Amy's 4 star ARC Review of Pitch Please (There's No Crying In Baseball #1) by Lani Lynn Vale

Baseball is life, the rest is just details.

Everyone who’s played the game has heard those words a time or two. But Hancock has heard them his entire life from his parents. His family has lived and breathed baseball even before he started little league.

Hancock “Parts” Peters has a name that inspires grins across many faces, but the moment those faces get their first look at him, those grins slide away.

Hancock is gruff, filterless, and doesn’t give a crap who he offends. He is the only man in baseball who doesn’t care if he gets an endorsement or not. He’s there to play the game. He’s there to win. He’s there because baseball is his life.
People think he’s a jerk.

And maybe he is. But if that’s how he has to come off to get people to leave him the hell alone so he can play in peace, so be it. The less people he has to worry about offending, the better.

***

Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back. 

Sway Coffman didn’t mean to rock the boat. She was just there to do her job.

Sure, she was a woman in a man’s world. Yes, she beat out several of those men to get the job as head athletic trainer for the professional baseball team, The Texas Lumberjacks. And yeah, she now got hate mail from those men.

But she’s good at her job, and she earned the position.

What she is not good at, however, is talking to men.

Men seem to see her curvy hips, large breasts and thick thighs and automatically think she is incompetent. Because surely a fat girl couldn’t get the job treating some of the most fit and athletic men in the world, right?

Wrong.

This fat girl got the job, and she is proud of it.

What else did she get?

The attention of the sexiest bearded man she’d ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on.

It was enough to bring to her down to her knees…in front of that man, the hot and grumpy baseball player, Hancock Peters.

Hancock Peters and Sway Coffman are a dynamic team in this new series. We have the Lani-isms as I call it and that keeps the pages turning. Hancock is brass and crude but likable in an odd way. He is definitely a strong male lead and has his reasons for the jerk outwardly character. 

Sway has beat out the men determined to get the job as head trainer for the Texas Lumberjacks and now proving herself is going to be harder than she ever imagined. Her appearance isn't the easiest to deal with either ... makes for an interesting combo.

I did like the story but I will be honest I wasn't head over heels with the constant fat girl comments. I know the author was trying to make a point that big is beautiful which it is but it was a little too much. I felt like it ended up sounding more sarcastic than pulling for the bigger girl although I know again that is not the case as I have read Lani numerous times over. 

Click it up and see what you think. I'll read the next in the series for sure as I love her work. This one is good but not her best. Thank you for the ARC.  

Amy's 5 star ARC Review of Inked Hearts by Lindsay Detwiler

“Six years, a complex about my freckles, a love for pastrami, and a fear of failure.
That’s what he gave me before slaughtering my heart and my faith in men.”

Suffering from the sting of betrayal, twenty-eight-year-old Avery Johannas quits her job and moves hundreds of miles away to Ocean City, the beach town of her dreams. With the help of her zany roommate, Jodie, Avery finds a new career, home, and freedom. Throughout her self-exploration, she makes only one rule: She won’t give her heart to a man again. She’s living for herself this time.

But then she meets Jesse.

A tattoo shop owner, the green-eyed Jesse Pearce is wild with a touch of mystery. As Jesse and Avery explore Ocean City and their friendship, they’ll have a hard time drawing a line in the sand between their hearts.

When summer nights get a little more heated than either expected, they’ll have to ask themselves: Can they let go of their notions of love, or will their hearts be permanently inked by past pain?

Avery Johannas is divorced at 28 - overcoming self inflicted self confidence issues and now her cheating husband has done nothing but put those pieces back in to play in her head. Starting over and hoping for something even a tad better for herself which includes NO MAN is her plan. Her new roommate might help her remember what it;s like to have fun (I hope to see a lot more of Jodie) and her boss is a good guy she thinks but dating him -- no way. 

Jesse knows his new girl is a force to be reckoned with but he will steal her heart -- all he has to do is convince her that he is worth the trouble. 

I absolutely LOVED this book. I have been struggling for quite some time to find something that would keep my attention. I found this story refreshing -- I found it worth my time -- I found it exactly what I needed after the emotional toll of Irma and the forces out there right now. This was a great and much needed escape. 

This is my first read by this wonderful author. If this is what we can expect from her then sign me up for the rest. The banter between the characters was great -- the characters were all well written and although you didn't have to think too hard to stay on top of the events; it was a page turner. 

Thank you for the ARC and thank you for the chance to read! Send more! Great cover as well -- my laid back himself Jesse to the tee.

Amy's 3 star ARC Review of Appointed By Fate by Skye McNeil

"An intriguing book, the reader never knew which way the story was going to go."

One of Iowa’s most prominent criminal attorneys, Joci Dorous is ruthless and devoid of emotion in the courtroom. It’s what makes her the best. Her most recent client allegedly committed murder and, despite a rocky start, Joci is determined to win Cameron Shearer’s case.

Since this is her first homicide, she has the support of a second-chair attorney—her ex who wants her back. To make things more complicated, her hunky cop of a booty call, Cameron’s arresting officer, isn’t quite ready to let her go either. Who knew being surrounded by three hot guys could be so deliciously exhausting?

As the mystery of the case unravels, she soon discovers the true reason behind Cameron’s impromptu visit to Iowa. It’s this knowledge that endangers all those she holds dear. Caught up in confusion, chaos, and criminal law, how will her heart survive the final verdict?

Joci is a hot shot lawyer making her way in the courtroom and out -- she is a bulldog and a force to be reckoned with. However her three ways to heaven I guess was the part I wasn't overly impressed with. I would have loved to see the story line more focused on the trial and case more so than the personal issues going on here. 

Joci has an ex who is chasing her and wishing things were different -- then a cop that serves as a phone and bang --- and then the client she likes to spend time with -- eh. It was just strange to me in a way. See the client of hers that she likes to spend some evenings with is charged with murder. Digging in to impress the powers that be she gets in to a realm of Mafia and drugs. 

I like the lead female character but I just wasn't all that involved in the story line because she is messing around with the client charged with murder???? Yeah - I don't know. Don't get me wrong its not a bad read in the least it just wasn't what I was expecting. The client/lawyer thing for me is sort of not believable. The writing for the most part was good so again if this is YOUR cup of tea then click it up -- .. I would read this author again just maybe a different story line. 

Thank you for the ARC