Friday, July 19, 2013

Book review: Curveball (Philadelphia Patriots #4) by V.K. Sykes

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Taylor Page has never wanted anything but a career in major league baseball. Through talent and guts, she’s finally landed a position as Assistant General Manager of the Philadelphia Patriots. But she wants the ultimate prize—General Manager. The only problem is that most men in baseball still don’t take a woman exec seriously, especially a thirty-year old blonde with no on-field experience. She needs to do something big to convince her bosses she has what it takes to run a team.

Veteran Pittsburgh outfielder Ryan Locke’s career is in jeopardy when a suddenly unreliable throwing arm comes on top of rehab from a major injury. He’s had a solid run but he’s not a star with a mega-contract. A single parent with a troubled daughter and an alcoholic mother to provide for, retirement is out of the question. Ryan’s best hope is for a trade to an American League team as a designated hitter, allowing him several more years of play.

When Taylor needs to find a replacement for an injured first baseman, she comes up with an innovative but risky idea: convince her boss to make a trade for Ryan Locke, and then convince the still talented slugger to play first base for the Patriots. With Ryan dead-set against that plan and both their careers on the line, neither Taylor nor Ryan can afford the explosive physical attraction between them. But despite Taylor’s best efforts to resist Ryan’s campaign of seduction, she’s not sure she’s got to willpower to keep from playing along.


This book is a mix of romance and baseball. If you like those two thing you might like them together. Taylor Page grew up with a love of baseball. Her dad was a minor league scout that she adored and when he was killed when she was a young teen she was devastated. Now an adult she's really close to her dream job as the General Manager of the Philadelphia Patriots. She's a brand new Assistant GM right now and thinks that getting Ryan Locke on the team will be the thing to get her closer to that goal. Outfielder Ryan Locke is struggling a bit with his arm. He's having trouble on the field with throwing and he's hoping to get traded to an American League as designated hitter at least if he can't stay where he is now. He's not a young man anymore at 33 but hopes to eek out some more time still before retirement. Taylor gets him traded to the Philadelphia Patriots though instead and he's asked to learn 1st base . Things get complicated when Taylor and Ryan find themselves attracted to each other after Taylor actually gets a chance to get to know Ryan.  Taylor is kind of his boss in a way so she's nervous about how it might look if they are together. The relationship is like a roller coaster with tons of ups and downs. Throw in Ryan's 13 year old troubled daughter and there is a lot of things going on.
 I enjoyed the angst between Taylor and Ryan when it was there. Both struggled with decisions about their personal lives and professional lives as they were both tangled together.When they came together though it was crazy sexy!  This is book 4 in the Philadelphia Patriots series. While i have never read the previous books in the series i feel you can walk right into the series and start reading here if you want. I didn't feel like i lost anything by starting with book four.  4 out of 5 stars for Curveball by V.K. Sykes.

Find out more about this series here www.vanessakellyauthor.com

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