I’m totally smitten with this book! This was such a fun, sweet and wholesome read!

I loved the healing each other vibes! They both were very lost in their own pasts and then forced into a relationship (which was made a little easier due to their curiosity). They really were each other's cheerleader every step of the way.

Was a quick read that I didn't want to put down.

A great debut novel and I’m looking forward to reading more by Ally.

This was a lovely read. The way the author unveiled the past so slowly throughout the story was fantastic. This story shows how healing can be so hard and sometimes you need someone else to help. The relationship between the two MCs is so fun. However the relationship felt a little second place compared to the rest of the story. A bit fluffy but still great!

Big thanks to NetGalley, Embla Books and Ally Wiegand for this early release copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. A great sports romance. Fade to black scenes that weren't too explicit. I also enjoyed the depth of the characters and the way they had to overcome their past struggles for the relationship to work.

Fake-dating
Sports romance

First Base by Ally Wiegand
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tropes: fake dating, sports romance, dual POV.

This book follows the story of Maggie and Tommy. Maggie is a photographer for Chicago’s MLB team and Tommy has just been signed by the team. They start off fake dating due to being seen together and their PR wanting to improve Tommy’s image. That is until they start to develop real feelings.

This was a cute read but it just felt like it was lacking something.

I felt like there was miscommunication towards the end and I’m not personally a fan of this.

Overall it was a cute read but I’m undecided if I’d recommend it.

I really enjoyed this! I’ve recently become a big sport romance fan so this was really enjoyable for me to read! The characters were very well written and I really loved and connected with the FMC! Thank you so much for letting me read this book :)

While the book was insta love, which is not something I typically enjoy, I had a great time with this book. This is a good, cute and fluffy romance to enjoy. Would recommend.

Cute fluffy romance! It was such a quick read and I loved it!
However it was a bit insta lovey but I can overlook it for this book!

First base- @allywiegandauthor when his image needs help after being kicked out of his last club, the club photography is brought in to be his fake girlfriend after being mistaken as his girlfriend by the paparazzi. But when pretending becomes real they end up catching feelings. I love how he helps her move forward from her past. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The story itself was really cute, but there's quite a few grammatical errors that need fixing.

Definitely a cute little rom com and would reccomend.

Entertaining contemporary sports romance with a cheaky name! Fast paced but slower burn, I would've liked a bit more spice but I'm generally a spicier reader so take that with a grain of salt :D It was still a fun read, I'll be keeping an eye out for this author in the future.

- Contemporary Romance
- Sports Romance
- Baseball
- Fake Dating
- Workplace Romance
- He falls first!
- Slow-burn
- Dual POV
- Forced proximity/must work together
- Opposites attract

Brilliant!! I absolutely devoured this! The characters had depth and were likeable, and their story was such a good read! Thank you so much for the opportunity 🙏🏻

First base is a super sweet, fun sport romance. The book takes us on a journey of a baseball photographer Maggie Redford, who hasn’t entertained the idea of a relationship or simply dating for years, and of course a new (handsome) player Tommy Mikals with a ‘life of the party’ past, who is trying to hang onto his baseball career.

Both main characters and so loveable, and although the romance blossoming between them is genuine and super sweet, they have their own thread of growth and development constantly running throughout the book, which just makes you feel so connected to them individually and them as a forming relationship. Anddddd the side characters

Maggie as our main character introduced some interesting micro behaviours and self-talk that highlighted the lack of confidence and self-worth she had in herself. It felt authentic, relatable, and understandable given the things she had experienced. In those moments, you just want to be able to give this fictional character a hug, but in those same moments I was like wow ‘that’s me too’, or ‘I literally do the same thing’, and I guess for me it felt nurturing but also eye-opening.

The pacing of the relationship was slow but steady, which alongside their own growth progressed organically, and logically felt right.

I did find that towards the end some of the dialogue and behaviour read a bit off character and almost a bit rushed, but aside from that it was a fun read.

If you enjoy the character development to drive your romance read forward this is one to pick up.

This is an incredible start to a series and I can’t wait to see the other relationship dynamics Ally creates for us xx

First Base by Ally Wiegand was a brilliant read. I found myself hooked all the way through and couldn't stop laughing. It's an unputdownable comedy for all sports fans out there, even those who, like me, aren't really into baseball. Four stars.

I absolutely love this book was hooked from the start and would highly recommend it absolutely love the storyline and the only reason it wasn’t a five was because the reason for the third act break up annoyed me slightly but other then that i would highly recommend and i adore this couple and these characters

Fake dating, sports romance, no spice 🌶️ A very quick and easy romance read, it’s a good book to help you get out of a reading slump! The only thing I wasn’t so sure on was the miscommunication towards the end, it’s one of my pet peeves in books. However, if you love and short and sweet rom-com with little to no spice, this is the book for you! The characters were also super likeable and the storyline was really fun - we love a sports romance ⚾️

A great sport/fake dating romance. I actually really enjoyed this story, it wasn’t very novel or innovative in its plot and characters but it was really well written. I loved the journey Maggie went through to accept her past and her grief and learn to live again. It’s just an overall really cute and short romcom, which I honestly recommend to anyone who wants to branch out of hockey romances !!!


Summary: Photographer Maggie's quiet life changes when she's paired with baseball bad boy Tommy, sparking a fake romance that turns real.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

This was such a lovely read! I loved Maggie's development and how she learnt to love again after heartbreak. I liked the connection between Tommy and Maggie - I found the entire story fast paced (under 300 pages!), enjoyable and full of a fake dating trope

Maggie loves her job as a sports photographer. It’s something she’s good at and has worked very hard to get herself known as a great photographer. So when a photo of her and Tommy Mikals, the team’s new playboy hotshot, makes her look like just another in a long line, she realises both her job and reputation are on the line.

So when the clubs PR team comes up with the idea of the two pretending they are dating, Maggie doesn’t see another way to get out of the situation she innocently got herself into. But when she begins to realise that Tommy isn’t everything he’s made out to be, their fake relationship starts to take a real turn.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely love a fake dating trope, and this was really good! I really enjoyed how fast paced First Base was and how cute Tommy and Maggie were together.

“Her energy made me feel at ease, like I had known her for years rather than a few days.”

I also really liked Maggie’s own development and how she learns to love again after being hurt in the past and how this also comes across for Tommy too.

Thank you Netgalley, Ally Weigand and 8th Note Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

While this book did have some flaws, for a debut I was impressed. Who doesn't love a sports romance and its a nice change from all the hockey romances.. It was fast passed due to being under 300. The main trope in this is fake dating and I loves it

Ugh, I can't believe it's over!

This book was an absolute joy to read. I completely fell in love with Maggie and Tommy as individuals, and their relationship as well.

From the outset, it was clear that this book was going to deep-dive into mental health, specifically focusing on PTSD, survivor's guilt, and potentially a bit of imposter syndrome. That always makes me nervous when I start reading a book, but I truly think that the way Ally Wiegand handled those topics was with so much consideration and respect. I loved that the benefit of therapy message was delivered right at the beginning, and from that point onwards, the two characters supported each other on their separate journeys, whilst also not being written in a way that would make the reader think that the relationship could solve everything.

As characters, I definitely think that Maggie could be really hard on herself, but I loved how her relationships with Tommy and the side characters would really challenge that internal monologue. I think she really grew in this story after all the support she received.

As for Tommy, he was a swoony, considerate and incredibly respectful hero that I absolutely couldn't help but fall in love with. The things he would say to Maggie and the way he would articulate his feelings? I love a male character that is more than just a beef cake! He was a well-developed person in himself, and I don't see that enough in romances.

Their relationship, as I said before, was really based around supporting each other and being there for each other, but don't get me wrong, it had plenty of swoon. The writing did fall into cliches sometimes, which stopped this story from getting five stars, but I still think it had the perfect amount of pining and miscommunication to get me kicking my feet as I was reading.

I loved all the side characters in this story, and I'm seriously praying that Jamil is the focus of the next book because I love him so much. Him and Olivia could be a firecracker of a romance, so fingers crossed!