Arlie Stone, a forty-seven year old widower with two kids at home, didn't see himself as a candidate for romance. All he wanted was a mature, reliable nanny to care for his children. While Susan Munger seemed reliable, she was barely twenty-five years old. Their association would change her life -- and Arlie's too.
Size: 351 KB (64,246 words)
Genre: Romantic
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Consensual, Romantic, Heterosexual, Slow
Review by Quasirandom [other reviews by Quasirandom]
Reviewed:
Disclaimer: I don’t like baseball, but I do enjoy Tony Stevens’ baseball stories. (Mitsuru Adachi is the only other comparable author I’ve met.) His ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ series is Great Stuff, being sweet and sexy romances with young adults where it just so happens at least one partner is involved with the game.
This story is installment #16, but that number means little — the series has a shadow of an overall arc, but each story stands alone and can be read in any order. You can also read it knowing little (like I do) to nothing about baseball — the sport is important in the story only because it’s important to the characters, and the emotional significance of sportsball events is always made clear.
Lead this time is not a player, but a coach — Arlie is a middle-aged single father who needs child care, especially for when he’s traveling with the team, though not only then as his working hours do not correspond very well to school hours. Susan is a young woman looking for exactly this sort of gig, one with lots of free time for her to work on her novel. Sparks don’t fly immediately, though, and even once they admit their attraction to each other, there’s still issues to work through, including their age difference.
That sounds trite, but the issues raised are real and handled with maturity and sensitivity. Plus there’s Stevens’ usual easy-to-read voice. Liked this one a lot — recommended.
Oh, and one final note: this story is Premium, which makes it one more reason to support this site by getting a Premier membership.
Review by manddscott [other reviews by manddscott]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
This story threw me a bit for a loop. I started reading it, after its recommendation by another reader on SOL, expecting that I would be able to predict the story outcome within the first chapter. I was pleasantly surprised when that was not the case.
In this story, a widowed baseball pitching coach desperately needs a nanny for his two children. His stated preferences leave him with no viable options, and then a 24 year old writer is chosen as a last resort. This was the point at which I simply knew what the story would then entail. Like I said, I was wrong.
For plot, I give this story an A (8). There are a few small holes, but the author does a very credible job of not only fleshing out the story, but also of making their characters both believable and likable. The small twists in the plot also make the story fun to read.
For technical score, I saw very few mistakes, and believe it merits an A+ (9).
For appeal, although I enjoyed the story, I made the mistake of trying to read it in parts. After the first few chapters last night, I was too tired to continue reading, and put it aside. Another chapter or two this morning before I had to get to work, with another chapter or three while waiting for some clients. I finally finished it after getting home for the evening. Needless to say, that is not a good way to read what, in essence, is a medium length (15 chapters) story. I believe that spreading the reading out like I did diminished my enjoyment of the story. Some stories you can do that with. Others, not so much. I give the story an A (8), although it may have deserved an A+ (9). You can almost hear the characters' playful banter as you read the story, which is a very good quality in a story.
