A sexy, hunky baseball player with a Southern drawl, a puppy, and an independent, adorably perfect woman – what more could you want?
Steal a Kiss is the fourth book in author Julia Jarrett’s wildly entertaining Vancouver Tridents
Baseball series, and lucky for us there is one more book coming in the series. Each book is better than the last, or maybe it’s just because this baseball family is expanding and it’s not only the fun of meeting new characters and learning more about those that were previously in the background but also revisiting those multi-dimensional characters over and over, giving us stories with depth and themes and plot that run through the entire series. And my first introduction to these marvelous stories has been through audiobooks, which is – of course – the absolute best way to enjoy these well-written baseball romances.
Ronan and Willow and his daughter Peyton, Mav and Sadie and her weird cat, Monty and Lark all provided hours of listening pleasure. In Steal a Kiss we are lucky enough to spend lots of time with Evie Yamaki and Rhett Darlington.
Evie has just gotten her graduate degree and now it’s job-hunting time. It’s also time to move, since the university said in effect: here’s your degree, now find someplace else to live because university housing is for current students. She wasn’t prepared for that. Guess she’ll have to stay with her big brother Kai, one of the Tridents pitchers. No problem; it’s only temporary. Well, it’s going to be shorter than temporary because heart-of-gold Evie couldn’t resist rescuing a puppy from the side of the road on her way to Kai’s, and Kai’s building doesn’t allow pets. Oh oh.
Simple solution: move in (temporarily of course) with Kai’s teammate Rhett Darlington. We’ve already met Rhett in previous books and we know he’s a sweetie. The not-so-simple part of this solution, though, is that Evie has had a crush on Rhett for . . . forever. And, yes, Rhett is sweet, but there’s a little heat with that sweet and it seems the attraction is mutual. How’s that going to work? The big brother, the team, the temporary. Evie is supposed to be finding a job, starting a career, getting on with her life, not swooning over a (sexy, handsome, irresistible) man and getting into a relationship that might not work out.
Steal a Kiss is a delightful continuation of a delightful series. It’s warm and tender and spicy, funny and just an all-around satisfying listen. Narrators Lena Lee & Alexander Neal bring all the characters to life with the right pacing, tone, emotion, emphasis; the perfect complement to author Julia Jarrett’s perfect words. And don’t forget that Southern accent. Bonus: in a social media post Jarrett very thoughtfully provided a guide to the spicy chapters. I suggest you pay special attention to 16 and 34!! I received an advance listening copy of Steal a Kiss from Home Cooked Books. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.