5 SMOOCHES!
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SYNOPSIS:
BREAKING NEWS: The Bad Boy of Baseball, Maddox Paige, is totally and utterly whipped.
Okay, that might not be the headlines in the newspaper this morning, but it’s the reality of my current situation.
It all started a month ago when I received a call from my best friend, Kinsley. She got a new job in Chicago and needed a place to stay. I’ve known the girl since I was five, what harm would it be to have her stay at my place for a while?
Ha! Total disaster.
Now instead of going out every night with my teammates, I’m couch surfing and sketching endless photos of my best friend . . . but that’s the least of my concerns.
The disaster, you ask? I’m rapidly falling head over cleats in love with my best friend, my roommate, and my number one fan.
And she has no idea . . .
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REVIEW:
I love the friends-to-lovers trope, and I adore Meghan Quinn’s writing. Put the two of those together, and you’ve got a story that I’m going to read. I’ve really got to hand it to her here. I’m not a baseball fan. I don’t watch the sport unless the Yankees are in game seven of the World Series, and even then, it’s really only because I’m outnumbered by males in my house. I’m a life-long, die-hard hockey fan, but I digress… Even though baseball is not my jam, this series has blown me away. I’ve loved every single book, and I’ve waited with bated breath for the next one.
Quinn took her readers on one heck of a slow-burn ride here—emphasis on the burn. I’ve read every single word this author has written since her release of The Mother Road in 2016. I can say with confidence that this is one of the hottest, headiest romances she’s ever written, and trust me when I tell you that that’s really saying something because Meghan doesn’t shy away from the heat in her stories. Readers met Maddox earlier in the series, but we got to know him a bit better in The Trade, where he played an integral part in the lead couple’s romance. I came into this book expecting a heavy dose of Maddox’s arrogant, cocky, alpha-hole, bad-boy ball player persona. While there definitely was a bit of that here, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by the real Maddox Paige.
Kinsley is the free-spirited, animal-loving, earth-saving, vegan girl-next-door and Maddox’s best friend since they were five. Having been through thick and thin and everything in between together, they’re each other’s person. When she’s offered her dream job in Chicago, Maddox opens his home to her, and it isn’t long before she’s turning his world upside down. I loved how she pushed Maddox outside his comfort zone, and I loved how he let her.
As a long-time Meghan Quinn reader, I know to expect a sucker punch to the feels from her at some point. Lulled into complacency by a sweet, sexy budding romance, witty banter and a tuxedo-wearing, three-legged dog, I was positively lost in this story, focused on the happily ever after when the heartbreak hit. But even though I knew it was coming, I still wasn’t prepared. She gutted me with the emotion portrayed here, and my heart shattered right along with theirs. There was plenty of humor, tons of heat and a gorgeous romance along the way to soften that blow, though.
The Change Up was everything I love about a friends-to-lovers romance wrapped up in a heat-filled, sometimes hilarious, heartfelt love story. This story took me by surprise in the best of ways, and it’s not only my favorite of the series, it’s a favorite for the year. Five smooches from me for The Change Up by Meghan Quinn!
~Danielle Palumbo
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Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children.