Review: A Romance Featuring Baseball, a Strong Heroine and a Sexy Catcher!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
If you love baseball and strong heroines, CATCHING HELL may just be the next book you should read.  At just 174 pages, it can easily be read in an evening, and packs a wonderful combination of intrigue and romance.Featuring a romance between Anna Benson, the 25-year old granddaughter of the Rockets' professional baseball team owner, and their star, but aging catcher, Zach Ormond, CATCHING HELL is the epitome of why work love relationships should be avoided; but, as we all know, sometimes there is no denying passion even under the most inopportune of circumstances.Anna has had a crush on Zach Ormond since he first started with the Rockets when he was a rookie and she was just 10 years-old.  Having been raised by her grandparents, after her parents died in a car accident, she spent a lot of her free time at the Rockets ballpark with her Grandfather, further adding fuel to her secret obsession with Zach.  Still, the only person she has previously informed of her feelings is her best friend, and notwithstanding her best friend's constant encouragement, she refuses to act any way other than professionally towards Zach.Having been born and raised in North Carolina, where the Rockets are based, and being a loyal man,  Zach always envisioned playing with the Rockets for his entire career.  To that end, he fought tooth and nail to get an unprecedented, no-trade clause added to his ground-breaking multimillion dollar a year contract with the Rockets.  Longing for a happily ever-after on his farm just 45-minutes away from the Rockets' home field, Zach has unfortunately not been as successful at this love life as he has been with his baseball career.Then one evening Anna and Zach find themselves at the hospital, tending to an injured teammate, and sparks begin to fly.  Zach, being 12-years older, warns Anna about the panoply of reasons why they should ignore their feelings; but Anna being a strong woman, and used to being in charge, determines that it is time to take control of this situation and dominates Zach into compliance.Of course, shortly thereafter all hell breaks loose, and Anna and Zach find themselves in the untenable position of being lovers by night but adversaries by day as Anna is tasked with job of convincing Zach to waive his no-trade clause and agree to a trade, so the Rockets can recruit a replacement for their injured star rookie.  They agree to keep their love and professional lives separate but, when an all out, no holds barred, war breaks out, can they possibly find a way to "catch" a HEA?I really enjoyed this story, and read it all in one sitting.  It was that good!  In fact, I'd wager to say that the first 90% or so of the book deserves a 5-star rating.  The ending, however, came a little fast for me, and I would have really loved to see the romance at the end further elaborated and detailed.  So while I was sad to see this one come to an abrupt end, I still loved the plot, writing and style and therefore I highly recommend it to enthusiasts of sports romances.Source:  Early Reviewers copy provided through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.