. And from there I couldn’t keep track of how they felt about one another, and I just didn’t buy in. There were definitely high points in this book…even towards the end, when Cooper stood up for Ainsley with his Dad, or the bits with the pregnancy. But it wasn’t enough to save it in my opinion. Also, there was a lot of extra “stuff” in this book. There was a LOT of baseball stuff…which is fine, but I felt like the descriptions of the games got really detailed a few times and it didn’t seem necessary to the plot. Also, there were a LOT of secondary characters taking up time in the story. And while I knew Ethan & Daisy were from the first book, their cameos took up a lot of space (almost like the author liked their relationship more and didn’t want to let them go). I haven’t read a lot of Ms. McLaughlin, but I could totally guess that Ryan and Hadley were cameos from another book too (and I verified it), because they served no purpose in Cooper & Ainsley’s story, but they were constantly mentioned. So yeah. I’m a bit bummed, mostly b/c I was impressed with parts at the beginning, and then it just didn’t play out to my tastes. I really can’t stand inconsistent characters, or characters who have extreme reactions…I guess I’m more into subtlety. I’m starting to think this author just isn’t for me…

What is wrong with this picture? I hate football, baseball, basketball and hockey but am a fan of sports romance. Sarah Robinson and Catherine Gayle got me curious, Skye Jordan and Carly Phillips reeled me in and authors like Heidi McLaughlin, Victoria Denault and Jami Davenport keep me hanging around. Dedicated, opinionated and full of surprises, an athlete on a mission can get the heart racing on and off the field, ice or court. The drama comes when the risks start to outweigh the gain. With Home Run, Ms. McLaughlin strikes all the right cords with her sexy bad boy and his equally tempting bad girl. Home Run has all the tools to make a fan out of a novice like me.

I think the author is brilliant

About the author

Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont with her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home is an over-hyper beagle/Jack Russell, Buttercup, a Highland West/mini schnauzer, Jill, and her brother, Racicot. When she's isn't writing stories, you'll find her sitting court-side at her daughters' basketball games.