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Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:She thinks she knows this player�??but he has a few surprise moves. For Alicia Riley, her job as a sports therapist for the St. Louis Rivers baseball team is a home run�??until she becomes the primary therapist for star pitcher, Garrett Scott. Out of the lineup with an injury, he�??s short-tempered, hard to handle, and every solid inch, a man. Right now, the only demand he�??s making on Alicia is that she get him ready to pitch in time for opening day. Except the sexual chemistry between them is so charged, Alicia�??s tempted to oblige Garrett just about anything. But both their careers are at stake�??one bad move and it�??s game over for both of them. Garrett also feels the hot sparks between them, and the way he figures it, what better therapy is there than sex? Now all he has to do is convince the woman with the power to m… (more)
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She is assigned to be his personal therapist. With a bit of give and take on both sides the perfect solution surfaces in the end.
Burton has done it again. Nothing like the previous books in the series yet all of the characters come out to play. Burton successfully crawls into her character's heads and they stay true to her concept of them through out the book. No one is perfect, but everyone is basically a good soul. The quietness of Garrett impressed me the most. He is not an alpha but he is hot, intelligent and willing to admit when he is wrong.
Alicia is clear thinking, determined and stays the course. Her strength is just what the very talented Garrett needs at this point in his life.
The next book in this series is a racing car driver...My favourite sport. Hear the engines, smell the fuel...can not wait.
Of course, they are immediately attracted to each other and star in each other's sex fantasies. Alicia wants to keep things professional because she doesn't want to lose her job or her professional reputation. After Garrett gets over the grouchy and argumentative stage and after they begin living in the same house in Florida, Alicia overcomes her objections.
As is the case of most romances, neither wants to tell the other when they realize that they have fallen in love which leads to all sorts of difficulties. I liked that both characters were strong characters and their relationship was balanced. Alicia certainly wasn't going to put up with any of Garrett's antics. I also liked getting a chance to catch up with the other Rileys from earlier books. The strong family dynamic filled with support and love is one of the things that make these romances so memorable. The dynamic also provides a contrast between the two characters with Alicia having strong family support and Garrett having a much more dysfunctional family. The strong friendships between Alicia and her gal pals and Garrett and his college buddies are also positives for this romance.
Fans of spicy romances will enjoy this one.
Thrown by a Curve started of by a brooding injured player who gone disgruntled over his shoulder injury that he think about quitting until one of the sports therapist challenged her other seniors and him with a promise that he will pitch by the coming next season. There's some baseball terms which I never familiarized with so it does made me curious to the end of the book. I'm neither a sports fan so I guess this is enough as a decent sports wiki for me. Of course, its a romance novel...
This time, I like the characterization of Garrett more than the earlier novels in the series (which I only remember their name as they read like the same character all over again). Alicia Riley is a no-nonsense girl which Garrett always admire about her and their hotheadedness complemented with each other and these made them behave rather naturally with their work and the eventual personal relationship. In between them, we're introduced to more future characters in the series which one of them will lead in the next novel.
I find both character have these sort of dry humor and humanity within them that made it feel they're more less like a fictitious characters. They both made mistakes and both of them don't have it easy between them and the heat is subtle enough that made reading the sex part of the book quite unnecessary and at time, intrusive and funny at the weirdest place. In the end, its a cute story even when it have some serious heat in between the story arches.
Alicia Riley, Cole's sister and Gavin and Mick's cousin, is on the Raven's therapy team. She's assigned to Gavin Scott's shoulder therapy in the hope of getting him pitching again after an injury.
You can guess how that goes. Well,
Although these types of stories usually follow a certain formula, they each bring something a little different to the plot and make it special.
Jaci Burton has a way with writing cheeky contemporary romance. Her characters are fun, funny, annoying in a pretty good way most of the time, hot (obviously, we don't want a slob as a hero/heroine) and all around drool inducing.
Looking forward to some car racing hotness in June.
Quick & Dirty: You should probably like baseball to read this book. Garret Scott hurt his shoulder during a game and it is up to Alicia to make sure the star pitcher gets better for the start of the season and what therapy is better than the sexual kind?
Opening
The Review:
This is about a baseball player, Garret Scott who injured his shoulder while pitching during a game. For months therapists have been working to fix his arm, but he is stuck inside his own head believing he will never recover. That is until he notices Alicia Riley and asks her what she thinks of his therapy and chances to pitch again. Alicia is not one to beat around the bush and tells him straight that it is his fault he hasn’t recovered yet. Garret likes her telling him what she thinks so much that he makes her the head of his therapy team. Sparks start to fly the first time they work together. Garret is all for taking their relationship past the professional but Alicia wants no part of it because if she messes up it will be both of their careers that are ruined.
I did not enjoy this story very much. A big part of my disappointment comes from the fact that I am not a sports fan and so I don’t typically read books based on sports. However, I could not relate to the characters either. Alicia is a sports therapist who has always loved helping athletes get back in the game after an injury. I do like that when everyone else would let Garret do what he wanted and acted like it was ok, Alicia stood up to him and told him to pull his head out of his butt. She put him in his place which made him realize he needed to do more to help his own recovery. The thing I did not like about Alicia is that her work came before everything else. I understand that if you love your job you don’t want to jeopardize it, but she never explains to Garret why they should not be in a relationship. She just assumed he knew why they shouldn’t.
Alicia’s character was a lot more likable than Garret’s though. I just could not like him. First, all he does is whine and is all doom and gloom. From the first paragraph in the book he believes he is finished and will never pitch again, but we quickly learn that he has not even really been trying to help his recovery. If that wasn’t bad enough as soon as he does start to show signs of improvement he thinks he should miraculously be a star pitcher again. This would not be so bad if he didn’t take his frustrations out on Alicia and turn from her to work with someone else as soon as things do not go his way. Garret was so used to always having things go his way that when he injured his shoulder and that was no longer the case he became a big baby.
If you enjoy sports then maybe you will enjoy this book. I personally thought that there just wasn’t much to make this story enjoyable. On top of the poor characters, I thought that the book focused more on what the two of them did behind doors rather than the actual romance between the two. I’m sorry if I seem really harsh about this book. I do believe that the author, Jaci Burton, is a great writer. Even in this book you can see her talent. If she wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t want to reach into this story and knock some sense into Garret’s head and I definitely would not have finished reading the book.
Notable Scene:
“Don’t look at him,” Garret said. “Tell me what I’m doing wrong.”
She sat next to him on the bench and laid her notebook down, her gaze lifting to his.
“Fine. You’re argumentative, confrontational, and a general pain in the ass to deal with. Honestly, no one wants to work with you because you fight recovery.”
FTC Advisory: Berkley/Penguin provided me with a copy of Thrown by a Curve. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
I wanted this to be SO much better. The earlier books in the series were great!
In the end, I just didn't connect with the characters...at all. It was just, meh. Also, I know that there was a desire to bring back some of the characters from earlier books, but I found my mind
I really, really hope the next one is better because I love the way Jaci Burton writes, normally!
I wanted this to be SO much better. The earlier books in the series were great!
In the end, I just didn't connect with the characters...at all. It was just, meh. Also, I know that there was a desire to bring back some of the characters from earlier books, but I found my mind
I really, really hope the next one is better because I love the way Jaci Burton writes, normally!
Oh, and again we have those amazing characters from the previous books all thrown together and with their lives all sorted out, or in better shape than when we read them. :)
First, I should disclose that I work in an industry, that especially where I live, is mostly male. Mostly egotistical males that don't think women have a place in their work world (no, really--they still exist, in droves). So this book with Alicia being
Garrett is by all accounts a really decent guy with a shoulder injury that has made him worried about his sports future. So, understandably, he's acting a bit like a whiney asshole--and men being men aren't helping that. Alicia can't help herself one day as she watches them mollycoddle Garret and says what she thinks about the pansy approach, his efforts, and the other physical therapists tip toeing--and she gets herself the job of sole therapist on Garret's case. And she rides his ass until he's ready to play ball again. Along the way, of course, he ends up riding her :) Which we love. But he's sweet and kind and you just get the feel that they are a great match. He, naturally, has some intimacy issues from a parental divorce that they need to get past. And she gets past her "proving" needs.
THe only spot that was almost awkward, but mostly worked, was when they go to OK for a guys weekend with the guys Garret roomed with in college. This is clearly Burton's next group of athletes for the next 2 or 3 books. I get that she needed to do it. And I liked the guys' banter and interaction with Alicia, but I hope for the sake of the next few books that Burton returns to that group dynamic or the "intro to new characters" ploy will leave a yucky taste in my mouth.
Otherwise the book was spotless and delicious and a even a bit naughtily hotter than the other books with some voyeurism added to the mix. Enjoy.
4 Stars
Finally a solid installment in a series that has been mostly uninspired.
Alicia and Garrett are an endearing couple and their romance is sweet and sexy with no unnecessary angst. In a series with so many obnoxious heroes, Garrett is a breath of fresh air. He starts off
There are some entertaining cameo appearances by the rest of the Riley family and an intriguing reunion with Garrett's college roommates who will apparently be the heroes of the next few books.
All in all, my persistence with the series has paid off and I can only hope that this positive trend will continue.