I don’t think I would have bought this book if I hadn’t won the book merchandise, because I’m not into music. I’m so glad I did because I couldn’t put this back. It was the perfect summer read!
Setting
It’s set in modern times in America. The MC and her family moved to the town for a fresh start following an incident that ruined her brother’s football career.
Characters
Joy is the main character. She always puts her brother’s needs before her own as she feels responsible for what happened. She loves to sing but puts off her own dreams to keep everyone else happy.
Her best friend is the beautiful Lena. And, her other best friend Cale asks her to fake date him, so he can get closer to Lena who he is crushing on. He’s not the only one, as Joy’s brother is into Lena too. But. Lena has her eyes fixed firmly on her incredibly charming neighbour Jin.
Joy lets Jin in on the plan. As they work together to set Lena & Cale up, everything gets complicated.
Review
I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. Piper is an expert at story telling, I felt sticky in watermelon juice, and every heartache.
A fake dating plan rarely delivers the desired results for the parties involved, but this one surprised me as it wasn’t what I initially thought. It was better.
The characters are all well developed with their own motives, needs, and growth. Together they pushed the story towards a very satisfying ending.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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I have been following Sarah for a while on Instagram as I was intrigued to read her debut novel What Are Friends For?
So, when the opportunity to read an ARC for her new novel came up it was the perfect chance to see whether I like her writing. And, I do.
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Blurb: Out of my League
Beginning
The MC, Sophia, has dreams of getting an internship at a local Newspaper. She is famous for her article on plastic straws that activated change.
Her journalism plan involves writing for the school paper but she receives the devastating news that the School’s Board are scrapping the papers funding to buy bleachers for the baseball team.
Sophia is supposed to be finding ‘the right time’ to dump her idiot boyfriend Scott. She decides to save the school paper by writing a final article, on how toxic the Baseball team and undeserving of the funds. She delays dumping Scott to use him to get the information for her expose.
Middle
Sophia attends an end of school party with her best friend Edith. It’s at Walsh’s house, the captain of the baseball team; the baseball team that has taken her beloved newspaper’s funding.
Sophia isn’t a fan of Walsh. Scott has constantly bad mouthed him to her, highlighting his every flaw.
Scott arrives at the party, with another girl.
When he realises he’s been caught cheating, he dumps Sophia in-front of everyone and humiliates her. Walsh jumps to her rescue and claims they are secretly in love and can now be together.
Despite being a heart throb, Sophia is not into Walsh. She runs off and Walsh goes after her. He offers to be her fake boyfriend and help with the article (not knowing the angle Sophia is aiming for).
We follow Sophia infiltrate the baseball team, gathering incriminating evidence for her article. She fends off her ex-Scott’s snide remarks whilst he flaunts his new girlfriend.
In addition, Sophia’s parents are at each others throats, their ups and downs escalates to divorce. And Sophia turns to her fake boyfriend for comfort. They get close, and she discover’s Walsh’s family life isn’t perfect either.
Walsh starts doing sweet things for her, even when nobody is around to witness it. Sophia starts to fall for him and has to keep reminding herself its not real. Edith tries to persuade her to scrap the article but she can’t see any other way to save her dream of becoming a journalist.
Everything gets very messy for Sophia:
She fights with her parents that now have decided on counselling, and are having a baby.
She runs to Walsh. He confesses he knew Scott was cheating and at the party he planned for her to catch Scott out, to get back at him. Realising she was a pawn in their rivalry from the start breaks her heart. She tells Walsh about the article exposing the team cheating (paying other teams to throw the game) and storms off.
She goes to Edith’s house, and they fight. Sophia is heartbroken that Edith knew about Scott too and didn’t tell her, and Edith points out the many ways Sophia has been selfish.
Ending
Sophia has a lot of making up to do. With the support of her parents and BFF, it’s time to get back the boy she loves with a grand gesture… but, when she arrives at the pitch the game is cancelled.
She bumps into her ex, Scott. He tells her Walsh revealed the baseball team’s cheating. Scott’s new girlfriend is sick of the rivalry between the guys and dumps him.
Sophia finds Walsh speaking to a baseball scout. Despite the cheating, he still got picked. They get together. Sophia loves Walsh more than the article and scraps it.
Her parents are happy. Sophia and Walsh are happy. Then Sophia gets a call. Her teacher sent her straw article to the local paper and they love it and offer her an internship.
So many happy vibes ?.
Final thoughts…
I know nothing about baseball but that didn’t matter. This is a heartwarming sweet love story. I loved the friendship between the girls. All the characters and relationships were well developed, complex and had their own motives.
The fake relationship is believable, there was a good motive from both sides. The chemistry between the two was brilliant and I caught butterflies many times, rooting for them to kiss and realise what they have is real.
“And, just like that, the tingly sensation from my fingers, spread to my stomach.” Excerpt from Out of My League by Sarah Sutton
Sarah is one of the incredible authors you can discover in the World Indie Warriors brochure, containing full details on how to connect with her and buy her books.
