Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: Bat Boy

AUTHOR: Christine Lee

SERIES: Easton U Pirates

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 222 pages

RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2020

BLURB:

Brady Donovan

With a baseball scholarship to Easton University and awesome family and friends, my life is pretty golden. Except, things have never come together for me in the romance department. Until Kellan Crawford walks onto the field as the team’s newest bat boy. Bells and whistles go off in my body, and just like that, I’m totally crushing on a guy for the first time in my life. Too bad he’s the coach’s son and officially off-limits.

Kellan Crawford

I’m working toward my statistics degree, so landing the bat-boy position with the Easton U Pirates is right up my alley. It keeps me close to the action on the field, even if that means hauling equipment, picking up sweaty jockstraps, and putting up with the players’ antics. My dad’s the coach, and his number-one rule is never to play favorites…which probably includes getting too friendly with the team captain. But Brady Donovan’s annoyingly perfect smile and protective nature are making that nearly impossible.

When something shifts between us at an away game, everything is thrown off-kilter. Donovan’s never been with a guy before, and I certainly don’t want to be his test case. But I can’t seem to help myself. He’s sweet and hot and somehow charms the baseball pants right off me. If Coach ever catches wind of this, he’ll bench us both. Disappointing my dad might kill me, but so would losing the guy who makes my heart pound harder than a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

So much for not playing favorites.

REVIEW:

Angst-free … such beautiful words. I love angst, but at this particular time in history, Bat Boy is exactly what I needed. This is a lovely, easy breezy, gentle read; it’s a soothing tonic for our battered souls, the perfect getaway from real-life for a few hours.  

Brady Donovan is a college junior and the captain of his school’s baseball team. Baseball is his life. Kellan Crawford is also a junior who also loves baseball, but not to play. His dad’s the team coach and awards Kellan with the position of bat boy, with the one caveat that he not play favorites among the team. Kellan is a math whiz, too, and his ability with statistics is the biggest boon to the team. 

Kellan is gay, Brady is supposedly straight, but it’s never felt quite right to him. He’s been crushing on Kellan for a long time and now he’s questioning if it’s possible to realize you’re gay so much later than other guys.  

An exploratory night out at a gay bar provides him with some answers: 

It felt like this deep itch under my skin. The urge to get out there and exploit all these new sensations and feelings. My body and brain felt lined up for the first time ever, almost like my bones were finally getting settled in my skin. There was a rightness to it.  

These guys are so sweet, such lovable characters. Before they get involved, Kellan is so kind as a friend helping Brady as he struggles with his identity. He provides Brady with a safe place to say “I’m gay” for the first time. Another character of interest is Brady’s brother, Ricky, who shares a love of baseball statistics with Kellan. Ricky has autism spectrum disorder, and Brady is so grateful that Kellan takes a genuine interest in Ricky instead of ignoring him as so many people do. 

This is my favorite solo Christina Lee novel to date. It’s a fresh, happy story in which Brady and Kellan share a quiet joy with each other. Lee has done a great job of eliciting those emotions for her readers. The conflict resolves in a satisfying manner, and the ending provides a set-up for book two in the Easton U Pirates series starring Girard and Maclain, two fellow teammates. I happily recommend Bat Boy for anyone looking for a sweet, light read. 

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon