Readers looking for something a little different will love The Change Up by Elley Arden, a twist on the traditional billionaire romance.
Title: The Change Up
Series: Arlington Aces #1
Author: Elley Arden
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 16, 2016
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Length: 66k words
Format: Digital
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4405-9151-8
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Synopsis
Commercial real estate mogul Rachel Reed is the one person her father can depend on, so when he walks into her Philadelphia office two weeks shy of her fortieth birthday to drop a personal and professional bomb, she rises to the occasion. She will help get his independent professional baseball team up and running before the inaugural season, and then … she will sell the team to recoup his substantial investment. It’s a tall order, but Rachel knows one thing for sure: a sexy nuisance from her past and a few acres of trees won’t stand in her way.
Former minor-leaguer-turned-landscaper Sam Sutter is surprised to find his brother’s ex in the woods behind the house he bought when he cashed out his signing bonus and said so long to baseball. He’s even more surprised to learn “his” trees are on her chopping block. There’s no way he’ll desecrate his nature-loving mother’s memory by letting that happen. But butting heads with the beautiful business woman is a tricky task that leads Sam to accept a position as head groundskeeper at her father’s stadium. Working under Rachel’s watchful, smoldering eyes might be Sam’s undoing.
She doesn’t know a thing about baseball. He swore off the sport ten years ago. But strange things happen when field dust gets in your veins.
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Excerpt
She thought about that for a minute, thought about him, standing there, looking at her like she was the only woman in the world, and the heat was undeniable. The attraction unmistakable. Sam Sutter was a mouth-wateringly beautiful man. Five years younger and without a discernible life plan, but damn it, libidos didn’t care about those things. And honestly, the only thing holding her back from taking out all her recent frustrations on his blessed body right now was the fact his crew was just outside the leftfield wall.
She thought about that for a minute, thought about him, standing there, looking at her like she was the only woman in the world, and the heat was undeniable. The attraction unmistakable. Sam Sutter was a mouth-wateringly beautiful man. Five years younger and without a discernible life plan, but damn it, libidos didn’t care about those things. And honestly, the only thing holding her back from taking out all her recent frustrations on his blessed body right now was the fact his crew was just outside the leftfield wall.
To neutralize the lust bubbling in her veins, she asked, “Do you miss baseball?”
He looked broadsided by the random question and didn’t rush to answer.
“I know that came out of left field …” she grinned at her cleverness, “but I’ve been wondering about it ever since the festival. When my dad was asking you about baseball, you looked very uncomfortable.”
His gaze shifted away from her and anchored onto something in the grandstand, but then he shrugged like she hadn’t hit a nerve. “I was uncomfortable because I was worried about your father. I wasn’t sure what was going on. That’s all.” But his jaw pulsed, and she knew better.
“Sam …” She stepped closer, narrowing the space between them. “I saw that same look a minute ago when I asked you to help me out with the coaching prospects. You miss baseball. It’s okay to admit it. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be human. God, you played every year of your life until you were how old? Just because you were ready to hang it up professionally doesn’t mean you don’t miss the game personally.” He looked at her then with a hurt in his eyes that seemed to be saying maybe he wasn’t as ready to hang it up as he pretended to be.
“I miss some things more than others,” he said. “There’s a rush you get from playing the game.” Silence stretched out between them as the warm wind wrapped them in the sun-dried fragrances of spring. All the while, his eyes roamed her face until they focused on her lips. “Fortunately you can get that rush from other things.”
“Like?” she asked, breathlessly, knowing damned well she was encouraging him.
“This,” he whispered before he leaned in and kissed her, a brush of his lips, soft as the breeze that carried the heated scent of his skin to her nose and then to her brain.
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My Review.
I received digital ARC through publisher via Netgalley, in exchange of review.
Love, family and baseball. What is there not to love? The minute that I read the description and realized that this book dealt with baseball, I had a feeling that it would end up being a book I was going to enjoy. Baseball had been one of my favorite sports, since college. Even though I had never played it, I had seen few live games and I love it. Of course I loved fact that this book dealt with baseball, plus I love the name Arlington Aces. From start I found myself curious to see if Sam goes back to baseball , despite how Sam acted whenever baseball was brought up, I have a feeling that he missed it, even if he wouldn’t admit it at first. I think that if it was not for Rachel he might not even realized it how much he missed and might not got back into playing it. I could tell how much joy that it brought him and I hoped he would not quit when he heard the truth about the team, especially after getting back to it.
There were tension between Sam and Rachel from the start, and the way that two of them seemed to act with one another, and considering that she dated Sam’s brother Luke in past, I felt that it wouldn’t happen. As I read more, I finally started to see that there was not just tension between the two of them, but there much more. It wasn’t long where you could tell that the two grew to care for one another, especially Sam. He went after Rachel’s father after he got lost in woods and he did not give up till he found him. How can that not be love? Plus she helped him realize that it’s baseball that he wanted to do. Despite what Sam thought when he realized that team was being sold, I know that she loved him and I hoped that he would realize that soon. Before she left.
THE CHANGE UP started out a bit slow for me, I felt like it dragged in beginning, however it picked up fast and once it did, I could not get enough of it. I fell in love with the characters and the story. Also fact that it dealt with Alzheimer’s as well which is a hard subject and I saw how much her father declined and how fast and it even scared me. I couldn’t even imagine how it must felt to see your own father to decline like that. Also the cover, isn’t it beautiful? Even if you don’t read the summary I have a big feeling that the cover will attract your attention and make you curious. How can you not wonder about that couple in the cover? I feel like it tells part of the story.
Astonishing, heartwarming story about love, family, acceptance, hope and dreams. If you love sports with love mixed in, THE CHANGE UP is a story that you won’t forget. Afterwards you will finds yourself wondering what’s next for them.
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Author Bio:
Elley Arden is a born and bred Pennsylvanian who has lived as far west as Utah and as far north as Wisconsin. She drinks wine like it’s water (a slight exaggeration), prefers a night at the ballpark to a night on the town, and believes almond English toffee is the key to happiness.
Elley has been reading romance novels since she was a sixteen-year-old babysitter, sneaking Judith McNaught and Danielle Steele novels off the bookshelves of the women who employed her. To say she’d been sheltered up to that point is an understatement. No one had ever told her women could live bold, love freely, and have sex lives that were exciting and fulfilling. (They don’t teach these things in Catholic school!) Now that she knows, she’s happy to spread the word. The women she writes about may be fictional, but the success, respect, and love they find on the page is a universal right for women everywhere.
Elley writes books with charming characters, emotional stories, and sexy romance. Visit The Bookshelf for a detailed listing.
You can also visit her online at the following places: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
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