Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Winning With Him

SERIES:  Men of Summer #2

AUTHOR:  Lauren Blakely

PUBLISHER:  Hot Men Books

LENGTH:  314 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 3, 2021

BLURB:

Resisting the shortstop has never been my strong suit.
I failed at it during my first spring training. It sure as hell looks like I’m about to fail at it again. The sport I love playing with my very soul hangs in the balance. But everything my heart craves lies with the guy I’ve got to resist.
A guy who’s asking me to make the toughest choice ever.
But how do I become the man I want to be…with him or without him?
Trouble is, I can’t seem to get Declan out of my head, even if I stand to lose everything I’ve worked for my entire life…

Winning with Him is book two in the utterly addictive Men of Summer series, and should be read following Scoring With Him. This romance between two professional athletes spans five epic years.

REVIEW:

Note:  This review contains spoilers for Scoring With Him, book one of The Men of Summer series.

“As he leaves, I know two things with absolute certainty. I fucked up badly, letting him go. And I want him back more than I’ve wanted anything in a long time.”

Well, Scoring With Him certainly walloped us upside the head with a big, multi-faceted cliffy. As soon as I saw Winning With Him in my inbox, all life screeched to a halt. I was half way through another book – oh well. Grocery shopping – sorry, Charlie. Laundry to do – no way, José. Everyone leave me alone so I can spend the day with Declan and Grant and find out how bad Grant’s injury is and how it affects the story. And what’s the deal with Declan’s break up text to Grant … who does that? And what the heck is up with Declan’s alcoholic father’s sudden appearance and how much damage will he do? This epic romance answers all that and continues a beautiful love story.

The book spans five years from the time of Declan’s devastating text. He called it off for Grant’s benefit: baseball and love can’t mix, especially for a rookie trying to prove his worth and get a starting position on his team.

Lauren Blakely discloses more about both Declan and Grant’s childhoods when the story takes a look at Declan’s life at thirteen and Grant’s at fourteen. We got a peek at their negligent parents in book one, but here we are given more detail and an understanding into how their hurtful words and actions shaped the men they are today. There weren’t physical blows, but the emotional blows caused turmoil that affects Grant and Declan’s relationship now.

These men are supremely likable characters. Grant and Declan both experience tremendous growth in the intervening years. Grant is afraid to give a piece of his heart to Declan again after Deck threw it away once. His mantra: don’t let the people who hurt you back into your heart. He discovers that his greater purpose in life is bigger than baseball. He’s an advocate for LGTBQ rights and equality, particularly for youth athletes. He wants to be a voice, to matter to others, and to use his success in baseball as a platform to achieve those goals.

Declan has to learn that he can trust and rely on others, not just himself. He doesn’t have to protect others and fix their problems, as was his practice in younger years. He needs to deal with enabling an addict and his codependency, to change his bad habits, and discover who he needs to be. Declan wants to open up to Grant and reveal who he is inside.

As has already been established, Grant and Declan have smoking hot chemistry. The kissing is, at times, fevered, romantic, sensuous, insistent, or healing.

“You are still just . . . my undoing,” I whisper as my body aches to return home to him.

There is a lot of sex in the second half of the book. I felt the narrative was too wordy during the sexy times, with the descriptions of their feelings overly flowery instead of expressing simple passion. It takes away from the urgency and even had me – GASP! – skimming some of the sex scenes.

Grant’s band of teammate buddies on the Cougars – Chance, Crosby, Sullivan, and Miguel – are again present, as are Grant’s sister, grandparents, and best friend, Reese. Declan’s mother and her husband are back, too. Grant has established a strong friendship with River, the owner/bartender from the Lazy Hammock in Phoenix; I was excited to learn that River will star in The Bromance Zone this fall.

My only significant complaint with the book was the disappointing let down regarding the cliffhanger. One aspect of the plotline was a complete bust, a total non-issue when this book picked up. I felt misled because some of the angst at the end of Scoring With Him felt manufactured and unnecessary.

Setting that aside, Winning With Him is a terrific sports romance. It was a pleasure to read the continuation of Grant and Declan’s saga, as the characters grew and developed into better versions of themselves, and better men for each other. The right men, at the right time, in the right place. Finally. I can’t wait for the conclusion of their love story in All in With Him later this month. I highly recommend this fantastic novel.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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