Chris PaynterRezensionen

I liked this book and, yes, I cried twice. If Goodreads offered 1/2 stars, I would have gone 3.5.

I enjoyed the dual stories but wish there would have been more of both of them. I know, that's probably too much to ask for but I felt like we only got to skim the surface of both couples.

I still recommend the book to romance readers. It's a good one!

This is the first book I've read by this author.

The book follows several characters, but from the point of view of one (unless I got confused, I know the next book follows the point of view of two people, Amy Perry and Lisa Collins; I believe the first one, and this is what I get for waiting until after I read two books before writing anything, is only from Lisa Collins point of view).

Lisa Collins is a writer for both a local Indianapolis newspaper, and for Minorleague.com. When she comes across an interesting story involving a major league baseball team taking a close look at a baseball player, Collins goes to investigate. When that team invites that player to winter league with a good possibility of then having that player join a minor league team in their system, Collins comes up with a proposal for her MinorLeague.com bosses involving Collins following along and reporting on the games as they occur.

I was attempting to be somewhat subtle there, though I'm sure anyone reading this review already knows two things - whom that baseball player probably is, and the part wherein that baseball player happens to be a woman. So, yeah, it appears that a Major League team, the Cincinnati Reds to be exact, is interested in testing the concept of allowing a woman play for them.

Following Amy Perry, that female baseball player, through the eyes of Lisa Collins, sportswriter, as Perry moves along on the possible path to breaking into the major leagues is quite fun and interesting. But the book is more than just a sports book. There's also a bit of romance in there. And, for those who care about such things, graphic displays of a sexual nature.

Several thoughts I had while wandering along in my reading:
The dating of a writer with her subject, had a vaguely 'icky' feeling; the dating occurred a lot quicker in the story line than I expected (I do not recall now if it was 'Hey Collins, this is Perry; Collins to Perry - 'let's date'; Perry to Collins - 'sure'; but it was close enough to that to make things weird; since Collins had already committed to a really long lengthy project that would force her to be away from her home for a longish period of time to report on Perry's progress. What if their relationship imploded? What if it didn't? What if it got awkward to interview your lover? Not an issue? Well . . . apparently not an issue for Collins).

I was set to be annoyed about the 'lesbian character who needs to remain in the closet, while at the same time attempts to have a relationship'; and yet I was more annoyed with the other party in that relationship. Since Perry's 'public outing' of her lesbian nature could quite easily destroy her chances of fulfilling her life-long dream of breaking into the major leagues. Or, at the very least, be an extra little layer that a team might not want to tackle at the same time as tackling everything else.

I’d insert something here about how Jackie Robinson was neither the best Negro League baseball player playing at the time Robinson was scouted, nor the only Negro League baseball player scouted. This book here kind of had a vague vibe that made it seem as if Amy Perry was the only possibility available for a major league team; while at the same time including the part where Perry played for a professional baseball team. A female team. Which, obviously enough, meant that there were other female baseball players out there. Of course, Perry was the one that people, and scouts, thought should have already had a chance to play for a major league team, or in a major league system, but for the fact she was female. While not having that thought about other female players. Still, it was never a certainty that any woman would get the nod, nor that, if one did, that Perry would be that player. Point being, that adding an extra layer of ‘issue’ might have knocked Perry out of the running. The book makes note that there’s just been one professional athlete who came out as being gay or lesbian while still playing, and that it isn’t exactly a profession open to the concept (there have been others since the book’s publication – many of whom possibly cut short their career by being open).

Hmm. Interesting. The team Perry gets sent to was the Chattanooga Lookouts. On April 2, 1931, 17 year old Jackie Mitchell, while playing for the Lookouts, struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The baseball commissioner promptly voided her contract.

Hmmx2. On June 24 2015 the first female player was added to major League Baseball’s international registration list. That being Melissa Mayeux, a 16 year old French short-stop. http://nymag.com/betamale/2016/05/women-could-be-in-the-majors-sooner-than-you-t...

Right, got distracted. And to think all I was going to note was that I was more annoyed with Collins reactions to Perry needing to remain in the closet than with Perry needing to remain in the closet.

But that’s something of a misdirection/red-herring. Those who notice my shelves might notice certain issues that seem odd. Like, say, the ‘fell-for-friend’ one. Perry and Collins were not friends before they started dating. Course the ‘love-triangle’ one kind of gives the game away in and of itself. Yes, this is a book that involves more than one coupling. Involving one person tangled up in the same coupling. Weirdly, or not, some of the same shelvings work for both couplings, including the age-difference one. And, for that matter, the butch-butch one.

Collins goes from a relationship involving someone 8 years younger than them, to a relationship with someone 15 years older than them. When she moves from 27 year old Amy Perry to 50 year old Frankie Dunkin, a long time friend of Collins.

In terms of relationships/romance: things bordered on the edge of things that annoy me, that I dislike (like, say cheating); but things kept just on the side of the border wherein things remained enjoyable without becoming unbearable.

In terms of sports: that was handled quite well. Following the trajectory of Perry playing for a female baseball team against a minor league male team, to going to winter ball, to going to a minor league team; etc. Enjoyable experience.

Overall: Obviously enough I liked the book so much that I immediately acquired and read the next book in the series. A good solid effort by the author. Quite good for a baseball book.

June 8 2016

My second book by this author.

Unless I'm mistaken, and I could very well be, I see a pattern in this series. First book had 1 point of view, Lisa Collins. Second one, this book here, had two point of views - Lisa Collins and Amy Perry. Third one has three point of views. Lisa Collins, Amy Perry, and Kat Benson.

This is a rather enjoyable series, but this being the second and not the third in the series, I should focus on it and not on the whole series.

Book one focused on Lisa Collins and her personal and professional life and her connection to Amy Perry. Professionally, Collins, in that first book, followed Perry as she moved from a player on a professional female baseball team, to the MLB winter league, to minor league ball, and then a brief appearance in the majors. Personally, Collins, very quickly in that first book, developed a friendship and romantic relationship with Perry. By the second book (actually, during the first), the friendship part remained, but only the friendship art.

Book two focused more on Amy Perry and her time in the majors. Well, the book opened with her still in the minors, but very quickly she made it up to the majors in the second or third month of the season. Collins, though, remained one of the points of view in the book, and some of the focus remained on her professional and relationship life.

In the second book, having Perry’s point of view helped in one specific point (though initially I was vaguely disappointed that we suddenly had her view). The end of the first book had a ‘rushed’ meet and become a couple deal involving Perry and another woman. That other woman had been in the book previously, but barely at a level of being a background character. She, and now that she actually matters I’ll use her name – Stacey came into her own, became a deeper character once someone with a point of view actually cared about her on a friend and romantic level. But then, that’s somewhat of a pattern itself – Frankie seemed barely there until Collins affections switched to her. Then she rounded out into a fuller character.

These writing reviews long after I read a book are difficult. Heh. I’m not really saying much here, eh?

There were two main couples in this book. Frankie Dunkin (51, bar owner) & Lisa Collins (36, sports reporter); Amy Perry (28, baseball player) & Stacey McCrady (?, bartender/bar worker). Both couples, against the background of a baseball season, goes through the ups and downs of medical and family issues.

I enjoyed all three books in the series. In terms of ratings, I’d reverse them. As in, I liked the third best of all, then second (this book here), then the first. Which, does not really mean anything since all three are at or around 5 star books.

June 9 2016

My third book by this author. And my favorite of the three I’ve read by Paynter. Though all three are part of the same series that builds on itself, so people coming along behind me are directed to read from the beginning – from the first book.

Unless I'm mistaken, and I could very well be, I see a pattern in this series. First book had 1 point of view, Lisa Collins. Second one had two points of views - Lisa Collins and Amy Perry. Third one has three points of views. Lisa Collins, Amy Perry, and Kat Benson.

Book one focused on Lisa Collins and her personal and professional life and her connection to Amy Perry. Professionally, Collins, in that first book, followed Perry as she moved from a player on a professional female baseball team, to the MLB winter league, to minor league ball, and then a brief appearance in the majors. Personally, Collins, very quickly in that first book, developed a friendship and romantic relationship with Perry. By the second book (actually, during the first), the friendship part remained, but only the friendship part. By the third, the friendship part, which was somewhat shaky in the second, was on firm ground, and any lingering romantic feelings are gone.

Book two focused more on Amy Perry and her time in the majors. Well, the book opened with her still in the minors, but very quickly she made it up to the majors in the second or third month of the season. Collins, though, remained one of the points of view in the book, and some of the focus remained on her professional and relationship life.

Book three, this book here, keeps the focus on Perry and Collins, but adds in an unexpected third party. Perry’s former coach contacts Collins and suggests she stops by and watches one of her players. That player being one ‘Kat Benson’. Like in the first book when Perry was watched by others, Benson is introduced to readers by having people watch her. Unlike the first book, Benson’s own thoughts suddenly, seemingly of their own accord, break through and let others in on her thoughts.

Benson could very well have ended up being an afterthought. Someone whose story is just tacked on, but she has a deeper story, and deeper impact on the book than I had expected.

Benson pulls in another character who wasn’t previously in the series, one Stephanie McGrady – Stacey’s sister. Kat and Stephanie circle each other in this book, and I quite like both of them and their budding relationship.

Family plays a large role in this book. Collins and her long lost father. Perry & McGrady attempting to deepen their own family by having a baby together, and Benson and her strained relationship with her alcoholic mother.

Baseball remains the underlying theme, and structure to which the various subplots anchor upon. And the baseball action, at times, was even somewhat thrilling to observe.

As I mentioned in my review for the previous book in this series, written moments ago, I liked the third book best of all. The books, if I were to give them a number rating, probably hovered around 4.7 for the first book, 4.8 for second, and something at or above 5 for the third.

June 9 2016

My fourth book by this author and first that is not part of a series. The first three books I gave 5 stars to; this one I gave just three stars.

I forget how many years it had been, but two characters meet up again after a longish separation. During college, for a brief moment, Angie Cantinnini and Meryl McClain were lovers and friends.

Prior to their meeting each other, Angie had come out to her family during a Thanksgiving meal (it’s thanksgiving, what are they going to do, toss me out? Yep, that’s what they are going to do) as lesbian. This became the source for a short story that Angie wrote for a creative writing class. Meryl, along with others, critiqued the story.

Using that story as a basis to strike up a conversation, the two circled each other, until the two became friends, then lovers. Then everything fell apart. Because there was a semester break and Meryl decided to come out to her family. Her grandmother, who apparently actually ‘knew’ long ago, screamed at Meryl. The father demanded that she stop being a lesbian. Her mother looked disappointed. Sadly, the family is/was super rich, and the father was the kind to use the power that came with that amount of wealth. And he threatened his daughter that he would destroy the one who had ‘ruined’ his daughter if the two didn’t stop, immediately, seeing each other. By killing Angie’s scholarship. Angie who got tossed out of her home after coming out, and was only able to go to school because of said scholarship. Naturally Meryl couldn’t accept that fate to befall Angie. Then the father said that Meryl would have to change schools. Meryl ‘needed’ to go to that school, so the father gave her a choice – go to that other school, or remain in the current school, never make contact with Angie, and date a specific man the family wanted her to date. Naturally, or not, Meryl ended up married to that man.

All of that above is, for the most part, back-story. For the book opens some years later. I might have known a week ago when I finished the book, but I no longer recall how much time has passed between the college relationship falling apart and the start of the book.

Angie now lives in Key West. She got talked into a particular contract by her bitchy agent – see, she, Angie that is, had written a rather ‘good’ little mystery book. But she couldn’t get anyone to publish it. Mostly because she, a lesbian, had written about a really macho man type character and no publisher believed a woman would be believable/sellable as the author of that type of book. So, Angie agreed to use a pen name (even though that basically meant that Angie was giving away her soul or agreeing to kill puppies yearly or whatever fucking bit of weirdness developed here – basically Angie apparently believes using a pen name makes her an immoral and/or amoral lying horrible bitch . . . or something). But, as noted, Angie agreed with the contract. To use a pen name. And never, upon threat of death (okay, law suit), reveal that she, Angie, was Zach England.

So, that’s what Angie did after the relationship with Meryl imploded. Wrote and sold a few lesbian mysteries, made a tiny amount of money from that, then ‘sold her soul’ (again, apparently, judging by Angie’s reactions about it) and used a pen name to sell a bunch of macho man mysteries. Which pile in massive wads of money, and have a tv series be created based on the series. By the time the book opened, her eighth book in the series has just been released. This is important because the New York Banner has released a review about that book. A negative review. Under the byline of Meryl McClain. Angie’s ex.

So, after splitting up, Meryl did what is obviously natural for a lesbian (there was some comment somewhere that lead me to believe that she didn’t actually fancy men, so that she would not be bisexual, though it has been 7 days since I read the book) to do, she married a man, worked as a professor, then went off to be a book columnist. Her horrid treatment of Zack England’s latest novel is Meryl’s first review while with the New York Banner.

Then, based on several conversations she had (maybe just one with a friend), Meryl looked over England’s books again. Agreed with her initial impression, and review, but noticed something interesting. This macho macho man really seemed to ‘know’ women. Therefore, Zach England must be a woman. Just as the publishers couldn’t believe that any woman would be acceptable to the reading public as an author of a macho man book; Meryl believes that no man could ‘get’ or ‘know’ women like Zach England appears able to do. Therefore – woman. Meryl writes an article based on this thought process – well the England must be a woman part. Then, through a fluke, learns that a specific agent, who appears to mostly just represent Zach England, has a lot of mail that goes to and is received from Key West. Naturally, this means Meryl needs to immediately go down there and spend a week investigating. Because, again naturally, randomly walking around Key West asking people if they are (1) a woman; (2) Zach England; is the way to find Zach England.

Okay, I do not actually know how Meryl really expected to wander around and find Zach, because her mission got sidetracked immediately. But that appeared to be what Meryl had planned to do. Randomly wander around Key West. For a week. On the off-chance that there’d be some woman there who might really be Zach England. So, as noted, she got side-tracked immediately. Because she ran into a female mystery writer who just happened to live in Key West. Naturally she put 1 and 1 together and got . . . nowhere, because, seriously, she never once even thought that the mystery writer woman she bumped into, who lived in Key West, would be Zach England. That was kind of . . . . dumb.

The only and I say that this only is flimsy, reason that Meryl didn’t look deeper into this female mystery writer is because that writer was, and people probably already know this, none other than her former lover, Angie Cantinnini.

Angie has a weird brain disorder when she learns why Meryl was down in Key West and decides that the best thing to do is to lie to Meryl. Something that is almost cliché, and might even be cliché, in books with this type of scenario, the deceiver/lier/party who gave offense, was ‘just about to’ reveal the truth when the other learned the truth before they could do so. As if that ‘just about to reveal’ is in any way shape or form some kind of ‘get out of jail’ free card. Or, um, something that isn’t a metaphor.

It has been a week. As might be seen from how I’ve written this review, I’m still disappointed might be putting things mildly, angry would put things too severely, but something. I’m still annoyed by how this book unfolded. The way both people reacted and interacted with each other at each step of their relationship – with each other and with their parents.

Well, no matter, I’ll stop babbling now.

June 20 2016

4.5 Stars