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A review by bookishlibrarian
The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson
3.0
Shortly after her divorce, Daphne attends a baseball game where she drunkenly heckles a baseball player, Chris Kepler, in a moment that goes viral. Chris happens to be having a bad season, his brother having died by suicide months before, which he has not disclosed to the public or even his team. Afterwards, Daphne feels terrible and intends to apologize via Instagram DM. They begin a DM correspondence, with Chris unaware that she is his heckler and knows her as Duckie, her IG name, not Daphne.
Through a series of happenstances (stretching credulity some), Daphne ends up taking a role with the team which puts her in close proximity to Chris, who does not know she is Duckie, and the two become close in real life, too. The secret identity trope is one that pops up a lot (You've Got Mail), but it was pretty hard to get behind Daphne's deception here, as she knew Chris's identity from the start and the information imbalance was there from the beginning. Also, she lies first as Duckie (not coming clean as being the heckler) and then again as Daphne (not admitting she is also Duckie).
Daphne was tough to root for, but I did like Chris's character a lot and the sensitive portrayal of his grief over the loss of his brother. And, of course, the baseball setting was fun, too.
Through a series of happenstances (stretching credulity some), Daphne ends up taking a role with the team which puts her in close proximity to Chris, who does not know she is Duckie, and the two become close in real life, too. The secret identity trope is one that pops up a lot (You've Got Mail), but it was pretty hard to get behind Daphne's deception here, as she knew Chris's identity from the start and the information imbalance was there from the beginning. Also, she lies first as Duckie (not coming clean as being the heckler) and then again as Daphne (not admitting she is also Duckie).
Daphne was tough to root for, but I did like Chris's character a lot and the sensitive portrayal of his grief over the loss of his brother. And, of course, the baseball setting was fun, too.