I Was Looking Forward to this Book So Much… then it fell flat

Stealing Home by Nicole Williams
Published by: Self Published on July 9, 2016
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Sports
Pages: 211
Source: Purchased
Book Details
Rating: ★★

Being the only woman working for a professional baseball team isn’t easy. As the San Diego Shock’s newest athletic trainer, Allie knows all about long hours, endless travel, and warding off players’ advances. Given she’s already the subject of a handful of rumors about how “lucky” she was to have earned such a coveted position, she can’t so much as flutter an eyelash a player’s way if she wants to be taken seriously.

But number eleven is doing more than fluttering eyelashes Allie’s way. Far more. Luke Archer is at the top of his game and doesn’t let the fear of striking out keep him from swinging. This is a motto he applies both on and off the field, but Allie appears immune, seeming to view Luke as nothing more than caution tape on legs.

He’s a player, and in Allie’s experience, they’re all the same. She won’t risk her job or her heart to another one, no matter how different this one claims to be. But as Allie gets to know him, she discovers the number eleven the public thinks they know is very different from the real Luke Archer. He seems too good to be true.

And maybe he is.

Allie will have to confront the stories attached to a player of Luke Archer’s stature and decide who she’ll put her faith in—The man she’s falling for? Or the rumors?

I had my eye on Stealing Home for months!

I’m a big Nicole Williams fan. I loved the Crash series (five stars all around!) and while I liked Lost & Found a little less, I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

So when the synopsis of Stealing Home came out, I was thrilled! It sounded great, it looked great, and I expected great things from Nicole.

Then it fell totally flat for me.

It was super short and way too rushed

This book moved way too fast and tried to accomplish too much in only 211 pages (super short!!).

With the main character, Allie, and the love interest, Luke, there is no “meeting” phase or “wooing” phase or anything like that. On page one, Luke basically jumps in with, “You know all those months we’ve been working together? I’ve been attracted to you since day one. Just haven’t told you.” And that’s it. Then they’re having sex.

Since they already met months ago, and he supposedly already liked her months ago, we don’t get to see any of that. We just jump right into them being together. It moved way too quickly for me to enjoy.

I can’t get invested in a book unless I can see its development.

• I want to see the characters meet for the first time.
• I want to experience that initial attraction.
• I want to see them start to fall for each other—not get a jump start months later.

Luke was nauseatingly perfect

I really wish I had some quotes to share, but alas, I don’t. It was the kind of thing that didn’t stand out initially, but built up over the course of the book.

• He was a little too open and honest to be believable.
• He was a little too romantic.
• It said all those things that a girl probably wants to hear.

I know those qualities don’t sound bad, but I guess when you combine it with everything else, it just came across as cheesy and unbelievable. On page one, a gorgeous, ripped, always-saying-the-right-things, super rich baseball player approaches the main character and says, “I’ve loved you forever.” (To be fair, he didn’t say “love”, but you get the point.) It sounds more like an actual fantasy than reality.

The conflict was built on a really annoying miscommunication

I hate it when conflicts are based on this. I’d rather the characters have an actual legit fight than just be too shit at communicating to get the truth out there. And it was all because the main character was a stubborn, stupid, dip shit.