Review - Sliding Home

Title: Sliding Home
Author: Kate Angell
Publishing Date: September 2009
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B
Sensuality: Warm

Sliding Home is one of Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues books. Kason Rhodes plays left field for the Richmond Rogues, a professional baseball team based in Richmond Virginia. For the last six weeks he has been down in Florida spring training. He comes back to his trailer to find that someone, a woman has invaded his home and been living in it. Dayne Sheridan is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after being dumped on air by her former DJ boyfriend. With hardly anything to her name, the abandoned mobile home seems like the perfect place for her to heal and rebuild her life.

Kate Angell's writing is very breezy and light and Sliding Home is no exception. It is what I would call the quintessential beach read. There are no heavy conflicts needing to be resolved. The characters are normal, down-to-earth people and are fun to read about. Their situations mirror real life and they deal with common problems most of us face in our own lives.

I really enjoyed reading about Kason and Dayne. Kason is a loner and most people at first glance would think him a bruiser or criminal. He really is stand-offish with most people but for some reason Dayne has the gift to get under his skin. She has a quiet strength that draws Kason to her like bees to honey. There is a secondary romance between the Rogues' publicist and first baseman Rayden Dunn. Theirs is a cute story and it doesn't take away from Kason and Dayne.

This book is not breaking any new ground, but it's fun and entertaining. If you are looking for something to really sink your teeth in, this book is not it. If you want to pick up something light for a quick escape, then I recommend it.

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Review - Curveball

Title: Curveball
Author: Kate Angell
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B
Sensuality: Warm

Curveball is the second book in Kate Angell's Richmond Rogues Series. The Rogues are a major league baseball team and Curveball is a fun romantic comedy of three romances that revolve around Psycho, Romeo and Chaser, Rogue teammates better known as the "Bat Pack". Psycho develops a relationship with his interior decorator, Keely Douglas, when she unexpectedly shows up on the front porch of his historical colonial home. Romeo has it bad for Emerson Kent, the sports reporter for the local newspaper whom he accidentally mows down in a sideline brawl. Chaser finally notices the girl who he has lived next door to since they were kids is now a woman.

Curveball is different from most romances that I have read in that instead of featuring one hero and heroine there are three. Each romance gets about the same amount of billing time in the book. My favorite thread was the romance between Psycho and Keely. Psycho is from the wrong side of the tracks. He grew up with practically nothing and made something of himself by sleeping, eating and breathing baseball. He right away notices how threadbare Keely's clothes are and how desperately she needs this job as his interior decorator. On the outside he is abrasive and cutting, but on the inside he is a big softy and he definitely has a huge soft spot for Keely.

I had a little trouble getting into Romeo and Emerson's romance. Emerson is very controlling and stand-offish. She continually holds Romeo at bay and I just didn't like her personality. It seemed to me that Romeo was too good for her and I didn't understand what about Emerson appealed so much to him. Chaser and Jen's romance was a friends to lovers theme and I always enjoy reading about that.

Curveball was a very fast read. The characters were enjoyable and the plotting was simple. The drawback to having three romances was that I didn't get to spend enough time on each one. I really enjoyed Psycho and almost wish that he could have gotten his own book. Really, the author is just scratching the surface of these characters. The writing and storyline was definitely good enough to draw me in and make me want more. I would recommend this book to those who want something light and funny when they need a quick read. At just under 300 pages, I was able to read this in less than a day. You might want to bring it to the beach!



This review was part of Keishon's TBR Challenge. This month the theme was friends to lovers or unrequited love. You can view all the participants of this challenge here. Be sure to check it out!