A fun read, a rockstar and sportstar romance. I liked how it was told from both points of view and wanted everything to work out for them.

**Book Review: _Heavy Hitter_ by Katie Cotugno**

_Katie Cotugno's_ _Heavy Hitter_ is an emotionally gripping story that delves deep into the complexities of ambition, identity, and the pressures of young adulthood. Cotugno masterfully captures the raw, unfiltered experiences of her characters as they navigate the highs and lows of chasing their dreams while wrestling with personal challenges.

With sharp dialogue and richly developed characters, Cotugno explores themes of friendship, resilience, and self-worth in a way that feels authentic and resonant. _Heavy Hitter_ is not just a story about overcoming obstacles; it's a powerful reminder of the strength found in vulnerability and the courage it takes to stay true to oneself. This book is a compelling and inspiring read for anyone who's ever felt the weight of expectations.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

Heavy Hitter is a fun, quick and cute read.

The ending felt a little rushed and I would have loved more story to get to know the characters a bit better. However I really enjoyed Jimmy and Lacey’s relationship which felt authentic and genuine (insomuch as a relationship between a superstar and a professional baseball player can be!).

The banter and chemistry were great, and I liked that the story also explored the couples personal insecurities and hardships. Just the right amount of angst without bringing down the romance.

I’d recommend for anyone looking for a fun, biting, sometimes steamy, summer read.

Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

World famous superstar Lacey Logan has a life which is no longer her own. With four chart topping albums under her belt, and a worldwide tour about to start, all she wants is some time for herself. But then her boyfriend cheats on her, and her confidence is rocked. Lacey needs something for herself, so when baseball player Jimmy Hodges walks into the bar she's in, she decides to go for it. Lacey and Jimmy could not be any more different, but somehow it works. However, with fans like they have, will they be able to keep their fling a secret, or will they have to face their feelings in the public eye?

I'm not a full on Swiftie, but when I saw this book and the synopsis, I knew it would be somewhat based on Taylor and Travis' relationship. And though it is, it's also different enough that it felt right for the characters. Lacey has had her life controlled down to the minute since her first album took off, and she can barely think for herself. With an alcoholic mother who only comes into her life wanting money or gifts, and managers and assistants always hounding her, she is about to break. And it's not helped when she discovered her boyfriend - who's perfect on paper for her - has a Coke habit, and a pregnant mistress. Jimmy walks into her life just when she needs him, though he is the polar opposite of everything she ever expected she wanted. Their romance was not easy. Both are famous, though her fans are in a whole other league, and could put the FBI to shame with their investigation skills. While they were still just getting to know each other, they wanted to keep everything quiet, but it all became too much. I loved that the book didn't try to sugarcoat how hard it was for Lacey and Jimmy to have a proper relationship, and they really fought to be together. Such a great book!

This book is so Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce coded.
But if that’s your jam, you will definitely not be disappointed!

This book came at just the right time - whilst Taylor and Travis are taking the world by storm! I loved the not-quite-instalove between Jimmy and Lacey and the clear connection they had from the begninning. The way that the pressures of their respectiv careers were written and explored was incredible and I just wanted things to go so well for them. The burn wasn't quite as slow as I like but I enjoy that they didn't instantly fall in love with eachother, there was the realistic feelings of lust and connection first before it built into the smething more.

I did, however, have a few complaints: I feel that the whole "alcoholic mom" storyline wasn't explored enough. It felt very much like "here is my trauma - alcoholic mom, ok thanks, that's enough of that". As a recovering alcoholic, I really hate when alcoholic relatives are used as just a small plot point. I know the damage alcoholism can cause to families and it is not something that is just a few brief appearances or mentions and then everyone moves on and forgets it exists. I would have liked to see this play out a bit more and get some more insight into how Lacey felt about it.

Another issue I had was that Lacey spent a lot of the book feeling bad for how she had treated certain people, most notably her assistant Claire. She thought about she needed to make it up to people, or apologise, reach out, whatever, but this wasn't ever actually shown at any point. It would have been nice to get some closure on that part of Lacey's story, that she recognised she was pushing people away and did something about it.

I also felt that the ending was very abrupt and feel that an epilogue would have been great.

I must say that I love Jimmy and I'm glad that there wasn't too much "baseball talk" in this as, as a Brit, I have no got a cle about baseball!!

Overall, this was a good book but I feel like it had the potential to be a great book.

Tropes:
- Celebrities
- Sport star
- Popstar
- Secret relationship
- Friends to lovers (if you squint)

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about this book online but as soon as I read the description I knew I had to read it and I had such a good time reading it.

I loved Lacey and Jimmy and thought they were so great together; seeing them go from messaging and getting to know each other to being together was really nice. It was a pretty short read so it did feel a bit rushed at times (especially the end!!) but while I would like to have seen some things developed a little more, that didn’t make this book any less enjoyable!

I don’t know much about Taylor Swift so even though this felt a lot like Taylor fan fiction, it didn’t bother me much.l but if you think it might, proceed with caution.

Overall, a fantastic read - if you like celebrity and sports romances, definitely check this one out!

I absolutely loved this book, it was one I didn't want to put down It had everything I want in a romance book especially humour.

4.5

A great read, feel good, wholesome, angsty book that you need to read and let your heart experience this cuteness. It's a story full of wit, charm, celebrity and humour.
I only wish there was more romance, not steam, there's plenty of goooood steam.
Get to reading already!

3 ⭐️
1.5 🌶️

3rd person
baseball X Singer romance
insta-love
Age gap
Tayvis vibes

The book has all the hype and tropes to make it a fun summer romance read. The romance is Insta love which isn't my favourite but it works for them.

I think I enjoyed it, it was cute, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, it was okay.
It's a quick and easy read. It did end quite suddenly and maybe could have benefited from a couple of more chapters to fluff out all the extras and to maybe see them fully together.


Thank you for the eArc Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton

You will read this feeling all the Taylor/Travis vibes and if you're not a major swiftie then you'll most likely enjoy it more (less comparison). Think of it as fanfiction.
The banter between our superstar singer and aging sportstar is great and provides so many laughs. Each character has their demons and difficulties and I like that you given the view of Lacey having a public persona and elements she wants to try and keep private but not knowing how to do that or who to trust. Jimmy is almost a normal guy in comparison...he isn't a man with a god like body, he isn't at the peak of his career and there are doubts for him about his future with his career.
The book is fairly short so a lot of this isn't really delved into but just creates the drama for their relationship, FYI, their physical relationship is mostly behind closed doors which works well for this book. It is honestly about them getting to know and trust each other in private - who they truly are.

I received this book as an ARC and provide an honest review.

This was a really sweet romance, I really enjoyed our two main characters - the chemistry and the banter was perfection. I also had a fun time with the plot!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
5 stars book from me. Loved the plot and the stories in this book. Loved every single second reading it.

This was a cute and funny quick read. I loved jimmy and Lacey as characters and felt they had great chemistry. They had great banter with each other which kept me hooked. The only thing I would have loved more would have been for the story to be a bit longer and I didn’t like the way it ended on a cliff hanger. I would have liked to see how the relationship blossomed and how the future would have looked for them. But apart from that, like it said, a nice little read.

I really enjoyed this book. The author is new to me and if I read a sports book it's usually ice hockey or American football so this was a real change for me.
It was brilliant , I got strong Taylor and Travis vibes and that was ok as well. I read this book in a day and I would recommend it to anyone. if I had one complaint, it was that it ended it too soon, I wanted to see Jimmy win the World Series and I wanted to them years down the line living on his farm. oh well.

Romance level 4/5
Steam level 1/5
I enjoyed parts of this book but it felt at times pretty unbelievable and also like it could/would never be something most of us could do.
The 2 main characters are okay, she's a bit annoying at times and he is also not very good at talking.
Also feels very like a certain popstar right now and just not my thing!