Monday 7 April 2014

Better Than Perfect - Kristina Mathews - #1

© Bianca ✰ 




KRISTINA MATHEWS
BETTER THAN PERFECT
• 224 pages
• release date: 7 April 2014

• Contemporary Sports-Romance
MORE THAN A GAME Series Book #1


★★★★★
4.999995 Stars



The woman he left behind and the son he never knew are tougher opponents than any he’s met on the field.
Pitcher Johnny “The Monk” Scottsdale has won awards, been named an All-star and has a perfect game to his credit. Known for his legendary control both on and off the field, his pristine public image makes him the ideal person to work with youth players in a preseason minicamp. Except the camp is run by the one woman he can’t forget…the woman who made him a “monk.”
Alice Harrison’s three strikes include an unexpected pregnancy, a marriage of convenience and young widowhood. She once traded her dreams so Johnny could have a chance at making it to the Majors. Johnny comes back into her life just as she’s ready to resign as foundation director and pursue her own dreams of finally earning her teaching credential. Her plans may go on hold, though, depending on the reaction when she confesses she may have kept a major league secret from Johnny and her son.
With the minutes ticking by until Johnny will leave for spring training, they’ll need to let go of the past and work together in order to win the game of love.
CONTENT WARNING:
Some strong language, consummated love scenes



MY THOUGHTS

 About the story...

Johnny Scottsdale has been a professional baseball player for 14 years. Now he's back in San Francisco for his final season. But baseball is not all that drew him to the west coast.
There's also Alice. The girl that got away 14 years ago.
She told him to go and be a famous baseball player.



She said she couldn't handle all the groupies and she didn't want to stop him from making his dreams come true.
But she did just that. Yes, he became a famous player, but he was never really happy. He never found what he had with Alice in College.


And Alice? Just a few months after she sent him on his way, she up and married his best friend Mel.

Mel has been dead for 8 years and Johnny is finally back to take what should always have been his life!

And then there's Zach. Alice's 13 year old son.
He and his mom have been huge Johnny Scottsdale fans forever! He's his hero. But Zach never knew his mom really knew Johnny in College!!
Is that maybe the reason why Zach doesn't look anything like his Dad Mel??

Lots of lies or omitted truths and lots of missed chances and moments.....


Will Johnny get the chance to win back the only girl he ever loved?
And what will he do once his career is over?

He needed to start thinking about his future.
But first he had to face his past.




WILL JOHNNY WIN THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF HIS LIFE?
WILL THE 3 OF THEM GET THEIR HEA???


I'm not telling you that of course!! GO READ IT!
 _____________________________________


I LOVED THE STORY!!!!!

It was in no way anything new or even all that original - I have read at least 10 books with the exact same story - BUT I still really enjoyed reading it.

I think I have never read a Baseball book - and I have not the slightest clue about anything baseball - so lots of words and phrases and jokes were a bit too much for me, but that didn't bother me all that much.
You can really see how much Kristina loves the sport!

I laughed, I cried...


But most of all I just ENJOYED the time I had with Johnny & Alice and especially Zach!
I really liked that Kristina gave Zach a voice too.

There were some romantic and sexy scenes in the book - I would've wished for a bit more of that - but it was really ok the way it was.

I had the tiny little feeling that the book wanted to be a Christian romance - without any talk about religion, but still ... it just felt a bit too perfect & prudish american for a german girl like me ☺ The language alone was just a bit too perfect for me. Every confirmation was always written as a complete YES - no YEP, YEAH, YUP, YA, UhHUH... I don't know why that bothered me, but it did a bit. ☺

But all the negative can't stop me from saying that BETTER THAN PERFECT was a really great sports romance. With really many moving moments!

And no book can do anything wrong for me, when it has either a Navy SEAL or a professional athlete in it ☺ grrrrrrrr



I really want to read the next book - I hope it's about Bryce - we met him already! I really enjoyed his scenes!!




LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR



STALK KRISTINA ON:

FACEBOOK HOMEPAGE GOODREADS



Kristina Mathews doesn't remember a time when she didn't have a book in her hand. Or in her head. But it wasn't until she turned forty that she confessed the reason the laundry never made it out of the dryer was because she was busy writing.

While she resigned from teaching with the arrival of her second son, she's remained an educator in some form. As a volunteer, parent club member or para educator, she finds the most satisfaction working with emergent and developing readers, helping foster confidence and a lifelong love of books.

Kristina lives in Northern California with her husband of more than twenty years, two sons and a black lab. A veteran road tripper, amateur renovator and sports fanatic. She hopes to one day travel all 3,073 miles of Highway 50 from Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD, replace her carpet with hardwood floors and serve as a “Ball Dudette” for the San Francisco Giants.