Boys of Summer: An Anthology

Boys of Summer is a Harlequin Blaze anthology with stories from Julie Elizabeth Leto, Kimberly Raye, and Leslie Kelly. Each one of the heroes is linked to baseball somehow. The second story was my favorite of the three. I also just have to mention that I love the cover for this book. The first story is by Leto and is called Fever Pitch. It was my least favorite of the three. It is about Callie Andres, an up-scale restaurant owner, and her ex-husband, Donovan Ross. Donovan is the owner of a major league baseball team in Louisville, Kentucky. He and Callie have been divorced for six years or so. He is having financial trouble and may lose the team, in which case, Louisville would also lose the team. This would mean trouble for businesses such as Callie's restaurant. To prevent this from happening, Callie sets out trying to help her ex-husband keep from losing the team. This leads to more one-on-one time with Donovan and old feelings begin to stir anew. The second story, The Sweet Spot, is by Kimberly Raye, and it is a very sweet (no pun intended) story. It is about Babe Bannister, an ice-cream owner, who wants to seduce one of the playboy players for the team in Louisville. She is friends with Callie from the first story. Except, in comes Brodie, her old childhood friend who has his own plans for Babe. Brodie is a manager for the baseball team, and once Babe tells him her intentions, Brodie thinks that he would the better man for Babe. Let the seduction games begin. Great story! The third story, Sliding Home is by Leslie Kelly. Very steamy! Shy and plain Janie Nolan runs her brother's memorabilia store while he is overseas and visits her grandmother often in the nursing home. She finally decides to do something for herself which includes seducing one of the ball players for the Louisville team. She is also friends with Babe and Callie. She picks out Riley, the pitcher for the team, to be the one. In a twist of fate, Riley and Janie meet at the nursing home where both of their grandparents live. Riley is attracted to the innocent and sweet Janie, but he knows nothing can come of it. His first wife did a real number on him. Janie is attracted to Riley too, so she decides to pull out all the stops including getting a make-over so that he will notice her. Can Riley finally get over his past and believe that Janie wants him for just him and not his fame and money? Can Janie prove to Riley that she wants him and him only? This is also a great story with lots of steamy and sensual scenes. 4 1/2 stars for Boys of Summer!

Good Book for the beach. Nice sexy cover. Makes you think up all kinds of interesting scenarios while reading...Mmmmm....I've been a big baseball junkie since growing up in Chicago w/the Cubs & Sox & watching "Bull Durham" at a young impressionable age!! LOL...And while I totally agree w/JEL's statement that "no athlete looks better in tight pants than a baseball player"...her story "Fever Pitch" wasn't really my favorite of the three in this series. Only because I had a hard time figuring out Callie "who hated that her ex-husbands life was ALL BASEBALL, but then themed her restaurant AND bar around the team"...Donovan (the ex hubby) seemed like a genuinely decent guy, they both were on good terms & the chemistry AFTER WHAT--5 YRS...was still hot?!?! Please...how many exes W/O children even live in the same STATE much less socialize, flirt, and deal w/each other on a weekly almost daily basis? Okay, maybe they were young, in love, and too young to figure out "how to make it work"...but I still found the fact that they could each have other relationships...yet fall right back into talking about their honeymoon kinda silly. Real couples just wouldn't do that. Unless you're watching "Real Housewives of Orange County"...lol. It was that and a few other incredulous moments that I found "hard to take"...and kept me from totally losing myself in this story. This review is really more for "The Sweet Spot" about Babe & Brodie...GREAT STORY. About childhood friends...that discover so much more. Babe *thinks* she wants Cody...and when she confides in her friend Brodie...well, he realizes that the idea of Babe w/anyone but him...pisses him off. He offers to let her "practice" her seduction of Cody on him!! Hot stuff!! If you'd read any of my reviews, you know that the "alpha macho male"...does it for me. Even the "older sexy ones"...that aren't as wild & wooly as they used to be...as is Brodie's case. He was just damn sexy!! And Babe was a likeable girl that deserved some really good nookie!! As you can tell, I enjoyed this story immensely. And last but not least is "Sliding Home"...about mousey Janie & hunky Riley. Good story...if you like the whole "caterpillar turning into a butterfly" kinda thing. But like I said...my favorite BY FAR was "The Sweet Spot"...that story alone, is why I gave the whole book 4 stars...

I absolutly LOVE this book. I bough it on a whim and it was great. My favorite story was Sliding home with Riley and Janie. Janie is a plain girl who tries to go the the all-star Slammers team leader. Talk about aiming high. It was a great story even though the characters express alot of self-doubt. The other one which was great was The Sweet Spot. Of course looking at this now I could be a person who likes insecure women who find themselves and their man. Sigh. Wonderful stories.

I don't usually read romance novels, but I absolutely loved this little diversion. The first story by Julie Leto is absolutely wonderful and the other two are all right, too. It's just a lot of fun to read, and because each story is pretty short, you don't get caught up in boring subplots. Go for this even if you hate baseball...you won't be disappointed.