Book Review: Third Base by Stella

About the Book

First base: kissing.
Second base: above the waist.
Third base: below the waist.
Home run: no explanation needed.

Every baseball player knows to keep their eye on the ball and swing for the fences. Each base counts, but a home run is the goal. No one wants to strike out. This is true both on and off the field.

Ellie Teller had been my best friend since we were born, and we had a plan—get out of the tiny Alabama town we’d grown up in and go to college…together. But even life’s best-laid plans could throw a powerful curveball. Rather than attend classes, I was now the starting pitcher for a Major League team.

While my game-day stats were impressive, my record with women was less desirable. I was the professional baseball player who hadn’t been able to make it past third base since the one and only night I’d played hardball with my best friend.

But when the bottom of the ninth came to a close on my career, I had to decide if our friendship was worth more than a few extra innings.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36212645-third-base

PURCHASE LINKS

US: http://amzn.to/2ycZ0Td
UK: http://amzn.to/2zVTq4J
CA: http://amzn.to/2xxWfYa
AU: http://amzn.to/2zYoxwL

Free in Kindle Unlimited

My Thoughts

Stella is the author name of writing collaborators and authors in their own right Leddy Harper and Stephie Walls. Third Base is their first book as co-authors and I think they’ve done a fine job.

Third Base is a friends-to-lovers story featuring Coby Kyler and Ellie Teller. Their bonds of friendship were formed in babyhood and strengthened over the years. These two best friends, ignored for the most part by others their entire school life, made sure to stick together.

The story starts in the present day before going back in time several years to Coby and Ellie’s senior year in high school. Coby is a maverick on the baseball field. Beyond his own expectations, Coby is drafted to a professional baseball team as a pitcher.  The story progresses to the present day and beyond as we journey with Coby and Ellie as they grow individually, grow apart and then grow together.

This book deals with several topics very well.
The transition from high school to college, and in Coby’s case, a professional sports team can be pitted with users and opportunists who are out for themselves. Who is friend and who is foe? And how can you tell the difference?
That there is life for those that were once high school nobodies, but you have to open yourself up to people and experiences. Even when they don’t pan out as you thought.
Professional sports may espouse big-heartedness but there is a bottom line. And that bottom line is a key driver. Forge your path at your own peril!

And even with a level of seriousness, humour and wittiness abounds. Coby is very self-deprecating about his failure with women and his general awkwardness. At times I was both cringing and laughing at his inadequacies. Many characters offer great one liners but the start of the comedy show is Coby’s teammate, Gage Nix. He is “on” a lot of the time. His banter and quick-wittedness is fun to read. I am glad to know Gage is getting his own book. He deserves it.

Having said all this, there were times when the book fell short for me. The overall pacing did not feel right to me. This book was not so much a slow-burn as it was plain slow at times. I questioned the need for so much detail at times, such as Coby’s injury woes. I even wrote myself at note at the 40% mark wondering what came next. I could not see the direction the book was taking. This is not a bad thing in itself but when coupled with a lack of anticipation, I did wonder if I was going to finish at all. Conversely, the time spent with Coby and Ellie once they realise their love for each other seemed to pass quickly. I do wish it hadn’t taken so long for them to become romantically involved.

Overall I did enjoy reading about Coby and Ellie. Their candour, their love for one another, the support they show each other as friends first and then as lovers makes you wish you have the luck to experience a relationship like theirs.

A solid 3.5 stars.

About the author

Stella

Best Selling Author Leddy Harper and Stephie Walls met on a street corner in Savannah, Georgia in 2015, where they quickly formed a bond over book boyfriends and cheap wine. 

After discovering the two best friends shared a brain, their alter ego, Stella was born. After all, when you put two romance authors together…you’re gonna get something Stella!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorStella

Website: https://www.authorstella.com

Leddy Harper

Leddy Harper had to use her imagination often as a child. She grew up the only girl in a house full of boys. At the age of fourteen, she decided to use that imagination and wrote her first book, and never stopped.

She often calls writing her therapy, using it as a way to deal with issues through the eyes of her characters.

She is now a mother of three girls, leaving her husband as the only man in a house full of females.

The decision to publish her first book was made as a way of showing her children to go after whatever it is they want to. Love what you do and do it well. Most importantly Leddy wanted to teach them what it means to overcome their fears.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorleddyharper

Twitter: https://twitter.com/leddyharper

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.leddy.harper

Stephie Walls

Stephie Walls is a literary whore - she loves words in all forms and will read anything put in front of her. She has an affinity for British Literature and Romance novels and an overall love of writing. She currently has six novels out, four short stories, and two collections; all provocatively written to elicit your imagination and spice up your world.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephiewalls2014

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephiewalls

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephiewalls