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rainbowobsidian's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was a softball kid, growing up. Training 2-3 nights per week, 2-3 games each weekend. My brothers played too, and complaining about dragging my two kids to soccer on Saturday mornings is the closest I come to marvelling about how my mum did the things she did when we were growing up.
If there was a baseball or softball game on telly I’d watch it. I watched my best mate’s baseball team train. I played ball until an interstate move in 2009 lead to weird rostering, then children, then it being too hard to fit into the life I had created.
I love these sports. And yet. When it comes to sports romance I have avoided baseball like the plague. For five years I have read and reread fake sports (hello exy) and ice sports (hello Ilya) but I have had a block when it came to baseball, despite @kdcaseywrites being recommended over and over again.
Last week I had an audio credit burning a hole in my pocket and I finally took a chance on Unwritten Rules. This morning I finished it, with the biggest grin on my face and the best kind of squeeze in my heart.
This book is so full of yearning that it floored me, and I was grateful for the enforced breaks that come with mostly listening on commutes. I love the way Zach and Eugenio’s relationship grew, I love the blocks they faced and understood why they faced them. This book hurt and healed so hard because of how deeply it feels steeped in reality. There’s no oblivious idiots to lovers here, there’s culture (sports, religious, societal, demographic), there’s fear, there’s growing into your integrity and your identity. There’s recognition that “fighting for what’s right” isn’t easy, and can have very real consequences, and there’s finding ways to fight anyway. Also did I mention yearning??? There’s so much fucking yearning.
Loved the time hops, loved the narration, loved imagining Eugenio’s tattoos, loved the side characters, loved getting back on the diamond after so many years away from the dugout, and LOVE the fact that I have so many more KD Casey books yet to read.
If there was a baseball or softball game on telly I’d watch it. I watched my best mate’s baseball team train. I played ball until an interstate move in 2009 lead to weird rostering, then children, then it being too hard to fit into the life I had created.
I love these sports. And yet. When it comes to sports romance I have avoided baseball like the plague. For five years I have read and reread fake sports (hello exy) and ice sports (hello Ilya) but I have had a block when it came to baseball, despite @kdcaseywrites being recommended over and over again.
Last week I had an audio credit burning a hole in my pocket and I finally took a chance on Unwritten Rules. This morning I finished it, with the biggest grin on my face and the best kind of squeeze in my heart.
This book is so full of yearning that it floored me, and I was grateful for the enforced breaks that come with mostly listening on commutes. I love the way Zach and Eugenio’s relationship grew, I love the blocks they faced and understood why they faced them. This book hurt and healed so hard because of how deeply it feels steeped in reality. There’s no oblivious idiots to lovers here, there’s culture (sports, religious, societal, demographic), there’s fear, there’s growing into your integrity and your identity. There’s recognition that “fighting for what’s right” isn’t easy, and can have very real consequences, and there’s finding ways to fight anyway. Also did I mention yearning??? There’s so much fucking yearning.
Loved the time hops, loved the narration, loved imagining Eugenio’s tattoos, loved the side characters, loved getting back on the diamond after so many years away from the dugout, and LOVE the fact that I have so many more KD Casey books yet to read.
brianklaas's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Started as a bit of a slog but the characters became likable as the story progressed. A few moving moments, ended in just the right place.
30something_reads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I love them, your honor. 🥹♥️
This was everything I needed it to be- swoony, angsty, tender.
-Gay, Jewish MC with a hearing impairment
-Bi, Venezuelan LI (I don't think it explicitly mentions it, but Eugenio reads as Demisexua/ Bi Romantic to me)
-Second Chance Romance told in Single POV through two timelines
-Discussions of homophobia, biphobia, coming out
This was everything I needed it to be- swoony, angsty, tender.
-Gay, Jewish MC with a hearing impairment
-Bi, Venezuelan LI (I don't think it explicitly mentions it, but Eugenio reads as Demisexua/ Bi Romantic to me)
-Second Chance Romance told in Single POV through two timelines
-Discussions of homophobia, biphobia, coming out
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Outing, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Racism
jessvk's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
beachykeen's review against another edition
4.0
I am shocked at how much I enjoyed this!! Had to skim over the baseball specific talk. But I loved the stakes of the relationship and the reality of it and I loved the way Casey kept us in Zach’s POV. I wanted and I think the characters deserved a little bit more toward the end though.
lbarsk's review against another edition
4.0
Okay so first of all, HELL YEAH JEWISH ROMANCE CHARACTERS! And an especial hell yeah for Jewish GAY romance characters!
As my friend Irene's review of the book says, we LOVE to see sports romances that actually have sports in them. And K.D. Casey has clearly immersed themself in the world of baseball - it felt realistic, and true to how stressful and uncertain being an MLB player must be! - which helps ground the book.
I'm usually fine with romances that jump back and forth between past and present day, especially second-chance romances like this one! But it felt like we spent SO much time in the past, watching Zach and Eugenio fall in love, and so their path back to each other in the present day felt a little rushed on my end. The development of their relationship in the past was GREAT, and Zach's growth that we *did* get to see in the present day was solidly executed, so as usual with me I just wanted more for some balance.
I'm going to read the rest of the books because I like Casey's alternate world where it is okay for baseball players to be gay -- would that this world were the same! And I know that a major thrust of the book is Zach's unwillingness to come out, but it doesn't feel... toxic in the same way that real-world Major League Sports still do feel. Like, once he *does* come out it seems like the team will support him going forward. Which, again, can't exactly say for our universe. Anyway, a good read, 10/10 pitch perfect Maryland Judaism voice, great sports content and a compelling relationship.
As my friend Irene's review of the book says, we LOVE to see sports romances that actually have sports in them. And K.D. Casey has clearly immersed themself in the world of baseball - it felt realistic, and true to how stressful and uncertain being an MLB player must be! - which helps ground the book.
I'm usually fine with romances that jump back and forth between past and present day, especially second-chance romances like this one! But it felt like we spent SO much time in the past, watching Zach and Eugenio fall in love, and so their path back to each other in the present day felt a little rushed on my end. The development of their relationship in the past was GREAT, and Zach's growth that we *did* get to see in the present day was solidly executed, so as usual with me I just wanted more for some balance.
I'm going to read the rest of the books because I like Casey's alternate world where it is okay for baseball players to be gay -- would that this world were the same! And I know that a major thrust of the book is Zach's unwillingness to come out, but it doesn't feel... toxic in the same way that real-world Major League Sports still do feel. Like, once he *does* come out it seems like the team will support him going forward. Which, again, can't exactly say for our universe. Anyway, a good read, 10/10 pitch perfect Maryland Judaism voice, great sports content and a compelling relationship.
becksgoesbookish's review against another edition
4.0
Audio narration - 5 stars
Story - 3 stars
This had so much potential, and there were many things I did enjoy. Overall it was very well written, especially the baseball portions and bits about life being from Maryland (which is the area where I grew up so could definitely relate to those chapters). But for a romance novel, there were many things that just weren’t quite fully fleshed out in terms of telling the story of their second chance romance.
For example, if we are going to spend so much time in the “past” timeline I really expected the breakup to be a lot *bigger* and more emotional than it actually was.
And on the flip, they kind of just fall back to being together without Eugenio really having any trepidations.
Maybe this is because it was a single POV told from only Zach’s POV? Or because we don’t actually get much on page of them being a couple and having cute moments (though their are a few, which are great!)
Idk it’s hard to explain but basically I felt like the groundwork was there, but it didn’t quite stick the landing and the HFN ending was super rushed and definitely could’ve benefitted from an epilogue set in the future or something.
But will I still be listening to book 2? Absolutely!
Story - 3 stars
This had so much potential, and there were many things I did enjoy. Overall it was very well written, especially the baseball portions and bits about life being from Maryland (which is the area where I grew up so could definitely relate to those chapters). But for a romance novel, there were many things that just weren’t quite fully fleshed out in terms of telling the story of their second chance romance.
For example, if we are going to spend so much time in the “past” timeline I really expected the breakup to be a lot *bigger* and more emotional than it actually was.
And on the flip, they kind of just fall back to being together without Eugenio really having any trepidations.
Maybe this is because it was a single POV told from only Zach’s POV? Or because we don’t actually get much on page of them being a couple and having cute moments (though their are a few, which are great!)
Idk it’s hard to explain but basically I felt like the groundwork was there, but it didn’t quite stick the landing and the HFN ending was super rushed and definitely could’ve benefitted from an epilogue set in the future or something.
But will I still be listening to book 2? Absolutely!
pallotj's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
asabovesobelow's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
cayeman's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5