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canadianbookaddict's review
4.0
I have read the previous book in the Texas Playmakers series since I enjoyed it I couldn't wait to read this one.
You don't really have to read the 1st book so you can start with this one if you wish.
I enjoyed this book and it is less than 200 pages so it didn't take me long to read it.
I did like the characters and the story is well written.
If you are looking for a good but quick romance book to read I do recommend this one.
You don't really have to read the 1st book so you can start with this one if you wish.
I enjoyed this book and it is less than 200 pages so it didn't take me long to read it.
I did like the characters and the story is well written.
If you are looking for a good but quick romance book to read I do recommend this one.
mae_mae13's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It's my first book by the author Joanne Rock. After reading this one, I will definitely be checking out her other books. This is book number two in the Texas Playmakers series. In this book, Nate Ramsay gets his story told. From a family of baseball players, Nate gets sidelined by an injury after getting a chance to play in the major leagues. He heads back home to Last Stand, TX to recover. Once there he runs into the girl he left behind five years ago to play baseball. Keely Harper has been through a lot. She's spent most of her life taking care of her younger sister while dealing with an alcoholic father. She's also trying to run a struggling business in order to care for everyone. Doubts, feelings of abandonment and family drama runs deep. She needs to gain trust in Nate and also allow herself to do something big for herself. Like a second chance at love. This was a sweet story with great characters and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I highly recommend.
"I received an advanced copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review."
"I received an advanced copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review."
stormmanning's review
3.0
Arc provided by Tule Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
This was a miss for me, sadly. I was really looking forward to reading Game On as Iâm always a fan of sports romances - can we say yes please! to hunky jock characters and strong female leads. I just couldnât seem to get in to the flow of this story though.
Game On follows young businesswoman Keely Harper, the high-school and college sweetheart of the recently injured baseball player Nate Ramsey. When Nate returns home from the injured reserve list after having finally made his mark in the major leagues, his life becomes surrounded by Keely â a woman he thought had left him in the past. As a victim of her familyâs tarnished image, Keelyâs existence has been forever associated with the alcoholic-induced actions of her father. With her fatherâs recent sobriety, her younger sisterâs career success and Keelyâs business growth â things are looking up for the first time in her life. That is, until Nate Ramsey returns to Last Stand and brings up all of the memories Keely spent years trying to forget.
âThere had been an era of her life where she had known him so well that sheâd been able to read his every mood in his expression and his body languageâŚEvery other time she had been with him â except for that last one that had ripped her heart out â had been happyâ
While this story was written well, what didnât quite connect with me were the characters. Keelyâs martyrdom by constantly putting everyone else before herself got annoying, very quickly. Even though it was understandable given her fatherâs bad reputation and constantly having to clean up after him, it was her disregard for othersâ wishes in her attempts to self-sacrifice that really frustrated me. The pressure she put on her sister to have the future sheâd sacrificed had really annoyed me.
âNate had always had a way of making her smile even when everything else in her world had been a disaster.â
I much preferred Nate over Keely, although he still wasnât the strongest of characters. It felt like he didnât even enjoy baseball and that he was mainly doing it to keep up the family name. While that could be a great starting point for the novel, I would have liked to have seen this progress a lot more. He didnât really seem to contemplate this at all, despite it being stated as one of the things he hoped hadnât happened in his life. Maybe I misinterpreted it, but I really felt like he didnât change much overall within the story and I would have liked to have seen that.
What really kept me going throughout this story were the minor characters â Keelyâs sister Alexia and Nateâs team mate Ty. They were amazing! I would have gladly read a whole book about them in one sitting. Easily. So despite my dislike for this book, Iâve come to realise itâs not the authorâs fault. I really loved the way she explored the connection between these two characters and the way she wrote their budding friendship so well! This tells me that I just didnât connect with the main characters, but other readers might.
Despite not really liking this book, Alexia and Tyâs presence made up for and since theyâre in the following book, Iâll give it a go just to see where they end up.
mommasaystoread's review
3.0
Game On is a cross between a second chance and a sports romance with emphasis on the second chance love story. I'm a sucker for second chances, but I would've liked to have seen a little more of the Great American Pastime, especially since it played such a big part in the relationship. The story is well-written and entertaining as Nate and Keely tiptoe around their attraction. It's a decent story and runs the usual formula for a second chance romance with the lead up to realizing what they want, some fun and sexy get to know you again, the required angst, and the figuring it all out, and I did like the characters. Nevertheless, I wanted something more. It's a good story, but there is absolutely nothing to set it apart and make me remember it down the road. What I ended up with was an okay story in the fair to midland range. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It is the second book in a series, but I had no problem following this one as a standalone. I would say that those who have read the first book in the series and have developed an attachment to the characters would probably enjoy this one more than I did. For me, it's just shy of pushing me over that edge. I would probably check out the next book in the series, but this one hasn't left me with a burning need to watch for it.
saschadarlington's review
3.0
Game On is the second novel in the Texas Playmakers series by Joanne Rock. Much like the first novel, The Perfect Catch (read my review here), Game On is a pleasant-enough novel with pleasant-enough characters although Keely Harper's controlling-martyr attitude got old really fast.
Despite being called a sports novel, again like the preceding novel, baseball is just a background thing. Nate Ramsey, the likable middle son, is on the injured list and back home where he rekindles his romance with high school sweetheart, Keely.
This novel doesn't really do anything new. There's an alcoholic parent. There's a parent who abandoned her children (we don't meet her). There's an egotistical parent (Nate's dad). There's a simpering step-mother (so we're told although she comes off okay in the scene she's in). And there's the really nice, salt-of-the earth mother.Â
Nate and Keely didn't rock my world. I came away feeling as if I'd read a satisfactory novel (which is a step up from a lot of novels in my path recently) although completely average.
If you read the first book in the series, you probably want to read this one. And, don't get me or this review wrong. If you're looking for some romantic escapism, this series could probably do it for you.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Despite being called a sports novel, again like the preceding novel, baseball is just a background thing. Nate Ramsey, the likable middle son, is on the injured list and back home where he rekindles his romance with high school sweetheart, Keely.
This novel doesn't really do anything new. There's an alcoholic parent. There's a parent who abandoned her children (we don't meet her). There's an egotistical parent (Nate's dad). There's a simpering step-mother (so we're told although she comes off okay in the scene she's in). And there's the really nice, salt-of-the earth mother.Â
Nate and Keely didn't rock my world. I came away feeling as if I'd read a satisfactory novel (which is a step up from a lot of novels in my path recently) although completely average.
If you read the first book in the series, you probably want to read this one. And, don't get me or this review wrong. If you're looking for some romantic escapism, this series could probably do it for you.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
beckymmoe's review
4.0
Reviewed on my blog, Becky on Books, on 8/21/19.
Game On is a sweet, second chance romance. It's the second in the Texas Playmakers series, but works just fine as a standalone--the hero (Nate's older brother) and heroine of book one are mentioned here, but never appear on page, so no worries if you haven't read their story yet.
Nate and Keely broke up five years ago when he left college to pursue his dream of playing baseball--her family situation kept her in Last Chance, though, and Keely wasn't willing to participate in a long distance romance. In the time since, Nate's had his chance at the big league and is recovering from an injury and Keely's been fairly successful farming her family's land with a wildflower business.
At first it looks as if nothing much has changed for Nate and Keely--is reuniting even possible, if neither is making a change to their personal situation?--though it's clear that their attraction to each other is as strong as ever. Things change for both of them, though, making the way to their HEA more clear as the story progresses.
Just a warning--this sports romance is light on the sports aspect, so don't expect a lot of on the field action! Nate spends most of his time helping to start a sports camp for kids in his hometown--a worthy endeavor--and gets help from one of his teammates who is also on injured reserve. That teammate and Keely's sister tentatively start a romance here that will be continued in the next book (Nate's younger brother's story); I'll be stalking Goodreads in anticipation of its release!
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Game On is a sweet, second chance romance. It's the second in the Texas Playmakers series, but works just fine as a standalone--the hero (Nate's older brother) and heroine of book one are mentioned here, but never appear on page, so no worries if you haven't read their story yet.
Nate and Keely broke up five years ago when he left college to pursue his dream of playing baseball--her family situation kept her in Last Chance, though, and Keely wasn't willing to participate in a long distance romance. In the time since, Nate's had his chance at the big league and is recovering from an injury and Keely's been fairly successful farming her family's land with a wildflower business.
At first it looks as if nothing much has changed for Nate and Keely--is reuniting even possible, if neither is making a change to their personal situation?--though it's clear that their attraction to each other is as strong as ever. Things change for both of them, though, making the way to their HEA more clear as the story progresses.
Just a warning--this sports romance is light on the sports aspect, so don't expect a lot of on the field action! Nate spends most of his time helping to start a sports camp for kids in his hometown--a worthy endeavor--and gets help from one of his teammates who is also on injured reserve. That teammate and Keely's sister tentatively start a romance here that will be continued in the next book (Nate's younger brother's story); I'll be stalking Goodreads in anticipation of its release!
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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