The Game Can't Love You Back

by Karole Cozzo

Eve is used to being the odd woman out. As the only girl on her school's baseball team, she knows exactly how to put sweaty, macho baseball players in their place, and she's learned to focus on one thing and one thing only - being the best pitcher she can be.

But when a freak accident forces her school to be absorbed by the neighbouring town, Eve has to contend with a new group of guys who aren't used to having a woman on their team. And the new team's star pitcher, Jamie, has no interest in being ousted from his throne. He can't afford to give up his starting slot to a new pitcher - especially to a girl.

As the competition between Jamie and Eve starts to heat up, so does their attraction to each other. Can they keep their heads in the game, or will they end up getting played?

• ISBN10: 1250163897
• ISBN13: 9781250163899
• Publish Date: 1 June 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 April 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

Won an arc in a giveaway from swoonreads.
Eve has always played on the boy's baseball team and that's never been a problem, until this year when two of the town's schools must combine due to a fire that happened at her school. This creates a rivalry between Eve and Jamie as they were the school's top players and are now fighting for the same trophy on the same team.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I love reading sportsbooks especially when the girl character is playing on the boy's team and seeing how that plays out. This is a dual perspective book so we get to see what both Eve and Jamie are thinking about the situation and each other. I liked them both as characters and how they both grew as people throughout the book and changed during the school year not only as team players but in friendships they had with others as well. This was a fun and quick first read for me during ARC August.

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

When I first heard about this book, I was all over it because I was a fan of the TV show, Pitch, and I love Karole Cozzo books. Needless to say, I devoured this book, starting and finishing it in the same day. It was fun, heartwarming, compelling, and swoony.

• Pro: Eve was a fabulous female. She was fierce, empowered, and passionate, and she went after what she wanted, but she wasn't just this hard, tough as nails woman. She had soft parts too, and I really liked seeing all those sides of her.

• Pro: There was more to Jamie than I thought. His home life was not all rainbows and unicorns, and his family was struggling, but he didn't hold pity parties. He pitched in by having a job, doing the shopping, and trying to help with his sister when possible. He had his "Ace" persona, the player and life of the party, and then there was Jamie, who was saved for a select few, and it was him I was really fond of.

• Con: There were a few loose ends, and though I did not feel they were major plot points, I would have liked to see these things tied up.

• Pro: The school merger premise was something I thought worked really well. It presented Eve and Jamie with many challenges, and created a lot of tension in the story.

• Pro: The ending was cute and sweet, and so appropriate for these two characters, BUT

• Con: I felt like it was a little rushed, and I would have loved to have seen a little more of the "after".

• Pro: Though I may not be athletic enough, I would love to be part of Eve's family. I adored her no-nonsense mom, who shot straight from the hip, and I thought their mother's day celebration was all sorts of wonderful. It was obvious how much Eve's family contributed to her success by just being supportive and present for her.

• Pro: I loved that Eve may shared a super strong friendship with someone so different from herself. Her bestie was her polar opposite, but she was really good for Eve, because she made her examine situations from different perspectives.

• Pro: I love me some hate-to-love romances, and this one was super fun. It was great seeing the verbal sparring slowly turn from barbs to flirty banter, and as their attraction and affection for each other grew, we got to see more and more of the real Eve and Jamie.

• Pro: I really appreciated that Cozzo addressed some the shortcomings of being a female playing a boy's sport. I had never really considered the "after" in this situation.

• Pro: I shipped these two. They had great chemistry, and were able to bring out the best parts of each other.

Overall: A wonderful, swoony romance, which filled that Pitch-sized void in my heart.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review

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