All of Me

All of Me, by Jennifer Bernard, is the first in her new Love Between the Bases series. The hero is Caleb Hart a pitcher for the Kilby Catfish, a triple A baseball team where he is hoping to regain a spot on a major league team. He is dealing with a lot of stress between sharing guardianship for his younger twin brothers with his college age sister and letting his on parole father live with him. The heroine is Sadie Merritt a down on her luck assistant to the mayor of Kilby, Texas. She had the guts to break up with her ex-boyfriend who was a member of a rich family who ruled the town. Sadie’s ex-boyfriend was not happy about being dumped so he spread nasty lies about her all over town and Sadie swears off men. Sadie and Caleb work together to get more of the town to support the baseball team. Through this time spent together they discover how much they share as well as how much they enjoy being together. Their chemistry is amazing and hard to ignore. I loved the way Bernard showed the growth of the relationship between these two characters as well as how they learn to trust each other. I also appreciated Sadie’s attempt to help Caleb out of a difficult situation, meeting her ex in order to do this. I highly recommend this book to all readers and I cannot wait for the next story in this series. I received an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review

Jennifer Bernard has done it again!!! Her new series, Love Between the Bases, hits a home run with the first book in the series All of Me. Bernard known for her ability to blend humor, love, and adventure does not disappoint with Caleb and Sadie’s journey from weary almost adversaries to struggling with their growing feelings and finally to the happily ever after these two deserve. All of Me seamlessly mixes the backdrop of Minor League baseball, small town Texas, and of course love. Caleb is a rising pitching star who has a hit a snag and finds himself in Kilby Texas as part of the Minor League Catfish and right in the path of Sadie who is trying to be as perfect as possible after a very public and nasty break-up. Bernard tackles tough issues like online bullying, harassment, family abandonment, and the dynamics of welcoming someone back into the fold after having survived and taken care of your family on your own. However despite going to deeper places she never makes it feel heavy or depressing and often has the reader cheering for a verbal slap…or in some cases a physical one. This first book and, I am quite certain based on the greatness of the Bachelor Firemen, the series are not to be missed!!! Plus baseball pants, that’s really all that needs to be said ;)

I was interested in reading All of Me because I love baseball - America's pasttime. This story brings in an interesting twist to a romantic happily-ever-after because Sadie is recovering from a scandal out of her control, and Caleb is hiding from a scandal, lurking in the shadows. I really enjoyed reading the baseball aspects of the story. The tussles that the team can't seem to help but get involved with brought a comedic facet to the story. The author also creates a group of characters that you hate - that you love to hate - the Wades. The Wades believe they "own" the town yet their own hubris becomes their downfall as Sadie, and the Mayor, and the Kilby Catfish together are able to bring them down, much to my delight. The characters were generally likable and the foundation has been laid for future books highlighting other residents of Kilby, TX. I struggled with the writing style. The author enhances the primary aspects of her sentences by sprinkling in numerous superlatives, metaphors, and similes to provide emphasis to certain points. Those writing techniques can be effective when used strategically and judiciously, but for this author, it seems to be a "go to" writing style and it became quickly overused. Some examples of this style include, "I could touch you until the end of time", "Because I want it more than life itself...", "chasing every thought to kingdom come", "had just screwed their brains out", "blown off the top of his head", "like the most beautiful flower in the world," "it could have been a house landing on him," and "like two survivors of a natural disaster". Those cliches, similes, metaphors, and superlatives are all contained within about a 10 page span in the book, which in my definition qualifies as overused. There are long stretches of the book that flow well with a good balance of dialog, prose, and appropriate writing enhancements, but other parts which felt bursting with these cliches, it made it difficult to focus on the story. All of Me is a sweet love story where, in typical fashion, the hero needs to be smacked upside the head to realize what he's got, or lost. I cheered for Sadie as she took back her strength and power, and know there are good stories lurking in the future for the supporting cast of characters from Kilby. A light, enjoyable read. Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.