Review: 3.5 Stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 7, 2013
I am not the biggest fan of contemporary romance, but, if there is a sport involved, I will pick it up with very few questions asked. While The Winning Season was not the best sports romance I've ever read, I definitely enjoyed myself with this one. The characters are fleshed out, the sports scenes are full of action without going into a lot of technical jargon, and the romance was pretty satisfying though there were some moments at the end that ruined my overall enjoyment.Our heroine is Kelly Maxwell, a publicist with the San Francisco Blaze professional baseball team, whose main job is to keep high-priced athletes and pushy reporters in line. I absolutely loved her character! She is everything I look for in a contemporary heroine: smart, funny, successful, and pretty confident in herself. Plus she has some vulnerabilities that help keep her relatable to readers especially her prior battle with bulimia. I thought Alison Packard did a great job handling Kelly's eating disorder and showing the strength that it takes to live with something like that even years after "beating it."Matt Scanlon is a catcher who used to be considered one of the good guys of Major League Baseball until last year when he began drinking and partying to excess. His behavior (on and off the field) forced the Los Angeles Dodgers to trade him to the Blaze and he is definitely not happy with that arrangement. When I first heard about Matt's antics, I was wondering how the author would do with his reformation, but I think she was pretty successful. Matt is a hero who has a good heart yet had some major drama happen to cause his downward spiral. I liked the fact that he took the time to understand Kelly and her personality and that he stood up for her with some of his teammates. I do have to warn potential readers though that he does have a bit of jackass moment near the end that I wish had been addressed more since I like a bit more groveling from characters when they screw up like that.The plot of The Winning Season takes place during the later half of the MLB season and shows how Matt and Kelly's relationship grows from a professional to a personal one. I don't always seek out hate at first sight stories, but I found this one pretty amusing. Both of the main characters are hot-tempered so their initial meeting makes sense to me. I loved the way that they learned to trust one another during their forced interactions and their chemistry was blazing hot! I thought the ending was sweet and romantic, but a bit abrupt. I especially would love to have seen an epilogue showing what happened to the rest of the Blaze's season.Because of the very public nature of Matt and Kelly's jobs, it also makes sense that there would be a large cast of characters. For the most part, I was happy with the secondary characters' developments especially Kelly's actress sister, her studly boyfriend, and Alexis, Kelly's intern who appears to be suffering from eating problems of her own. My personal favorites were Kelly's colleague, Angie, and Matt's teammate, J.T., who had tension and chemistry ever time they appeared on the page together. I definitely hope to see Alison Packard tell their story in a future book.Overall, I was impressed with this book especially with it being my first experience with the author. I loved the baseball element and thought the romance was very entertaining if a bit predictable at times. The ending ruined my overall enjoyment, but I still would recommend it to fans of sports-themed contemporaries.