✨✨BOOK REVIEW✨

Who doesn’t love a good underdog story?! My second book as part of the Trans Rights Readathon 2024 was “The Prospects” by debut author KT Hoffman. I was lucky enough to receive an e-ARC from The Dial Press / Random House and NetGalley for my honest review.

The Prospects is the story of Gene Ionescu, the first openly trans male to play on the minor league baseball team the Beaverton Beavers. With hopes of moving up to the major leagues with the Portland Lumberjacks, everything is thrown for a loop when his former college teammate/frenemy Luis Estrada is traded to the Beavers just before the first game of the season. I was seriously rooting for Gene from the very beginning and it was so fun to see how the relationship between he and Luis evolved. The romance tropes you can expect are friend to lovers, forced proximity, second chance/missed opportunity. So much representation here with a trans MC, neurodivergent, deaf, gay and lesbian characters, same sex adoption…

I’m not big on beaver typically, but I’ll make an exception for the BEAVERTON Beavers any day of the week. As a gay male who crew up with a Dad and 2 brothers who were all obsessed with sports, I know enough about baseball to have been fully invested in the Beavers storyline. While I of course found myself rooting for Gene and Luis’s relationship, there were times where I was rooting for the Beaverton Beavers and the players’ success first and foremost. I loved how each chapter header was their updated season record, it kept me invested in their progress.

A quick and run read, I give this a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

Stepping up to the plate of Baseball romances, I never thought I would be down bad for them. With my minuscule background, being from St. Louis (Go Cards!), in the sport I wasn’t sure how I’d fare. KT Hoffman hits it out of the park with his book, The Prospects. At the start we meet Gene Ionescu, a trans player, making his way through the minor leagues, careful to only hope for the best, never letting himself want more than he can have. When a shake-up to the line-up sends him reeling, he now must confront his past as it stands in front of him. Luis Estrada, his old college friend, and teammate is now on the roster, someone who virtually disappeared from his life overnight, now sits in his locker room. As the season goes on, they will have to learn not only how to be a team again, but they will have to face the past to move forward…and maybe…just maybe…they’ll figure out so much more about themselves and each other in the process.
 
What Hoffman has crafted here is nothing short of a beautiful and joyful queer romance against the backdrop of baseball. Right off the bat, I loved how this story was low angst, yet kept me glued to the page wanting to see what play came next, just how Gene and Luis were going to navigate their next moves. It warmed my heart reading this uplifting trans story because I find you don’t often see queer joy like this so unabashedly on the page. Then the heart of the novel comes through in talking about the trials LGBTQ+ people face in not letting ourselves want too hard, want too much, afraid things could be ripped away in a heartbeat. Both Gene and Luis face this in their own ways, exploring how to let themselves push for more, want more. I ached for them as they fought their internal selves to realize that wanting something is not dangerous, even if the result could inflict pain. Then there is fear of the things you have leaving, I find that queer people especially feel burdened by this afraid that once they let themselves truly show, people will desert them. Gene learns a hard lesson that just because someone leaves, just because life changes sometimes, it is not always bad.
 
Hoffman imbues this story, laced with large lessons, with such joy, such hope and I loved every second of it. I cried for Gene and Luis as they played their hearts out, as they learned hard lessons, and for the queer joy I felt reading this book, in letting yourself have what you want. A heartwarming, astounding debut, this story, like a sports highlights reel, will replay over and over in my mind. Catch me in the stands at the next Portland game crying over them again and again.
 
Taylor Swift Songs I associate with this book: Untouchable, Fearless, Jump Then Fall, All You Had To Do Was Stay, I Wish You Would, Say Don’t Go, Treacherous, gold rush, The Archer, Sparks Fly
 
Scarf Rating: 🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣🧣(10/5)
 
Thank you Netgalley and The Dial Press for an the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Prospects, by KT Hoffman, is a cute- if predictable- queer sports romance.

I enjoyed the banter between Gene and Luis, and how they grew closer together. I'm not much of a sports person, so this will probably be better enjoyed by those that follow baseball, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I’m loving that the small corner of trans romance is growing, and many of them have been so great, with The Prospects being no exception. I can’t recall that I’ve read any baseball romance, but I love that this is one of two queer baseball books coming out in the first half of 2024. And as unlikely as the concept is, by K.T. Hoffman’s own admission, given the current political climate particularly related to trans people and sports, this is a wonderful escape and symbol of hope.
Gene is the first openly trans minor-league player, and I appreciate how this is handled, exploring how he deals with transphobia, while also largely being affirming of him and his dreams.
And then, there’s Luis. He and Gene have a bit of a rivalry in their past, with the game having got between them when Luis first got drafted. Initially, there’s a bit of rivalry, as they’re competing for the same position on the team. But beneath this history and their personality clashes, they begin to bond in a beautiful way, and Luis is just as soft and sweet, if not more so.
This book was a soft, warm hug, and I’d recommend it to readers interested in a queer sports romance.

Warm fuzzy charming delightful. Gene and Luis are precious angels and I’m so happy to know them and the whole team.

*Actually a 4.75!!*

This book is about Gene and Luis and I love them. They are minor league baseball players who are trying to climb the ranks and are thrust back into each other's lives after having played together in college. There is initially a lot of tension between the two...which becomes a very different kind of tension. Totally adorable. I love how Gene's trans identity was portrayed. It wasn't the central story line and that made it that much more beautiful, you know? Like him being trans is important and intrinsic to him, but his life and story are so much more than that. It's just a part of him. And Luis is a little cutie patootie. AND their nicknames!!!

What keeps this from being a 5-star for me is that I didn't fully understand why Luis was being low-key mean to Gene at first? And we never really got clarity on why they quit speaking to each other after college? I would've liked a dash more context to their history. There were parts of the book where I wasn't itching to pick it back up, but by the time I got halfway through I was hooked. it back up Also, unrelated but I think the cover could look a little more professionally done, though it is cute.

Overall, absolutely loved this and would recommend!!

WOW did i love this. Gene is the first openly trans baseball player in the minor leagues with a big heart and bigger dose of optimism. When Luis, a teammate from college, joins the Beaverton Beavers, Gene's life gets infinitely more complicated.
Things I loved in this book: the trans joy without the necessity of trauma, the found family of the team, the inherent transness of Gene and the way in which he embraces that, the metaphor of baseball and the underdog, the care with which these characters treat each other, the softness of the men, the way that Luis' anxiety and panic disorder are dealt with. I could go on and on.
I didn't want to put this down once I'd picked it up. I want to hang out with Gene in real life. I was also so struck by Luis' comfort with Gene's transness, the way he didn't bat an eye about Gene's body when they finally get intimate - that if it required any processing from him he does it off the page. i also loved the 3rd act conflict - it felt so honest and rooted in the emotional heart of these characters and their journeys and though i knew an HEA was coming i stuttered for a second with Gene at the loss.
I can't wait to read everything KT Hoffman writes.
Also i loved the recipes and playlists at the back.

I ADORED this story! Everything about it was perfection. The characters, the story, the mental health awareness, and trans representation. I loved everything about it.

This book gave me so many warm, and fuzzy feelings. It made me laugh and made my heart hurt, I went through all the emotions during this book. I wish the world we lived in was ready for a real-life story like The Prospect, but I fear transgender athletes are still going to struggle with getting their deserved recognition in professional sports. But still, The Prospects paints such a beautiful picture of what could be though, and I hope, one day, we get to see a real-life Gene achieve their dreams.

The Prospects is a heart-warming story following two minor league baseball players as they struggle with mental health, expectations, and falling in love. I cannot wait for KT Hoffman's next book!

This story is both inspiring and thought provoking as much as it is a beautiful love story. Gene is trans, with a love for baseball and a dream that feels impossible. Luis used to be his teammate and has spoken to him since before he transitioned. They both have their own hopes, dreams and fears. But most of all they have love. I adored the way this book told a story that currently feels unachievable in the real world in a way that made me desire for it to be real. I really enjoyed it

This book is everything I always dream! A rivals to lovers sport romance with a trans man main character, who is also the first trans out and proud player. This book is so hopeful and full of queer joy my heart almost melt for good. I love this book so much I can’t even close to express how much and my feeling about it. I cried a lot while reading, but I also laughed and felt so much joy! This book is really everything, this story is everything, those characters are everything. I think this is one of my favorite book ever.
Gene is a marvellous mc, but also is Luis. I love them both and love them together. They have so much chemistry and the spicy… OH MY GOD THE SPICY! I don’t think I can recover from this book and those scenes.

Thank you Netgally and The Dial press for the arc!

Absolutely loved. Gene was the best kind of main character and this book will stay with me for a while. Huge props to KT on his debut!

✨✨ARC REVIEW✨✨

⚾️ FIRST: Happy Opening Day to all who celebrate! “On opening day, anything can happen.” KT Hoffman

🙌🏻 ALSO, from the publisher: “Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.

“Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis inspires.”

🏳️‍⚧️I’m pleased to publish this review during the @transrightsreadathon, which ends with Trans Day of Visibility, March 31, 2024. THE PROSPECTS is a lovely, lively, hopeful book by a trans author, KT Hoffman, and featuring a trans main character. This is a story of first, second, and third chances, friends-to-strangers-to-enemies-to-roommates-to-friends-to-lovers (thank goodness) and baseball! And minor league baseball, to boot, which holds a special place in my heart!

🐸What I particularly love about this book - besides Gene (Nes for short) and Luis (Nada for short) [because there are always nicknames in sports] and the baseball and Vince (Gene’s patient mentor) and Jack (Vince’s sweet bear of a husband) and THE KYLES and Coach Baker (who happens to be a woman) and Kermit and Sour Patch Kids and Nes’s large meddling family and Luis’s hesitant loving family and Dodger the husky [Nada’s service dog] and did I say baseball? - is the way Nes’s and Nada’s relationship develops and how patient each is with the other. When we finally get there. Let’s just say it’s a slow-but-delicious burn.

0️⃣9️⃣-2️⃣0️⃣ It is not easy going. The season starts out sooo slowly - the Beavers are losing big before things start looking up, Nada is playing shortstop (Nes’s position heretofore), Nes is playing second (and not too happy about it), and Nada (the new guy) isn’t playing so well. I was so nervous to see the team’s dismal progress displayed at the top of each chapter. In the minor leagues, the fans can be especially fickle. But things look up - it’s baseball!

🦫 Yes, the story gets more tense - and intense - with both Nes’s and Nada’s names being talked about for the majors and the playoff prospects for the Beavers and their romance burgeoning. There is the see-saw of who is going where and will they be able to stay together and will they be able to play together?

❤️‍🔥 But that, that development right there, is what is so great about this book. Yes, it’s romantic and it’s spicy and it’s soul-searching. I love the things that Gene and Luis, against all odds, figure out about themselves as individuals and as baseball players and as a couple. But the way KT brings all that into the story and the way the story progresses is just delightful and so satisfying.

🫶🏼 Please read the trigger warnings - this is a book about queer people in professional sports - and there are also mental health issues that one should attend to. But, at the end of the game, it’s a book about baseball and love and winning - in all its forms. Any book that invokes Ichiro Suzuki and arguments about excessive mug collections and dreaming impossible dreams (and baseball ☺️) is #1 in my, er, book.

It was my pleasure to receive an eARC of this book from @netgalley and @thedialpress in exchange for an honest review. Publication day for THE PROSPECTS is April 9, 2024.

If you love a queer hockey romance then this book is perfect for you.

⚾️ It is a classic friends/enemies to lovers trope set in the Minor Leagues in Portland, Oregon.

⚾️ The most important part of this book is all of the different forms of queer representation from trans to gay/lesbian and all the different experiences we all can have.

⚾️ There is no shortage of steamy locker room scenes and road games to keep this spicy even with all the sports talk. KT has you rooting for the Beaverton Beavers to win the championship & maybe even get our favorites to the major leagues 😉

Make sure you pick up a copy when it is published on April 9th now PLAY BALL! ⚾️

**thank you to @netgalley & the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review***

Actual rating: 4.7/5

The Prospects was a highly anticipated read for me so I had quite high expectations, and I gotta say it did not disappoint. A book full of trans joy and queer happy feelings. It’s impossible not to love it.

Gene is baseball player on a minor league team and he’s the first trans openly gay player in professional baseball. He’s an optimist, funny af, snarky at times, and a good person to his core. He loves deeply, from his beloved baseball to his friends and family. He grew up in the same stadium he now plays at, and he makes sure to know and appreciates everyone around him. He’s that kind of special. Gene’s really good at hoping, for his friends, team, and to a lesser extent for himself, but he doesn’t allow himself to want…

This story is about allowing yourself to want things without needing permission. Wanting to reach for bigger and higher dreams even when society (or anyone else) makes you feel you’re not allowed, not worthy or not enough. Allow yourself to love and be loved, to play in the majors (if you’re player in baseball or any other sport), to further your career, to start and/or finish a degree, to be yourself and live your truth whatever it may be. It’s ok to fear disappointment when we want things. Being disappointed hurts, but what if it works and you succeed? That joy may be bigger than anything.

This story is about Gene learning to let himself want. Hope is a beautiful thing, but there’s nothing wrong with wanting at the same time.

This book has incredible characters. Gene’s teammate and LI, Luis, completely stole my heart. Behind a mask of seriousness lays a soft anxious mess of a boy who deserves all the love in the world. Gene and Luis were wonderful together and I could read hundreds more pages just about the two of them doing things together (including sex because, f*ck, those scenes were seriously hot).

I also have to mention the brilliant mental health rep here. Both anxiety and ADHD represented in a very relatable way. Also, there’s a sweet therapy dog., I could go on and on about this and more.

The Prospects is out on April 9th (it’s almost here!) and I can’t wait for y’all to meet Gene, Luis and the others, and read this beautiful story. I still know nothing about baseball, but as a sports romance it’s already winning me over. Definitely a debut to go on the favourites book list. Thanks for this wonderful book, K.T. Hoffman

Also, thanks to Dial Press and Random House for the eARC.

I am in my sports era. I guess.
Cuz this is the second sporty romance I’ve read this week and LOVED.

Gene is optimistic as hell and is the glue to his minor league baseball team. He loves the game and doesn’t let himself want the majors. As the first openly trans baseball player he tries not to want “too much” but when an old teammate/rival is traded to his team he neeeeds to get this guy gone to the majors and if he has to do extra practices with him to get his infuriatingly cute face outta here, he will!

This book is so gay! And full of hope and light. So frickin cute and pretty spicy! (Heyyy locker room scene 👀) I appreciated that the book touched on anxiety and adhd (I kinda felt like we could have dived a little more into the adhd but it was nice it was there)

I recommend especially if you are also in your sporty romance era too.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an eARC.

Imagine my delight when I found out there was a trans + queer baseball romance coming out where the main character is the first trans man to play professional baseball. The Prospects is everything I love about romance and sports and queer/trans identity mixed into one totally delightful, heartwarming story.

Gene is the kind of character that will stick with me for the rest of my life. He's an optimist, but he's so afraid to dream of more for himself. His romance with Luis is yearning personified. The former teammates turned rivals turned teammates want each other so badly that they don't quite know how to leave the other be. Truly, I would do anything to protect them from the world.

K.T. Hoffman isn't afraid to acknowledge the tough conversations around just how white and cis-het baseball is. But, at its heart, The Prospects is a story of hope, friendship, community, romance, dreaming, and all the different forms love that we have for people. I can't wait to see what is to come for K.T. Hoffman!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Absolutely joyful, heartwarming, touching, beautiful, and engaging! Loved every moment of this. I already want to reread.

A delightful baseball romance that emphasizes diversity, found family, and representation. Gene and Luis are terrific characters you will root for. The nicest part- Hoffman breathes fresh air into old tropes. Thanks to Netgalley for the aRC. My only quibble is the cover.

This is my new favorite book of the year! I read the premise of the book and knew I wanted to read it asap. I flew through the book and adored the characters. I usually do not read baseball romances but this just amazing. The author writes characters so well and paced the novel well to keep the reader engaged. For sure a book I will purchase and reread.

So joyful and hopeful and meaningful that my heart's full! I loved this book from the first page to the last. Gene and Luis are perfect little sporty marshmallows. I know nothing about baseball, but I'd sure as hell be in the stands screaming for these two.