Review: Home run, Bases Loaded!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 29, 2013
My oh my oh my, Antonio Ramirez ... whew, I need a moment.Tony to everyone except the woman he's fixated on from the get-go (that's Clare, the organist) joins the Mustangs during off-season as a free agent. He's tall, athletic and can be seen at the local social events with a model or a B-lister hanging on his arm. He's also got some rumors tailing him, along with a few other ballplayers around the league: something about a very private club called Bases Loaded.Tony has the tat, the money, and his eye on a prize who considers herself about as unworthy of attention as a gal can get. Clare's got curves, you know ... the normal kind but she's been brain-washed all her life into thinking she's never going to measure up against the skinny minnies, especially the stick figures hanging on Tony's arm. Clare has had a thing for Tony for years, ever since she was a student at Julliard and he was in the minors. Now, there he is, a new Mustangs hire. Not that it will do her much good, other than fuel some fantasies.What gets Clare and her poor self-image in the same room with the object de' obsession is an invite to a fundraiser/auction, partly because she's the ballpark organist but mostly because her uncle happens to be the Mustangs' manager, a little fact she downplays for a lot of good reasons.Clare bids on couples' getaways as a way to vicariously live her fantasies, unaware that right behind her is the man of her dreams outbidding her with the sole intent of sharing some adventures with the woman he recognizes as his soulmate. They meet, he makes a move or two or three, she's like `oh I'm too fat' and I'm like `oh girl get over it' and reaching for napkins to wipe away the drool.Now, about that very private club: it's by invitation only and it has certain rewards for performance, rewards that the evil nemesis, Jessica, reveals to Clare during a humiliation episode that not only feeds Clare's insecurities but also gets her fantasizing about running those bases. While Tony's doing that thing in her office by the desk, or engaging in the little display of jealousy pique at the spa, Clare's angling for an invite to the club because she truly believes it will help her with her attitude adjustment, making her feel `beautiful'.Tony's trying to remove himself from that lifestyle and Clare's pressing him for `just this once and never again' - for reasons he really doesn't get but deep down, along with the `she's my soulmate', were some what-ifs to fuel his libido.Bottom line: the road to HEA sometimes takes a side lane (the kind where you might say `I wouldn't be caught dead doing that but I can watch if you don't mind'). Don't forget the cooler with the ice cubes, you're going to need them. Mercy.Roz Lee does romance right and throwing in a sports theme with a yowzer hunkalicious athlete pushes all my naughty buttons in a very good way. I read this one straight through, agonizing with Clare, rooting for Tony, hating Jessica, getting just a wee bit fixated on Keith. `Nough said. Don't miss this one. Five stars.