Five Baseball Romances Worth Your Time

It’s spring, and in my world, that means it’s baseball season. I’ve loved this sport since I was wee and I will hear none of this “it’s too boring” nonsense. (I respect all opinions, of course, and you are entitled to them, even those that are wrong.)

While baseball is not the most written about sport in Romancelandia (I think that’s probably ice hockey), there’s still a few books that are fabulous if you are like me and enjoy your springs and summers accompanied by peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

I’m assuming, by the way, that if you do like baseball/sports romances, you’ve read all of Jaci Burton’s Play by Play series, so they’re not listed here. IF YOU HAVEN’T, then get thee to your favorite book source and start there. When you’re done glomming those, come on back here and I’ve got a few more to add to your list.

Team Player by Juliana Keyes

We gave this one a DIK for non-baseball reasons, but as the resident baseball fan, let me tell you it is also a realistic depiction of the game. I loved Gwen and Tyler as a couple, but also loved how much Gwen loves the game. I’m a sucker for sports romances where the true nerd of the sport is the girl, and this one is top of the list.

Reedsville Rooster series by Holley Trent

Fair warning, this one is erotic romance and was spun out from the long-running Den of Sin erotica series. About a minor league baseball team and various exploits by the team members, very little of this action takes place on the field, but Ms. Trent’s sense of the business side of this sport is so good. There are, by the way, a variety of sexual pairings with this five book series, so odds are your literary itch will be scratched.

Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis

This one is a must for anyone who loves simmering sexual tension, because Wade and Samantha have it in droves. Wade is one of baseball’s bad boys and Samantha is the publicist tasked with cleaning up his image. You can see how this plays out. It does end abruptly – there’s rumors of a third book to tie things up being cancelled by the publisher, which would explain some things – so be warned on that, but the HEA is satisfying, the sex is hot, and the baseball is good.

Called Up by Jen Doyle

Best Friend’s Sister trope alert! Friends for years, and off limits to each other, Fitz and Deke find boundaries being tested in this second book in Ms. Doyle’s Calling It series. The baseball-ness is good in all of the books, but since Best Friend’s Sister is one of my favorite tropes when executed well, this is the one which made this list. But seriously, just read them all.

Major Love by Kate Stewart

Part of her Balls in Play series about a MLB team in Charleston, SC, Major Love is my personal favorite of the trio. They’re all stand alones, so dive in where you see fit and I know most folks prefer the first book, but there’s something about forced proximity romances that just work for me. In this one, the hero and heroine get a cold that forces them in the same house recuperating together Because Plot Reasons. Throw in all the baseball, and this one is a winner for me.

Honorable Mention – The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

This one is baseball adjacent, in that the titular event takes place at a baseball game, but the relationship to the sport exists entirely from a fan perspective. Not quite enough for me to consider it a ‘baseball romance’, but it’s a fabulous book and you should really just read it anyway.

So that’s my list – what did I miss?

~ Kristen Donnelly

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