4.5 stars, rounded up!

“Several brain cells fried themselves like eggs on a skillet” SAME GIRL. The very specific micro trope that gets me every time: Flirting lessons to help her get someone else, while he is DOWN BAD for her.

The verdict is in: this is my favorite Big Shots book. I loved Robbie and Skylar so much. Their banter, the way he shows up for her so loudly, and his need to eat as much as a small family completely endeared me to Robbie. Skylar is so strong and self reliant; I think it’s amazing to see a love interest that not only matches her, but encourages and supports her in everything.

Read if you like:
Sports Romance (Hockey MMC & Softball FMC)
Dual POV
Fake Dating/ Flirting Lessons
He Falls First (and harder)
Reformed player
Opposites attract

Thank you Avon (via NetGalley) for gifting me with an eARC, all thoughts expressed are my own.

Pitcher Perfect was a spicy, enemies-to-lovers sports romance. As I have come to expect with Tessa Bailey’s writing, this one delivered all the heat and humor making it fun and entertaining read.

Unfortunately, I think I am burned out with the Big Shots series. It’s not that I didn’t like this story, it’s just that I didn’t find anything that particularly made this book stand out when compared to other books in the Big Shots series.

On the flip side, I did enjoy the featured characters from previous books in the Big Shots series. Specifically, Robbie, the male lead, was introduced in "Dream Girl Drama" and his relationship with Skylar continued in "Pitcher Perfect”. On top of their cameo appearance, Sig and Burgess also made an appearance connecting the books together. Another appealing aspect was the character growth that Skylar and Robbie underwent throughout the story. Skylar learned to trust her feelings and step outside her comfort zone and Robbie confronted his playboy tendencies and learned to love with vulnerability.

Although I’m not usually a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, I enjoyed it here. I appreciated how the initial animosity between Robbie and Skylar transformed into a deeper connection as they navigated their relationship. Collectively, they had an authentic and relatable chemistry that made it fun to follow their relationship.

All in all, even though Pitcher Perfect wasn’t my favorite book by Tessa Bailey, I know I can count on her books for sexy, humorous and entertaining narratives.

Thanks to Net Galley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ya’ll this book was so good. I am not a sport ball person and it truly does not matter. Skyler is a badass college pitcher and Robbie is a rookie on a pro hockey team. As usual with Tessa Bailey the spice is spicing. Great plot, super funny and cute.

I had no idea what we were walking into when reading a book about orgasm donor number one, and did he sure deliver! Robbie Corrigan was an unapologetically flawed character, who realized upon meeting Skylar that he needed to change. He immediately tried to become the person that Skylar deserved. Even if that meant fake dating her so that she can end up with the boy she's had a crush on all her life.

Robbie was incredible in the way that he paid to all the little details that made Skylar who she is. The fact that he continued to show up and fight for her to be more accepted was something that I loved. Especially once he realizes he needs to also do that for himself to get the respect he deserves.

Skylar was such a fun character. I absolutely loved how blunt and honest she was. Robbie really helped her come into her own, helped her find her femininity after growing up solely around guys.

Her family were literally insane, and I am kind of here for it.

I will always be a sucker for a hockey and or baseball book, add in fake dating and I was sold. While it's not favorite of Tessa Bailey, I did love this story and the characters in it.

Madden book next? 👀

That dang yellow flag. 💛

Huge thanks to Avon for the ARC via NetGalley

In short, this book is a redemption for Tessa Bailey. I was concerned after the last few books in this series fell flat for me, but this one came back swinging! The banter is immaculate, the connection is electric, and the whole thing had me giggling and squirming in equal parts. I’m thrilled to see the magic that only Tessa can bring shine through in this hilarious and heartfelt story.

I honestly wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. It seriously had me in my feelings! Absolutely loved it!

I love how sassy Skylar is and how cocky Robbie is. Reverse Grumpy Sunshine. Fake dating. When they woke up the morning that they were supposed to make out, so hot. They are vulnerable with each other, and learning to trust each other makes their connection so much sweeter. You can tell Madden has a thing for Eve. Robbie showing up in full support of Skylar going to Boston and showing up her family was such a grand gesture moment. Love his unwavering support for her. A very nostalgic feel. Their story unfolded beautifully. Probably my favorite in the series to be honest.

I like to go into books blind so for a second there I thought we were getting a brother’s best friend trope… nope you get one of the orgasm donors! So you know hilarity is going to ensue. How could I of forgotten about the hilariously, ridiculous rivalry between professional hockey players and baseball players?!

Anyways, the story was cute. I do love a man slut who falls especially hard and renounces his slutty ways. Seeing Robbie do a 180 was kind of great. Thought the timeframe of the book is pretty quick so it felt a little too I insta-lovely for me. Super random but, I wish I got more of Robbie’s parents. I loved them. 😂

You do get duel POV (but in third person). I don’t know why but the fact that this was written in third person really messed with me. It kept taking me out of the story especially in the beginning. I literally went to my bookcase to check and see if the others were written that way, and I guess I just don’t remember it. 🤷‍♀️

Honestly, I didn’t know if this was going continue with the hockey team or not considering book one started out with golf but I’m not mad about it. You also got a fair amount of baseball/softball (well at least pitching). I feel like Tessa set up two of the next books so I’m curious to see what’s next!

I have a love/hate relationship with Tessa Bailey’s writing. I absolutely adore some of her books (It Happened One Summer, Window Shopping), and others just completely do not work for me. This one fell in the middle of the road. I enjoyed this one much more than the last in the series. However, I still had some issues.

The good: The hero, Robbie, is very supportive of the heroine, Skylar. He is gone for her, and helps her family see how they’ve been mistreating her.

The bad: the insta-love of it all. They go from meeting to being in love suuuuper quickly. Also Robbie does a complete 180 on his personality after meeting Skylar. None of their love story felt realistic.

Honestly a lot of this book requires you to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the story. If that’s something you enjoy you’d probably like this book. However, if you prefer a deeper romance and/or one that is more believable this likely is not the book for you.

2.5 stars. Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for my ARC.

4/5 ⭐️'s!
Thank you to Tessa and her team at Avon and HarperCollins Publishing for the eARC through Netgalley! I had a really fun time with this one (I read it all in almost one sitting). If you are a fan and fake dating and rivals to lovers you will definitely like this one!

The pacing of this book was a nice breath of fresh air compared to some of the others in the series. While I do think there was some instalove that lowered my rating a bit, I think the conflicts and resolution had enough time, where we didn't end up with 40 pages left and trying to figure out how we were going to solve the problem. While I think there were some things I would have liked to circle back to and think we needed to spend more time with, like Robbie's past and his attitude towards women, I still enjoyed it! I do feel like Skylar may have lost some of her quirks that make her her. In the beginning, she was very type A with her planner and everything down to a scheduled minute, but I feel we lost some of her character towards the second half of the book, as she was kinda just boiled down to Robbie's love interest and her issues with Madden. I love anything hockey romance, even if the hockey took a back seat in this book. I loved Robbie and was laughing out loud multiple times at him throughout the book. Tessa really knows how to put the comedy in a romcom! She also knows how to write an obsessed man, and I don’t care if it's not realistic or "too much", can't a girl giggle and dream???

I'm interested to see where the series goes and who the next book will be about because there was some unresolved plots that can set up a book or 2 for the future. Thank you again to Tessa and her team! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy in September!

This series has been a consistent hit for me. I never thought I’d be interested in reading about the rookies, but there is so much more depth to Robbie in this one.
Fake dating, and a few other tropes. FMC is strong and well characterized. Consistently lighthearted and fun, the spice is good, and the MCs are well written. It feels like there are a lot of opportunities for spin offs here, with Madden, Mailer, and others. I would read them all.

THANK YOU @tessabaileyisanauthor and @netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!!!

I’ve been obsessed with every single book in the Big Shots series so far, and Pitcher Perfect was a home run! We get a glimpse of these Robbie and Skylar meeting for the first time at the end of Dream Girl Drama, and I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to think of these two. Now, I can say they’re one of my favorite TB couples. 🫶🏻 This book was hilarious and had me CACKLING, from Robbie’s lasagna obsession to Skylar’s verbal digs at her brother. And the fact we got to have scenes with Burgess/Tallulah and Sig/Chloe? Ahhhh 😍😍

Seeing Robbie transition from his former player lifestyle to 100% devoting himself to Skylar was so heartwarming. When reading his POV, you really got to see all the fears and insecurities he held deep down, and it just made me want to hug him. Meanwhile, Skylar never viewed herself as beautiful because her long-time crush didn’t reciprocate her feelings. (We’ve all been there ladies, and it sucks!) I love that Robbie built up her confidence and made her feel desirable. And let me tell you, ANY woman would feel desirable if they were told the things Robbie said to Skylar!

Hot hot hot 🔥🔥🔥

4 stars! 🌟 Huge thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the ARC via NetGalley 💌

Okay soooo Pitcher Perfect was FUN!! Like, seriously such a breezy, feel-good, fake-dating sports romcom that made me kick my feet a little bit too much.

The setup?
NHL rookie Robbie Corrigan = total flirt, all charm, not an ounce of shame. Skylar Paige = D1 softball pitcher, laser-focused, and so over men like him. When Skylar needs a fake boyfriend to make her long-time crush (aka her brother’s best friend sigh) notice her during a wild family wilderness competition… Robbie volunteers as tribute.
Let the chaos begin.

This gave fake dating + opposites attract + a sunshine golden retriever who's lowkey obsessed with her… and I ate it up. The banter?? The tension?? The way Skylar starts out thinking he’s a total lost cause, but slowly realizes he’s kinda ride-or-die underneath all the cockiness??? Yes, please.

Robbie was actually adorable. Like… down bad from the jump, but still so respectful?? Not the usual alpha-douchey MMC—he was flirty, yes, but also lowkey soft and sincere?? And omg the way he backed her up when no one else in her family seemed to?? I cheered. Loudly.

Also the whole family competition setting? Kinda genius. Gave off summer romcom movie vibes and had the perfect amount of forced proximity. One bed energy. IYKYK.

Skylar was SUCH a strong female lead—fiercely independent, a bit guarded, but you could see how much pressure she put on herself, especially being the only one in her family who didn’t go to Brown. The whole “outsider in your own fam” thing? Hit hard.

ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT NICKNAME???
My only real ick with this book?? Skylar calling Robbie “Redbeard.” Like. No. Absolutely not. Felt like I was reading a pirate fanfic in the middle of a romcom and not in a cute way. Please leave weird nicknames in the drafts.

Spice level? Certified Tessa Bailey. Meaning: steam, steam, steeeam And Robbie?? A+ at certain lessons. If you know, you know.

Overall, I devoured this and I’m so ready for more from this series. I’m GUESSING the next book is gonna be about Madden (Skylar’s brother’s best friend/ex-crush) and Eva (Skylar’s bestie)? If yes—inject it directly into my veins pls.

If you're into:
⚾️ Fake dating but make it flirty
💐 Golden retriever NHL rookies who fall first + fall hard
⚾️ Strong sporty girls who don’t take BS
💐 Forced proximity, summer competitions, and soft character growth

…you’re gonna have a great time with this one.

Final verdict?
Tessa Bailey really said: enemies-to-lovers-but-make-it-fake-dating-and-full-of-heart and honestly??She delivered.
Not my all-time fave of hers, but still such a solid, fun, serotonin-boosting romance read.

The love I have for this series knows no bounds!! This was another home run and it just made my day reading it. This series is seriously where Tessa Bailey shines.

Robbie was a minor character from the previous two books in the Big Shots series. We (the reader) first meet him in The Au Pair Affair (Book 2), affectionately named as part of the duo “Orgasm Donors.” That’s just silly Tessa Bailey humor for you, but if you find that name cringe, then I don’t recommend this book. Robbie lives up to that name, but when we meet him in “Pitcher Perfect,” he’s still reveling it up as a bachelor rookie hockey player. With pride. Until he meets Skylar, the sister of the baseball player that Robbie and his hockey teammates supposedly hate because of some hockey/baseball rivalry. The banter was enjoyable and interesting for sure, but it felt a tad childish. At least in the beginning. But hey — that’s her writing and I personally like humor in romance books. (When the time is right.) We meet Robbie as this bachelor enjoying his lifestyle, but as soon as he lays his eyes on Skylar, and then agrees to a fake dating plot to make her crush jealous, there’s this radical shift to Robbie only having eyes for one woman the rest of his life. That switch felt like the insta love trope to me, and although it took a while for Robbie to say the word love, I still found myself difficult to believe their instant attraction. However, it was Skylar’s resistance to Robbie’s advances, but the progression of her feelings for the rookie hockey player that kept the romance somewhat of a slow burn. The use of the fake dating trope helped shape the story’s purpose: Skylar and Robbie’s romance.

I didn’t really enjoy the “third act breakup” in the end. I found it to be incredibly pointless. I won’t spoil what happened, but it could’ve been avoided. The resolution and happily ever after ended the story well, but how it led to the resolution was irrelevant. It gave a complete 180 to Skylar and Robbie’s character developments — and their relationship. It threw me for a loop and it made me slightly upset.

I found the conflict to be lacking. What was stopping from them being together? Robbie’s bachelor lifestyle? His sudden feelings for her, and Skylar questioning whether his feelings were true? Robbie’s inability to commit? Skylar’s crush on her brother’s best friend, Madden? I couldn’t decide which it was.

What made the book shine was all the things that Robbie and Skylar did for each other. Robbie passing out Boston University shirts to Skylar’s entire family. Robbie saving Skylar from drowning in a lake. Skylar scheduling in times for Robbie to “teach” her intimate moments, subtly letting Robbie know that she is interested in Robbie. Skylar only having eyes for Robbie, even when Madden was in the room. Skylar ditching her “not date” with Madden to go back to her parents’ house and wait for Robbie. Skylar going to save the kite in the tree from Robbie’s childhood story. All of these parts of the book contributed to the larger plot and purpose of this book: Skylar and Robbie’s happily ever after.

If you told the person I was who just finished The Au Pair Affair that Robbie, one half of the “Orgasm Donors,” was getting his own book, she would’ve laughed in your face. When Tessa first announced this book, I knew I wanted to read it — a baseball/softball and hockey romance? Sign me up. And I did. I liked it — just like with her past books, even books I supposedly didn’t like as much as some of the four and five star books by her, I found this to be enjoyable, hilarious, romantic, and spicy. A classic Tessa Bailey book.

Would I recommend? If you like humor and witty jokes sandwiched in with spicy scenes, then you’ll like this one.

Rating: 3.5/5

From their very first meeting on the pitcher’s mound that did not go well, you knew Skylar and Robbie were going to challenge each while also falling quickly for each other in this fake dating, teach me romance book between a softball pitcher and a hockey player. Robbie was just that kind of crazy to agree to be Skylar’s new teammate for this family competition week while also helping her make her long time crush jealous.

The veterans called it when they said Robbie was going to have a hard time not falling for Skylar because that’s exactly what he did. He wanted to know everything about Skylar while showering her with the unwavering support and encouragement she’s always wanted. Skylar tried so hard to keep her initial opinion about Robbie in the forefront of her mind but once she got to know him she realized just how wrong she was and how much she liked being around him.

This is my second favorite book in the series right behind Fangirl Down. I really loved Skylar and her tenacity and how vulnerable she was with Robbie because of how he made her feel. Skylar was so worried she was changing Robbie and that he would resent her but he wanted to change his ways for himself and for Skylar. These two balance each other out well- they both understand their competitive jobs and what it takes but also make each other a priority because it’s what matters to them.


There’s at least one of more in the series that we know of right now and I’m definitely interested in what’s going on between the two MCs after it was sprinkled throughout this book.


Thank you @avonbooks @tessabaileyisanauthor and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for this ARC! I am always here for a fake dating trope and even more so when the FMC Skylar is trying to get her brother’s best friend to notice her by fake dating the hot shot hockey player, Robbie. When Robbie agrees to team up with Skylar for her family’s annual competition, she barely tolerates his BS while he tries to win her over. Sparks fly and soon Skylar is wondering if she is chasing after the wrong guy. Thanks for another great one Tessa!

This book was a good time! I really love when a guy is obsessed from the start and has to win a girl over, and this book delivered on that. I also liked how much we saw of the FMC’s family. I didn’t love the back and forth conflicts towards the end because then the make-up then felt rushed and unrealistic to me. But overall, I enjoyed this book and read it in a day!

Tessa Bailey will A L W A Y S do it for me. The flirting and banter in this book !!! was hitting me straight in the chest and keeping me grinning.

This was definitely insta-love, BUT his immediate affection and want to mature feels better/deeper than the normal trope.

Literally couldn’t put it down. Read in one sitting.

Robbie and Skylar meet in a hockey vs. baseball player game and sparks fly. Within hours of meeting, Robbie has agreed to be Skylar's fake boyfriend (and teammate) at her family's annual competition. A week later they are thrown together for a week of family bonding and Robbie teaching Skylar his flirty ways as she attempts to win over her real crush (and brother's best friend). Obviously, sparks fly between Robbie and Skylar as they team up to take on Skylar's family. I admit that Tessa Bailey books are really hit-or-miss for me. While this suffered from a few of the qualms that I generally have with Bailey's book, I overall really enjoyed it. Skylar and Robbie do have good chemistry, which she definitely lacks with the brother's best friend. And Robbie changes his playboy ways very quickly, so I didn't have to suffer many "orgasm donor" jokes. However, like some other Bailey books, this book moves fast! The characters go from meeting to in love within two weeks of first laying eyes on each other. That isn't always a bad thing, but given they are really only getting to know each other for a few days before declaring their love, it feels a little absurd. Robbie, specifically, falls fast. Right after laying eyes on Skylar he is asking her to coffee and pledging to change his playboy ways. (Again, thankfully it ends the bad jokes, but you have spoken 10 words to her and are pledging your heart to her?!?) Even with the rapid descent into love, I really enjoyed the book. It has classic Tessa Bailey banter and Skylar and Robbie are fun characters that you want to root for.