When he learned on national TV that he was being traded to a struggling expansion team in New York, shortstop Eddie O'Leary let his emotions get the better of him and said some harsh things about his new team. So when the 1960 baseball season started, Eddie found himself getting the cold shoulder from the whole team, something that didn't help his loneliness in a new city or his batting average, as he hit the worst slump of his short career. Meanwhile, journalist Mark Bailey has been in a bit of a slump himself, as he's spent the last 18 months grieving the death of his longtime boyfriend, a lawyer whose political ambitions forced him to keep his relationship with Mark in the closet. But when Mark's editor assigns him to write a series of human interest stories about Eddie, they see something in each other that helps bring a bit more spark into both their lives.
This is a slow-burn romance novel that manages to portray grief and loneliness with care and kindness, and shows how the blossoming relationship helps (but doesn't 100% solve the problem). Also, I appreciated how Sebastian let the relationship flourish while still making it believable for the time in which the story is set. Too often, historical queer romances seem to ignore the social restrictions (or wave them off), which makes the premise hard to buy into, and given the stigma against LGBT professional athletes in the 1960s (and sadly, still today), a grand "hey, this is my boyfriend!" announcement would've pushed it into impossibility. But Sebastian is able to give Eddie and Mark their happily-ever-after in a way that seems very real and relatable. I totally loved this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys slow-burn romances.
*This book will be published May 7, 2024.
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