Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Game Can’t Love You Back by Karole Cozzo

The Game Can’t Love You Back
Karole Cozzo
(Swoon Reads)
Publication date: May 15th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Eve is used to being the odd woman out. As the only girl on her school’s baseball team, she knows exactly how to put sweaty, macho baseball players in their place, and she’s focused on one thing and one thing only—being the best pitcher she can be.

But when a freak accident forces her high school to be absorbed by the neighboringtown, Eve has to contend with a new group of guys who aren’t used to having a woman on their team. And the new team’s star pitcher, Jamie, has no interest in being ousted from his throne. He can’t afford to give up his starting slot to a new pitcher—even worse, to a girl.

As the competition between Jamie and Eve starts to heat up, so does their attraction to each other. Can they keep their heads in the game, or will they end up getting played?

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Romance, Teen--

Eve has fought hard to be given respect as the only female on the baseball team at her school, but now that she is forced to attend her rival school she will not have it easy. Her new high school already has a pitcher for their team, Jamie aka Ace, and he is not interested in sharing the position or the glory. Jamie wants nothing more but for Eve to quit the team, to stop making a mockery out of the only thing that makes sense in his life. But Eve refuses to back down to the arrogant playboy and the two will but heads to find out who is the better player.

This is a purely character driven story, told from alternating points of view at chapters by Jamie and Eve. I am a fan of romances narrated by both characters so color me happy when I discovered I got to delve into the minds of both sides of the drama. And boy, drama it was! The story focuses on both the characters individually as in what life struggles they have to overcome such as being the only girl on a team or family dysfunction, and it also highlights the potential relationship dynamic between Eve and Jamie.

I was an instant fan of Eve, she was dedicated, determined and strong- both physically and mentally. She did her best to not get sent to a new school, she didn't back down to hazing, she was a gracious loser and willing to admit when she was wrong. Her speech to the coach at the end of the book was so freaking honorable and full of good sportsmanship I wanted to applaud. I also really loved her family dynamic, that she came to sports naturally and how she and her mom talked about sports and life (that was my favorite part, where her mom told her that "the game can't love you back"). She was a supportive friend and an overall interesting character to root for.

And then we have Jamie, who I pretty much despised from the start of the book. He was a total player, totally unconcerned by what girl was giving him attention, could't be bothered to learn names as long as they would put out- and he wanted Eve to fail and cry or at least vanish. Yep, I was not feeling him at all. Finally he started to have depth and reveal things that made him a more well-rounded person- like caring for his sister, his job, cleaning off ice cream from his arch enemies car and replacing the ice cream sundae for her mom... little things that made him more relatable and less like the jerk he first seemed. Sure, he still had a lot of broken hearts and bad boy ways to recover from, but he was a more well rounded person. By the end of the book he was all feelings and hope and I just wanted him to get his happy ending because life was not the best for him.

I ended up enjoying this story more than I thought I would after the first few chapters of my Jamie bashing. That being said, Karole did a great job of turning my opinion in a complete 180 and making me like both characters. I found this to be an incredibly fast read that I flew through in one sitting, the writing engaging and the characters realistic. I would gladly read more written by Carole...and maybe one set at this same high school (hint hint- a happily ever after for some of the side characters in the book would be super, like Marcella who had a rough time of it in this book but was the best friend a girl could ask for).

I am voluntarily reviewing an advance, complimentary copy of this book.

Author Bio:

Karole lives outside of Philadelphia, PA with her loving husband, exuberant little girl,and smiley little boy. She adores YA Romance, because it would be awesome if life in general had a requisite feel-good happy ending rule. Vices include obscene Haribo gummy consumption, addiction to Starbucks NF vanilla lattes, and tendency to hoard Bath and Body Works 3-wick candles.

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