Professional baseball player Harmon "Hawk" Kiel made a mess of things. First for being drafted to a prestige team and being unable to deliver. Then he was outed when he had too much fun and was too drunk to take his regular precautions. Being transferred to the worst team possible - Loggerheads - was a deserving punishment but since he has nothing without baseball he accepts.
It took time for Harmon to say it "out loud" but in this stage in life he doesn't even like baseball and the fact he can't play as well as he "should" makes it even harder for him, not to mention his new team has another role for him to play so naturally he isn't good at it, and though he might be starting to get better, his lack of connections in town, in his team or just ANY friends makes his life miserable. His only real light is Caleb Jackson who is a part of the Loggerheads organization. He doesn't play, he sort of helps the team on practice though it's obvious he USED to play but where I stopped we still don't get any explanation to what happened. It was truly sad being in Harmon's head. Not because of what he was saying more so of what he wasn't or didn't have - including family (since he was outed).
Caleb Jackson, or as the team calls him - Snacks - is a fun guy. He gets along with everyone, has a loving mother who cares for him dearly and generally speaking and without mentioning why he can't play, he is a positive guy living a rather happy life. When he meets Harmon all his little sensors fire to 'safe the little grumpy puppy who needs to be loved'. He was far more forgiving that I think most people would be with Harmon's attitude when he just got there. He wasn't just "grumpy" he was mean saying things to HURT the other person which was really shitty of him. But Caleb somehow thought he could safe the guy and put the right effort in (especially since he was also VERY attracted to him).
There is a progression to their relationship but it's slow and mostly from Caleb's side. As Harmon puts it, he might be "out" but he isn't "out-and-proud". He doesn't have a lot of experience and he doesn't feel comfortable in his own skin or with his desires. I kinda felt bad for both him and Caleb. Caleb was really patient with him. It was sweet of him, though I was still partial to it because of Harmon's attitude (even if it did change a bit where I stopped).
Besides that there is A LOT of baseball talk. Don't know anything about it as I'm not American and people in my country are rarely interested in this sport. I don't know what to say really. Harmon didn't feel like "Hero" material for me and neither did Caleb. There were things I wanted to be uncovered like Caleb's reasons for not playing and Harmon's family situation but 60% in we got too little of that and too much of what didn't really interested me so I decided to just let it go.
I think this is where I stop with Elle's booklist. I originally read 2 novellas I liked so I wanted to give her a try, but after reading 3 books (with 3 more to go) I feel there is something missing in her writing and story telling for me. There isn't anything "bad" I have to say, it's just personal taste and general interests.
 | Rating: ★★ (DNF 60%) | E-Book Edition | 207 pages | Read on: 22-23 July 2021 |  |  |  |  |  |
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