E-galley Review: The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson
Published by Berkley on June 18, 2024
Genres: Adult Sports Romance
Pages: 384
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

A professional baseball player and his heckler prove that true love is worth going to bat for. 

Daphne Brink doesn’t follow baseball, but watching “America’s Snoozefest” certainly beats sitting at home in the days after she signs her divorce papers. After one too many ballpark beers, she heckles Carolina Battery player Chris Kepler, who quickly proves there might actually be a little crying in baseball. Horrified, Daphne reaches out to Chris on social media to apologize . . . but forgets to identify herself as his heckler in her message. 

Chris doesn’t usually respond to random fans on social media, but he’s grieving and fragile after an emotionally turbulent few months. When a DM from “Duckie” catches his eye, he impulsively messages back. Duckie is sweet, funny, and seems to understand him in a way no one else does. 

Daphne isn’t sure how much longer she can keep lying to Chris, especially as she starts working with the team in real life and their feelings for each other deepen. When he finds out the truth, will it be three strikes, she’s out?

My Review

Another 3rd person POV book, but that’s okay, this one was good too! By a fifth of the way into the story I was already very emotional at all that was happening! The way that Daphne felt after heckling Chris, I have totally had that feeling after arguing with someone or saying something mean to them, even if I felt justified when I said it, the look on their face or how they responded to it, similar to Chris in that first situation, totally sent me spiraling into feeling horrible.

Now this was a major story of not telling someone a secret that could have been solved so much earlier in the book, but I know that it was the plotline in a way, so had to be done that way. And even though I know that, it is why I couldn’t give it a 5 star rating, had to drop to 4.5 instead.

But the chemistry between these two both through text messages as well as in person once Daphne took over her sister-in-law Layla’s job working with Chris’s baseball team was so good. And the steamy scenes had some very steamy bits that I enjoyed, and were perfect for when they were a part of the story and not too much. I loved the awkwardness of Daphne’s rambling at times when she was nervous, it was realistic for me, and reminded me of my own bad habit of oversharing or saying things at the wrong time.

The book made me remember how much I used to enjoy baseball and going to my hometown games for the Kansas City Royals, whether we were having a winning year or one of our normal struggling years. And when the author did name some real teams, I had a little hope maybe she’d name my KC team, but alas it wasn’t to be. All in all this was the perfect read for this time of year, the baseball season, and I loved the romance so much. I’ve wanted to read this author before, and now I know I will have to go back and read some more!