The Perfect Catch

17-yo Callie is good at softball. I like softball; it was one of the few sports I was actually good at 😉 Callie is sweet and innocent, but not shy. Noah is her brothers best friend and he used to be her friend too. But now hes so cold and distant. Rude even. She thinks she represents his lost opportunities. When she gets the chance to play for the recruiters, she wants to give it her all. But then she does something wrong. She never does anything wrong and the one time she does she gets caught and punished. The universe isnt fair. Alternating POVs Callie and Noah. Which was good, because by just Callies POV in the beginning you could have thought Noah really wasnt a nice person. It could have become one-sided and now it wasnt, so that was really nice. Theres a lot of thought process giving us insight in their feelings. Maybe a little too much thought during conversations, but I did really like it. It was a sweet story.

Maggie Dallen is the perfect YA high school romance author. (Shes also pretty darn impressive with Regency Period and adult contemporary romances, but thats a different story). Somehow her high school romances resonate with my own (long distant) memories of high school like no other. Thats the case once again with The Perfect Catch (Kissing the Enemy Book 1). Callie and Noahs romance is fun to watch even as it goes through all its teething pains. Total fun, and since its book 1 in a new series that means there are more to come. Im presuming its the other gals on Callie and Noahs mixed gender team, and am already guessing (hoping on) who they will pair up. But for the fact that Im literally dictating this review my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises – the book definitely deserves it. Since I cant do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. Im definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

Callie Cooper and Noah Mason grew up together as next-door neighbors in the fictional small town of Fairfield in Upstate New York. Noah was Callies older brother Erics best friend from kindergarten through high school, though after graduation they have been attending different universities, with Noah staying local at Fairfield University, and Eric attending a university in San Francisco. Currently Callie is 17, a few months away from turning 18, and a rising senior in high school. Though Noah is only 18 months older than her, he is a rising sophomore in college. Callie and Noah have been friends all their lives. The main thing they had in common for most of those years was that both of them are talented pitchers, her with softball and him with baseball, until some months ago, when Noah sustained an injury to his pitching arm that ended any chance of a future professional career. Ever since that time, Noah has been cold and distant with Callie, and she is convinced that it is because he is mourning his lost career, and it pains him to be around her, because Callie remains a star pitcher with years of play ahead of her. Callie is scheduled to participate in a weeklong, summer, softball clinic at Fairfield University, where she will be staying on campus at the dorms. She is certain she will run into Noah frequently this week, because his mother has informed her that he is doing an internship at the sports health center on campus, where her softball clinic will be held. She is greatly hoping that he will have healed enough emotionally from his crushing loss such that he no longer feels the need to withdraw from her. As she had hoped, Callie spots Noah immediately her first day on campus but, rather than welcoming her with the warmth of a lifelong friend, he acts as if she is an impertinent stranger when she bounces toward him and greets him with an enthusiastic hug. Callie is shocked and hurt. Why is he still treating her so coldly? And what will it take to get their friendship back to normal? This is a fun, YA romance which offers several, ever-popular themes from that genre: friends to lovers, forbidden romance with big brothers best friend, and a girl power sports romance with a heroine who is a talented athlete. Callie and Noah are admirable, sympathetic protagonists, and even though this book is G-rated, there is plenty of chemistry between this attractive pair. This is the first book in a trilogy, and in it we meet, as important subcharacters, Levi and Kate and Ox and Maddie, who are the romantic pairings of the next two books in the series. I have read this book in Kindle format, and this week I had the chance to revisit it as an audiobook. It is narrated by Liz Krane, a talented voice artist. She does an excellent job with both male and female characters, of all ages and backgrounds. I rate this book as follows: Heroine: 4 stars Hero: 4 stars Subcharacters: 4 stars Romance Plot: 4 stars Sports Plot: 4 stars Writing: 4 stars Audiobook Narration: 4 stars Overall: 4 star

Cute YA romance set in the world of softball. Endearing characters. It\’s hard to fall for your best friend\’s little sister. You try to stay away but she doesn\’t make it easy!! Noah definitely finds Callie very hard to resist. However, he\’ll put his long time friendship in jeopardy if he doesn\’t as Callie\’s big brother doesn\’t approve at all. A lot of soul searching to try and do the right thing! Read and find out what happens.

This was a really smooth read. There was just enough angst to make it interesting, but it didn\’t drag on so long you got frustrated. Noah and Callie figured things out, and because of their solid relationship prior to Noah\’s injury, it created their foundation. Definitely worth the read.

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