Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
Disclaimer: I don’t like baseball, but Tony Stevens is one of the few authors who can make me enjoy reading about it. (The other is Mitsuru Adachi.) His ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ series is Great Stuff, especially if you’re looking for straightforward romances with young adults where it just so happens at least one partner is involved with baseball.
This story is installment #3, but that means little — while there’s an overall arc to the series, each story stands alone and can be read in any order. You can also read it knowing little to nothing about baseball — the sport is important in the story only because it’s important to the characters.
This one is about Bob, who plays third base for a top-league team, but not as a star player. He more or less accepts he’ll never be a star, which is fine as he’s making a good living playing the game he loves. Then he notices, most home games, a group of attractive young women sitting near the home team dugout, behind third base — or more accurately, one attractive young woman in particular: Patti, who plays third base for a local university softball team.
They’re practically made for each other, given they play the same position and both love the game, right? Well, maybe. There’s a few bumps in their relationship, made by both of them. It’s a straightforward romance overall, and Bob in particular is an appealing narrator. I definitely enjoyed my time spent reading it, and I totes recommend it for anyone in the mood for a low-stakes romance, with or without baseball.
Oh, and one final note: this story is Premium, which makes it one more reason to support this site by getting a Premier membership.