This is a follow-up to Abramson’s Chances Are. You do not need to have read that one, but it helps. There are no crossover characters with her other work.

This was a quick read. While it had many of the predictable romance elements, it was enjoyable nonetheless. Abramson clearly enjoys baseball, and the behind-the-scenes look at baseball life is fun, as is the ongoing prank war between some of the players.

Kari is the typical independent young woman coming off a bad breakup. Her goal is medical school, but no one seems to think she’s capable of the many more years of high stress education that will take. Except, of course, for Ryan. Ryan is tired of women who want to date him because he’s A. Good looking; B. Semi-famous; C. Pretty well off; D. All of the above. So when Kari comes to stay with Ben and his wife, pretending to date her seems like the solution to his problems.

Add in the twist of Ryan’s mother being hit by a car and needing near-round the clock care just as he has to leave for a road trip, and you add an interesting dynamic to the relationship.
There are the usual complications and misunderstanding, but the book comes to the requisite happy ending.

Possible objectionable material:
Sneaky underhanded exes. Kissing. Medical issues. I would totally let my 14-year-old read this if she were interested.

Who might like this book:
Those who like clean romance. Being a baseball fan doesn’t hurt!

Thank you to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for the eARC, which was provided in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

This book also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-dozen-by-traci-hunter-abramson.html

Fun romance, Kari and Ryan were a fun couple and very entertaining 'fall'. The setting with the medical issues, the baseball games, fans, players and the media made for a fun romance and great read. I will say, I enjoy T. A. action novels more, but this was still a good read. Kari and Ryan had a growing relationship throughout the novel. The chaos of Ryan's schedule made for fun moments, but also caused some moments where they had to learn to trust one another and communicate. I always love reading about genuine, honest, characters, with real sincere hearts. They truly wanted an honest relationship, with hope for a 'home'. Kari's giving nature, her genuine desire to help others, and reach out to those who needed her help, and Ryan's respect, admiration, grew as he saw her interactions with his friends, family, and others. They both grew over the course of the novel, and both learned about each other in a meaningful way. Little things added up to bigger ones for them. They had chemistry for sure that convinced them to hope, but truly the comfort of 'home' was what made it work for them and for me. The small simple moments that added up to something big.
I did say no violence, there is one scene where a punch is thrown and connected, but I consider that mild in the context of what and how it happened. This was more of a 3.5 for me as a reader, but loved all the baseball games! I am definitely a fan.
Fun, lovely read!

I have always enjoyed the suspense novels written by Traci Hunter Abramson. She was one of the first authors that pulled me into reading romance. I especially love that her characters are real and plausible..
Kari goes to live with her brother to get away from her scum of a boyfriend. Her brother plays professional baseball and she ends up helping one of his teammates out with an old girlfriend problem. The chemistry is immediate (loved it!) There are twists; some predictable and some not.
This was such a fun read. I kept sneaking time out of my insanely busy life to read this.

Content: Clean
Source: Netgalley for an honest review

An absorbing book
Couldn't put this book down and read through the night instead of getting some sleep! Kari has had her heart stomped on and is not looking for a relationship when she meets Ryan and is drawn (by her brother) into pretending to be his new girlfriend. An entertaining story set in the world of baseball.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

When your boyfriend lies to you, what do you? Especially when you find out he's a cheat and his dad ruins your plans for the summer?

What happens when your ex-fiancee won't leave you alone? She keeps appearing and causing problems with your friends, their wives and the press. No matter how many times you say no, she's there causing problems.

To answer those questions...if you're Kari, you pack up and head to stay with your brother(who happens to be a professional baseball player) and his wife(your best friend). If you're Ryan, a professional baseball player, you take the offered help of your fellow teammate, and have his sister pretend to be your girlfriend. And Tah Dah!!! Problems solved, easy peasy!

Ok maybe not quite all easy peasy as it sounds but it makes some great fun and a juicy entertaining book that will suck you right into the pages. I always enjoy the fake boyfriend/fake girlfriend scenarios. I have seen Traci's name for years and years and always think how great her books looks and as I was reading this, I thought that I might have read one of her books over the years. But I went and checked out her list of books and nope, I haven't yet. So this was a first and let me tell you, I was really impressed. The storyline was so well written out, the characters were solid and well developed, the struggles and angst of the story were very believable and enjoyable. It was a fabulous read! Great job Ms. Abramson!!!

I really fell in love with Kari and Ryan. They had such a sweet relationship, and watching, ahem, reading, that blossom and grow was great. It wasn't an instant love and yet the way the author told their story, you could feel the emotions of meeting someone and connecting with them right away. The rush of liking someone leading into really getting to know them and falling in love. Lots of great feels in this novel.

So I have figured out that this book is a companion read to Chances Are. A Chance for Home can definitely be read as a standalone but I'm thinking I need to go back and read that story because I fell in love with the characters from it, Ben and Maya. Ben is Kari's brother and Maya is her best friend. Another great read to add to my list!

If you are a baseball fan, then I think you'll enjoy this book. I loved those scenes and could picture the game happening and the fans in the stands. So fun. I played softball from when I was younger into high school, not on school teams but community or church teams. Then in college when it was time for creating your own teams to play in the coed tournaments, I played then and loved it! (I'll just brag a little and say our team did really awesome and was one of the top 5-it was coed though and not collegiate level but hey, it was a blast)!

Content: Squeaky clean! Loved it! I would recommend for older YA, like 15/16 years old and up. Some sweet and swoony kisses.

I received a copy from the publisher, Covenant Communications, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

This is a companion novel to her book Chances Are. You don't have to read the first story, but it is alluded to several times throughout the story.
I don't love this kind of book by THA. I think her creativity really shines when it is a mystery or suspense story. This was a good read if you like a slower paced romance. It was fairly predictable, but a fun and easy beach read.

This was a really sweet romance and i quite enjoyed it would try more from this author.

I really liked this book! It was a great relaxing read! I liked the characters and found the plot realistic and easy to follow. Although I would have preferred the Cubs as the baseball team, it was a good book!

Cute cover, and an easy read makes this one a good pick for a day at the Park or the Beach. I would have liked a little more in-depth of a plot, or letting us in on a little more of the emotions of the characters. It felt like a really long novella, in simplicity of story line and how easy and quickly the two main characters find each other.

A different and interesting storyline, the reader will enjoy the book. The supporting characters make a necessary addition to what is a fairly linear plot. I loved Ryan's Mom and the challenge she brought to the relationship. The insight of both her and Kari's father was also much needed.

Heavy on the baseball lingo, as you would expect, as Ryan is a major league baseball star - as a non baseball fan that left me a little less interested also. If you love baseball, that will also appeal to you as the reader.

Overall I enjoyed the story, set mostly in Washington DC, a clean contemporary romance read.

Thank you to Netgalley & Covenant Communications for the eARC. This is my honest review.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGallery and I am voluntarily reviewing it.

The copy I received had some formatting and grammatical errors BUT it didn't take anything away from the story. It was so easy to read but hard to put down. The characters and plot were well developed and easy to relate to. I hated for the story to end. I do have to go back and read the first book of this series. Ben's and Maya's story sounds wonderful. I hope there is a third book in this series. I would love to continue reading these couples stories while enjoying another couple!!!!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a great romance that doesn't rely on sex to sell the story. It is romance after all!!

This book had a sweet premise. and was clean throughout. I appreciated that so much in a romance story. The characters and plot fell flat for me and I had to struggle/skim reading most of the last 1/3 of this book. I would have liked to seen some more chemistry between the two main characters and less predictability.

Be sure to add this fun book to your summer reading list. When Kari Evans flees college for her summer break, she's ready to relax and spend time figuring out what she wants in life. A disastrous relationship has left her at loose ends and the last thing she is looking for is a romantic entanglement. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, hot baseball player, Ryan Strobel, is hard to resist. A fun, flirty read that will draw readers in. Definitely recommend.

3 1/2 stars for this clean, sweet contemporary romance. (See update below.)

For a contemporary romance, it was surprisingly clean. It was refreshing to read about a "famous person" who was more interested in a deep, meaningful relationship than what he could get from countless other attention seekers now days.

I received an ARC from Netgalley, and because of the publisher I was kind of expecting at least Christian references to solution finding, but it wasn't there. Mostly it was strength of character that carried the individuals through. It was still a lovely story, and I'll probably read it again sometime!

Update - Apparently I enjoyed it even more than I thought. I immediately turned around and started re-reading sections of it again, until I nearly finished the whole thing again. This time without preconceived expectations, I liked it even better; I give it the full 4 stars!