Review – Hardball (Philadelphia Patriots #2) by V.K. Sykes

This book was the perfect mix of intrigue, life issues, friendship, love, and yes…sex. While the plot was enjoyable enough, Hardball is character driven and I wouldn’t have it any other way. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures

Description:
After years of hard work and keeping her nose firmly to the grindstone, Dr. Holly Bell has finally achieved her dream: a position as a pediatric surgeon at a prestigious teaching hospital. Children’s lives rest in her skilled hands. That means total dedication to her work and her patients without letting anything or anyone get in the way. And a hot affair with a superstar athlete is most definitely getting in Holly’s way.

Nate Carter, star pitcher for the Philadelphia Patriots, has the world in the palm of his baseball glove. He’s at the height of his game, a west coast team is about to lure him with even greater riches, and the most gorgeous women in town are in full pursuit. Nate has everything he wants, or at least he thinks he does, until he meets the beautiful and brainy Dr. Holly Bell. He’s totally up for a hot affair, and Holly turns out to be the hottest.

But will Holly be willing to play his game? When the lovely doctor starts changing the rules, Nate realizes he just might be playing for keeps.

I was excited to start on this book in the Philadelphia Patriots series because I knew it was Nate’s story. I liked Nate’s sense of humor and kind heart in the first book and it was my hope that he’d meet someone worthy of his time. I was not disappointed in his story at all, that’s not to say it was a match made in heaven but it was pretty darn close.

Nate is a fun loving, somewhat smart mouth, but extremely philanthropic pitcher for the Patriots. His main charity of choice is the Children’s hospital where he spends a lot of time visiting the patients and donating time and money. When he runs into Dr. Holly Bell his thoughts are anything but charitable at the moment, all he knows is wants her and he wants her bad.
Thing is Dr. Holly is feeling pretty much the same way much to her surprise.

What I love about this book is Nate’s friend Maddie and his best friend and ex-girlfriend, Martha taking Holly under their wings and giving her advice. Despite being a doctor Holly isn’t very educated on men and sex. She’s nervous about Nate because of who he is and his reputation. I love how his friends are quick to point out his good qualities, laugh about his reputation, and also assure her that he’s acting pretty out of character with her. I found this to be refreshing as women in books are often shown as catty and jealous. I applaud Holly for being upfront with Nate about her inexperience with men and he couldn’t have responded any better. Nate proves quite often in this book why he’s a super guy.

Even though these two embark on a sexual relationship pretty quickly, I do like the time they spend getting to know one another outside of the bedroom. However Nate confuses Holly because he seems to be happy with his carefree bachelor lifestyle yet he talks about his family constantly. Holly is dealing with some issues at work and she finds she’s falling for Nate which scares her. Their relationship is strained more than once and there were some pretty heart breaking moments. However, when Holly is in danger Nate does some pretty fancy maneuvering to help her and they both realize what they almost lost.

This book was the perfect mix of intrigue, life issues, friendship, love, and yes…sex. While the plot was enjoyable enough, Hardball is character driven and I wouldn’t have it any other way. From Nate and Holly, to their friends, to the children in the hospital, each and every one plays an important role and they make this an entertaining and enjoyable book.