Review: Home Plate by Christina Lee
SYNOPSIS:
Dominic Girard
My final baseball season with the Easton U Pirates feels bittersweet. I’d like to go out on a high note, graduate, and focus on the family business. But a certain pitcher is making senior year a challenge. Not only because Maclain is stubborn as hell, but because he makes me feel things I never have about another guy. With each snarky comment and hard-won grin, he reveals a little more of himself, and before I know it, I’m in over my head.
Mason Maclain
I’ll be graduating college this year, which also means the end of baseball, a sport I’ve played my entire life. It feels like a significant chapter is coming to a close, leaving behind a void I’m unwilling to face. Something else I don’t want to face? The impossibly charming Pirates catcher, whose quick wit and killer smirk poke holes in all my defenses. With each lingering look and quiet exchange, I want to push him away and pull him closer at the same time. I’ve never felt this intense draw before, and there’s no way I’ll ever admit it.
When Coach proposes a team-building activity to improve our chemistry on the field, little does he know things are heating up behind the scenes as well. A flicker of a connection sparks into a firestorm, and soon Girard and I are experiencing things for the first time—together. But outside the haven of our hotel room, reality infringes all too soon. I’m clinging to my fraying relationship with my dad, and for Girard, coming out is still scary, loving family or not. Resisting the pull to Girard seems futile, but I struggle at every turn. Any longer and I’ll lose the only person who makes my pulse thud quicker than a fastball over home plate.
There’s a pitcher-and-catcher joke in there somewhere.
REVIEW:
This story was so stupidly cute, I couldn’t get enough of these two! Mason and Dominic have been circling each other for so long that I was anxious for them to give in. From enemies, to tentative friends, to something more; the fall for these two was tantalizing and delicious.
So I think I can only do this book justice by talking about Mason first. This man is so fragile and broken that he had my heart hurting. His loneliness is palpable, but most of all, he is desperate for a sense of belonging and family. While Mason puts up a front, Dominic sees right through it. I love that Dominic called Mason on his sh*t because someone had to. And as we slowly watch Mason come undone, Dominic is there is put the pieces back together again.
And while they start to form a friendship, the undercurrent of chemistry is a pulse that beats throughout the book. There is no denying these boys are meant for more than friendship, regardless of how much they fight it. And this is where I really loved the story because when they were ready to take the next step, they communicated. They shared their feelings and vulnerabilities and it had my heart soaring. Their sexy times were so much more then hot, they were almost seductive and caring.
Finally their is the element of friendship, support, and found family that really was the icing on this book cake. The majority of the secondary characters are so amazing and loving, they truly want whats best for Mason and Dominic. And those who don’t can do rot in a bottomless pit of compost. But seriously, this story was filled with top notch banter, laugh out loud moments, and tender, heartfelt confessions that left me with a giant smile on my face and begging for more.
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