{ about the book }
standalone novel
Publishes May 15, 2018 by Swoon Reads
e-ARC received from netgalley
e-ARC received from netgalley
Eve is used to being the odd woman out. As the only girl on her school's baseball team, she knows exactly how to put sweaty, macho baseball players in their place, and she's focused on one thing and one thing only—being the best pitcher she can be.
But when a freak accident forces her high school to be absorbed by the neighboring town, Eve has to contend with a new group of guys who aren't used to having a woman on their team. And the new team's star pitcher, Jamie, has no interest in being ousted from his throne. He can't afford to give up his starting slot to a new pitcher—even worse, to a girl.
As the competition between Jamie and Eve starts to heat up, so does their attraction to each other. Can they keep their heads in the game, or will they end up getting played?
•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•
{ my review }
♫ ♫ ♫ ♪
This is my second book by Karole Cozzo and it has a completely different tone than her last novel—The Truth About Happily Ever After. This isn’t bad at all, actually, and I loved that she’s able to write such different characters with really different voices.
For the most part, The Game Can’t Love You Back is a good book. I liked the plot, I liked the romance—and the build-up to it!—and the characters. It was well written, had great swoony scenes, and all the sports talk didn’t haunt me! (You have to understand, gym class in high school is a universal traumatic experience.)
But. This is where for the most part comes in. I liked the characters, but Eve really, really got under my skin sometimes.
Eve is really hardcore. She doesn’t back down easily and she sure as hell doesn’t give up easily. She’s the only girl on her new school’s all boy baseball team and she gets shit for it. She constantly has to prove herself to them, which sucks because boys aren’t worth anything, but I get it. I liked her and her character throughout was very believable and likable. But. I hated, hated, hated that she looked down on things she considered “girly.” You can do and like whatever the hell you want but there is absolutely no reason to play down on things that you consider “girly.” It happened throughout the book and it irritated me so, so much.
Frankly, I didn’t really care for Jamie for most of the novel. He didn’t really stand out to me, save for the scenes where he talked about his family or we got a look into it. It was something I really related with and not something you see a lot of in general. It was his development that warmed me up to him—he changed from that flirty, playboy-ish kinda guy. He was also sweet with Eve after they got over their initial rivalry.
Speaking of which—this is indeed a hate-to-love story and I really enjoyed it! Their rivalry was well done and they had an actual reason for it, not just some petty thing where they try their best to get back at each other. I liked how they got over their differences and eventually settled for a friendship and then something more.
One of the other things that bothered me was that we didn’t see much of Eve’s friend, despite the fact that she sort of had an important issue in the book with her boyfriend. It came up once in a while and I just didn’t find that part of the story wrapped up.
Overall, The Game Can’t Love You Back was a nice read! I enjoyed it (for the most part) and if you’re looking for a hate-to-love romance, I would recommend it! 3.5 stars.
For the most part, The Game Can’t Love You Back is a good book. I liked the plot, I liked the romance—and the build-up to it!—and the characters. It was well written, had great swoony scenes, and all the sports talk didn’t haunt me! (You have to understand, gym class in high school is a universal traumatic experience.)
But. This is where for the most part comes in. I liked the characters, but Eve really, really got under my skin sometimes.
Eve is really hardcore. She doesn’t back down easily and she sure as hell doesn’t give up easily. She’s the only girl on her new school’s all boy baseball team and she gets shit for it. She constantly has to prove herself to them, which sucks because boys aren’t worth anything, but I get it. I liked her and her character throughout was very believable and likable. But. I hated, hated, hated that she looked down on things she considered “girly.” You can do and like whatever the hell you want but there is absolutely no reason to play down on things that you consider “girly.” It happened throughout the book and it irritated me so, so much.
Frankly, I didn’t really care for Jamie for most of the novel. He didn’t really stand out to me, save for the scenes where he talked about his family or we got a look into it. It was something I really related with and not something you see a lot of in general. It was his development that warmed me up to him—he changed from that flirty, playboy-ish kinda guy. He was also sweet with Eve after they got over their initial rivalry.
Speaking of which—this is indeed a hate-to-love story and I really enjoyed it! Their rivalry was well done and they had an actual reason for it, not just some petty thing where they try their best to get back at each other. I liked how they got over their differences and eventually settled for a friendship and then something more.
One of the other things that bothered me was that we didn’t see much of Eve’s friend, despite the fact that she sort of had an important issue in the book with her boyfriend. It came up once in a while and I just didn’t find that part of the story wrapped up.
Overall, The Game Can’t Love You Back was a nice read! I enjoyed it (for the most part) and if you’re looking for a hate-to-love romance, I would recommend it! 3.5 stars.
•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•
0 Comments