Source: Purchased (through my KindleUnlimited subscription).
Catching Caden (The Perfect Game #1) by Samantha Christy
If all they see are her scars - they aren't looking hard enough.
It was my home run ball that shattered her face.
Right along with her modeling career.
Now it's my mission to help her rebuild her life.
And get her to love the game that she hates.
The game that dictates my life both on and off the field.
But when the lines of our friendship become blurred, I worry she'll just be another casualty of my three-strikes rule. The rule I have to protect my money, my future, my heart.
No girl has ever broken it.
I've never wanted one to.
Until now.
The question is ... will I let her?
I went on a little Mariana Zapata binge recently, which led to me falling head over heels for The Wall of Winnipeg and Me and then Kulti and then From Lukov With Love, which led me to the mood of wanting: a) friends to lovers romance & b) sports romance. So when I came across Catching Caden in KindleUnlimited, I was like "yes! this is perfect!" And then I dove in and ended up really liking this one!
The premise is super awesome. One of the MCs is a professional baseball player, and the book kicks off with him hitting a homerun...directly into the face of the other MC. She gets rushed to the hospital, and he goes to visit her to apologize because he's a good person. From there, they end up being friends because Caden feels bad and wants to make up for hurting Murphy, but also because they click really well. On the level of readability, this was a quick, easy read. It held my attention and I got into it right away.
In regards to the friends to lovers aspect, it was done well. I liked the characters a whole lot, though I didn't always agree with their thought processes and decisions. But they were both good people and, as I said, they made a cute couple. It was actually super sweet. I LOVED how Caden kept giving Murphy his hats -- and then how it became their Thing. And the nicknames! Yeah, they were all kinds of cute.
I do have two things that took the story down a notch for me, however. First of all, I wasn't a fan of the couple's communication/trust issues. The communication thing could have been avoided entirely and the plot would have been fine. It kind of felt like lazy execution to me? Which I feel like sounds harsh, but I gotta be honest. And the trust issues made sense...up until a certain point. The big thing about friends to lovers romances is that they're friends first. So by the time they get to the point of lovers, they should already be past the trust issues thing. Which made it kind of irritate me later in the novel. Second of all, I think some of the baseball was wrong? Like, it seemed like there was only one starting pitcher (Brady) when in reality there's a rotation of starters -- the same guy does not start every game. This second gripe obviously wasn't a HUGE deal but it was a detail I noticed that took me out of the story.
Overall, Catching Caden is a super sweet friends to lovers romance! If you're looking for a quick read with a cute couple, look no further--you'll love Caden & Murphy :)
The premise is super awesome. One of the MCs is a professional baseball player, and the book kicks off with him hitting a homerun...directly into the face of the other MC. She gets rushed to the hospital, and he goes to visit her to apologize because he's a good person. From there, they end up being friends because Caden feels bad and wants to make up for hurting Murphy, but also because they click really well. On the level of readability, this was a quick, easy read. It held my attention and I got into it right away.
In regards to the friends to lovers aspect, it was done well. I liked the characters a whole lot, though I didn't always agree with their thought processes and decisions. But they were both good people and, as I said, they made a cute couple. It was actually super sweet. I LOVED how Caden kept giving Murphy his hats -- and then how it became their Thing. And the nicknames! Yeah, they were all kinds of cute.
I do have two things that took the story down a notch for me, however. First of all, I wasn't a fan of the couple's communication/trust issues. The communication thing could have been avoided entirely and the plot would have been fine. It kind of felt like lazy execution to me? Which I feel like sounds harsh, but I gotta be honest. And the trust issues made sense...up until a certain point. The big thing about friends to lovers romances is that they're friends first. So by the time they get to the point of lovers, they should already be past the trust issues thing. Which made it kind of irritate me later in the novel. Second of all, I think some of the baseball was wrong? Like, it seemed like there was only one starting pitcher (Brady) when in reality there's a rotation of starters -- the same guy does not start every game. This second gripe obviously wasn't a HUGE deal but it was a detail I noticed that took me out of the story.
Overall, Catching Caden is a super sweet friends to lovers romance! If you're looking for a quick read with a cute couple, look no further--you'll love Caden & Murphy :)
4 stars - A sweet romance I really enjoyed!
I definitely will have to grab this one. Thanks for sharing!
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