Kelsey O’Brien is the definition of a free spirit. She goes where she wants, when she wants, and takes to bed who she wants. And when she arrives back at Grover University after eight months on an African animal preserve, it’s her best friend, who recently sprouted abs and a panty-dropping beard, that has caught her eye. As their friendship turns physical, Kelsey begins to form feelings she swore she’d never have for anyone. But when the past she’s not ready to face finds her, she must make a decision whether to stop running, or confront the truth
The first time Clint Bellows laid eyes on Kelsey, he fell hard. Too bad she looked right through him. A year and countless hours in the gym later, she’s back and hardly recognizes him and his new body. After a drunken encounter takes them over the line of friendship, Clint agrees to Kelsey’s proposal of a benefits-added relationship. Only he’s playing for keeps, and is willing to round all of the bases trying to score the self-proclaimed gypsy.
She’s running from her demons. He’s committed to winning her over. Can he catch her in time, or will she be out of his grasp before he can blink?
Catching To Win lights up the scoreboard with stubborn angst and fiery passion. Kelsey and Clint are sweetly but oppositely matched. Clint’s the former heavy baseball player who decides to change his life – and his looks – after one glance at Kelsey.
Kelsey’s a bit of hard person to get a handle on. She’s definitely an animal lover and she’s also as skittish as a cat – picking up and running away whenever things get tough. She’s a bit narcissistic and shallow, but a lot of girls are at her age so that didn’t turn me off as much as I had expected it to.
Clint may be sexually inexperienced but he’s like a strong anchor in Kelsey’s stormy world. What Kelsey starts as a friends with benefits arrangement quickly spirals into so much more than she thinks she can handle. Somewhat silly and occasionally worthy of a roll of the eyes, Kelsey’s not always the quickest lion in the pack, but she is the most loyal – to those who have earned her trust.
Clint is hot, sweet and romantically inclined. When he falls – he falls hard. I loved his willingness to take on Kelsey’s whirlwind life and his big heart that so quickly filled with all of Kelsey.
Catching To Win is New Adult romance meets baseball gloriousness. I mean, who doesn’t love hot men in tight white pants getting all sweaty and uhhhh yea. I most certainly do. YES, PLEASE. 4.25 stars!
[I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review]
Chuckling to myself on her choice of song, I knocked on the door. Waited a few seconds, nothing. This time I banged my entire fist in an effort to rattle the wood on its hinges. Still nothing.
“Roo…” I opened her door, letting myself in, and stopped dead at the sight in front of me. Kelsey was in the middle of the room, her hair piled on the top of her head like some fiery tornado, a glass filled to the brim with red wine in her hand. And she was dancing like a mad woman.
She donned a white tank top that exposed the sides of her breasts and entirely-too-large grey sweatpants that pooled over her feet, making her look like a dwarf. She was utterly adorable and fucking mouthwateringly sexy.
At the creek of the door she turned, her naturally red lips splitting in a megawatt smile.
“Hi!”
I could tell from her dancing and the slight blush of her cheeks that she was tipsy. It made her even cuter.
“Hi yourself. What’re you doing there?” I couldn’t help her infectious smile from spreading across my face too.
She shook her hips wildly as the song changed to something faster. Pitbull maybe. But I was never good with music. “I had a long, hard day. Kickass, but fucking hard! So I’m dancing.”
Kelsey makes this more evident by raising the wine glass to her lips, taking a huge swig, and then raising it above her head and twirling in circles.
I drop my baseball bag on her floor and toe my sneakers off. Then I join her in the middle of the floor, and begin to move.
She gives a happy shout and moves closer to me, joining her free hand with mine and swinging both of our arms.
“I had my fingers up a zebra’s ass today. Well technically, it was a whole fist!” She announces this like it’s the most normal thing in the world while I pull quickly out of her grasp. Kelsey giggles at my repulsion.
“Oh my god, bro! Don’t worry I had gloves on. But I did have to juggle her placenta in there…”
“Kels, stop. I am going to throw up.”
She did that sexy little giggle again and raised the glass to her lips. As she took it away and swallowed, she then raised it to mine. I let her pour some into my mouth, watching her cinnamon eyes over the brim. I knew the instant desire sparked in them, and I could feel myself harden in the mesh shorts I wore.
They say those who can’t do, teach. Well, Carrie has no hand-eye coordination, and her idea of romance is a Netflix marathon complete with Thai food. So, she writes sports romance novels instead.
Beginning her writing career as a journalist, Carrie wrote about real-life crime and scandal before turning to the fantasy world of fiction. She lives with her husband in an apartment they are constantly outgrowing.
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