Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I love the cover of this book and I was so excited to read this book because I love the Yankees, baseball and a good story but it didn't live up to what I thought it would be. This book was a quick read and had me entertained but I just wasn't crazy about the two main characters Angel and Caleb. I had a hard time connecting with them.

Just not for me.

Found the characters not very likeable and a bit all over the place.
I feel like the way this story was told was a step back in thinking compared to a lot of other books in this genre.

There was a lot of lost opportunity and potential here.

I’m going to be honest here: I was disappointed. This book let me down.

I’ll start with what I like, and then move onto what I don’t like.

I like that there’s a diverse cast of characters. I like baseball (okay, that’s more of a general thing than about the book, but whatever). I like Gabriela, Angel’s best friend. I like how the plot has some twists and turns. I like that Angel is hardworking and determined, and headstrong. She loves her son, Jose, a lot, and he’s a cute kid. I liked how the ending tied up everything.

The list of what I don’t like is…much longer.

The book, while diverse, fed into a lot of stereotypes, in my opinion. The characters also had some trouble with….being well-rounded. It seemed like minor research went into the creation of the characters, and all of them seemed very unreliable–they would do actions consistently that contradicted how they had been characterized. This wasn’t a plot device–every character was just poorly written. It made it hard to relate to them–I felt like I ought to feel for Angel and Duke and everyone because of some rough times they’d had, but I just…couldn’t. They didn’t seem real to me.

This also meant that the issues the book tried to tackle–teen pregnancy, shootings, sexual assault, etc–fell flat. Even though these are very important issues, the characterization made the handling of them very poor. I wasn’t impressed.

The plot also seemed contrived–it was like the writers just decided that “this is what NYC is like, this is what rich people are like, this is what poor people are like, and nothing else” and it made a lot of the events seem super unrealistic. I also didn’t feel any real romance bloom between Angel and Duke. There were no sparks, and they were total foils to each other.

Finally, the whole book was from third person limited POV, but the POV would switch several times throughout the chapter between Angel and Duke. This was confusing because there was no distinction in the narrative voice of the two characters–they thought and spoke exactly the same.

Overall, I wish more thought had gone into this book. It wasn’t completely horrendous, but I found myself slogging through it and not wanting to read it. It was a bit of a drag.

had a hard time enjoying this one. so sorry. I liked the cover and I purposely didn't read other reviews because I wanted to have an opened mind.

Angel Gomez only wants to get through nursing school and earn enough to support her mother and her son, Jose. Her bartending job helps bring in some extra cash, and the last thing she’s interested in is flirting or men in general.Caleb “The Duke” Lewis is an up and coming star for the Yankees, known for getting around. However, his last breakup left him distracted and made him turn to drink. When he’s caught by the Yankees manager at a party instead of training, he’s suspended and sent back to the Bronx to get his head straight.Angel and Duke’s worlds collide one night at the club and sparks fly. Though Angel wants nothing to do with Duke, he has no intention of letting her slip through his fingers. She isn’t star-struck by his fame, and this might be just what he needs to get things in order. He’ll do anything to convince her…even make her an offer she can’t refuse.- GoodreadsI requested this book purely because of the author. I was first introduced to Evelyn Lozada because of the VH1 show Basketball Wives. Not something I am or was really into but she gets your attention and not necessarily in a good way. Fast forward and she is engaged to a big time baseball player and has his child. This is the second reason why I picked up the book because I thought is it about her relationship? Hmmm I can't say if it is or if it isn't but I can talk about this book.It feels like a draft. Not even feels like it the book from beginning to end this book reads like a unedited draft. The transitions between Angel's voice and The Duke's is horrible. And I don't mean that lightly. You will be reading in the The Duke's voice and about what he has going on and then the very next sentence it will be Angel. This is confusing because these transitions happen in the middle of a thought or a conversation in the middle of the chapter. Confusing and frustrating as you go through the book.Another thing about this was when Angel spoke Spanish it felt forced. Angel is Puerto Rican and this is known from the beginning. However, she doesn't speak Spanish in the book expect two times when something happens. I think this was Lozada's way to remind the reader that Angel wasn't white, however I felt since that is a big deal then there should have been more insistence of her speaking her language.I finished the book, in one day and I did because I liked the story. I liked Angel but felt that she could have been less stuck up and more realistic as a single mother. She let her emotions cloud her judgement and what was right and wrong. I liked The Duke and his troubled self. However, with both of these characters there wasn't development, we are to assume that it happens because of the ending. Lozada did not take the time for the two to build their romance and get to know each other. They were thrown together in the worst times of their lives and expected to be adults, although The Duke (who I wished was called Caleb more in the book) has not acted like an adult since he got money.I strongly believe that with more work, this could be a great story. It was thrown together and as I stated before it reads like an unedited draft. There were several topics in the book that could have lifted the overall story, could have provided character development and as a reader, I could have gotten to know more about Angel and Caleb as a couple and not two individual people forcing something.Overall,2 Pickles

I felt like this book tried hard to be a rom-com but came off as an angsty teenage drama, that did nothing for my romantic heart.

I loved the cultural representation in this book. I adored Angel and Duke and their funny ups and downs. Their relationship was funny and quirky and had me swooning for this couples love. It was an adorable rom com of a book that drew me in from its cover! I’ve never read anything by this author but I will be from now on!
I loved how strong Angel was and knew she’d take no nonsense from anyone. I knew that Duke would have to really work for her love and it works so well for this story!

This was a fast paced contemporary romance. I appreciated that the subject matter was a mixture of both light and humorous and more serious.

I found the formatting to be a little difficult to follow as there were no scene breaks between the two POVs. Hopefully, that was only because this was an ARC. Also, I felt that too much of the internal dialogue was in italics and it was distracting.

In general, I enjoyed this book and all the drama it contained!

After reading quite a few psychological thrillers and action books I chose to read this book because I wanted a feel-good story that would make me smile. Something lighthearted and romantic. Sadly The Perfect Date is none of those things.

Angel is a woman who will do anything and everything to protect and take care of her son. She is strong willed and determined to be the best mom while still going for her nursing degree.

Duke is a baseball player with very few qualities that would make a woman swoon.

I kept hoping that I would find a redeemable quality in Duke the further I got into the book, but sadly he was very unlikable.

The writing of this book was pretty good for a literary fiction book claiming to be a rom-com. I enjoyed the beginning of the story when Angel gets a paper cut on her hand from her medical text book page describing the parts of the male penis. That, however, was the first and last humorous part of the story.

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Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC in return for my honest and unbiased review.

I was provided an ARC of "The Perfect Date" by Evelyn Lozada, Holly Lorincz, and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the blurb, I went into this expecting a more fluffy, romantic read. I was WRONG. Don't get me wrong. I like my share of drama in books, maybe even more than the next reader, but this was too much for my taste. It distracted from the love story for me. I know life isn't all rainbows and sunshine and individuals have faults and characteristics that aren't flattering, but I didn't feel that the main characters were particularly likeable.

well then. i gotta admit, i judged this book by the cover and it bit me in the bum, as that tends to do. i thought i was getting a cute contemporary romance. i was wrong. i requested this before a lot of the reviews started popping up, but when i started reading it and realised i was struggling, i looked at reviews and saw i was not alone. i didn't particularly like either main character and the drama was just a bit much for me. also, i cannot stand the whole 'not like other women' shit, whether it's a guy or a girl thinking it. i'm really bummed because based on the cover and synopsis, i really expected to like this, but the inside didn't match the outside for me.

A quick fun read written about a POC. A single mom finds herself trying to help out Duke a famous baseball player for the yankees. Duke can't have anyone know that he is hurt and when he meets Angel at the doctors office he asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend. Yet is more trouble than he might be worth. He acts like a jerk at times but will he realize the errors of his way and try to change his life for the better. Will Angel be able to get her nursing degree to provide a better life for her and her son.

If you like romance and drama give this book a try.

I TRIED, y'all! But this book was just not for me. I got about 20% through and I just wasn't entertained. I didn't like the characters and I wasn't interested in the plot at all. This was just really disappointing because I just didn't like it. I've never DNF'd a book that I've accessed through NetGalley, but I guess there's a first time for everything. If you like sportsy romances with a focus on family, this might be for you, but I just wasn't a fan of the plot or the characters.

No rating for me, but I have to put a star rating on NetGalley. I'm putting one, but that is up to the discretion of people who complete this book.

A single mom from the Bronx putting herself through nursing school while bartending meets an injured pitcher for the Yankees with an image problem...and sparks fly. Angel works so hard to make a better life for her son, Jose, and life just keeps getting in the way. Sexist bosses, uncaring landlords, money issues: she just can't seem to get a break. But when she meets Duke, he offers her the chance to be Cinderella for a while and leave her problems behind. Can she risk her heart on a guy from an entirely different world?

Oh, I really wanted to like this book. It seemed like the perfect set-up for a Jennifer Lopez movie...in fact, at first, it reminded me a lot of Maid in Manhattan. Her adorable relationship with her son, her goal to be more than "just" a bartender, her gaggle of girlfriends helping dress her up for the big date with a makeover montage, It was headed in the right direction until it became clear that Duke was a giant jerk. Everyone he knows is a giant jerk. It was almost impossible to care about him or his problems because he treated Angel terribly. This was no swoony knight in shining armor. Aside from liking the way she looked, he barely seemed to care about her at all. What kind of hero is that?

**Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.**

I really enjoyed Angel and Duke's story. Jose and Angel were the best team, and I loved how hard she worked to go to school and provide for her family despite overwhelming odds.

Duke is...well he's a mess. Still reeling from the murder of his best friend and an injury that is trying to end his career he doesn't know what he wants. My biggest hope for Angel and Duke was for them to realize their problems together and move forward to talking them through as a unit, but by they seemed determined to push each other apart and reach for the worst possible conclusion every time.

Overall, I liked their story and the family they had built around them, and I'm glad they each made the right professional calls, so they could be free and actually move forward.

I liked the premise of the story but I found the execution a bit choppy especially with the switching of the POV from his to hers. The story would be in one POV, then with no more than a new paragraph, it would change into another POV. It always takes me a sentence or two to catch on which I find interrupts the flow of the reading. Angel is trying to make her way in 2 misogynistic worlds (a bar and a hospital) so she is a hardass. I can certainly empathize with her, but I found her a difficult character to like. Caleb is a professional baseball player suffering from a medical issue which threatens his position on the team. With all the high drama that ensues, it has a feel of a soap opera. My favorite characters were actually Gabriela and Latisha.

I wanted to love this book. The premise sounded so cute. I just had a really hard time connecting to the story line and the characters.

I had a lot of issues with this book.

One such issue came from the fact that both of the main characters, Duke and Angel are total a**holes through most of the novel. They are mean and unnecessarily rude to people. It’s obvious that the author meant for us to find it endearing or to show how tough and independent they are, or whatever, but it comes across as the characters being complete a**holes. Which they are. Especially Duke.

As a part of their a**holery, both characters are such woman haters and I couldn’t stand it! For all that Angel talks about being a single mother and working hard as a woman and all that, she is constantly putting other women down with this holier-than-thou vibe she has going on.

And because Angel is oh so special, and is not like other girls™ Duke is also putting down other women when he’s in her presence. All other women are fake or sluts or are trying way too hard. All but Angel, of course, because as her name implies, she’s a perfect heaven send and is absolutely without fault and can obviously do no wrong.

And the drama! This wasn’t so much a rom-com as it was a pure, overly dramatic drama. And yes, I said ‘dramatic drama’, deal with it.

The point is, there was so much shallow drama that I couldn’t bring myself to actually care about. There was so much going on for such a short book and I didn’t care for any of it!

I don't recommend this one at all. Sorry.


**Links will be added to this after my reviews are posted, closer to the release date**

As much as I wanted to love this because Evelyn Lozada wrote it, I couldn’t bring myself to. The characters and the unnecessary drama was too much. There wasn’t a single character that I liked or was willing to root for. Well everyone except for Jose.

The relationship between Angel and Duke was toxic and would never actually work. He was such a rude and condescending person that I don’t know what Angel saw in him. Angel was quick-tempered and easily riled up. Along with these two not being good characters, they had no chemistry! Can’t have a romance with no chemistry.

I also had an issue with the writing. It was choppy and hard to follow. All in all, this didn’t work out for me.

This book follows Angel Gomez, an aspiring nurse and Caleb "The Duke" Lewis an MLB pitching star. Angel is a single mother trying to survive by going to nursing school and working at a bar after her school days are over in order to support her son. The Duke on the other hand is trying to keep his pitching spot with the Yankees after a traumatic ankle injury might possibly ruin his career. Through a couple of unexpected run ins with each other and then having to be a couple for the tabloids a relationship starts to spark between the two of them.

I only somewhat liked the book and I normally really enjoy sports romances. I did not like Duke as a male lead at all. He was whiny and would not take responsibility for his actions in all of the worst ways. It's okay to make mistakes, but it was not okay the way he would act.

I enjoyed Angel's story, but I wish we got more of her back story. We got one glimpse at abuse that she went through when she was in a relationship, but we didn't get anything else. It was just a mention with no substance.

When I read romance I like when the character's point of views are easily distinguishable by putting their name first and then starting the point of view. Either by doing it as individual chapters or within chapters and there was none of that, so you would just have to figure out who was talking to determine the point of view. Overall it was good and I liked the ending, but getting to that point left some to be desired and the plot twist seemed a little forced.