What an interesting story. I was nice to see a woman in the starring role of a baseball story. Yep, I really mean starring. As the author put it “Fans of TV’s Pitch will love this wrap-up to the charming world of the Arlington Aces baseball team.” And, I did love it, even though there were times I really wanted to slap Pauly.

We’ll start with Pauly. I totally get that women in a men’s world need to work harder, fight harder and push harder. But, there were times that she was just absolutely unreasonable. I got it … Ian was a partier, had nothing to lose – or did he? It was the age-old adage – don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Her problems – getting over how she see’s Ian, getting him to take the game seriously, getting him to understand her need to make it to the Majors, her family and, keeping her libido in check.

Ian was a partier but he totally understood the drive to win. He also understood hardship. What Pauly doesn’t know is that he needs the bonus just as much as she wants to make it to the majors. He agrees to Paulys little bet and they are off to the play-off’s. Now, he has to learn how to work with the one woman that doesn’t trust his judgment, that is more interested in reading stats instead of players and sets off every one of his bells and whistles.

Giving into their attraction could be dangerous but it’s inevitable. Now, on top of keeping their bet a secret, keeping Ian’s family’s secrets, they have to hide their affair and their true feelings for each other. Trust finally comes into play when Pauly has a choice to make and puts everything on the line with Ian. As the season ends and dreams come true, other choices need to be made and Pauly has to decide if she really wants to do it without Ian by her side. Or does she?

This story had a little bit of everything in it. I admired that Elley Arden was able to convey all kinds of emotions from her characters … happiness, sadness, fear, insecurities, determination, angst and, finally, love. She was able to tell this story in a way that you were rooting for both Ian and Pauly but for different reasons and had me hoping that they both got what they were striving for. I guess you could say that I was really a cheerleader throughout this story. But, what I loved most was, once they were on the same page, that they admitted to their feelings, they were committed … there was no one from their past that tried to break them up, there was nothing that truly tore them away from each other and, in the end, they were there for each other. I really enjoyed the final book in the Arlington Aces and hope to read more from Ms. Arden.

The third book in the Arlington Aces series a well written story that held my interest until the end. This is Arlington Aces’ backup catcher Ian Pratt and Pauly Byrne's story which I enjoyed reading. I want to read more in this series. I received an ARC of this book and I am voluntarily reviewing.

Really choppy, great plot. Just wasn't cohesive for me. Have read more by this author love other books.

I tried reading this book but for some reason I just couldn’t get past the 3rd chapter. I kept putting this book down & picking up something else instead. I’ve finally given up on it.

I loved this book! It reminds me of that tv show on Fox called Pitch. I'm a baseball fan, so I loved the whole concept, and the romance in it was super swoon-worthy!

What a really interesting and fun book of two people who come together over the love of a sport. One taking it on as pure enjoyment and making the team, Ian Pratt. The other, Pauly Byrne she had to fight and claw her way in the all-male sport until she came along. It really bothered her that second string catcher, Ian, was so laid back when they had a job to do.
Being a first-string pitcher, she knew she only had one more season to make it into MLB so she needed to win the season’s championship. When her regular catcher test dirty she can’t believe it. Then, his back up ends up on the disabled list so that only leaves Ian Pratt. Which to hear her say it, it sounds like a four-letter word. She is not happy.
Pratt has never had a problem with her, in fact, he tried to help her on day one until she bit his head off. From then on acting like she was better than most of the team, well except for the MLB players that had been dropped down for any reason. So, he just kept his distance. Now, however, she needed something from him if only cooperation. He wasn’t going to make it easy she just knew it.
See how these two learn to work together. Overcome their differences. Some might think it’s just a race thing. They would be wrong. Ian has to face some truths about his life that make Pauly’s issues seem petty at times she must put herself in check. She finds she doesn’t even like her behavior. Very interesting and well done as to how Ian’s family’s issues were handled. Also, how these two find that in their differences of opinions that they were more alike than they thought in others.
I give this book 5++++ stars. Provided netgalley.com. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

This one was a nice and entertaining story. I liked how professional Pauly was, and determined to make it. Ian had a nice arc, starting from being kind of a douche to being a real team player and great partner to Pauly. The main characters were appropriately fleshed out, and so were the secondary characters. All in all, a good read !

A great end to a super series this might just be my favorite.This was a super series and Pauly's book did not disappoint the chemistry between her and Ian is off the charts a great read i loved it.

ableist language in some parts, but the interracial romance was cute. very Pitch, the tv show that didn't last

I'm not a big sports fan, but baseball is one of the few that I can understand pretty well without having to do a ton of research on rules, yardlines, whatever. I remember seeing the commerical for the show Pitch and when The Perfect Game was comped with that, I thought I'd like to check it out.
Pauly is a very dedicated person to baseball and it was easy to feel that throughout the book. Her knowledge of stats was amazing, as was her commitment to the sport.
Ian started out as kind of a douchebag, which was the point I think. His drinking and womanizing was a much talked about point on the team and I wasn't sure how he and Pauly would ever work out, whether professionally or personally.
The relationship that did develop was a bit confusing, as I couldn't really connect with it. Even though they had been teammates for a few years now, the more personal and physical relationship happened really quickly and became more serious than I'd have expected in such a short period of time.
As to side characters, the most developed one were Ian's father, though more were introduced including other teammates and members of Pauly's family. Ian and his father, Ray, had an intense history and the troubles they went through in The Perfect Game was interesting. It's ending was a bit sad, but I thought the author did a well thought out job of dealing with Ray's alcoholism and it's effect on his life.
There were moments of tension regarding Pauly and her career, but as important as these events are, they didn't feel like a big deal within the context of the story. What tension they brought up didn't last long or leave much of a real mark on the story.
There were definitely some steamy scenes between Pauly and Ian, which should satisfy those looking for the romance aspect of the story. As I said before, I didn't care for the rapid development of their relationship, but I can see that there will be reader that enjoy those scenes, as well as the happily ever after once The Perfect Game concludes.
This was a good story, if not among my favorites. There were aspects I didn't care for, but I think other readers may well. I liked the baseball aspects, even if I wasn't quite familiar with the set up of major league, minor league, and club teams. There's a little of something for quite a few classes of reader and I do hope others will enjoy Pauly's rise in the sport.

I’m not generally one for sports romances, mostly because I’m not one for sports. This one is about baseball, and I wanted to read it because it centers a Black woman pitcher determined to make it in a sport that is very much a boys club. I love women in sports stories, always have. And I loved those aspects of this book, loved watching her determination, her stubborn and intense confidence in her abilities, her grappling with misogyny. I loved the bits about her relationship with her family, and how she struggled, socially, because she took herself so seriously. She was by far my favorite part of the story, and her personal arc in the sport aspect of the story, which was all about building trust and connection with the catcher she was working with and figuring out how they could succeed together, was the kind of women in sports story that is exactly what I love.

I didn’t care for the hero. I could tell he was supposed to win me over, but he just didn’t. I didn’t like him. I didn’t think he deserved her. I didn’t root for them as a couple. I cared about him working out as a team mate for her on the field, but off the field, I thought he was bad for her, and didn’t care that he was working on self-improvement. There was something missing in his characterization for me. I think it felt too easy, too hand wavy, both for what his issues were and for his arc of change. He comes from a family of alcoholics and drinks very heavily and then can just give it up cold turkey? He goes from coping with difficult traumatic stuff by hiding his head in the sand to openly facing his problems, because of the love of a good woman? It all felt too easy and unearned. (And that’s putting aside the moment in the book where he says something intensely terrible that made me want to toss the book across the room and definitely meant I stopped rooting for him as a character or as a match for her. That moment is described in the next paragraph.)

There is a moment in The Perfect Game that I found very hurtful and problematic. In this moment, the heroine asks the hero if his mother is a good person. He replies that his mother is bipolar and committed suicide. His response basically says that his mother is *not* a good person *because* she is bipolar and committed suicide. This is a deeply ableist and harmful idea to put into the world, and one that is likely to be hurtful to readers who have connections to mental illness. It demonizes mentally ill parents and parents who commit or attempt suicide. As a reader with mental illness, who has parents who are mentally ill, and has family members who committed suicide, I found it extremely harmful to read. It is something that would be fairly easy to change without altering the plot or significant aspects of the story; the lead in to him talking about his mom could just be a different one. I wrote to the publisher asking them to consider changing it. I held off posting my review until the book released, in the hope that they decided to do so. I did not receive a response from them, so I am posting the review; I will change the review if I hear that this has been removed from the story. This moment in the story tanked it for me. Any thought I had of rooting for him as a character, any desire I had for them to make it as a couple, was gone. In this moment, he erased all my good will towards him as a character.

There is another deeply ableist moment, late in the book, where a physically disabled minor character is introduced purely to create a moment of pity and sentimentality for the abled characters. It made me want to toss the book across the room. It was an incredibly blatant use of disability as a cheap plot device, and it was painful to read.

The sports arc was by far the best part about this romance, which lacked chemistry between the hero and heroine, had a hero that was not worth the heroine’s time, and had two intensely blatant and harmful moments of ableism.

Trigger Warnings: Detailed description of addiction. Family dynamics related to addiction. MC’s family member committed suicide and this is described and also drives some of the character’s motivations.

Pauly Bryne is a starting pitcher in professional baseball for the Arlington Aces, an Independence League. Ian Pratt is the replacement catcher that she's always harbored a grudge against after taking his unsolicited advice, the wrong way. Her regular catcher has been sidelined for failing a drug test, so she's stuck with Ian and she's very vocal about her displeasure.

Pauly's motto is ... a best offense is a good defense and she tries to prepare for every possible variable. She relies on the team's scouting report and Ian relies on his observations and gut instincts. They're like oil and water, but Pauly's singular goal is to make it to the majors. For Pauly, it's her first and only love -- it's what she (and her family) always dreamed of and sacrificed for her entire life. Of course, Ian is the total opposite -- he wings it -- because for him, it's just a fun game to play.

Because failure is not an option Pauly knows she needs to keep her eyes on the ultimate goal, so she takes the advice of her coach to bond with Ian by inviting herself along to Ian's 3-day bros getaway. The bros quickly abandon Ian to his fate!

The getaway opens Pauly's eyes when she connects with Ian on a personal level and she gets glimpses of the real Ian behind the facade he presents to the world. Ian teaches her techniques to relax and encourages her to trust him on game days. Ian discovers that Pauly's anal tendencies definitely have a time and place where it can be extremely beneficial. Their bonding ignites a long dormant smoldering flame and exposes their repressed attraction to each other. Their near miss sexy moments leads to the discovery of something meaningful happening between the two of them -- forever.

I loved this story and would love to see what happens next for this couple. If you are a fan of baseball or you were a fan of Pitch (on FOX) and the character Ginny Baker, I think you'll enjoy reading this sweet love story.

I love this series by this author! I have been wanting Paula's story and it didn't disappoint! She is so determined and smart. With major decisions to be made, this season looms large for her and the Aces. Ian is just about the complete opposite of Pauly. though there doesn't seem to be anything opposite about their chemistry when they are together. I really enjoyed the completion of this series and can't wait to see what this author has for us next.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I really do love hockey romance books and this is another great one too. I've read a lot of books over the years and I can honestly say this is one of great ones I've had the pleasure to read and will be looking out in the future for more of this series and this author. Would recommend giving this author ago I didn't regret it one bit so what you waiting for go

an ok read