ARC Review – Saving Maverick by Debra Elise

It’s baseball season and what a way to start off Spring Training. A bad boy, hot baseball player and the woman that could either bench him or have him pitch a perfect game. ~ Kitty, Guilty Pleasures 

Description:
Maverick Jansen and Kelsey Sullivan fall into a complicated game of PR strategy by day and searing passion by night where they both find a new meaning to fast and hard.

STRIKE ONE
Days before the biggest game of playboy pitcher Maverick Jansen’s career, his brother is killed in a horrific car accident. Determined not to let his teammates down, Mav pushes through his grief only to lose control of his signature pitch—and the series.

STRIKE TWO
Still dealing with the backlash of his once adoring fans, Maverick learns his team’s owner plans to move the ball club to small town America. During a night of hard drinking Mav rails against the move to “Hicksville” while a fan records the entire tirade. His career takes another hit when the video goes viral right before spring training.

Kelsey Sullivan, Media Consultant, is hired by the team’s owner and her childhood friend, Thomas Scott, to help restore Maverick’s image and find a way to get his mojo back. As the daughter of a former minor league ball player who walked away from her and her unstable mother, Kelsey breaks her main client rule—no male athletes—to help her friend and gain a coveted position with the ball club.

STRIKE THREE, or…?
Persuaded to pretend they’re a couple against her better judgment, Kelsey and Maverick begin dating as a last ditch effort to secure his place on the team, fix his public image and prove to an unstable groupie who’s begun posting doctored photos on the internet that he’s taken.
In order to convince Kelsey what they have is more than just soul-shattering sex, Maverick digs deep, overcoming his commitment phobia and unexpected news to prove to Kelsey love can save them both. Can Kelsey bury her long-held belief that a bad boy baseball player isn’t the happily-ever-after type so they both can make the call of a lifetime.

Review copy provided for an honest review

It’s baseball season and what a way to start off Spring Training. A bad boy, hot baseball player and the woman that could either bench him or have him pitch a perfect game. Yep, here we go with the baseball euphemisms.

Maverick was one hot mess. Since his brother’s death, the loss of the big game and moving the team to some podunk town, whiskey has been his friend, lover and coach. Add that to lying to the new owner and trainers and he has no idea if he even has a career in baseball anymore.

Kelsey is at the top of her game in the PR business …. She’s happy with it and wants nothing to do with anything baseball. But, how does she turn down the one man who has always been there for her, has had her back on more than one occasion and been her big-brother forever? Hell, how does she turn down the job of a lifetime? So, taking on Maverick is going to open old wounds but she’ll do it. Now, to keep her libido in check, just be his PR person and then go on with her life.

One heart-stopping kiss, one viral on-line video, one stalker and she ends up in the arms and bed of the one man that she knows will never give up his playboy ways to just be with her.

I had fun with Maverick and Kelsey. He was unstoppable when he wanted something and she knew how to throw up the brick wall when it was needed. The stalker story line was really well written but you kind of had an idea of who it was right from the beginning. Luke was interesting and is going to be fun to watch in future books. But, the person I really want to see be taken down a notch is T.S. He definitely needs a woman to bring him in line and show him that there’s more to life than the rich and powerful. Don’t get me wrong, he was fantastic throughout the story … he wasn’t mean or nasty … but … he needs a woman.

Debra Elise really kept me entertained throughout the story. It was light then serious, it was hot and sexy and it was eye-opening. Being a huge baseball fan, it was interesting to see just what a player in a slump may be going through. It was nice realizing that they are just human too and may have outside forces causing them to act the way they do. I also loved that she showed us all sides of Maverick. She wrote him as a drunk, as a lover, as a despondent man, as a caring person and as a baseball player that finally realizes that it’s not just him on the field, but a team. Ms. Elise did a wonderful job keeping the story moving and giving us just what we needed from Maverick and Kelsey.

4.5 stars

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