Perfect Pitch: Diamond Brides, #1

By Mindy Klasky

Forbidden romance as America's sweetheart beauty queen meets a cocky pitcher in this sexy stand-alone baseball romance!

 

Samantha Winger is using her beauty pageant title to launch a music program for kids. The only catch? She must follow the contest's rules, maintaining absolute "decorum" in public.

 

That's easy, until DJ Thomas—God's gift to baseball—throws her a wild pitch. The Raleigh Rockets' star pitcher slams her in an interview, and the video goes viral.

No shrinking violet, Sam parlays DJ's apology into a national TV appearance—and a very unexpected, very public kiss.  Soon paparazzi catch the couple in a steamy make-out session, and Sam's music program is at risk. The blazing hot relationship is threatened even more when DJ's son begs to trade in Little League for music class.

 

Will Sam and DJ sizzle past the sour notes to find their perfect pitch?

 

The Diamond Brides Baseball Series:

 

Each book can be read on its own, and the series can be read in any order.

 

Perfect Pitch (DJ Thomas and Samantha Winger)
Catching Hell (Zach Ormond and Anna Benson)
Reaching First (Tyler Brock and Emily Holt)
Second Thoughts (Nick Durban and Jamie Martin)
Third Degree (Josh Cantor and Ashley Harris)
Stopping Short (Drew Marshall and Jessica Barnes)
From Left Field (Adam Sartain and Haley Thurman)
Center Stage (Ryan Green and Lindsey Ormond)
Always Right (Kyle Norton and Amanda Carter)

 

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Book View Cafe
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781611383522

Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her that she could travel anywhere in the world through stories. She never forgot that advice. When Mindy isn't "traveling" through writing books, she quilts, cooks and tries to tame the endless to-be-read shelf in her home library. You can visit Mindy at her Web site, www.mindyklasky.com.

Book preview

1

No good text ever arrived after midnight.

Samantha Winger’s phone buzzed against her nightstand, waking her from restless sleep. She groaned, knowing she should have turned off the buzzer. Would have turned off the buzzer, if she hadn’t been so exhausted when she’d climbed into bed.

She’d spent the day in a series of meetings, each less successful than the one before. Time was running out. She had eight weeks left to track down funding for Musicall, her fledgling charity to offer music classes to all North Carolina school kids.

Flexing her calves, Samantha tried to fall back to sleep. She had almost succeeded, when her phone buzzed again. And then, like a hornet’s nest knocked from a tree, a dozen more messages screamed for her attention. Swallowing a curse, Sam fumbled for her phone.

She squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the jumble of letters and numbers. It was the same sequence, sent by half a dozen people. Touching the link, she automatically launched a video.

The picture was grainy—someone had clearly been filming their television. The sound wasn’t great either. But Sam could make out a good-looking guy staring at the camera, a broad smile across his face beneath his navy blue baseball cap. His close-trimmed hair was blond, and his eyes were a shocking sapphire blue. He rubbed a broad-fingered hand against the hard line of his jaw, and then he grinned.

I get it, he said. I do. Everyone came to the ballpark expecting to see Braden Hart pitch. Instead, Braden’s got the flu, and the crowd ended up with me. It’s sort of like thinking you’re going out on a date with Miss America and getting stuck with the Summer Queen instead. No wonder they booed when I took the mound. But I’d like to think they felt better when I delivered a perfect game.

The pitcher laughed and flung up his arm, fending off an icy shower of sports drink from a pair of laughing teammates. The camera angle jerked, and the video cut off abruptly.

Stuck with the Summer Queen.

Sam shivered, as if she’d received her own ice-filled shower. Another two texts arrived, and she pressed the little arrow on the screen, forcing the video to play again.

Yeah. It didn’t get any better the second time. Or the third.

Another message came in, with a new link. Catching her breath, she touched the screen, only to see the pitcher grin and laugh, over and over again, as one line looped in endless repetition: Stuck with the Summer Queen.

Sam tossed her phone onto the bed. Who was this guy, anyway? And why was half the world up at this hour, anyway, to forward a million links to the video?

Grabbing the crocheted afghan from the foot of her bed, Sam dragged herself into the living room. She tugged the blanket closer around her shoulders as she opened up her laptop. Typing in a quick query, she ignored the browser’s prompt offering of the two videos, along with a slew of other recordings.

DJ Thomas, that was the pitcher’s name. Daniel Junior, she quickly read, son of Hall of Fame pitcher Dan Thomas. A seven-year veteran, useful in the bullpen when they needed long relief.

Sam clicked over to social media. DJ Thomas was already a trending topic. The guy had saved the Rockets in a big way, going from boos to cheers in nine perfect innings. The story was going viral, even as she watched the screen scroll by.

Great for him. Yay for the Rockets.

Stuck with the Summer Queen.

Sam knew she should stop watching. She should go back to bed, get a good night’s sleep.

Because the morning would come far too soon. The morning, and an inevitable phone call from the North Carolina Summer Fair. Ten months into her one-year reign as Summer Queen, Sam knew exactly how the game was played. By morning, she needed to have the perfect response—funny and sweet, and absolutely, completely, one hundred percent family-friendly.

No one would expect anything less from the Summer Queen. No one would expect anything less from Samantha Winger.

You are so screwed.

DJ stopped short at Zachary Ormond’s words. The Gold Glove catcher leaned against his locker, one foot up on the bench in front of him as he shook his head in mock sorrow.

DJ tightened his fingers on his son’s shoulder and pointed the boy toward the equipment room. Go ahead, Trey. Those helmets aren’t going to polish themselves.

Aw, Dad. Do I have to?

He squelched the automatic flare of frustration. When he’d been a kid, he’d loved every minute he’d spent in the clubhouse—polishing helmets, lining up cleats, organizing the bats for every player on his father’s team. DJ had seen every day as another chance to prove himself to his father. He might not have been allowed to play on the major-league field—yet—but he’d been damn sure he was the best batboy the team had ever seen.

It never would have crossed DJ’s mind to backtalk when he was ten years old. Especially not with another player watching. Trey, he warned.

The kid actually had the nerve to flash a pleading smile toward Ormond. But the catcher shrugged and nodded toward the helmets. Trey sighed as if he’d been told to hike the entire Appalachian Trail with a hundred-pound pack on his shoulders, but he headed off to his chores. DJ waited until his son was out of earshot before he asked, What the hell?

Ormond jutted his chin toward a newspaper, folded on the bench by his foot. Check out Life.

DJ dug out the relevant section.

Page three, Ormond said helpfully.

DJ flipped the paper open. His attention was immediately claimed by a full-color photograph of a hot red-head, her long hair framed by some sort of diamond crown thing. Her green eyes glistened like she was about to cry, but the grin on her full red lips made it clear any tears she shed would be for joy. Her shoulders were bare; he could just make out the neckline of some fancy dress.

Crown. Tears. Dress.

Oh, shit, he said.

Meet Samantha Winger, Ormond said. North Carolina’s reigning Summer Queen.

DJ skimmed the brief text of the story—his name, picked out in bold, next to the beauty queen’s name. There was a one-line summary of last night’s game, and DJ’s quip from the on-field interview. The last line in the article slipped a sliver of ice into his chest: Miss Winger could not be reached for comment before press time.

Shit, he said again.

Ormond laughed. With any luck, the front office won’t even notice, he said.

Back in Coach’s office, a phone began ringing. DJ glanced at Samantha Winger’s picture again, and he swallowed hard. His lips were dry, as if he’d just finished running some sort of marathon. Maybe he could duck into the equipment room, help Trey with the helmets. With the shoes, too. And maybe there were a few thousand loads of laundry to do. Anything to avoid answering to Coach about the article.

Right. Like that was going to happen. Inevitably, the door to Coach’s office opened, and Mac, the pitching coach, stuck out his head. Junior! he barked, and DJ snapped to attention. They want to see you upstairs. Now.

DJ scrambled for an excuse. I was just about to watch film from last night’s game.

Now! Mac said, slamming the door before DJ could even begin to think of another delaying tactic.

You poor bastard, Ormond said, shaking his head.

What do you think they want? DJ pulled his eyes away from the photo of the woman he had insulted in front of every baseball fan in North Carolina. Damn. They’d had the national broadcast last night. Every baseball fan in the country.

You poor, poor bastard, was the only answer Ormond offered. The catcher’s laughter followed DJ out of the locker room.

Sam took a deep breath and held it for a count of five before she exhaled. After ten months of serving as North Carolina’s Summer Queen, she could do this. She had to do this. Even if she was running on three hours of sleep. Even if she wanted to crawl back home, curl up on her couch with her afghan and a good book, with a cup of sweet, light coffee. Even if this was the absolute last way she had ever wanted to spend a Saturday morning.

Relaxing her smile just a fraction so it didn’t seem fake, Sam set her manicured fingers on the doorknob to the conference room and pushed her way in.

Samantha! The greeting came from Judith Burroughs, the pageant’s executive director, who had phoned Sam at seven o’clock sharp. Ordinarily, the Summer Fair’s most senior staff member didn’t talk to anyone before noon. But Sam had heard Judith inhaling from a cigarette, and she’d made out the distinctive clink of ice in a tall glass—Judith’s legendary eye-opening Bloody Mary, no doubt.

Just as Sam had predicted, the Summer Fair was treating DJ Thomas’ jibe as a big-time problem.

Sam had longed for a morning cocktail of her own, after that phone conversation. But Judith had made her intentions perfectly clear. Sam was expected in the Fair offices by no later than nine, so that she could sparkle for an interview with Bill Morton, co-host of the local Wake Up Wake County morning show. As a special favor to the pageant, Wake Up was filming a segment about The Incident. Each time Judith referred to the video, she delivered a grating verbal shudder.

Now, Sam air-kissed both of Judith’s cheeks, allowing the older woman to capture both her hands in her nicotine-stained talons. Camera reflectors were set up in the corners of the conference room, and the light was bright enough to shrink Judith’s pupils to pinpoints.

Sam was grateful she’d taken a few extra minutes to apply her good foundation that morning, along with her best blush. The glossy lipstick had become second nature—that was the advantage of spending so many years on the pageant circuit. Lip gloss, and the automatic enthusiasm that enriched her voice. It’s so lovely to see you, Judith! There. She sounded breathless. Enthusiastic. Just as she was supposed to sound.

Judith’s eyes glittered beneath their midnight frosting of mascara. Now, Samantha, have you met Bill Morton?

We’re old friends. Samantha turned to the reporter with a smile, automatically extending her hand to shake.

Bill stood by his chair, looking every bit the broadcasting professional who had a shelf of Daytime Emmys sitting back in his office. Miss Winger, he said. I took the liberty of bringing one of our finest cameramen this morning. We want to give this story the full coverage it deserves.

Sam laughed and nodded to the man who was fiddling with his camera. You’ll only film my good side, right, Johnny?

As if you had a bad side to worry us, the old hand said. Sam had chatted with him a few times in the past year, as Wake Up featured one aspect of the Summer Fair or another. They’d met for the first time the night Judith had settled the Summer Queen tiara on Sam’s head.

Bill nodded and guided her to one of the chairs. Now, I’ll start by running through the controversy. You can tell your side of the story. We’ll get it all edited for broadcast in the first block on Monday’s show.

Perfect! Sam said. "But I have to say, I don’t really think there is a controversy."

Bill shot a quick look at Judith. I understand you don’t want to make any waves, Samantha. But surely you want to answer this self-important ballplayer before he gets any more airtime. Let him know the truth about you. About the Summer Fair Pageant.

Sam saw Judith’s eyes narrow as the older woman waited for her answer. Truth be told, Sam was willing to let the whole thing go by without a single public word. Anything she said would just make the story last longer, keep it on the front page, when it would otherwise fade away to the sports section in a day or two and disappear completely after that.

But in the past ten months, Sam had learned a thing or two about Judith Burroughs. The woman was determined to spread good news about the Summer Fair. She was going to fight the beauty pageant stereotype with every last breath of her tobacco-stimulated body. Even if Summer Queens were denied the right to smoke their own cigarettes. Or drink their own alcoholic beverages in public. Or swear in any venue where they might be overheard. Or do anything else that might reflect less than perfectly the highest standards of the great state of North Carolina.

Fine. Sam understood what was important to Judith. And

Reviews for Perfect Pitch

[booksniff · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this romance novel. It was quick moving, easy to follow, and everything made sense. Sometimes things were a little over the top... Like Sam's rules as the summer queen. The issues in the book were pretty cliche, but if you can overlook that and just enjoy the romance.... It was a nice story. There were a few steamy love scenes, too. I received this book for free in exchange for a review.

[rjlouise · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I LOVE Mindy Klasky. I was first introduced to her through Early Reviews with her As You Wish series and when I won the second book in the Diamond Brides series for this month's Early Review, it was a NO BRAINER to get the first one.It's good. It's not the quality I expect of Klasky. This is NOT to say I have no intentions of reading the rest of the books (I SO DO - this series was written for me, I swear). It's just not as good as the two books of hers I have previously read. It's a slow start to what will be a fantastic series (having read two more books in the series, I can say this with confidence).I think my biggest issue with this book is, while it's a bunch of fun, it kind of skated over some really important issues in the name of making the romance happen by the final page. I appreciate that the purpose of this series is romance, but I felt like some issues between the main characters and the main male lead and the son were not given their proper due.Also, the main characters knew each other for all of TWO MONTHS (maybe) when they got engaged. I know, I know, the series is called Diamond Brides. But COME ON. No history to engaged in two months? Woof.That being said, I LOVE baseball romances. It's a crazy niche genre and YET I've run into before and am SO GLAD I've run into it a second time. I'm so looking forward to the rest of the series and YOU JUST WATCH ME rip through them time and again.B- (good writing, fun story, super appealing to my tastes; slow start to a series, hand waving of important issues, somewhat rushed relationship)

[aileen3403 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed Perfect Pitch by Mindy Klasky. The story line was well written and held my interest throughout the book. I liked the way the characters became involved and progressed. I will definitely read more of Mindy Klasky's novels. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[julesjones_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contemporary romance starting with a baseball star who is unwise enough to publicly sneer at the local beauty queen, only to find that a) this is bad PR with the team's supporters and his manager is not amused, b) the beauty queen is no dumb blonde, and she's not amused either. They soon realise there's more to both of them than meets the public eye, but they're also very much in the public eye, and Samantha's contest contract includes a morality clause... A pleasant enough read. Currently on offer as a start-of-series freebie.

[rlatourell · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a pretty standard romance novel in my opinion. The relationship between the two main characters evolved very quickly and the typical speed bumps occurred to put the relationship in jeopardy.

[saraann05 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Received in return for an honest reviewA fairly predictable story. I didn't warm to either of the main characters. Samantha's behaviour was reckless considering how important she felt her after-school programme was. For her to jeopardise it and ultimately lose her beauty queen title over DJ, I couldn't see why she would do that.The scenes between DJ and his son Trey are cold, you could see why someone would have sympathy for Trey, but not why they would be attracted to DJ, to the extent that Samantha was. I read the whole story because I wanted to see how things were resolved, but it was all wrapped up rather neatly in the end.

[nubian_princesa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

***LibraryThing Giveaway***This was a cute story of a hot guy and a sexy woman, who overcome some obstacles and fell in love. Nothing unpredictable or shocking but its a good Summer read..

[crazy4reading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a cute story with a baseball theme and music, which are two of my favorite things. The story starts with the Summer Beauty Queen be awakened by her phone. This is all due to DJ Thomas a pitcher making a comment about being stuck with the Summer Beauty Queen.This is the set up for the potential romance between Samantha Winger and DJ Thomas. DJ apologizes and you can feel the attraction right from the beginning. Samantha wants to start a program called Musicall to bring arts back to the schools. This is a series I will read just for pure entertainment.

[geniariddick-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perfect Pitch was an enjoyable novella. It was a bit short but the budding relationship between Sam and D. J. was sweet and made for an entertaining read.

[stephaniestockert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked the story in this book. It is not super original, but it still kept me entertained. I read it in about 2 hours so that is always a good sign that I am enjoying a book. The characters were intriguing, but it could have been better. A lot of the story is rushed and not all of it connected, she really could have made it into a longer book with more detail but overall it was still a great book. It is perfect if you are just wanting to cuddle up and read for a little while without having to commit to a really long book.

[castiron_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

While the setup of this romance intrigued me, the inconsistent actions by the characters destroyed my interest in their HEA.(Spoilers follow.)So, the setup: Samantha (Sam) is over three-quarters done with her year as the Summer Queen (the winner of a beauty pageant). When baseball pitcher D. J. Thomas makes a snarky comment about the Summer Queen pageant, the two are thrown together in the resulting damage control, and they discover that there's much more to each other than surface appearances.Sam takes her responsibilities and duties seriously, and she hopes to use her new connections from her year as the Summer Queen and the scholarship and prize money to start setting up Musicall, a music education program for schoolkids. (As I'm an organist's kid, this immediately won my sympathy. Musicall needs to be a real program in every state of the U.S. right now.) Musicall is the most important thing in the world to her, and she's putting up with the heavy restrictions on her public behavior and demands on her time that go with being the Summer Queen because she has her eyes on the prize.D.J. is driven by two things: his need to prove himself as a baseball player to his dad, a baseball Hall-of-Famer, and his love for his son Daniel "Trey" Thomas III, who he thinks has the potential to be a much better baseball player than he himself is (but who doesn't seem enthusiastic about the idea). Between his work and caring for his son as a single dad, there's not much time for anything else, but Sam makes him rethink that.It had potential to be a great romance. The setup's great; there's real obstacles keeping the pair apart; there's real misunderstandings that mostly get resolved in a timely and reasonable fashion. And the title is just right.So, why it didn't work for me:Sam's character is too inconsistent. She's devastated when she sees the video of D.J.'s snarky comment -- and then the next day she's going "eh, it was a stupid thing not worth all this brouhaha that the pageant and team are going through;" this would make sense if we'd seen any transition between the two, or if she'd been less devastated and more "oh, crap, now I've gotta deal with the damage control the pageant will undoubtely want" in the first place, but as it stands, the transition was jarring.Inconsistency shows up again as she's falling in lust with D.J. She's utterly dedicated to being the Summer Queen, not for the competition itself, but because it's a path to get what she really wants, Musicall. And then D.J. shows up, and suddenly she forgets all that. I can buy that she'd forget herself in lust once, but after the first paparazzi incident and the fallout with the pageant, I started saying, "look, you're only going to be Summer Queen for *two more months*; can you not step back and tone things down for two damn months?" If *before* D.J. was on the scene she'd chafed more the restrictions that the pageant put on her, I could have bought that she'd crack. Or if she'd been *less* dedicated to Musicall, then I might have believed that she'd forget it for a chance to get laid. But I can't reconcile her character as presented with the stupidity of her actions.D.J. is a more consistent character, but there are things about him that make me think "no, Sam, you can do better." The biggest one? We never see him confront his father after the horrible things Daniel Sr. says to and about Sam. We never see him really rethink what he's trying to prove; we just go from "crap, I've lost Sam, what now?" to "look! I magically changed my mind about this thing that's driven me all my life!" It was too abrupt, and I couldn't buy it.There's way too much lusting for my tastes. Lust lust lust, drool drool drool, lust lust lust. After a while, it got tedious; I could've done with about half the lusting being replaced by more character development and showing why they were good for each other besides hormones.I started getting bored about 25% through, and if I hadn't been reading for review, I'd have given up before 50%. I'm glad I did push through to the final resolution, but even that didn't quite work for me; I couldn't help thinking that D.J.'s actions were totally jerky to the young women in the Summer Queen competition.Overall: interesting premise, but the execution's not for me.

[sportzmomof5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.I enjoyed this book and the authors style of writing. The characters are well developed and you wish you could really meet them. The storyline is flawless and flows very well. The only thing I would have changed is the length - I WANT MORE!! I can not wait to read more from this author, she is definitely a favorite of mine now!

[c4ro · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contemporary Romance. ER.Beauty queen Samantha and bad-boy (or at least slightly thoughtless boy) D J Thomas. He is a pro baseball pitcher and apparently there are 9 of these books in a series covering all player positions. This was above average with characters fully fleshed-out and coming to life. As well as her beauty queen role, Samantha has a music project for kids that is quite sweet.

[tammikroeger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book and couldn't stop reading until I finished it. The characters were very likable. I like books where the leading lady is strong and competent. I would have loved it even more if were longer.

[jendoyle2000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this as an LT Early Reviewers book. Overall I found it to be an enjoyable, quick read. I liked the characters for the most part and found the romance engaging. The beauty pageant setting felt old-fashioned and a little bit unbelievable and yet I could see how that might be exactly how pageants are. The only sour note for me was the ending (SPOILER ALERT) ... Not so much the way the relationship wrapped up, but Samantha's response to it. Given her complete commitment to the pageant I just couldn't see her being so cavalier -- not because of the pageant itself, but because of the work that the other contestants would have put into it. With that said, however, I do think I'll be looking for other books by this author.

[rlfm-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this new series.

[jenniwindsor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this as an e-book through the Early Reviewers program. I love sports themed books, especially baseball and thoroughly enjoyed this book although I wish it was a little bit longer. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between DJ & Sam and also I would have liked to have seen more of the relationship between DJ & his father addressed and tackled. I will be looking to read other books by this author especially in this series.

[lms8esmith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

With a title close to one of my favorite movies, I was excited to read Perfect Pitch. I was concerned when I saw the length of this novel, but I put my concern aside as I began reading. I like Sam and DJ, but I felt that the characters needed to be more believable. I felt that maybe more back-story for the characters was needed in the beginning. I'm thumbs up for a good romance, but I did not believe in the instant attraction between Sam and DJ. There were a couple of other items in the story that seemed to be dropped into the story and not developed enough for me. Overall, I think the story is good, but the characters need more development. Even a hot romance has to be developed properly. :)

[cecilyms · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received this book in exchange for a fair review. It's a story of a major league pitcher, D.J., who was raised by his superstar pitcher father to be the best or else. He's a single dad, raising his own son in the same manner and with the same goal, not noticing or caring that his son wants more to his life than just baseball. D.J. inadvertently insults the reigning Summer Queen of the county Summer Fair, and makes it up to her by asking her to sing the national anthem to open his next game. Her project for her year as Summer Queen is to promote her music program for elementary school students. The Summer Queen rules say she must be perfectly pure all the time--no drinking, partying, or fraternizing with the opposite sex. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: Of course she and D. J. fall in love (and lust, explicitly), and of course are caught by paparazzi, the last time after D.J. has just thrown a terrible game, in front of his grandstanding, disapproving father. He's hurt and furious, and somehow she manages to bring up that his son might not want to be a pitcher, too. In fact, his son wants to be in Sam's music program. Big argument. Breakup. She's fired. His coach gets on his case about not doing well on the job anymore, and he realizes that she was right and he was wrong, and they make up in front of more paparazzi at the next Summer Queen coronation. Well, did I like the story? It was okay. I didn't much like D.J. as soon as it was evident he was ignoring his son's feelings. And I'm not a sports fan, so his star pitcher status didn't impress me. I liked Samantha okay. But I didn't see how she could fall for him after seeing how he treats his son, especially after hearing that his son had tricked his way into Samantha's music program at his school. If I wasn't supposed to like his father, how could I like him, who was trying so hard to mistreat his own son the way his father treated him? I don't think one lecture by a coach could really turn him around so completely, or that she'd be willing to trust that he had changed so much to agree to marry him the first time she see's him after their blowup. So, despite the fact that it was written well, I couldn't get past my dislike of D.J. to give the story more than three stars.

[psabella-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable. I had trouble putting it down. Kept you interested from the beginning. I wish the ending gave you a little more but hoping that you get more insight in the next book of the series.

[cheryl_nolan-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading this story about the reigning "Summer Queen" Samantha and the romance between her and pitcher D.J. Thomas. D.J. starts out on the wrong foot with Samantha. But they have unmistakeable chemistry and this is a surprisingly racy story. I give it 4 stars!

[lost_lenore · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review by the author on the Member Giveaway program from LibraryThing.A light romance with a touch of hotness, a sexy and smart lady and sports hunk. Well written and with a well structured plot, this short story will make you smile and wanting more.I really enjoyed it and definitely will want to read more from this author.

[sbalexander-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love baseball. So when I saw the cover and read the summary I was hooked. I was happy when I received a free copy for an honest review. This was a sweet, hot, sexy and steamy romance, which I enjoyed. The writing was easy and flowed. The storyline was good. However, I wasn't pulled into the story by Samantha as much as I was by D.J. For me, he was the story. Ms. Klasky did a great job in portraying the angst between D.J. and his father. I liked how he changed from the beginning to the end. Sam, however, didn't have the depth of character growth that I usually like to see in a book. I also would've liked more tension between them. Overall, nicely done. I will definitely read the next book in the series about Anna Benson.

[lulu150 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was a great romance! I liked the characters and the plot. It was a very quick and easy read. Great for the beach or a cold snowy day. I look forward to reading more from this author.

[bookshellz_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Samantha Winger is this year's reigning Summer Queen. When pitcher, D.J. Thomas, publicly makes a joke concerning The Summer Queen, she's summoned to the Summer Fair offices to help fix what they were viewing as a big problem. D.J. shows up in the middle of her interview to apologize and present her with a rose bouquet and an offer to sing the National Anthem at tomorrow's baseball game. Samantha and D.J. are immediately aware of each other, but Samantha still accepts the offer. When the game is over, D.J. takes Samantha to dinner and the attraction starts to spark between them. Samantha has all sorts of fantasies concerning D.J., but the rules of being Summer Queen prevent her from any public displays of affection, or any unprofessional behavior. That just may become a problem as their relationship starts to sizzle.This storyline is adorable, but the story itself is sexy and explosive! The attraction is immediate, their interaction just plain hot. Since D.J. had a son, that added in plenty of sexual tension between the hero and heroine, which made everything spark and sizzle. That only raised my anticipation, as I was impatiently awaiting their sexual connection. The Summer Queen rules that Samantha was subject to obeying, were also responsible for their own share of added sexual tension. I just wanted Samantha to ditch the Summer Queen title and move on to her love connection with D.J. That says something about how much I was "feeling" the love between the hero and heroine. In my opinion, Ms. Klasky did a very fine job writing Perfect Pitch and I'll definitely be back to read more!

[stacey68-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about a rising major league baseball pitcher who is a single father and a beauty pageant queen who is anything but ditzy. I was not sure about the premise of the book but was quickly roped in. This book was simply written and straight forward. Despite this the characters had some depth and flaws. There is humor, tense moments and hot sex. What more could you ask for.I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[karenj113 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Perfect Pitch was a run of the mill romance story. It was very entertaining and I was able to finish it in one sitting, but was very predictable. I would recommend this book to someone who wants a quick fun read.

[nrclovestoread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

D.J. just pitched a perfect game. In an interview his joke about the Summer Queen leads to more press attention. When D.J. meets Sam he could have regretted what he said more. This novel was short and sweet. It only had 8 chapters but I was still able to connect with the characters and the romance between D.J. and Sam. The novella reminded me of The Perfect Game by J. Sterling a little bit. I think that it lacked a bit of something. It was sort of cliche an predictable. That is why this got a 3.5 from me. This novella isn't available get but will be soon.

[patricia1972-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I received this ebook I wax extremely excited and I have to say I was not disappointed. This book goes through the rollercoaster of emotions in a very short time. It was wonderful to read. I was happy to see that this is just book one of a seies of books about baseball players. I can't wait to read more about the men on this team and the women the fall for.

[ashpreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A short and sweet romantic read. I really like the way that the characters are presented. In a short time you get to know them well enough to understand how they think. 4 1/2 stars looking forward the the other books in this series.