Fast-Pitch Love by Clay Cormany
Publisher: Clean Reads
Publication Date: July 27, 2016
Once in a former lifetime this reviewer used to be a little girl playing softball with her big brother’s baseball mitt, which is one reason why I was excited to see the subject of Clay Cormany’s young adult novel, Fast-Pitch Love, and couldn’t wait to read it.
Fast-Pitch Love is a frequently didactic novel (not in your face) that did remind me a lot of learning how to play a sport I loved and how a team comes together and learns to play as one.
Seventeen-year old Jace Waldron has had a crush on Stephanie Thornapple since the beginning of the semester when she appeared in his class. However, Carson, a scary and very intimidating offensive lineman snagged her for his own and warned all of the other boys away. Jace’s mother coaches a girls summer league fast-pitch softball team and asks Jace to copy the roster. When Jace sees that S.A. Thornapple is the assistant coach and that Carson is going to be spending the summer in Michigan, he sees an opportunity to ingratiate himself to Stephanie.
Fast-Pitch Love is quite different from a lot of YA novels out there in that there is a lot of softball talk and descriptions of the games, which I really enjoyed. It’s kind of like watching a sports movie and becoming fascinated by the team playing because the hero is the player or the coach (or whatever) and hoping they’ll make it to the play-offs. In this case, the Valkyries start out playing very badly, but improve throughout the season. If you like sports, you will find yourself cheering for this team of girls and their coaches.
Speaking of coaches, yes, there is some romance! So even if you aren’t fond of softball, there’s something here for you. In fact, Fast-Pitch Love offers a lot to its readers in that the characters are well-written and relatable; the story is intriguing; and writing is well-paced.
You might even find that Jace’s romantic dilemma keeps you guessing until the very end.
I received an ARC from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
From Amazon: Fast-Pitch Love
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rating: 
(4 out of 5 butterflies)
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