Catching Heat
by Alison Packard
Synopsis:
Life has taught Angie DeMarco that all baseball players are womanizers, and her incredible one-night stand with sexy San Francisco Blaze back-up catcher J.T. Sawyer seemed to prove it. Determined not to give in to their sizzling chemistry a second time, she’s kept her distance ever since, focusing on her accounting job with the team. But now she’s laid off…and pregnant.
J.T. was hurt by Angie’s rejection, but with one more year with the Blaze, he has no time for love. He needs to spend the off season training hard so he can negotiate a better contract with a new team at the end of the year. But when Angie shows up on his doorstep, he‘s overwhelmed by wanting to not just do right by her but pursue a relationship with her. Hoping for a second chance, he proposes.
Angie agrees to marry J.T. on one condition: the marriage will be purely a business arrangement. But as Angie spends time with him and his family, and J.T. neglects his training to spend time with her, what begins as a union in name only slowly grows into something more—something that looks a whole lot like love and friendship.
Review:
Absolutely adored J.T.! Such a great guy–a dedicated athlete, loves his family, idolizes his dad and wants to be the same kind of man he is–what’s not to love? Watching him agonize over Angie in the last book had me practically salivating to get to his story 🙂
Angie’s a strong character, though hooo boy, did her parents do a number on her. Her mother’s extreme bitterness over her father’s infidelity was mind-boggling, and the way it warped Angie’s view of male-female relationships is pretty much unforgivable. As a result, it took Angie waaay too long to figure out that J.T. was nothing like her dad, and I spent a good chunk of the book shaking my head at her in exasperation, but come around she did–thank goodness.
Once again here, though, we had a black moment that hinged on a slightly over-the-top reaction from one of the characters since the thing they were upset about wasn’t something that had been kept from them at all. It was a brief moment of aggravation, though, and it all was resolved satisfactorily in the end. Plus, the epilogue was abso-freaking-lutely adorable!
And J.T.’s family? Let’s just say I’m hoping every single one of those brothers is getting his own book 🙂 (Even Justin…even though he’s a total butthead for 95% of this book, I’m sure getting his own HEA would cure that ;))
But Angie’s mother? If I never see her again it will be too soon… (shudder!)
Rating: 4 stars / B+