The Perfect Game by J. SterlingSeries: The Perfect Game #1
Published by: Self Published on October 1, 2012
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Sports
Pages: 379
Source: Purchased
Buy on Amazon • Book Details
Rating: ★★½
He's a game she never intended to play.
And she's the game changer he never knew he needed.The Perfect Game tells the story of college juniors, Cassie Andrews & Jack Carter. When Cassie meets rising baseball hopeful Jack, she is determined to steer clear of him and his typical cocky attitude. But Jack has other things on his mind... like getting Cassie to give him the time of day.
They're both damaged, filled with mistrust and guarded before they find one another (and themselves) in this emotional journey about love and forgiveness. Strap yourselves for a ride that will not only break your heart, but put it back together.
Sometimes life gets ugly before it gets beautiful...
I had two pretty big problems with The Perfect Game that brought down the book for me:
#1: How quickly the relationship starts
The first few chapters of the book are all about Cassie hating Jack. She knows Jack is a playboy and he keeps flirting with her and she keeps telling him to piss off. Finally he says, “Go on one date with me, and if you don’t like it then I’ll leave you alone.” So they go on one date, she does like it, it ends with them kissing, then the very next chapter they’ve already been dating for like a month. So LITERALLY she goes from hating him to being his girlfriend in one chapter.
I wanted more of a gradual romance. I wanted to see things progress between them—going on dates, getting to know each other, slowly falling for each other… but instead, it went from 0 to 60 in about 2 pages.
#2: The annoying thing that happens in the second half that I have to put in spoilers
I’m really upset that I can’t discuss this properly outside of spoiler tags, because this was an even bigger problem for me than #1. But it’s a pretty huge spoiler, so inside the spoiler tags it goes:
View Spoiler »There were some things I did like about the book though!
Photography!
I loved the photography aspect! It was a very small part of the book, but I still loved it. Cassie is studying photography at college and hauls her camera around everywhere. She takes photos of Jack playing baseball and, at the end, she starts View Spoiler » . As someone who loves photography, I just really enjoyed reading about this!
There was one weird inconsistency though. In one sentence Cassie said she wants to open up her own photography business right after graduating.. then literally one sentence later she’s saying she wants to work for a company as a photo journalist. Uhhh those are two different things. (Owning your own business vs working for someone else’s business..) It’s not like she changed her mind, it’s literally on the same page:
“I’d like to start my own business as soon as I graduate.”
“That is great. What kind of photography?” Gran asked.
“Ideally, I’d like to work for a magazine that focuses on travel and human interest stories.”
So she says she wants to start her own business… then she says she wants to work for an existing magazine. Well which one is it??
The romance was sweet
Despite problems #1 and #2, the romance grew on me. I loved how much Jack and Cassie adored each other. I mean, Jack kind of drove me up the wall View Spoiler » but he and Cassie shared some really sweet moments and I couldn’t help but enjoy it sometimes.
It COULD have been a really good book
There were a lot of elements of The Perfect Game that I liked. The raw romance was sweet, the sports were interesting (even though I don’t particularly like baseball), and I loved the photography… But there were just a few things that ruined it for me. View Spoiler »
The Verdict
No way in hell could I get over Problem #2. That is a deal breaker for me. Ugh, so yucky. I could never touch a guy who did that to me.
Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be reading this! Even without the problems you had with it doesn’t sound like my kind of this, but I’m glad there were still parts you enjoyed. Thanks for the review 🙂
I’ve read this one too! I couldn’t enjoy it very much. I hated the insta romance, and the spoilers part was intensely annoying. There were some parts that were sweet but I can’t forgive people at all who do what Jack did…
It really didn’t sound like a book I would like but it is a deal breaker with #2 for me as well. I don’t like books with cheaters, unless it was something that happened a long time ago and isn’t really a part of the main story in present day. #1 would have drove me crazy too though. Great review.
This is some of my issue with self-pubs. So many have potential but they need some SERIOUS editing (not necessarily grammar but that’s an issue, too), someone to really get down and dirty with the book.
Eww this insta love (or instant relationship – same deal) already annoys me. It’s not even the actual romance I don’t like but rather how the girl gives in so easily. My answer to “Go on one date with me, and if you don’t like it then I’ll leave you alone” would definitely not be in the affirmative O_O Who would say yes to that, really? Barf. Anyways, too bad because I really like books that have sports in them, too. Though I’m not a sports fan AT ALL In real life lol. The inconsistencies would also drive me bonkers – one book I read a character said he was illiterate and the very next paragraph he read something over the other’s shoulder. WTF? -1 star right there! This sounds like it had problems but not a waste of time, at least.
Ugh after I saw your rating and how their romance progressed way too quickly, I knew I most likely wasn’t going to read this one and then clicked the spoiler tag to see if it would even further break the deal for me and I was totally right. Problem #2 always makes me soo angry. It’s totally degrading to the person you’re in a relationship with 🙁
Fantastic review, Ashley! I’m sorry this one wasn’t that great but at least there was a pretty cool photography aspect going on throughout it.
Insta love drives me crazy. I like a steady progression, I like tense moments where you want to grab the characters and smoosh them together because you can’t take anymore of this NON KISSING. 0 to 60 in two pages? Nope, no thank you. I think authors do this because, for them, the romance-y stuff is the best part — the kissing, the sex, the drama. They don’t pause and let the characters truly come to know one another in a believable way. It’s a flaw I see in both YA and NA. I wouldn’t have been able to stand behind problem #2, either. It’s not a good plot twist, it’s just plain bothersome.