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 neighboring town, 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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Heartwarming, Cute, and Incredibly Inspiring

I think I’m slowly warming up to sports themed books and might just be my newest obsession. I didn’t really care for them that much before since I’m not into sports, but the books I’ve read in the past few months were pretty darn good. The Game Can’t Love You Back by Karole Cozzo was no exception and I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. I even had tears in the end and couldn’t stop smiling and swooning.

Enemies to lovers stories are just the absolute the best. I love the angst, the tension, the bantering, the build-up, and of course the romance. Karole Cozzo did fantastically and managed to create a genuine, realistic, and believable story about two rivals who end up falling for each other. Eve and Jamie totally had me going crazy with all the FEELS and I loved it! From their not so nice insults to their adorably cute bantering, they made me gush and root for them. I thought their story was beautifully written and devloped with plenty of sweet moments and swoony kisses.

Eve and Jamie were so frustrtingly cute together and their chemistry was amazing. They were both incredibly competitive and did not give up too easily. Eve was fiesty and ridiculously stubborn, but also incredibly hard-working, dedicated and smart. Jamie had a reputation of being a player and was sometimes a jerk, so it took a while to win me over. However, by the end of the book, I can honetly say that he’s more than earned his place in my heart. Underneath all his bravado, Jamie actually had such a big heart and was really a sweet guy. Together they were kind of a mess, but also pretty darn perfect.

The Game Can’t Love You Back was a heartwarming and delightful story about acceptance and taking chances. It’s funny and cute, but also genuine and wonderfully inspiring.  I loved the writing, the characters and the crazy bantering that went from horribly sour to sugary sweet. This was definitely a home run for me and I cannot wait to read more books by Cozzo.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley for participating in a Blog Tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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.Website / Goodreads / Facebook / TwitterJoin the Rafflecopter Giveaway

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Have a lovely day!