Reviewer: Rowena
Team Player by Julianna Keyes
Series: Charleston Thrashers #1
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 28, 2019
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 250
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Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
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Series Rating:

Don’t hate the player…

BOTTOM NINE

Gwen Scott wants to love her job with the Charleston Thrashers, the MLB team she’s worshiped since she was a kid, but she can’t. Hateful colleagues and mind-numbing work make her days unbearable—until her head for baseball gets her exclusive access to the Thrashers’ clubhouse and she comes face-to-face with Tyler Ashe, the team’s sexy shortstop and baseball’s most ineligible bachelor.

BASES LOADED

Ty has sworn off relationships in order to focus on his all-star career, but with his best friend gone, his team struggling, and the press blaming him for every loss, the most recognizable man in the majors is in a slump. Until he starts spending his time off the field with a stern blonde who recites baseball stats for kicks and sees through his arrogant façade.

TWO OUT

As the Thrashers’ season gets into full swing and Gwen adjusts to her new job, their fun banter and friendly teasing turns into stolen kisses and countless steamy nights. The team’s strict policy against player-staff relationships throws a curve ball into the mix, but they can’t hide from their feelings any more than the most famous man in baseball can hide from the spotlight…

I was browsing Netgalley when I came across this book and Keyes had me at baseball romance. I’m missing baseball season after the crappy basketball season that I’ve had to endure with my Lakers so jumping into this baseball romance made me happy and I’m happy to report that the story itself was fun, at the same time that it was sweet and I thought Julianna Keyes wrote a great romance for Ty and Gwen.

Ty Ashe is a baseball player who is really going through it. He’s slumping on the field, his fans are blaming him for his team’s losing season and his best friend doesn’t want to see him so like I said, Ty Ashe is really going through it. When he meets Gwen Scott, he finds an unexpected friend in a world where he doesn’t trust anyone.

Gwen Scott grew up on Charleston Thrasher’s stats because her grandmother was a huge Thrashers fan. She could spout off stats and throw down some random baseball facts that would impress the biggest baseball person and when her grandmother dies, she applies for a job with the Thrashers organization to try to feel closer to her grandmother any way that she can. So she’s landed her dream job, only it’s not going as well as she thought it would. Her boss is a dragon that keeps her on her toes and stressed the heck out but when she re-writes talking points for the coach that will actually help him out, she becomes the go-to person for PR talking points and that brings her onto Ty Ashe’s radar.

Friendship blossoms between the pair and though they’re fighting an attraction that is threatening to explode, friendship is all that they can afford since Gwen would lose her job and that’s the last thing Ty wants. I really liked the way that the romance was handled in this one. Julianna Keyes writes sexual tension really well and I believed everything that both Ty and Gwen felt. I thought this was a fun book and I really enjoyed all of the baseball we see. This book was written by someone who has a love of baseball and I felt that.

I didn’t know that this was part of a series until I started writing this review and that makes me happy. I can’t wait to read the next book and I’m pretty anxious to find out who the book will be about. There are quite a few of Ty’s teammates that I would love to get to know a little more.

Overall, this was a quick but sweet romance between two people who were meant to be together and I really enjoyed Keyes efforts in building a world of characters that readers can root for. This was a good one and I definitely recommend it.

Grade: 4 out of 5