Release Review: Home Plate: Christina Lee
Home Plate
Christina Lee
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Release Date January 29, 2021
Dominic Girard
My final baseball season with the Easton U Pirates feels bittersweet. I’d like to go out on a high note, graduate, and focus on the family business. But a certain pitcher is making senior year a challenge. Not only because Maclain is stubborn as hell, but because he makes me feel things I never have about another guy. With each snarky comment and hard-won grin, he reveals a little more of himself, and before I know it, I’m in over my head.
Mason Maclain
I’ll be graduating college this year, which also means the end of baseball, a sport I’ve played my entire life. It feels like a significant chapter is coming to a close, leaving behind a void I’m unwilling to face. Something else I don’t want to face? The impossibly charming Pirates catcher, whose quick wit and killer smirk poke holes in all my defenses. With each lingering look and quiet exchange, I want to push him away and pull him closer at the same time. I’ve never felt this intense draw before, and there’s no way I’ll ever admit it.
When Coach proposes a team-building activity to improve our chemistry on the field, little does he know things are heating up behind the scenes as well. A flicker of a connection sparks into a firestorm, and soon Girard and I are experiencing things for the first time—together. But outside the haven of our hotel room, reality infringes all too soon. I’m clinging to my fraying relationship with my dad, and for Girard, coming out is still scary, loving family or not. Resisting the pull to Girard seems futile, but I struggle at every turn. Any longer and I’ll lose the only person who makes my pulse thud quicker than a fastball over home plate.
There’s a pitcher-and-catcher joke in there somewhere.
I was so excited when I heard we would get more with Mason Maclain and Dominic Girard after reading Bat Boy. The pitcher and catcher had this undercurrent of animosity, but it was obvious there was more to it.
Maclain is grumpy, sarcastic, stubborn, closed-off, intense, and comes off as arrogant. Girard is charming, witty, loyal, and well-liked. But they are like oil and water. But there is this buzz of awareness and chemistry between them that they are both struggling to get a handle on. Both have dated women and have not been attracted to men, but their reaction to each other is unsettling.
There is so much tension between them, sexual and otherwise. It is a rollercoaster of antagonism, avoidance, frustration, unwanted body reactions, confusion, and mixed messages. And when the coach decides they need to spend more time together to improve their relationship on the field, it just amps up.
Peeling back Maclain's layers undid me. My heart hurt for him so much. Underneath that prickly, cocky exterior is this terrified, hurt, resentful, and lonely boy underneath. He is a young man starved for positive attention and to have a connection, but also scared of being rejected or then losing it. He struggles with self-worth while trying to appear in control. But underneath he is vulnerable and lost and needs love so badly.
Girard is a good match for him. Although equally stubborn and opinionated, he is also patient, caring, and is surrounded by a loving family. He is a bit more adjusted to their situation so could be more assertive at times which is needed to chip slowly away at Maclain's walls of protection.
Maclain is grumpy, sarcastic, stubborn, closed-off, intense, and comes off as arrogant. Girard is charming, witty, loyal, and well-liked. But they are like oil and water. But there is this buzz of awareness and chemistry between them that they are both struggling to get a handle on. Both have dated women and have not been attracted to men, but their reaction to each other is unsettling.
There is so much tension between them, sexual and otherwise. It is a rollercoaster of antagonism, avoidance, frustration, unwanted body reactions, confusion, and mixed messages. And when the coach decides they need to spend more time together to improve their relationship on the field, it just amps up.
Peeling back Maclain's layers undid me. My heart hurt for him so much. Underneath that prickly, cocky exterior is this terrified, hurt, resentful, and lonely boy underneath. He is a young man starved for positive attention and to have a connection, but also scared of being rejected or then losing it. He struggles with self-worth while trying to appear in control. But underneath he is vulnerable and lost and needs love so badly.
Girard is a good match for him. Although equally stubborn and opinionated, he is also patient, caring, and is surrounded by a loving family. He is a bit more adjusted to their situation so could be more assertive at times which is needed to chip slowly away at Maclain's walls of protection.
This is a forced proximity, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, emotional, bi-awakening story. I just totally fell for these two. Their quiet moments of raw vulnerability are intense and beautiful. They are young and inexperienced, and it is reflected in their imperfectly-perfect private moments. I loved seeing them learn to explore, live, and love together in a way they never expected.
They are both at the stage of their lives where the future is looming ahead of them and they need to figure out what they want to do with it. It is also Maclain's journey to find self-worth, a healthy support system, and to try to move forward from a painful past. This book brings ALL the feels, but also has witty banter and snarky humor to balance it. I was totally invested in their story and could not put it down. I think this has now become my favorite Christina Lee book and Maclain my favorite damaged hero.
They are both at the stage of their lives where the future is looming ahead of them and they need to figure out what they want to do with it. It is also Maclain's journey to find self-worth, a healthy support system, and to try to move forward from a painful past. This book brings ALL the feels, but also has witty banter and snarky humor to balance it. I was totally invested in their story and could not put it down. I think this has now become my favorite Christina Lee book and Maclain my favorite damaged hero.
Bat Boy
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Brady Donovan
With a baseball scholarship to Easton University and awesome family and friends, my life is pretty golden. Except, things have never come together for me in the romance department. Until Kellan Crawford walks onto the field as the team’s newest bat boy. Bells and whistles go off in my body, and just like that, I’m totally crushing on a guy for the first time in my life. Too bad he’s the coach’s son and officially off-limits.
Kellan Crawford
I’m working toward my statistics degree, so landing the bat-boy position with the Easton U Pirates is right up my alley. It keeps me close to the action on the field, even if that means hauling equipment, picking up sweaty jockstraps, and putting up with the players’ antics. My dad’s the coach, and his number-one rule is never to play favorites…which probably includes getting too friendly with the team captain. But Brady Donovan’s annoyingly perfect smile and protective nature are making that nearly impossible.
When something shifts between us at an away game, everything is thrown off-kilter. Donovan’s never been with a guy before, and I certainly don’t want to be his test case. But I can’t seem to help myself. He’s sweet and hot and somehow charms the baseball pants right off me. If Coach ever catches wind of this, he’ll bench us both. Disappointing my dad might kill me, but so would losing the guy who makes my heart pound harder than a home run in the bottom of the ninth.
So much for not playing favorites.
*Bat Boy is a feel-good college baseball romance with swoon and banter and steam. It’s a tad shorter than my other full-length novels and is intended for those readers who might need a lighter escape from the real world.
Mother, wife, reader, dreamer. Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son–her two favorite guys. She’s addicted to lip balm, coffee, and kissing. Because everything is better with kissing.
She writes mostly MM Contemporary as well as Adult and New Adult Romance. She believes in happily-ever-afters for all, so reading and writing romance for everybody under the rainbow helps quench her soul.
If you’d like to keep up with her on a daily basis, join her reader group on Facebook called The Swoon Room. Or join her newsletter to be notified of sales and/or new releases.
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