Oouuuu this is such a great debut novel! This story follows Maggie, a photographer for the Chicago Cougars baseball team, and Tommy, a baseball player with a bit of a reputation that needs to be cleaned up. To improve his image, him and Maggie enter a fake relationship, which didn't feel too fake actually; their connection is undeniable from the start.

If you're in the mood for a fluffy, cute, and fun, sports romance then this will be the book for you! T
Thank you so much to NetGalley, 8th Note Press, and Ally Wiegand for accepting my request to read First Base!

this book was absolutely amazing. i was blown away!

i want to say thank you so much to net galley and ally wiegand for sending me an arc of this book! perfect debut novel. i have never read a baseball romance before but i will say that i will be reading more!

tommy is such an amazing character. from the beginning, he was so kind and caring towards maggie. he deserves the absolute world. i loved seeing behind the scenes with his family. the last chapter was AMAZING!

maggie, i love you. i loved how she was the photographer for the team honestly. i have never read something like this before. i also loved how it show mental health so well in this book. i wanted to give her a hug this whole entire book!

i will be continuing this series. i’m so excited!!

I wanted to love this one and I did like it a lot but I wanted more from it. I’m not sure what it was but I felt like something was missing. It just didn’t have everything I wanted or needed.

The book dives into the lives of Maggie and Tommy Mikals. Maggie, a sports photographer for the Chicago Cougars baseball team, has steered clear of romantic relationships for four years. Tommy Mikals is the Cougars' new shortstop with a reputation for being a playboy. Joining the Cougars represents Tommy’s final shot in the league, and he is determined to prove himself as a dedicated baseball player to both himself and his family. Despite their mutual disinterest in a relationship, an accidental capture of them together by the paparazzi leads the Cougars' PR team to present them with a single option: enter into a fake relationship.

The book's supposed to be about fake dating, but honestly, it didn't feel fake at all. From their points of view, Maggie and Tommy are seriously into each other, making the whole setup feel pretty real to me. I'm usually not into the whole "love at first sight" thing—I'm more about the slow burn—but despite the quick connection between Maggie and Tommy, their story still grabbed me.

All in all, it's a super cozy read. Quick, cute, and totally heartwarming. If you're in a bit of a reading slump or you're into sports romances, this one's a winner. Hats off to Ally Wiegand for a solid first book.

Big thanks to Netgalley and 8th Note Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book. THIS BOOK! it was a fantastic and sweet baseball romance! The fake dating between a player trying to recover his reputation and the teams photographer was exactly everything I wanted it to be. Tommy is a dream. I could not get over how fast he fell for Maggie and how much he cared for her. He has already gone through a lot of growth before the book starts but his growth throughout was really great. Maggie has gone through a lot in the past and seeing her process and learn to love again was devastating and beautiful. The way these two clicked was amazing, so was their chemistry. You want to scream at them to kiss constantly. I really adored this book and cannot wait for the rest of the series!

This book hooked me in from the first chapter. I loved the character development and how the story progressed.

First Base is set in Chicago, focusing on the team's photographer and new "bad boy" star. On Opening Weekend, they have their first interaction which propels them into a fake relationship to keep his reputation above water. I love sports romance and am getting into more baseball centered stories. And I really liked this story! It was a great premise and Maggie and Tommy were really likable. I appreciated the growth they both had to make throughout the story. Maggie with her grief, and Tommy dealing with his past mistakes. That was the strongest part of this story. Understanding how grief can take over and control you is a slippery slope, and how Maggie works through that was beautiful.

I am not a big fan of the instant love that was going on though. It's just not realistic to me, and makes it harder for me to attach to the characters. The overall timeline felt off. There were some inconsistencies with the timing, like when she says Tommy becomes one of the most important people in her life, but we don't get to see any of that relationship being built. We go from them not talking a lot fast forward to them being best friends. It would've helped me connect to them so much more if we could see them building their relationship.

Overall, it was a cute and easy read and I recommend this for sports romance lovers!

Thank you to the publisher and author.! This was such a cute debut and perfect for the spring. I loved that this was a baseball romance and how the two MCs really grew throughout the story. I am not the biggest fan of insta love so that didn’t really work for me… overall solid debut!

this was... not for me. i admittedly didn't get very far, (about 20% in) but that was enough for me.
there's absolutely nothing wrong with the writers voice or even the characters, i'm just not a fan of insta-love, and a lot of this felt like it might've been fanfiction at some point (which i DO devour) but this just didn't hit the mark for me.

i'd love to check in with ally again on their next book, i feel like i could really enjoy their work -- this one just wasn't for me.

Fake dating ✅
Sports romance ✅
Tattooed hottie ✅
One bed ✅

Don’t get me wrong, I love hockey romances just as much as the next girl, but lately, it’s so overdone. I was ecstatic to get an arc of this baseball romance!

This is a book about second chances. Each of our main characters had a sordid past and they helped each other through that. I loved how good their communication was throughout this book. Super healthy and little to no nonsense. There was obviously a miscommunication part, but it was so minimal I don’t count it.

I loved that Maggie’s mom was so supportive! I’ve read way too many books lately with terrible parents so this was refreshing! There was a part in here though where Maggie had to relieve her guilt and I didn’t like how she went about it. I felt like it was unfair and kind of selfish.

The pacing was pretty good for most of the book, but it did get repetitive toward the end and I was wondering why we were going over all the same stuff again.

I loved that this was set in Chicago! I used to go to Kane County Cougars games when I was younger and it was one of the highlights of my childhood so I really enjoyed the nostalgia!

This was heartbreaking as much as it was swoon worthy. It had me in literal tears, but also with a huge smile. It was definitely cringey at times and predictable, but I liked the story nonetheless. Overall, I absolutely loved this and Maggie and Tommy’s chemistry was perfect!

3.5 rounded up to 4. First I'd like to thank the publisher 8th Note Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my unbiased review. As a photographer and baseball lover, whose dream job would be a baseball photographer, I knew I'd feel a kinship with the main character, Maggie. This book is a fun fake dating trope, all to save the bad boy shortstops career. My only complaint on this book is the lack of trigger warning. As someone who suffered a similar loss to the main character, I would have appreciated a bit of a heads up prior to reading as it did trigger some feelings for me. Overall, the book was well written and very cute. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded there's hope and love after major loss.

3.75⭐️

This was such a great debut book. I loved the two main characters and who they were. I was going to give it 4 stars, but there are two reasons why I ended up bumping down the rating a little bit.

1.) Maggie had SUCH great character development. Watching her grown was so beautiful and heartwarming. I just wish we got more of Tommy's POV and got to actually see more of his growth. I wanted to see a little more of his change from his past self.

2.) I think a third act break up/miscommunication can make sense to the story if done right. I just feel like the miscommunication in this story didn't feel right, but slightly immature.

I'm so excited to see what comes next from Ally and for the rest of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and 8th Note Press for providing me an ARC copy of the book for my honest opinion.

This book started off kind of slower but still caught my attention and made it difficult for me to put down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. The characters were well thought out and I really felt for them and what they had to go through. I cried with the character as well as giggle with the characters. I wanted to know everything about these characters and how they felt. I even enjoyed the decisions both characters made when it came to the fake part of their relationship. I would have loved to see a little more development of their relationship after the conflict in the book but I’m hoping we will see more of them in the series! The conflict was a bit predictable for the fake dating trope but I’m not sure what other conflict could have arisen from these characters stories. Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

First Base (Received as an ARC)
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release: 4.23.24

This was such a wonderful debut novel by Ally Wiegand, and it had two of my favorite things... baseball and fake dating! This story was sweet and hopeful in the best way, and while we had laughs and happy moments, we had heartfelt, emotional moments as well. The two MC's were well written with nice character depth and development. I found Maggie to be so relatable. My heart truly ached for her and everything she went through in her past. Tommy, bless him, had his fair share of troubles from the past to deal with as well. But boy, was he swoon-worthy!? I loved the way they supported and took care of each other, developing a wonderful connection as the novel progressed. The plot was well paced, and I found myself engrossed in the story. I just wanted more, more of each of them and their beautiful story.

Thank you @netgalley and @8thnotepress for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️Warning⚠️
Contains language, explicit content, and low/medium spice

this book sadly fell very flat for me. I feel like there wasn't much dialogue and I wish we had more of Tommy's POV. I'll recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of insta love it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

this was a cute read! But ultimately it did fall flat in a few aspects. I didn’t feel connected to either of the characters so I wasn’t very interest in where their story was going. Some things felt a little cliche, which is okay if done correctly, but again it was just a little flat for me. I would love to see what this author puts out next though

(DNF at 20%)

I’m sorry, I really tried, but I just could not continue this. The number of times I got second-hand embarrassment from this book is wow…😬😬


"𝙈𝙖𝙜𝙜𝙞𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙮. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙪𝙥-𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧—𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.." YOU LITERALLY EXCHANGED LIKE WHAT?? 10 WORDS??? WHAT DO YOUUUU KNOW ABOUT HER???


I’m an insta-love hater till I die, so when he already thought about her this way (see quote) on page 17 YES!! SEVENTEEN!!! I cringed a lot. 😬✋🏼
So I’m really proud of myself for continuing this instead of DNF at that exact moment. (But at the end, I wish I had just DNFed it earlier on.)


𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎: 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚈 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝.🫂

!!𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 & 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝟴𝘁𝗵 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 & 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄!!

First Base was interesting. It doesn't stand out as an unputdownable romance book for me unfortunately, even though it really checked the fake-dating trope box! I think it was just a little too similar to Game Changer by Lana Ferguson which I just read, although having a baseball player was refreshing!
A good spring romance, I just wasn't in the right headspace

this was such a cute cozy read, i loved it so much. fast pace, lovable characters. very low stakes romance which is Exactly what i wanted. it has also made me long for being at a baseball stadium - thank goodness there's only one more week until home opener.

thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so excited for baseball to be getting some contemporary romance attention! Wiegand perfectly captures the feelings of being at a baseball game and why fans love the sport so much. I love the setup of this book and the fake dating scenario, plus the dual POV was a really fun surprise. The dialogue was a little cheesy at times, but overall the story was very sweet. The first 75% was particularly strong, but I wasn't completely sold on the eventual conflict and resolution. Overall, this was a fun debut and I'm excited to see what's next in the series.