Young, rich, and unaware of how seriously hot he is, Brooks Davison is tearing it up as the latest shortstop for the New York Kings, despite his tendency to blush whenever girls scream his name.
When a health scare forces his best friend, Kyle Roberts, off the team, no one can stomach the thought of replacing him, especially so close to the playoffs.
Until Kyle's sister, Sasha, steps in, convincing management to let her take his place. The idea of signing the first female player in Major League history proves too tempting for the Kings to resist.
Nevertheless, Brooks doesn't want any part of it. Sasha is Kyle's little sister, not some sideshow.
Yet when Kyle takes a turn for the worse, Brooks promises to do everything in his power to help Sasha win a championship for him. Because there's no way he's letting either of them down. Not now, not ever.
I'm in a fitful kind of sleep, one arm tossed over my face, one leg hanging off the bed,
when I hear a rapping at my door.
My heart starts to pound. What if it's some demented stalker fan? I pull the covers up to my chin, determined to wait it out. But when it comes again, my curiosity gets the better of me and I inch slowly off the bed. Going stealthily step by step, I take a deep breath and look through the peephole.
I gasp when I see Brooks standing there.
My heart goes from a dull pounding to full-on somersault mode. I run my hands through my hair. I must look a wreck. But why should I care?
Because he's pacing outside my room in the middle of the night.
He knocks again, and I unfasten the chain and twist the lock before I change my mind. His feet are bare, and he’s wearing nothing but a faded Pac Man shirt and his boxers. He shouldn't be out here looking like he just rolled out of bed, but he is.
The way his eyes are roaming across my body makes me conscious of the fact that I'm only wearing a pair of itty-bitty shorts and a flimsy tank. I cross my ankles and fold my arms around myself in an attempt to bolster my courage.
"Don't," he whispers, stepping across the threshold. His hands encircle my wrists, gently pulling them away from my body. "You're too beautiful to cover yourself up." He presses the door closed with the back of his foot, extinguishing whatever light was streaming in from the hallway.
Now we're alone together in the darkness of my room, and I'm kind of glad he can't read my face. I'm too conflicted. I don't know what to do. I don't know why he's here. But if I'm being honest, I’m glad that he is. He's finally making the effort to reach out to me instead of leaving me in the barren wasteland I've been living in. Oh, how I’ve missed basking in the warmth of his smile.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, feeling the heat of his body against mine.
“Apologizin’,” he says in that sexy twang of his, drawing out every syllable.
when I hear a rapping at my door.
My heart starts to pound. What if it's some demented stalker fan? I pull the covers up to my chin, determined to wait it out. But when it comes again, my curiosity gets the better of me and I inch slowly off the bed. Going stealthily step by step, I take a deep breath and look through the peephole.
I gasp when I see Brooks standing there.
My heart goes from a dull pounding to full-on somersault mode. I run my hands through my hair. I must look a wreck. But why should I care?
Because he's pacing outside my room in the middle of the night.
He knocks again, and I unfasten the chain and twist the lock before I change my mind. His feet are bare, and he’s wearing nothing but a faded Pac Man shirt and his boxers. He shouldn't be out here looking like he just rolled out of bed, but he is.
The way his eyes are roaming across my body makes me conscious of the fact that I'm only wearing a pair of itty-bitty shorts and a flimsy tank. I cross my ankles and fold my arms around myself in an attempt to bolster my courage.
"Don't," he whispers, stepping across the threshold. His hands encircle my wrists, gently pulling them away from my body. "You're too beautiful to cover yourself up." He presses the door closed with the back of his foot, extinguishing whatever light was streaming in from the hallway.
Now we're alone together in the darkness of my room, and I'm kind of glad he can't read my face. I'm too conflicted. I don't know what to do. I don't know why he's here. But if I'm being honest, I’m glad that he is. He's finally making the effort to reach out to me instead of leaving me in the barren wasteland I've been living in. Oh, how I’ve missed basking in the warmth of his smile.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, feeling the heat of his body against mine.
“Apologizin’,” he says in that sexy twang of his, drawing out every syllable.
"El Corazon de los Reyes! The Heart of the Kings"
When you cross a family of major league baseball royalty, a fiesty younger sister who will do anything for the older brother that she loves beyond belief and a devastatingly handsome, talented and kind-hearted Oklahama boy you certain come up with Game Changer by Collette West!
Sasha Roberts, youngest sister of major league baseball players Nate, Matt and Kyle Roberts does the unthinkable when Kyle collapses on the field due to a genetic heart defect, she approaches the team manager and owner offering up herself to take her brothers' second base spot, until he receives the heart transplant that he desperately needs to live. Looking into the eyes of a media frenzy and the possibilty of tremendous amounts of revenue, it is agreed that Sasha will join the New York Kings to play second base, working with some of the greatest players in the league and spending day in and day out with the object of her love, Kyle's best friend Brooks.
"He's the calm within the storm, my lifeline to sanity."
Brooks has had his eye on Sasha since Kyle's wedding in the Carabbien, but hasn't made any moves because Kyle forbid it. Now, while Kyle lays in a hospital room fighting for his life, and Sasha wears his number on her jersey, keeping his place on the team, Brooks falls even harder for the girl that he can't have but can't get out of his head. Believing that Sasha has no idea what she is getting herself into, he doesn't waiver in his feelings for her, and does everything that he can to support her through the last few months of the season while the fight for a World Series Title, even if it means that they have to hide their feelings for each other in order to keep the team heirarchy happy.
Sasha does everything that she can to be an asset to the team, from doing interviews, remaining stoic when opposing teams fans ridicule her and playing her heart out without any training behind her. It is inspiring how hard she works and how badly she wants to make her brother proud, while he comes closer and closer to death while waiting for a heart to become available.
As the season moves on, it becomes harder and harder for Sasha and Brooks to stay away from each other, because their feelings only seem to grow stronger which each game that they put behind them in their quest for the big ring. Kyle even seems to begin to warm up to the idea of them being together, almost giving them his blessing, but telling them that they need to stay apart until the season is over. Once Brooks makes the decision to claim Sasha as his, something he has wanted for a long time, things seem to go even better for them on the field, while Kyle is slowing fading off the field in his hospital bed.
Sasha takes a chance by going to the team owner and asking for his help to hopefully save Kyle's life. As I turned each page, I hoped that Kyle would make it and that Brooks and Sasha would have their happily ever after. If you want to know if they did, you will have to one-click this amazing story for yourself to find out! I give this read 3.5 stars and would recommend it to those with a love of baseball, family and love that seems to never waiver even in the most unlikely difficult of circumstances! Great Job Collette!!
Game Changer is the second book in the series but can be read as a standalone. The first book Night Games was a great story and made me a big fan of Collette West and this book just drove it home even more as to why I love this author. I would give this book 4 stars. If you are a baseball girl like I am you will love this series. I do have to say I am from St. Louis and there were a few comments in this book that may or may not have made the cardinals fan in me sneer. But it was all in fun so I will let it pass for now (LOL). This was told in dual POV's of Brooks and Sasha. This book will not be for everyone as what the plot entails would be every ball playing girls dream but never a reality. I would just say keep in mind this is totally fictional so that being said keep your mind open and be a true baseball fan and enjoy!
Sasha comes from a huge family of professional baseball players. She has grown up around it and played ball herself. Her brother is currently a very popular ball player for the New Your Kings and they are very close. One day when her brother falls ill she will make a choice to help him in a way that only a brother could do but she is determined to make it happen. She is going to suggest to the owners of the team to be his replacement until he gets better, why you ask? She wants his spot saved on the team and the only way to do that is for someone who loves him to take the spot and give it back without question. The only problem is she has been in love with the shortstop on the team since she was a child. Brooks is her brothers best friend and she knows if she does this there relationship can never cross that line... or can it? What will happen when they are playing together and they realize there chemistry is just too much to not act upon? Will the Kings be ok with this.. or even more so how will her brother react?
Brooks is the shortstop of the New Kings and even though he is made out to be a ladies man, he is actually more reserved and doesn't just have sex for the fun of it. He has secretly lusted after his best friends sister Sasha for years. When they reconnect after years at her brothers wedding he knows in his heart that this is who is supposed to be with. But times goes by and he never makes a move because his best friend told him there is no way he will allow them to be together. So Brooks keeps his promise and doesn't pursue a relationship. But all that changes when she is thrown into his sacred world of baseball. Not only does he want more with her but now he has to protect her from all the reporters and most of all his teammates. He knows they have chemistry but is he willing to risk his life long friendship and possibly his career for Sasha?
Brooks was always doing silly things like that. He might have been a big-time baseball player, but he sure didn't act like one. He loved clowning around and making people laugh. Being around him just felt good.-- Sasha
I know that having her on the other side of my bedroom wall--and not being able to do a thing about it--is going to be way more challenging than having to hit a homer with the bases loaded. -- Brooks
Get this book as soon as you can, you will not regret it I promise. You will get and HEA but not an easy one. Thanks again for another great story and I can't wait for more from this Author and hopefully more from the characters in this book.
Collette West grew up as somewhat of a jock-nerd hybrid. Entering the world three weeks premature, her dad nearly missed her birth because he had seats behind the dugout for a sold-out, highly-anticipated match-up between two of baseball's biggest rivals. Not to be outdone, her book-loving mom taught her how to read by the time she was three. A love of the game coupled with an appreciation for the written word were instilled in Collette's impressionable brain from a young age. No wonder her characters believe in the philosophy: sports + romance = a little slice of heaven.
Splitting her time between the Pocono Mountains and Manhattan, Collette indulges her inner fangirl by going to as many games as she can from hockey to baseball and downloading every sports romance novel in existence onto her iPad. When she's not clicking away on her laptop, she enjoys walking her dog in Central Park, satisfying her caffeine craving at the Starbucks on Broadway and keeping an eye out for Mr. Right. But above all, she loves dishing with her readers. Email her at collette_west@yahoo.com.
She is the author of NIGHT GAMES and GAME CHANGER.
