Lawson’s review of Sliding Home by Kate Angell
Contemporary romance released by Love Spell 25 Aug 09
It’s summer, and that makes me happy to see some baseball books. I do enjoy baseball, but unfortunately I don’t really know much about it or really follow it much. That said during the summer it’s a nice pastime to think about baseball and read a baseball book. So far I enjoyed Jill Shalvis’ first in her baseball series and I’ve read a few in this series by Kate Angell. So let’s step up to the plate and see what’s going to come from the pitcher’s mound.
Kason Rhodes has come home to his trailer from six weeks of training camp in Florida to find a squatter occupying his home. She’s full of fire and refuses to leave and doesn’t believe he owns the trailer she’s decided is hers. While Kason does his best to get her out of his life, she does everything she can to cling to the little slice she’s tried to make her own. Kason has his hands full with Dayne Sheridan and slowly she creeps into his life to a point where he wants to come home to her and some tasty instant butterscotch pudding.
Though Dayne doesn’t really believe Kason for a few days, when she sees his electric bill from two months ago, she believes him about the trailer. She comes up with a solution of a small camper of her own to be his neighbor. She doesn’t know he’s a famous baseball player and cares for him the way that no one has before, thinking he’s as poor and desperate as she is. When Dayne finds out the truth, her past comes out, and she’s forced to grab on to the best thing in her life or run away, like she always has.
While both Kason and Dayne have rough pasts and a lot of baggage, nothing really made them seem more than one dimensional characters. Dayne was way too needy for something to call her own, granted with her childhood in poverty and her last relationship, it’s not hard to understand. She didn’t really seem to change much throughout the book though, always afraid the rug would be pulled out from under her and worrying if she had room to store the food in bulk she felt she always needed.
Kason was little better and seemed to put much more effort into making things work and keeping Dayne from running like a scared rabbit since things had gotten tough. While there was some chemistry, since the characters didn’t seem to have much depth, it didn’t really carry through the whole book. The couple of steamy scenes worked well enough, until Dayne complains she’s sore after four times with Kason and his. . .well endowed self. Someone so well endowed will make a girl more than just a little sore after four times (no, not personal experience, but I do trust my source on this one).
Like Angell’s other books, there’s another Richmond Rogue getting lucky in love. The secondary story between Rhaden and Ravelle seemed like an addition that Angell felt she had to make to go with the rest of the series to have two happy endings in one book. It was barely touched on and never filled out. That sort of short and flat secondary story just didn’t work as a whole. If there had been more time spent on it, it could have fleshed out the book a bit more and even given more depth to Kason and Dayne as well as Rhaden and Ravelle. The shortness of the book overall was probably why the characters didn’t really flesh out. If there had been more time developing them rather than handing things over in a nice little package, it probably would have worked better.
It was a light read and it’s at least good for a summery feeling with the baseball and a happy ending.
Grade: C-
Summary:
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WHO’D BEEN SLEEPING IN KASON RHODES’S BED? The left fielder for the Richmond Rogues had returned from six weeks of spring training in Florida to find someone had moved into his mobile home. That person was presently in his shower. And no matter how sexy the squatter might be, Kason wanted her out. He had his trusty dobie, Cimarron; he didn’t need anyone else in his life. Not even a stubborn tomboy who roused all kinds of wild reactions in him, then soothed his soul with peace offerings of home-cooked meals and kindness. The bad boy of baseball was ready to play hardball if need be, but with Dayne Sheridan firmly planted between his sheets, he found himself. . .SLIDING HOME
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Read an excerpt here.
I will never read this book and I’ll tell you why.
Kason. Dayne. WTF? REAL NAMES PLEASE! You want to be different, buy a dog. In fact Dayne is a good name for a dog… You don’t have to name every character John & Mary but Kason? Shesh.
Missy Ann – All her names are like that — Kason, Dayne, Psycho, Brek, Romeo, Rhaden, Risk, Revelle, Zen, etc. Even the “normal” names are like revisiting a mid-90’s teen movie: Jacy, Corbin (male), Stevie (female), Sloan, Eve, Taylor, etc.
The whole time I’m reading, I feel like I’m missing out on some big inside joke. It’s an odd feeling.
I love these books though. 🙂 Kate Angell’s baseball romances are like candy to me. I gobble ’em up. They average 4 stars for me, but they’ve all ended up on my keeper shelf anyway because they’re so charming and full of re-readable material.
C is an average grade so… tis not bad 😉
Glad you are enjoying it JenB. And missy I agree on names, but seems to be an issue for a lot of authors. It was the reason it took me so long to try Dark Lover because I couldn’t get past the names. Of course once I did I loved that book.