Review: Calling It by Jen Doyle

Reviewer: Rowena
Calling It by Jen Doyle
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: April 11th 2016
Pages: 218
Add It: Goodreads
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Baseball player Nathan Hawkins needs to get away from Chicago. After a near career-ending car accident and with paparazzi surrounding his penthouse, Nate can only think of one place to go: home. But when he finds his old apartment occupied by a half-naked woman wielding a baseball bat, he's not sure what to think…except that maybe his luck has finally changed for the better.

Librarian Dorie Donelli never thought she'd get to meet her fantasy man in person—much less in her bathrobe. To her surprise, her nearly naked run-in with Nate leads to more unclothed encounters. But Dorie is sure their fling is only temporary. As long as she remembers he'll be gone once his life gets back on track, she won't get hurt. In the meantime, she throws herself into enjoying their three weeks together before he has to report for spring training and go back to his old life.

For Nate, being with Dorie is the only time in months that he finds himself smiling. Laughing. And he has no intention of letting that go. He might even be falling in love…if only Dorie will let him say the words. What they have isn't just a dream, but the start of a dream come true.This book is approximately 101,000 words

It’s been a while since I’ve read a sports romance with a baseball hero so when I came across this book, I was interested enough that I requested it for review. This is a debut book from Jen Doyle so I was game for something new.

Nate Hawkins is not having a good month. He’s been in a car accident that the media is trying to spin into him being a drunk driver, he’s got an ex-fiance’ that was cheating on him with his best friend and so many other things going on that he needs a break. What does one do when they need a break? They go home, that’s what. It’s been a few years since he’s been back home and Nate is a little nervous about being back. He didn’t really keep in touch with anyone (including his family) so he’s not really sure what kind of reception he’ll be getting once he touches down.

Dorie Donelli grew up with a big ol’ crush on Nate Hawkins. Ever since he played on that special basketball team from the small town nobody heard of and kept winning game after game after game, Dorie has had a crush on him. The story of the small town basketball team made national news and the popularity of the team made it all the way to her home so even though she’s never met Nate Hawkins, she knows all about who he is. Growing up with 6 older brothers wasn’t easy for Dorie so when she’s old enough and hears about a librarian position opening up in the small town that Nate Hawkins is from, she immediately applies for the job. When she gets it, moves to town and lands an apartment from Nate Hawkin’s sister, she’s over the moon. Still, she never thought that Nate Hawkins himself will make himself at home in her life.

But he does…and the long time crush that Dorie had on him grows with each passing day that she spends in Nate’s company.

Nate wasn’t prepared for the intensity of feelings that hits him when he meets Dorie Donelli but that doesn’t stop him from pursuing her. He knows what he wants and he spends his time before heading back to reality (for spring training) trying to win her over.

This book started off great. I laughed at the first meeting between Dorie and Nate, I liked the two of them when we first meet them and there were things that I really enjoyed about the two of them but for a huge chunk of the book, I wanted to punch Dorie in the throat.

She spent a lot of time going hot and cold where Nate was concerned. I’m sorry but if Justin Timberlake (my childhood crush who had a shrine in my bedroom like Dorie’s of Nate) started pursuing me with the same intensity that Nate pursued Dorie, I would have fallen into bed with him so fast that he probably would have gotten whiplash. I would also have fallen in love with him and told him within ten minutes of him saying hi to me. Okay, maybe not but at the very least I would have given him a shot. I probably would have made him work a little to get me to show him I had some self respect but for the most part? I wouldn’t have let him out of bed for at least two weeks. LOL.

I thought Dorie wasted so much time leading Nate around by his, well…you know. At every turn, Nate proved that he was all in with Dorie and she let her insecurities ruin my enjoyment of the romance. In the end, the lengths he went through to prove his love to her? Pissed me off. He shouldn’t have had to do all of that for her – especially since his money was part of the reason that she was so iffy about a future with him.

When Dorie wasn’t cold with Nate, I enjoyed their time together. They were cute and I loved when they were in the moment but every single time (after Nate has proven he’s all in) that Dorie tried to leave Nate behind in the dust, I wanted to punch her. I thought she took too long to get her shit together and while the grand gesture in the end impressed a lot of people (at least according to Goodreads), it didn’t impress me. It was disappointing because I didn’t want it to be necessary. The other characters were pretty great and I’m interested in reading the other books in this series especially Deke and Fitz’s book but in the end, I liked chunks of this book but I didn’t like other chunks and those chunks left me a bit unsatisfied.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

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