Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Unwritten Rules
SERIES: Unwritten Rules
AUTHOR: KD Casey
NARRATOR: Lee Osorio
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 13 hours and 19 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2023
BLURB:
Ex-teammates—and exes—reunite for a second chance in this delightful sports romance from debut author KD Casey.
Zach Glasser has put up with a lot for the sport he loves. Endless days on the road, playing half-decent baseball in front of half-full stadiums and endless nights alone, pretending this is the life he’s always wanted.
The thing is, it could have been everything he ever wanted—if only he’d had the guts to tell his family, tell the club, that he was in love with his teammate Eugenio Morales. Well, ex-teammate now. When Zach wouldn’t—couldn’t—come out, Eugenio made the devastating choice to move on, demanding a trade away from Oakland. Away from Zach.
Three years and countless regrets later, Zach still can’t get Eugenio out of his head. Or his heart. And when they both get selected to play in the league’s All-Star Classic, those feelings and that chemistry come roaring back.
Zach wants a second chance. Eugenio wants a relationship he doesn’t have to hide. Maybe it’s finally time they both get what they want.
REVIEW:
Zach is a closeted, Hard of Hearing catcher who is in his third year or so of the majors when a new catcher, Eugenio Morales, is brought onboard at Spring Training. They are both of course hoping to make the team. Zach is extremely helpful to to not only Eugenio, but the pitchers that he works with as well. He takes the rookies and new kids under his wing and does whatever he can to help make them successful. Basically Zach is a really nice guy. He’s been pretty much a loner because he’s so worried about anybody finding out he’s gay. He goes to extreme lengths to try to not give anyone a reason to suspect. He’s a Jewish kid from Baltimore who also doesn’t want to disappoint his parents who are now to the point of trying to set him up with any of their friends “eligible” daughters.
Eugenio Morales is a Venezuelan American prospect who has grown up in the Midwest. His parents are college professors and while they wanted Eugenio to maybe follow in their footsteps, they are supportive of his choice to play ball. He has only had one serious relationship – with his high school girlfriend – but he is definitely bi, which his parents know. He is grateful to be working with Zach but it’s more than that. He likes Zach, even though Zach seems sort of oblivious to Eugenio’s attraction, despite definitely being attracted himself. But when they spend more time together and then spend time alone together, Eugenio makes his move. But Zach is scared to death that someone is going to find out that he’s gay and so they dance around each other a bit more.
When both make the team, they are together every day in Oakland and they spend more and more time together. Zach is still worried about anyone finding out that they are more than friends. Eugenio goes along with things because Zach tells him he’s going to work on it – the coming out bit – but after two years, nothing has changed. Eugenio can’t take it anymore and leaves – not just Zach, but the team. In the meantime, Zach has taken a pay cut to stay with Oakland so he and Eugenio can be together. It’s all a big mess.
After years of being apart, Zach is traded to Miami. But he’s selected for the All-Star game for the first time – and it’s the first time in a long time that he and Eugenio are playing on the same team. Even if it is for one game, Zach remembers how good it was and he’s lonely and miserable and wishes he could have that time back. But he knows that Eugenio is not going to go back to being a secret from everyone. Zach finally has come to the point where he knows if he doesn’t make changes, he’s just going to stay miserable and lonely. But will Eugenio even care now if Zach is maybe actually ready to do something about it? He’s going to have to see some actual evidence that Zach isn’t going to stay stuck in the closet forever.
I’m usually a sucker for closeted professional athletes MM romances. Whether it’s football or hockey or baseball, I’m there for it. But I have to say this one was a real slog for me. This is both a new author and narrator for me and I don’t know that I will continue with the series. This book felt like it was twice as long as it needed to be. The story is told only from one MC’s perspective and it jumps from “present day” back to three-plus years prior starting with Spring training where Zach and Eugenio meet. To me, this device felt rather jarring and it’s also clear from where the story starts that the first attempt at a relationship does not work out – so we know where that whole arc is headed and it’s to heartbreak. Now three years later, when the MCs are in the same place at the same time, they reconnect in a way that they maybe don’t expect. My other major issue was that there are too many supporting characters with sort of pointless story lines that to me, didn’t add anything to the story – mostly distractions and the “it isn’t easy for me either” kinds of storylines. This audio clocked in at well over 13 hours and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I really only enjoyed the last 10 or so chapters. I did like how the author handled Zach’s hearing issues and what he had to do to work with others and how it affected both his personal life/interactions and how it impacted his ability to do his job.
While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the writing/story, I just didn’t feel like all the extraneous stuff added to the story. There is frankly way more baseball that romance here, and if you’re not a student of the game, a lot is probably lost. Too many of these scenes really slowed down the story for me. The narrator I think tried, but the whole book was just very low energy for me and I feel like it just wend on way to long. This narrator seems like he would be fine – this is my first experience with him and I thought he did a fine job with the large number of characters. The issue wasn’t necessarily with the performance. In my opinion, this book could have used another round of edits to make the story flow and not drag out the story. The pacing and time jumps really took away from what could have been a really enjoyable romance. Not sure if I will continue the series. As usual YMMV.
RATING: 
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