Reviewed by Lesley
TITLE: Sliding into Love: AN M/X Bellport Romance
AUTHOR: A.W. Scott
PUBLISHER: Self published
LENGTH: 328 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 11, 2025
BLURB:
Some love stories take years to begin.
Royce Bellport has always known who they are. Growing up nonbinary in a small Southern town wasn’t easy, but with a supportive family and a fierce sense of self, they learned to hold their head high. Still, some scars never fade—especially the ones left by Kenneth Meyer, the quiet boy who stood by while his best friend made Royce’s life miserable.
Kenneth always noticed Royce. How could he not? Confident, bright, and unafraid to be themselves—everything he wished he could be. But back then, he didn’t have the courage to speak up, let alone admit his crush. Years later, he’s grown up, built a career, and tried to forget the one person he never really stopped thinking about.
When Royce’s brother makes a surprise bid to buy Kenneth’s baseball team, old memories and long-buried feelings resurface. Forced to work side by side, Royce and Kenneth find themselves navigating more than business deals. They’re untangling the past, rediscovering trust, and maybe, learning what love looks like the second time around.
Sliding into Love is a tender MX romance featuring a proud nonbinary lead, a remorseful man finally finding his voice, and the kind of slow-burn redemption that makes forgiveness feel like falling in love. Though set in A.W. Scott’s Bellport universe, this story can be read as a standalone.
REVIEW:
Yay, we are back in Bellport. This time we are focusing on the baseball team the Bellport Blue Jays. When Bellamy Bellport buys it on behalf of his boy Finn, Bellamy’s sibling Royce offers to manage it for him. That means that Royce will be taking over from their childhood nemesis Kenneth Meyersand Royce thinks it will feel good to be taking the team he built away from him.
When Royce came out as non-binary at school Kenneth’s best friend Clark made Royce’s life a living hell and Kenneth never stopped him. Now Royce has to find a way to work with him to learn how to run a baseball team.
Kenneth has always had a major crush on Royce. Even at school he couldn’t get the words out stop his friend Clark from bullying them because he was too flustered around them. He doesn’t know how he is going to earn Royce’s forgiveness and trust.
I was really pleased to learn this was going to be Royce’s book, they have deserved their own story from the start. We definitely get to learn a lot more about them and their history. They are such a complex character. We get to see how a loving family, like the Bellport’s, can impact your life and how the weight of expectations from a family, like the Meyers, can negatively affect your life. It was interesting to understand Kenneth and his motivations and struggles as well. Both characters, despite coming from money, had different challenges in their childhood that have affected their adult selves and adult relationships.
I do really enjoy how we always get to meet characters from prior books and different series. Allie winds them in perfectly. Not only do we get to see more of the Bellport’s, their partners and friends, we also get to meet again Carver and his boy Gideon, from the book Carver in the Angel of Ruins Series. For me personally, the only thing I didn’t love about this book was the epilogues. They just felt a bit unnecessary.
I am really looking forward to future books in the Bellport series. Please can Grizzly’s book be next!
RATING: 
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