Entertaining contemporary sports romance with a cheaky name! Fast paced but slower burn, I would've liked a bit more spice but I'm generally a spicier reader so take that with a grain of salt :D It was still a fun read, I'll be keeping an eye out for this author in the future.

- Contemporary Romance
- Sports Romance
- Baseball
- Fake Dating
- Workplace Romance
- He falls first!
- Slow-burn
- Dual POV
- Forced proximity/must work together
- Opposites attract

Brilliant!! I absolutely devoured this! The characters had depth and were likeable, and their story was such a good read! Thank you so much for the opportunity 🙏🏻

First base is a super sweet, fun sport romance. The book takes us on a journey of a baseball photographer Maggie Redford, who hasn’t entertained the idea of a relationship or simply dating for years, and of course a new (handsome) player Tommy Mikals with a ‘life of the party’ past, who is trying to hang onto his baseball career.

Both main characters and so loveable, and although the romance blossoming between them is genuine and super sweet, they have their own thread of growth and development constantly running throughout the book, which just makes you feel so connected to them individually and them as a forming relationship. Anddddd the side characters

Maggie as our main character introduced some interesting micro behaviours and self-talk that highlighted the lack of confidence and self-worth she had in herself. It felt authentic, relatable, and understandable given the things she had experienced. In those moments, you just want to be able to give this fictional character a hug, but in those same moments I was like wow ‘that’s me too’, or ‘I literally do the same thing’, and I guess for me it felt nurturing but also eye-opening.

The pacing of the relationship was slow but steady, which alongside their own growth progressed organically, and logically felt right.

I did find that towards the end some of the dialogue and behaviour read a bit off character and almost a bit rushed, but aside from that it was a fun read.

If you enjoy the character development to drive your romance read forward this is one to pick up.

This is an incredible start to a series and I can’t wait to see the other relationship dynamics Ally creates for us xx

First Base by Ally Wiegand was a brilliant read. I found myself hooked all the way through and couldn't stop laughing. It's an unputdownable comedy for all sports fans out there, even those who, like me, aren't really into baseball. Four stars.

I absolutely love this book was hooked from the start and would highly recommend it absolutely love the storyline and the only reason it wasn’t a five was because the reason for the third act break up annoyed me slightly but other then that i would highly recommend and i adore this couple and these characters

Fake dating, sports romance, no spice 🌶️ A very quick and easy romance read, it’s a good book to help you get out of a reading slump! The only thing I wasn’t so sure on was the miscommunication towards the end, it’s one of my pet peeves in books. However, if you love and short and sweet rom-com with little to no spice, this is the book for you! The characters were also super likeable and the storyline was really fun - we love a sports romance ⚾️

A great sport/fake dating romance. I actually really enjoyed this story, it wasn’t very novel or innovative in its plot and characters but it was really well written. I loved the journey Maggie went through to accept her past and her grief and learn to live again. It’s just an overall really cute and short romcom, which I honestly recommend to anyone who wants to branch out of hockey romances !!!


Summary: Photographer Maggie's quiet life changes when she's paired with baseball bad boy Tommy, sparking a fake romance that turns real.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

This was such a lovely read! I loved Maggie's development and how she learnt to love again after heartbreak. I liked the connection between Tommy and Maggie - I found the entire story fast paced (under 300 pages!), enjoyable and full of a fake dating trope

Maggie loves her job as a sports photographer. It’s something she’s good at and has worked very hard to get herself known as a great photographer. So when a photo of her and Tommy Mikals, the team’s new playboy hotshot, makes her look like just another in a long line, she realises both her job and reputation are on the line.

So when the clubs PR team comes up with the idea of the two pretending they are dating, Maggie doesn’t see another way to get out of the situation she innocently got herself into. But when she begins to realise that Tommy isn’t everything he’s made out to be, their fake relationship starts to take a real turn.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely love a fake dating trope, and this was really good! I really enjoyed how fast paced First Base was and how cute Tommy and Maggie were together.

“Her energy made me feel at ease, like I had known her for years rather than a few days.”

I also really liked Maggie’s own development and how she learns to love again after being hurt in the past and how this also comes across for Tommy too.

Thank you Netgalley, Ally Weigand and 8th Note Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

While this book did have some flaws, for a debut I was impressed. Who doesn't love a sports romance and its a nice change from all the hockey romances.. It was fast passed due to being under 300. The main trope in this is fake dating and I loves it

Ugh, I can't believe it's over!

This book was an absolute joy to read. I completely fell in love with Maggie and Tommy as individuals, and their relationship as well.

From the outset, it was clear that this book was going to deep-dive into mental health, specifically focusing on PTSD, survivor's guilt, and potentially a bit of imposter syndrome. That always makes me nervous when I start reading a book, but I truly think that the way Ally Wiegand handled those topics was with so much consideration and respect. I loved that the benefit of therapy message was delivered right at the beginning, and from that point onwards, the two characters supported each other on their separate journeys, whilst also not being written in a way that would make the reader think that the relationship could solve everything.

As characters, I definitely think that Maggie could be really hard on herself, but I loved how her relationships with Tommy and the side characters would really challenge that internal monologue. I think she really grew in this story after all the support she received.

As for Tommy, he was a swoony, considerate and incredibly respectful hero that I absolutely couldn't help but fall in love with. The things he would say to Maggie and the way he would articulate his feelings? I love a male character that is more than just a beef cake! He was a well-developed person in himself, and I don't see that enough in romances.

Their relationship, as I said before, was really based around supporting each other and being there for each other, but don't get me wrong, it had plenty of swoon. The writing did fall into cliches sometimes, which stopped this story from getting five stars, but I still think it had the perfect amount of pining and miscommunication to get me kicking my feet as I was reading.

I loved all the side characters in this story, and I'm seriously praying that Jamil is the focus of the next book because I love him so much. Him and Olivia could be a firecracker of a romance, so fingers crossed!

This book was amazing. I really want to thank netgalley for allowing me to read this book
This was so cute! It’s a fake dating baseball romance where the main characters are player and photographer (which I haven’t read before but loved! It should definitely be more common!).

It was a very good quick and cute romance read. Gets into it super far and could easily be read in one sitting. I would have but for some reason I decided to start reading it at midnight. I could definitely see this being a good romance to get you out of a slump as well.

It actually deals with a kinda emotional subject as well which I don’t want to spoil. It’s pretty obvious what happened once you start reading but that doesn’t make it any less sad. However, there is a happy ending to book as a whole in case anyone was wondering.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley, Ally, and Embla Books for the early review copy.

Maggie is a photographer for the Chicago Cougars baseball team. Enter the newest signing, Tommy, the tattooed hotshot with a playboy reputation, at risk of losing his career if he doesn’ behave. When a night out with the team leads to a compromising photo of Tommy and Maggie in the news, they have to go along with the PR teams plan for them to fake date. As they get to know each other, will they overcome their past relationships for their feelings to develop for each other?

I always love a fake dating romance, especially when you add in a sports setting, so this story was an easy read even though my ARC had something funny going on with turning all f’s into different symbols. The story was more on the predictable side but I liked it overall. Please note: this story contains multiple mentions of, and the MC dealing with the historic death of a significant other. This is the first book in the Chicago Heartbreakers series and it looks like the second book will be about Lottie, who we meet in this book!

Thank you to NetGalley & 8th Note Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a hard read, I just was so confused at the start, I do love a tatted up mc tho and Jamil can absolutely get it, he’s the cutest

A cute, predictable romance with the fake dating trope, but also with some deeper subjects, such as bereavement and grief. I would have liked to have had more chemistry and banter between the two MC’s (they were cute together, don’t get me wrong, but I just didn’t get that angst and longing that makes this trope work so well) but other than that no faults with it. A well written, entertaining sports romance. My first baseball one, so that was pretty cool! Thanks Netgalley and the publisher.

This was a 2.5 ⭐️ for me but as Metgalley doesn’t offer half stars I’ve given it a 3…

I don’t know if it was on purpose but there was a lot of mumbled up words and mistakes? It confused me a little and had me going back and re-reading some sentences as I thought I was going mad…
It’s a really cute sports romance with a trope, it’s a lovely little story but I feel like I’ve read something like this before or you could already tell what was going to happen next before it happened.

The cover is super cute though, we all love a tatted up guy!
Jamil is probably my favourite character he’s hilarious!

Thank you Netgalley & 8th Note Press for the ARC and the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley & 8th Note Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was really a 3.5 for me but good reads doesn’t give half stars.

This book was very cute. I loved the main characters for being interesting yet flawed in a way that made them human. The sports references were great and added an extra dimension to the book. The side kicks made me laugh and love them which is what I love in books. If you like the fake dating trope you’ll love this.


For me what let it down is I felt like I had read this story. It’s very true to its tropes so you pretty much know how it will go. The thing for me is the characters didn’t feel inevitable. For me to love that kind of true to trope telling I need to feel the spark between the characters and in this case I just didn’t. However I am certain many will love this book and it was well written and entertaining

I don’t know if it was on purpose or not but there were a lot of mistakes or mix ups or something which I couldn’t comprehend whilst trying to read it. So with that I’ve had to DNF. However when it is out I will give it another try with the hopes that the craziness is gone and I’ll be able to understand where abouts I am within the book. Thank you for the opportunity!

A cute sports romance between sport photographer Maggie and hotshot baseball player Tommy who has just been signed on to play for the team that Maggie works for. Maggie and Tommy are coerced into a fake relationship by the PR manager to help clean up Tommy’s messy reputation but as they get to know each other better, they start to develop real feelings.

I liked pretty much all the characters on this book especially the baseball team (Jamil is hilarious) and Olivia, Maggie’s BFF, as she gives solid and logical advice to Maggie when she overthinks. Tommy turns out to actually be very sweet and caring and I love a guy who has the bad boy image (tattoos and all) but has a softer side to him.

Even though this starts off as fake-dating it did have an insta-love aspect to it which is a trope I personally am not a huge fan of as they were basically saying they loved each other after a couple weeks of meeting. If you are a fan of this trope though then this is for you! The smut is fade to black so it does not contain any spice. The third act miscommunication did frustrate me as I dislike when characters jump to conclusions without hearing the other party’s full story but thank god for Olivia for smacking some sense into Maggie.

I do feel like the story was missing something, perhaps maybe a bit more of a WOW factor as although it is a cozy read, nothing drastic really happens.

Thank you to netgalley and 8th Note Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Embla Books for the e-arc for an honest review. This was so cute and I love a sports romance book! Especially a baseball x influencer book. I literally devoured this book and I can't wait for the next one!