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Breakout Year
A newly traded, newly out third baseman on the cusp of his first major contract hires a fake boyfriend—not expecting him to be the former player who ghosted him years before. But as their star ascends in public, their feelings burn hot in private...threatening to expose what’s for the cameras—and what’s for real.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 12, 2025
52 people are currently reading
1139 people want to read
About the author
K.D. Casey
11 books310 followersKD Casey is a writer and baseball enthusiast. Come chat about writing and baseball at kdcaseywrites on Instagram. Want a free story? Let's keep in touch at kdcaseywrites dot com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
November 12, 2025
I really admire K.D. Casey for writing Breakout Year and making the main characters so incredibly Jewish. Judaism is as central to this story as baseball is, which is unique for any romance, much less a sports romance. I have a lot of thoughts about Breakout Year, so I hope you don't all mind me rambling a bit...
I love how thoughtful and unique each of K.D. Casey's stories are. The author's intense love and respect for baseball just shines through every page, and I always feel K.D. Casey's passion for the sport and her characters alike. However, where I sometimes struggle with her works is with her pacing and the length of her stories, and I struggled with it again here.
Breakout Year is a long book and it feels like a long book. It is a low energy, character-based story, and you have to be in the mood for that. It's very baseball-y, and though this book is less baseball-y than some of her other books, it still feels like baseball is important to the story. If you love baseball, I feel like it might be an easier read. For me, I had trouble staying engaged in the story, and I kept taking breaks from reading it, which made it take quite a long time to finish.
I think the romance was... okay. I didn't like how I felt like Akiva (pronounced Uh-key-va) had to be convinced every step of the way with Eitan (pronounced A-ton) doing so much of the emotional work. I felt like Akiva was closed off, and I didn't quite connect with him as much as a character. I wanted more spark, more chemistry. For a sexuality discovery story, it wasn't as heated as I would like. Eitan was lovely, though. I think things got a bit more romantic towards the end of the book, but I got tired with Akiva dragging his feet for the first 3/4 of the story.
Now... let's talk about the Jewish content. This will be quite long, so click on the spoiler tag if you want to dive in with me and my rambling thoughts.
I could lead a whole discussion group to talk about the Jewish content of this story, but I'm simply happy that the author actually put Jewish queer content out there for mainstream consumption. It's really rare to have Jewish characters in romance, and I'm thrilled the author keeps exploring the whole range of what it means to be Jewish and giving her characters the romances they deserve.
While the story didn't completely wow me with the pacing and the romance elements, the character development and the enthusiasm that the author has for this story will really stick with me.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
goodreads|instagram
I love how thoughtful and unique each of K.D. Casey's stories are. The author's intense love and respect for baseball just shines through every page, and I always feel K.D. Casey's passion for the sport and her characters alike. However, where I sometimes struggle with her works is with her pacing and the length of her stories, and I struggled with it again here.
Breakout Year is a long book and it feels like a long book. It is a low energy, character-based story, and you have to be in the mood for that. It's very baseball-y, and though this book is less baseball-y than some of her other books, it still feels like baseball is important to the story. If you love baseball, I feel like it might be an easier read. For me, I had trouble staying engaged in the story, and I kept taking breaks from reading it, which made it take quite a long time to finish.
I think the romance was... okay. I didn't like how I felt like Akiva (pronounced Uh-key-va) had to be convinced every step of the way with Eitan (pronounced A-ton) doing so much of the emotional work. I felt like Akiva was closed off, and I didn't quite connect with him as much as a character. I wanted more spark, more chemistry. For a sexuality discovery story, it wasn't as heated as I would like. Eitan was lovely, though. I think things got a bit more romantic towards the end of the book, but I got tired with Akiva dragging his feet for the first 3/4 of the story.
Now... let's talk about the Jewish content. This will be quite long, so click on the spoiler tag if you want to dive in with me and my rambling thoughts.
I could lead a whole discussion group to talk about the Jewish content of this story, but I'm simply happy that the author actually put Jewish queer content out there for mainstream consumption. It's really rare to have Jewish characters in romance, and I'm thrilled the author keeps exploring the whole range of what it means to be Jewish and giving her characters the romances they deserve.
While the story didn't completely wow me with the pacing and the romance elements, the character development and the enthusiasm that the author has for this story will really stick with me.
*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*
goodreads|instagram
September 20, 2025
Re-upping this for release day. Happy book birthday to these grumpy overthinking sunshine dumdums!!
I've been needing to feel feral about something and KD Casey was like, "I got you, girl."
This is Casey’s first full-length novel outside the (impeccable, wonderful, I’m crying just thinking about it) Unwritten Rules-verse. It’s their first self-pubbed novel. And it’s, in some respects, their most conventional work. Casey’s usual third-person present, with its sense of urgency and transience, is switched out here for a more staid third-person past; there is fake-dating, that evergreen trope; and the whole thing starts with a set-up – the unexpected trade, the sort-of coming out, the dating arrangement – that feels a bit stagey. Normally we’re dropped into Casey’s work fully formed, absorbed into the flow of whatever lives and world we’re suddenly witness to; here, at least at first, we’re held at something of a distance, more reader than intimate observer.
Once Casey finds their feet, however – roughly around the time Eitan and Akiva first appear on-page together – normal order is restored. Tenses and tropes and set-ups be damned: ultimately, KD Casey is gonna KD Casey (complimentary). By which I mean: gorgeous, interior, emotionally resonant prose; extraordinary character work where every character, even the most minor, feels real, touchable, lived-in, legible; languid storytelling that is not quite plotless but definitely not plot-driven, yet manages to leave you breathless with anticipation of how it will play out; close observation of the systems and institutions we contort ourselves to live in, and the price – and rewards – of non-conformity; and communication that isn’t non- or mis-, but often obscure or unsaid: the gaps and silences that we leave and fill in, sometimes correctly, sometimes defensively, sometimes protectively, sometimes disastrously. And of course, baseball.
Although this is definitely the least basebally of all Casey’s works. Whereas the Unwritten Rules books all had both MCs as players and (at least part of the time) teammates – usually with some kind of mentoring dynamic – Akiva isn’t an active player; Akiva and Eitan's (brief) shared baseball past, while informing the story, isn’t overly dwelt upon. The action that counts is off the field and, to a significant extent, outside the parameters of Eitan’s everyday baseball life, even as it’s inescapably shadowed by the strictures, expectations, and comp-het culture of professional men’s sports. Equally important is Akiva’s (financially) tenuous existence as PA and ghostwriter to a successful mystery novelist, and his efforts to finish his own novel. Casey’s observations on writing and publishing are wry and incisive, and the parallels drawn between writing and baseball – both futile exercises of devotion, never-ending grind justified by moments of exhilaration, the eternal triumph of hope over experience – are amusing without being overdone.
Akiva, the writer, is a classic overthinker, very much a take-your-sorrows-in-advance type, and would be even if life had always gone his way. Eitan, conversely, is probably the most sunshine character Casey’s ever written, but never facile or insincere: he’s extremely empathetic and observant (about everyone other than himself), curious, interested, and not afraid to admit his ignorance. That includes about aspects of Judaism that he doesn’t have knowledge of from his own upbringing in a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. Akiva is an Orthodox Jew, and his faith is integral to his character, how he moves through the world and, not least, how he’s perceived by others. I haven’t read many romances with Orthodox Jewish characters, and I found the account of how Akiva lives his religion to be extremely rich and (to an apathetic agnostic) fascinating. It wasn’t just describing the “what” (how they follow Shabbat; what a tallis is), but showing how Akiva’s entire being is grounded in and shaped by and through his faith and its practices. I also liked how their differing practices of Judaism wasn’t a source of contention or judgment between Eitan and Akiva; it wasn’t about the “right” or “wrong” way of being a Jew, but acceptance of both commonality and difference.
There’s so much more to say about this: how Casey’s characters are so relatable in their ingrained acceptance that things are shitty and that’s just how it is, but carry on anyway, refusing to slide into snideness or nihilism; how money inflects and influences so many relationships, including those not as obviously concerned about consent and coercion as sex work (or sex-adjacent work); how Eitan just fell ass-backwards into coming out, which, ha!; how caution protects but also curtails; how you can do the right thing for the right reasons but it’s still the wrong thing; and how the business of baseball sucks, but telling that business to go fuck itself is extremely satisfying. Mainly, though, this is just an excellent read that left me sighing happily and wanting more. Maybe I’m not quite as feral about this as the UR-verse, but I’m already keenly anticipating many re-reads to come.
I got an ARC from the author, disclaimer disclaimer.
I've been needing to feel feral about something and KD Casey was like, "I got you, girl."
This is Casey’s first full-length novel outside the (impeccable, wonderful, I’m crying just thinking about it) Unwritten Rules-verse. It’s their first self-pubbed novel. And it’s, in some respects, their most conventional work. Casey’s usual third-person present, with its sense of urgency and transience, is switched out here for a more staid third-person past; there is fake-dating, that evergreen trope; and the whole thing starts with a set-up – the unexpected trade, the sort-of coming out, the dating arrangement – that feels a bit stagey. Normally we’re dropped into Casey’s work fully formed, absorbed into the flow of whatever lives and world we’re suddenly witness to; here, at least at first, we’re held at something of a distance, more reader than intimate observer.
Once Casey finds their feet, however – roughly around the time Eitan and Akiva first appear on-page together – normal order is restored. Tenses and tropes and set-ups be damned: ultimately, KD Casey is gonna KD Casey (complimentary). By which I mean: gorgeous, interior, emotionally resonant prose; extraordinary character work where every character, even the most minor, feels real, touchable, lived-in, legible; languid storytelling that is not quite plotless but definitely not plot-driven, yet manages to leave you breathless with anticipation of how it will play out; close observation of the systems and institutions we contort ourselves to live in, and the price – and rewards – of non-conformity; and communication that isn’t non- or mis-, but often obscure or unsaid: the gaps and silences that we leave and fill in, sometimes correctly, sometimes defensively, sometimes protectively, sometimes disastrously. And of course, baseball.
Although this is definitely the least basebally of all Casey’s works. Whereas the Unwritten Rules books all had both MCs as players and (at least part of the time) teammates – usually with some kind of mentoring dynamic – Akiva isn’t an active player; Akiva and Eitan's (brief) shared baseball past, while informing the story, isn’t overly dwelt upon. The action that counts is off the field and, to a significant extent, outside the parameters of Eitan’s everyday baseball life, even as it’s inescapably shadowed by the strictures, expectations, and comp-het culture of professional men’s sports. Equally important is Akiva’s (financially) tenuous existence as PA and ghostwriter to a successful mystery novelist, and his efforts to finish his own novel. Casey’s observations on writing and publishing are wry and incisive, and the parallels drawn between writing and baseball – both futile exercises of devotion, never-ending grind justified by moments of exhilaration, the eternal triumph of hope over experience – are amusing without being overdone.
Akiva, the writer, is a classic overthinker, very much a take-your-sorrows-in-advance type, and would be even if life had always gone his way. Eitan, conversely, is probably the most sunshine character Casey’s ever written, but never facile or insincere: he’s extremely empathetic and observant (about everyone other than himself), curious, interested, and not afraid to admit his ignorance. That includes about aspects of Judaism that he doesn’t have knowledge of from his own upbringing in a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. Akiva is an Orthodox Jew, and his faith is integral to his character, how he moves through the world and, not least, how he’s perceived by others. I haven’t read many romances with Orthodox Jewish characters, and I found the account of how Akiva lives his religion to be extremely rich and (to an apathetic agnostic) fascinating. It wasn’t just describing the “what” (how they follow Shabbat; what a tallis is), but showing how Akiva’s entire being is grounded in and shaped by and through his faith and its practices. I also liked how their differing practices of Judaism wasn’t a source of contention or judgment between Eitan and Akiva; it wasn’t about the “right” or “wrong” way of being a Jew, but acceptance of both commonality and difference.
There’s so much more to say about this: how Casey’s characters are so relatable in their ingrained acceptance that things are shitty and that’s just how it is, but carry on anyway, refusing to slide into snideness or nihilism; how money inflects and influences so many relationships, including those not as obviously concerned about consent and coercion as sex work (or sex-adjacent work); how Eitan just fell ass-backwards into coming out, which, ha!; how caution protects but also curtails; how you can do the right thing for the right reasons but it’s still the wrong thing; and how the business of baseball sucks, but telling that business to go fuck itself is extremely satisfying. Mainly, though, this is just an excellent read that left me sighing happily and wanting more. Maybe I’m not quite as feral about this as the UR-verse, but I’m already keenly anticipating many re-reads to come.
I got an ARC from the author, disclaimer disclaimer.
October 6, 2025
Breakout Year was my first novel by K.D. Casey, and it definitely did not disappoint. I flew through the pages and smiled so much!
It’s a cute sports romance with a fake dating setup that doesn’t feel fake at all. The connection between Eitan and Akiva from their past was already strong, and it only grew deeper as they spent more time together. They moved in sync, and their bond leapt off the page.
The story also shows how difficult it still is to come out in professional sports, even when clubs claim to be inclusive. There are so many factors—the organization, the teammates, the fans, the media. The fear of losing your career over your sexuality is still very real.
I’ll definitely be picking up another book by K.D. Casey!
Thank you K.D. and NetGalley for this wonderful ARC!
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It’s a cute sports romance with a fake dating setup that doesn’t feel fake at all. The connection between Eitan and Akiva from their past was already strong, and it only grew deeper as they spent more time together. They moved in sync, and their bond leapt off the page.
The story also shows how difficult it still is to come out in professional sports, even when clubs claim to be inclusive. There are so many factors—the organization, the teammates, the fans, the media. The fear of losing your career over your sexuality is still very real.
I’ll definitely be picking up another book by K.D. Casey!
Thank you K.D. and NetGalley for this wonderful ARC!
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October 13, 2025
Apparently I’ve turned into someone who reads sports romances. I mean, not about straight people, I have some standards. But this is certainly not a situation my younger self would have foreseen.
Sorry you’re not going to get a proper review of this. I got stuff going on. I really shouldn’t even be spending any time reading, much less writing reviews, but a guy needs a break now and then.
This was only my second read from Casey, and while I definitely enjoyed Unwritten Rules, which stood out both for its MC with a hearing impairment and handling of religion, I felt its dual timeline structure was covering for the fact nothing of interest was actually happening in one of those timelines.
Breakout Year felt much more balanced even if it didn’t always feel like much was going on. It’s not a “plotty” type of book, but it satisfied nonetheless. I liked both the MCs, maybe even slightly* favoring the one who’s a writer, despite generally being rather put-off by writer characters.
Anyhow, now I just need to figure out which of KD Casey’s books will be next.
* This may be understatement.
Sorry you’re not going to get a proper review of this. I got stuff going on. I really shouldn’t even be spending any time reading, much less writing reviews, but a guy needs a break now and then.
This was only my second read from Casey, and while I definitely enjoyed Unwritten Rules, which stood out both for its MC with a hearing impairment and handling of religion, I felt its dual timeline structure was covering for the fact nothing of interest was actually happening in one of those timelines.
Breakout Year felt much more balanced even if it didn’t always feel like much was going on. It’s not a “plotty” type of book, but it satisfied nonetheless. I liked both the MCs, maybe even slightly* favoring the one who’s a writer, despite generally being rather put-off by writer characters.
Anyhow, now I just need to figure out which of KD Casey’s books will be next.
* This may be understatement.
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September 16, 2025Hi! This is my book! It'll be out on September 12 on various e-retailers — including being made available to libraries — and in paperback (!!!!!). I'll also put this on Ingram so that your favorite independent bookstore can order it.
This book was my what if book: What if they weren't both baseball players (gasp!)? What if they were both Jewish but differently Jewish to one another? What if I decided to just do the thing, with the thing being nailing a list of grievances to capital-B baseball's front door?
I really, genuinely, hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been a labor of love (and a labor of labor), and I can't wait to have it out in the world.
This book was my what if book: What if they weren't both baseball players (gasp!)? What if they were both Jewish but differently Jewish to one another? What if I decided to just do the thing, with the thing being nailing a list of grievances to capital-B baseball's front door?
I really, genuinely, hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been a labor of love (and a labor of labor), and I can't wait to have it out in the world.
September 23, 2025
KD Casey in Cat Sebastian mode. So the stakes/word ratio wasn’t quite high enough for me.
Judaism is obviously a central theme here, as Casey talks about in the author’s note. She says, “In my other books, I used the nature of interfaith relationships to help explain Jewish practices to unfamiliar readers. Here, I wanted to illustrate the variety of observance within the Jewish community.” What struck me about this was the focus on religious practices/observation, rather than theology/creed/belief (or history, or anything else). Her focus on this aspect of Judaism is consistent with her focus in past books on the practices/“observation” of baseball - on the daily routine, the small habits and gestures and quirks.
So I had to think for a sec about why it has worked for me there, but didn’t really work for me here.
One reason is I guess that I didn’t feel like I was getting *enough* of the observational details. It felt to me as though there were generally, say, only 2 scenes for “each” one (davening, tefillin)- the first scene to set up how Akiva practices, and the second scene to show how that practice was enhanced by Eitan’s presence. For me, that structure wasn’t enough to really feel the routine, lived-in quality of those practices from the characters’ perspectives - I would have wanted a lot more time and focus spent.
(I am not Jewish, so it is very possible that there was a level of “I get it”-iveness here that I missed. Maybe if someone were coming to the book with a higher level of familiarity with these particular forms of religious observation, those individual depictions might have some story-wide significance that is not apparent to me.)
But having said what I would have wanted, I don’t think the book, as it’s written, has space for that. There is so much going on - religion, baseball, coming out/realizing you’re gay, fake dating/paparazzi, Akiva’s work, Akiva’s relationship with his parents, Eitan’s relationships with Kiley and with his old buddy back in Cleveland, living in NYC for the first time - that no single plotline has the space to be developed fully. (Fwiw, I think the majority of the sex scenes could have been cut - they were surprisingly generic, especially compared to the specificity & hotness of some of the NON-sex scenes in the book.) So when I said at the beginning of this review that the stakes/word ratio wasn’t high enough, I guess I meant that no single stakes/word ratio was high enough. Technically, there were a ton of stakes - but none of them felt quite as fully realized as they could have been.
Having said all of this, it was still a relief to have KD Casey-penned words back on my phone screen. I opened this book on a plane after a string of DNFs because I knew, no matter what, the writing would be reliably solid.
And now - can’t wait for the next one!
Judaism is obviously a central theme here, as Casey talks about in the author’s note. She says, “In my other books, I used the nature of interfaith relationships to help explain Jewish practices to unfamiliar readers. Here, I wanted to illustrate the variety of observance within the Jewish community.” What struck me about this was the focus on religious practices/observation, rather than theology/creed/belief (or history, or anything else). Her focus on this aspect of Judaism is consistent with her focus in past books on the practices/“observation” of baseball - on the daily routine, the small habits and gestures and quirks.
So I had to think for a sec about why it has worked for me there, but didn’t really work for me here.
One reason is I guess that I didn’t feel like I was getting *enough* of the observational details. It felt to me as though there were generally, say, only 2 scenes for “each” one (davening, tefillin)- the first scene to set up how Akiva practices, and the second scene to show how that practice was enhanced by Eitan’s presence. For me, that structure wasn’t enough to really feel the routine, lived-in quality of those practices from the characters’ perspectives - I would have wanted a lot more time and focus spent.
(I am not Jewish, so it is very possible that there was a level of “I get it”-iveness here that I missed. Maybe if someone were coming to the book with a higher level of familiarity with these particular forms of religious observation, those individual depictions might have some story-wide significance that is not apparent to me.)
But having said what I would have wanted, I don’t think the book, as it’s written, has space for that. There is so much going on - religion, baseball, coming out/realizing you’re gay, fake dating/paparazzi, Akiva’s work, Akiva’s relationship with his parents, Eitan’s relationships with Kiley and with his old buddy back in Cleveland, living in NYC for the first time - that no single plotline has the space to be developed fully. (Fwiw, I think the majority of the sex scenes could have been cut - they were surprisingly generic, especially compared to the specificity & hotness of some of the NON-sex scenes in the book.) So when I said at the beginning of this review that the stakes/word ratio wasn’t high enough, I guess I meant that no single stakes/word ratio was high enough. Technically, there were a ton of stakes - but none of them felt quite as fully realized as they could have been.
Having said all of this, it was still a relief to have KD Casey-penned words back on my phone screen. I opened this book on a plane after a string of DNFs because I knew, no matter what, the writing would be reliably solid.
And now - can’t wait for the next one!
September 29, 2025
This was such a delightful read. I’ve read other books by KD Casey, so I’ve been waiting for this one since it was announced. I’m not a fan of baseball; I actually think it’s a very boring sport. Does that stop me from reading about two guys loving each other in a story that revolves around the sport? No, it doesn’t.
I loved their relationship so much, from being the worst fake boyfriends to real boyfriends. The book buying, book reading and book talking were amazing. Because I mean, it was spot on when the author mentioned how there are books you buy and books you read.
Eithan was adorable and so happy all the time, and Akiva couldn’t be more lovable if he had tried.
I loved their relationship so much, from being the worst fake boyfriends to real boyfriends. The book buying, book reading and book talking were amazing. Because I mean, it was spot on when the author mentioned how there are books you buy and books you read.
Eithan was adorable and so happy all the time, and Akiva couldn’t be more lovable if he had tried.
September 14, 2025
The Unwritten Rules series is one of my all-time favorites and stands above most other sports romance series, but this book felt very different, and not in a good way. I struggled to finish this and was mostly skimming the last 40%.
* Fake dating rarely works for me and here, it strained credulity more than usual. There was never a clear goal for it, no real plan or purpose; it felt mostly like an excuse to create conflict between the MCs.
* Akiva's reasons for doing the fake dating, in particular, felt muddled, and his connections to Eitan were overly complicated. It's as though Casey had already decided Akiva would be an author but then had to add the fake dating, so Akiva suddenly also became a part-time model, except the modeling is wholly irrelevant except as a hook to get him into fake dating. What kind of modeling does he do? When? How did he get into it? Why would he be with an agency where models also get paid to date people? It's just so bizarre and feels like the vestiges of a previous version of the character (same with the one conversation about how he used to do cam work).
* Why did this have to be fake dating, but also former teammates, but also second chance friendship? There are too many tropes competing with each other.
* One of the main reasons I enjoyed Casey's previous books is because they're sports romances where the sport is actually important and the characters actually feel like athletes. That wasn't the case here. Baseball barely occurs, and most of the time it feels like Eitan is a baseball player solely as a way to make his being gay a matter of public interest. At least the baseball elements of the book are accurate.
* Eitan felt underdeveloped as a character. By sidelining baseball, Casey left Eitan with nothing to do other than think about his sexuality and his relationship to Akiva. In the beginning, he also had his interest in books, but that disappeared pretty quickly.
* Akiva reads like someone who is depressed, and I don't think that was intentional. I don't mean this in a dismissive or negative way about depression or depressed characters; my complaint is that I don't think his POV was meant to feel so morose and joyless. But both characters spend most of the book thinking about how they can't be together, how their time together will end soon, etc., and comparatively little time actually enjoying each other's company without also being sad about it. And then Akiva also has his financial and family worries consuming the rest of his POV.
* In general, I didn't feel the angst and tension I was meant to. This is due at least partially to the fact that the characters are too self-aware, their thoughts are too on the nose, and they spend almost all their time thinking about the relationship. It's hard to create tension when the characters are always hyper aware of exactly why they feel bad, why their relationship is fraught, how their mood is influencing their words and actions, and so on. It doesn't feel true to life and doesn't allow readers to develop their own impressions of the characters.
* The above issue also made it very difficult to understand why the characters couldn't just talk to each other about their feelings. They both knew exactly how they felt and what they wanted at all times, and neither ever offered a convincing reason (or, really, any reason at all) why they had to keep their feelings to themselves.
* The plot felt repetitive and didn't progress. It was just the same thing over and over: We're on a date, and it's not real, or is it? Let's be awkward and confused about it and keep all our thoughts to ourselves. Then let's do it all over again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.
* Fake dating rarely works for me and here, it strained credulity more than usual. There was never a clear goal for it, no real plan or purpose; it felt mostly like an excuse to create conflict between the MCs.
* Akiva's reasons for doing the fake dating, in particular, felt muddled, and his connections to Eitan were overly complicated. It's as though Casey had already decided Akiva would be an author but then had to add the fake dating, so Akiva suddenly also became a part-time model, except the modeling is wholly irrelevant except as a hook to get him into fake dating. What kind of modeling does he do? When? How did he get into it? Why would he be with an agency where models also get paid to date people? It's just so bizarre and feels like the vestiges of a previous version of the character (same with the one conversation about how he used to do cam work).
* Why did this have to be fake dating, but also former teammates, but also second chance friendship? There are too many tropes competing with each other.
* One of the main reasons I enjoyed Casey's previous books is because they're sports romances where the sport is actually important and the characters actually feel like athletes. That wasn't the case here. Baseball barely occurs, and most of the time it feels like Eitan is a baseball player solely as a way to make his being gay a matter of public interest. At least the baseball elements of the book are accurate.
* Eitan felt underdeveloped as a character. By sidelining baseball, Casey left Eitan with nothing to do other than think about his sexuality and his relationship to Akiva. In the beginning, he also had his interest in books, but that disappeared pretty quickly.
* Akiva reads like someone who is depressed, and I don't think that was intentional. I don't mean this in a dismissive or negative way about depression or depressed characters; my complaint is that I don't think his POV was meant to feel so morose and joyless. But both characters spend most of the book thinking about how they can't be together, how their time together will end soon, etc., and comparatively little time actually enjoying each other's company without also being sad about it. And then Akiva also has his financial and family worries consuming the rest of his POV.
* In general, I didn't feel the angst and tension I was meant to. This is due at least partially to the fact that the characters are too self-aware, their thoughts are too on the nose, and they spend almost all their time thinking about the relationship. It's hard to create tension when the characters are always hyper aware of exactly why they feel bad, why their relationship is fraught, how their mood is influencing their words and actions, and so on. It doesn't feel true to life and doesn't allow readers to develop their own impressions of the characters.
* The above issue also made it very difficult to understand why the characters couldn't just talk to each other about their feelings. They both knew exactly how they felt and what they wanted at all times, and neither ever offered a convincing reason (or, really, any reason at all) why they had to keep their feelings to themselves.
* The plot felt repetitive and didn't progress. It was just the same thing over and over: We're on a date, and it's not real, or is it? Let's be awkward and confused about it and keep all our thoughts to ourselves. Then let's do it all over again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.
September 26, 2025
Baseball, books and bodega cats.
Breakout Year is KD Casey’s first self-published book after concluding the Unwritten Rules MM baseball romance trilogy at Carina Press. I don’t believe in G-d, but I will say a prayer to whatever divinity may be out there that this will not be the last we see from Casey. It’s a selfish prayer, because I enjoy Casey’s words so much and I want more, especially if Breakout Year is an example of where Casey is heading.
You can read the plot summary for what’s going on in this book. Eitan is a pro baseballer who got booted from the Cleveland Crooks and lands on his ass at the New York Cosmopolitans (Casey remains undefeated at coming up with fictional baseball team names). He’s there because he made a public issue of the Crooks hosting a bigoted Christian church for a “Faith and Family” Night, something that is at odds with his Judaism and his queerness. He’s only just now discovering that he’s gay, something that spills out during the Cosmos press conference that opens the book. He’s not entirely sure about this whole gay thing and decides to experiment a bit with some fake dating which brings him back in touch with an old friend, Akiva, who’s out and broke and has been known to do some “modeling” on the side of his editing and PA job to a famous mystery author.
I really have nothing but good things to say about this book. Every sentence feels like a little treat, crafted to make me feel happiness or sadness, anger or awe. Casey has such a command over the third person narration in each of the guy’s points of view, confidently spinning the yarn around several themes.
Let’s start with the first, which is baseball. One of the first lines of this book is, “[t]he hallway smelled like ballpark: fresh grass and old sweat.” And that is what baseball is in Breakout Year: a smell, a sense, a feeling. We don’t really follow Eitan along for the ride when he plays very much, with one notable and pivotal exception. And yet, it is everywhere, lovingly and reverently and irreverently. Baseball is the reason for the book. Eitan and Akiva are where they are and who they are because of baseball and baseball ends up being the primary “problem of the book”. But, if you’re not super into baseball, you very much can allow that to wash into the background, like crowd noise at a baseball stadium.
Another beating heart of Breakout Year is books, both the reading and the writing of them. “Book people will tell you about the particular smell of bookstores: ink and paper, something inarticulable like ideas floating above the shelves,” Akiva ponders early on. Akiva is a “book person” as a writer and a reader. In a later chapter, Akiva says “‘[t]his feels like an excessive amount of space for two people,’ […] then promptly proceeded to fill it with books.” Eitan isn’t a “book person” but he falls in love with reading as he falls in love with Akiva. Authorship also forms a kind of yin and yang with baseball as Eitan is objectively a better baseballer than Akiva and is rich and famous because of it, but Akiva is objectively a talented writer but he hasn’t really had his shot yet.
These are two out gay men (although one has been out for years and the other only for days) and this is an MM romance, of the open door variety. But the romance builds slowly and, perhaps even demurely. Well, as demurely as it can when Eitan discovers he’s not just gay but also maybe likes to be tied up a little. There are only a handful of sex scenes and they all feel like exclamation points on the development of Akiva and Eitan’s relationship.
Finally, there’s the Judaism. Casey dedicated Breakout Year “[t]o the person who said my books contain an ‘absurd’ number of Jewish characters, here are two more.” Eitan is not observant while Akiva is Orthodox and we see the unique Jewish experiences of both of these men. Casey shows that there’s not one way to be a Jew, just as there’s not one way to be queer. Casey also, helpfully, includes a glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms in the back for those who are unfamiliar, but the Jewish faith and practice hum and move through the story not unlike the baseball faith and practice. You can let it wash over you and totally understand it even without knowing the details. It’s also set in and around New York City and yes there are bodegas and obligatory bodega cats. As an Ohioan who’s spent a lot of time in New York, I felt deep kinship with Eitan as he discovered the joys of an everything bagel breakfast sandwich.
I will warn potential readers that there is a third act break up, but it’s not between Eitan and Akiva. It’s between Eitan and baseball. I will leave you in suspense about how that resolves, like one of Akiva’s mysteries, but have faith. The ending is a happy as biting into a Nathan’s hotdog on opening day.
Breakout Year is KD Casey’s first self-published book after concluding the Unwritten Rules MM baseball romance trilogy at Carina Press. I don’t believe in G-d, but I will say a prayer to whatever divinity may be out there that this will not be the last we see from Casey. It’s a selfish prayer, because I enjoy Casey’s words so much and I want more, especially if Breakout Year is an example of where Casey is heading.
You can read the plot summary for what’s going on in this book. Eitan is a pro baseballer who got booted from the Cleveland Crooks and lands on his ass at the New York Cosmopolitans (Casey remains undefeated at coming up with fictional baseball team names). He’s there because he made a public issue of the Crooks hosting a bigoted Christian church for a “Faith and Family” Night, something that is at odds with his Judaism and his queerness. He’s only just now discovering that he’s gay, something that spills out during the Cosmos press conference that opens the book. He’s not entirely sure about this whole gay thing and decides to experiment a bit with some fake dating which brings him back in touch with an old friend, Akiva, who’s out and broke and has been known to do some “modeling” on the side of his editing and PA job to a famous mystery author.
I really have nothing but good things to say about this book. Every sentence feels like a little treat, crafted to make me feel happiness or sadness, anger or awe. Casey has such a command over the third person narration in each of the guy’s points of view, confidently spinning the yarn around several themes.
Let’s start with the first, which is baseball. One of the first lines of this book is, “[t]he hallway smelled like ballpark: fresh grass and old sweat.” And that is what baseball is in Breakout Year: a smell, a sense, a feeling. We don’t really follow Eitan along for the ride when he plays very much, with one notable and pivotal exception. And yet, it is everywhere, lovingly and reverently and irreverently. Baseball is the reason for the book. Eitan and Akiva are where they are and who they are because of baseball and baseball ends up being the primary “problem of the book”. But, if you’re not super into baseball, you very much can allow that to wash into the background, like crowd noise at a baseball stadium.
Another beating heart of Breakout Year is books, both the reading and the writing of them. “Book people will tell you about the particular smell of bookstores: ink and paper, something inarticulable like ideas floating above the shelves,” Akiva ponders early on. Akiva is a “book person” as a writer and a reader. In a later chapter, Akiva says “‘[t]his feels like an excessive amount of space for two people,’ […] then promptly proceeded to fill it with books.” Eitan isn’t a “book person” but he falls in love with reading as he falls in love with Akiva. Authorship also forms a kind of yin and yang with baseball as Eitan is objectively a better baseballer than Akiva and is rich and famous because of it, but Akiva is objectively a talented writer but he hasn’t really had his shot yet.
These are two out gay men (although one has been out for years and the other only for days) and this is an MM romance, of the open door variety. But the romance builds slowly and, perhaps even demurely. Well, as demurely as it can when Eitan discovers he’s not just gay but also maybe likes to be tied up a little. There are only a handful of sex scenes and they all feel like exclamation points on the development of Akiva and Eitan’s relationship.
Finally, there’s the Judaism. Casey dedicated Breakout Year “[t]o the person who said my books contain an ‘absurd’ number of Jewish characters, here are two more.” Eitan is not observant while Akiva is Orthodox and we see the unique Jewish experiences of both of these men. Casey shows that there’s not one way to be a Jew, just as there’s not one way to be queer. Casey also, helpfully, includes a glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms in the back for those who are unfamiliar, but the Jewish faith and practice hum and move through the story not unlike the baseball faith and practice. You can let it wash over you and totally understand it even without knowing the details. It’s also set in and around New York City and yes there are bodegas and obligatory bodega cats. As an Ohioan who’s spent a lot of time in New York, I felt deep kinship with Eitan as he discovered the joys of an everything bagel breakfast sandwich.
I will warn potential readers that there is a third act break up, but it’s not between Eitan and Akiva. It’s between Eitan and baseball. I will leave you in suspense about how that resolves, like one of Akiva’s mysteries, but have faith. The ending is a happy as biting into a Nathan’s hotdog on opening day.
September 15, 2025
B+ / 4.5 stars
KD Casey’s Breakout Year is a charming and heartfelt opposites attract / fake-dating story featuring a professional baseball player and a former player who now ekes out a living as a writer and occasional model. The slow-burn romance between these two is swoony, sweet, and beautifully done, and the story is a bit different to the author’s other baseball romances in that there’s less focus on game play (something this allergic-to-sports reader appreciated!) and more on the politics surrounding it, particularly on the treatment afforded to players from minorities by management and other players. Add in the exploration of the characters’ individual approaches to Judaism – one is Orthodox, the other is not – and it all adds up to a thoughtful, insightful and deeply touching love story.
Top pro-ball player Eitan Rivkin had thought he’d be playing for the Cleveland Crooks for the rest of his career, until, without warning, he’s traded to the New York Cosmopolitans a bare minute before the end of the trade deadline. A mid-season trade means an immediate departure, so Eitan is off to the Big Apple without even having the time to say goodbye to his teammates, and not long after he arrives, is herded into a press conference – at which he decides, on the spur of the moment, to make a comment that pretty much indicates he’s queer (and, by extension, that that is the reason he got traded.) This doesn’t go down at all well with the Cosmos’ management, so in an attempt to limit the damage, they suggest finding him a fake-girlfriend – but Eitan isn’t keen on the idea. A few days later, he changes his mind, but says he’d prefer a fake-boyfriend; he’ll be a free agent once the season is over and he wants any team he signs with to know and accept that he dates men - plus dating men is new for him, and he doesn’t want to put anyone he might date for real later on through “all the media stuff”.
So he meets with his agent to ‘vet’ potential fake boyfriends from among the candidates sent by a modelling agency. A few questions quickly reveal that the first two aren’t what Eitan is looking for, but the third… well, he doesn’t get a chance to ask the third any questions because when he walks in, the man takes one look at Eitan and hurries out. A flash of recognition sends Eitan out of the room and after him, and as he catches up with him, he gets the chance to take a proper look – tall and handsome with sandy brown hair and deep brown eyes, and wearing a kippah – and his memories click into place. It’s been seven years since he last saw Akiva Goldfarb, but it’s unmistakably him, the friend he’d made when playing in the Arizona Fall League who’d promised they’d see each other again in the spring and then just… disappeared.
You can read the rest of this review at All About Romance.
KD Casey’s Breakout Year is a charming and heartfelt opposites attract / fake-dating story featuring a professional baseball player and a former player who now ekes out a living as a writer and occasional model. The slow-burn romance between these two is swoony, sweet, and beautifully done, and the story is a bit different to the author’s other baseball romances in that there’s less focus on game play (something this allergic-to-sports reader appreciated!) and more on the politics surrounding it, particularly on the treatment afforded to players from minorities by management and other players. Add in the exploration of the characters’ individual approaches to Judaism – one is Orthodox, the other is not – and it all adds up to a thoughtful, insightful and deeply touching love story.
Top pro-ball player Eitan Rivkin had thought he’d be playing for the Cleveland Crooks for the rest of his career, until, without warning, he’s traded to the New York Cosmopolitans a bare minute before the end of the trade deadline. A mid-season trade means an immediate departure, so Eitan is off to the Big Apple without even having the time to say goodbye to his teammates, and not long after he arrives, is herded into a press conference – at which he decides, on the spur of the moment, to make a comment that pretty much indicates he’s queer (and, by extension, that that is the reason he got traded.) This doesn’t go down at all well with the Cosmos’ management, so in an attempt to limit the damage, they suggest finding him a fake-girlfriend – but Eitan isn’t keen on the idea. A few days later, he changes his mind, but says he’d prefer a fake-boyfriend; he’ll be a free agent once the season is over and he wants any team he signs with to know and accept that he dates men - plus dating men is new for him, and he doesn’t want to put anyone he might date for real later on through “all the media stuff”.
So he meets with his agent to ‘vet’ potential fake boyfriends from among the candidates sent by a modelling agency. A few questions quickly reveal that the first two aren’t what Eitan is looking for, but the third… well, he doesn’t get a chance to ask the third any questions because when he walks in, the man takes one look at Eitan and hurries out. A flash of recognition sends Eitan out of the room and after him, and as he catches up with him, he gets the chance to take a proper look – tall and handsome with sandy brown hair and deep brown eyes, and wearing a kippah – and his memories click into place. It’s been seven years since he last saw Akiva Goldfarb, but it’s unmistakably him, the friend he’d made when playing in the Arizona Fall League who’d promised they’d see each other again in the spring and then just… disappeared.
You can read the rest of this review at All About Romance.
August 30, 2025
My review is coming soon, I’m still trying to find the right time to write a coherent one😊
August 22, 2025
It's official - Breakout Year is my favorite KD Casey book. I've been binging them all this year, and seriously, each one has been better than the last. If you love second chance, fake dating, slow burn, Jew for Jew rep, and opposites attract with a chaotic whirlwind of a ball player and a stoic ghost writer who feels completely stuck in his life - you will love this book. It's swoony, subtle, and incredibly sweet with a message about finding your person, even in an environment that makes that difficult. One of my top reads of the year, and yet another reminder why KD Casey is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors.
Eitan was just a delight to read. I LOVE his chaos and how he jumps into most of his decisions head first without a lot of thought for the consequences. I hate that he was so closeted that his own gay awakening was a surprise to him - the baseball world's treatment of him makes it obvious why, but it still made my heart hurt. He's so endearing and earnest, and I love that he's so utterly devoted to Akiva from the moment he lays eyes on him again. That said, the fact that Akiva theoretically falls first but hides it better is really quite sweet too. I understand why he's cautious around Eitan, but the moments where he breaks his own rules with him made me melt. The fake dating parts of the story could be hard to read sometimes because it was so obvious that it wasn't fake for either one of them from the beginning, but I did appreciate that they dropped the pretense and started looking for ways to make their relationship work so quickly afterwards. They really can't seem to stay out of each other's orbit, even when they try.
I LOVED the Jewish rep in this book - there have been Jewish characters in all of KD Casey's books that I've read, but this is the first book I've read with two Jewish MMCs. Eitan is the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and pretty casual about religion whereas Akiva is Orthodox, and some of my favorite parts of the book were them trying to navigate between their faith, family, and religion. I actually found myself Googling a lot of terms that popped up (I wish I'd known KD Casey had a glossary at the end!), and I learned some interesting stuff that really complimented the romance story.
This book is one that will keep you up reading, have you swooning and crying, and leave you with the warm fuzzies at the end. I loved every minute of it and honestly didn't want it to end. Thank you to KD Casey for the opportunity to read this one as an ARC. Breakout Year is incredible, and I can't want for people to read it!
Eitan was just a delight to read. I LOVE his chaos and how he jumps into most of his decisions head first without a lot of thought for the consequences. I hate that he was so closeted that his own gay awakening was a surprise to him - the baseball world's treatment of him makes it obvious why, but it still made my heart hurt. He's so endearing and earnest, and I love that he's so utterly devoted to Akiva from the moment he lays eyes on him again. That said, the fact that Akiva theoretically falls first but hides it better is really quite sweet too. I understand why he's cautious around Eitan, but the moments where he breaks his own rules with him made me melt. The fake dating parts of the story could be hard to read sometimes because it was so obvious that it wasn't fake for either one of them from the beginning, but I did appreciate that they dropped the pretense and started looking for ways to make their relationship work so quickly afterwards. They really can't seem to stay out of each other's orbit, even when they try.
I LOVED the Jewish rep in this book - there have been Jewish characters in all of KD Casey's books that I've read, but this is the first book I've read with two Jewish MMCs. Eitan is the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and pretty casual about religion whereas Akiva is Orthodox, and some of my favorite parts of the book were them trying to navigate between their faith, family, and religion. I actually found myself Googling a lot of terms that popped up (I wish I'd known KD Casey had a glossary at the end!), and I learned some interesting stuff that really complimented the romance story.
This book is one that will keep you up reading, have you swooning and crying, and leave you with the warm fuzzies at the end. I loved every minute of it and honestly didn't want it to end. Thank you to KD Casey for the opportunity to read this one as an ARC. Breakout Year is incredible, and I can't want for people to read it!
August 24, 2025
"Owning books and reading books were two different hobbies, anyway." - KD Casey characters know what's up.
Breakout Year is the story of Eitan, a top professional baseball player (number one draft pick, best on his old team, top tier of his new better team, top free agent) who was nevertheless unceremoniously traded and decides at the spur of the moment to declare his potential and possible queerness at his opening press conference with his new team. Impulse control isn't really his thing. He decides he "want[s] to see what dating is like on a new team" (pun maybe intended) and hires a model to pretend date him, rather than inflict the publicity on a civilian. TBH I never really understood the rational of this whole thing, like I would understand hiring a beard, but not someone he isn't actually dating, unless it's to normalize the press attention? IDK, Romance Reasons is good enough. Anyhoo, guess who shows up at the casting call? Tall, handsome, conflicted Akiva, the baseball player Eitan was friendly with at spring training seven years ago who quit the game and is now a PA/ghost writer for a well known author.
Eitan is charmed and delighted by Akiva at the jump, they have their first trial date and he's asking for another. "Still, he decided that begging would be beneath him, especially if it didn't work." Casey wrote the heck out of the fake dating, the little touches "for the camera," the conflicted feelings of wanting more but not wanting to take advantage, the "this is all for show to the other person" yearning. Beats that are bedrock to any fake dating romance, but feel interesting and fresh here.
One of the themes Casey has addressed before in her books is the disparity in income of a star v. journeyman player, or in this case a top player in the game and a normie. Made all the more complicated in this case by the contractual nature of their arrangement, and the relationship/issues Akiva has with debt and owing people. Although he does eventually sensibly "learn to live with the indignity of having a hot millionaire boyfriend," of course the vast differences in their lifestyles matter. Casey wrote so vividly of Akiva's constant thrum of awareness of debt and repayment that I read it from a mental place of my 30 years ago post-grad school, first job anxiety.
Eitan is impulsive and gregarious to a fault, and wants to smooth away problems using his resources and charm. Akiva is guarded and protective of his hard-won place of small security. Having been put in a difficult situation because of impulsive and unconsidered choices, he is static now, to everyone's detriment. Casey writes so skillfully of these issues, we see how a relationship that two people might want might not work. This is to say that I was yelling at Akiva a little through my kindle as I read, but that just goes to show, Casey had me invested.
This reads differently from other Casey books. There's less immersive rhythm of baseball, as it's a job, but not integral to the relationship. By having one of the MCs be a normie, it opens the book to have other characters and outside the relationship friendships, which is lovely. It doesn't feel as emotionally gripping as some of her others (although I did fully misty a few times), but the story was just as compelling (if that makes sense). We see the characters wrestle with their issues and decisions separately and together, and they bring out the best in each other. If you have read the books of the Unwritten Rules series (and I could not recommend them more highly), then I feel confident you will enjoy this book, it's an unreserved five stars from me.
Thank you to the author for an arc.
Breakout Year is the story of Eitan, a top professional baseball player (number one draft pick, best on his old team, top tier of his new better team, top free agent) who was nevertheless unceremoniously traded and decides at the spur of the moment to declare his potential and possible queerness at his opening press conference with his new team. Impulse control isn't really his thing. He decides he "want[s] to see what dating is like on a new team" (pun maybe intended) and hires a model to pretend date him, rather than inflict the publicity on a civilian. TBH I never really understood the rational of this whole thing, like I would understand hiring a beard, but not someone he isn't actually dating, unless it's to normalize the press attention? IDK, Romance Reasons is good enough. Anyhoo, guess who shows up at the casting call? Tall, handsome, conflicted Akiva, the baseball player Eitan was friendly with at spring training seven years ago who quit the game and is now a PA/ghost writer for a well known author.
Eitan is charmed and delighted by Akiva at the jump, they have their first trial date and he's asking for another. "Still, he decided that begging would be beneath him, especially if it didn't work." Casey wrote the heck out of the fake dating, the little touches "for the camera," the conflicted feelings of wanting more but not wanting to take advantage, the "this is all for show to the other person" yearning. Beats that are bedrock to any fake dating romance, but feel interesting and fresh here.
One of the themes Casey has addressed before in her books is the disparity in income of a star v. journeyman player, or in this case a top player in the game and a normie. Made all the more complicated in this case by the contractual nature of their arrangement, and the relationship/issues Akiva has with debt and owing people. Although he does eventually sensibly "learn to live with the indignity of having a hot millionaire boyfriend," of course the vast differences in their lifestyles matter. Casey wrote so vividly of Akiva's constant thrum of awareness of debt and repayment that I read it from a mental place of my 30 years ago post-grad school, first job anxiety.
Eitan is impulsive and gregarious to a fault, and wants to smooth away problems using his resources and charm. Akiva is guarded and protective of his hard-won place of small security. Having been put in a difficult situation because of impulsive and unconsidered choices, he is static now, to everyone's detriment. Casey writes so skillfully of these issues, we see how a relationship that two people might want might not work. This is to say that I was yelling at Akiva a little through my kindle as I read, but that just goes to show, Casey had me invested.
This reads differently from other Casey books. There's less immersive rhythm of baseball, as it's a job, but not integral to the relationship. By having one of the MCs be a normie, it opens the book to have other characters and outside the relationship friendships, which is lovely. It doesn't feel as emotionally gripping as some of her others (although I did fully misty a few times), but the story was just as compelling (if that makes sense). We see the characters wrestle with their issues and decisions separately and together, and they bring out the best in each other. If you have read the books of the Unwritten Rules series (and I could not recommend them more highly), then I feel confident you will enjoy this book, it's an unreserved five stars from me.
Thank you to the author for an arc.
November 22, 2025
This author's books usually really work for me, and this was no exception! I love Eitan, and while I did find Akiva a little frustrating in how long he dragged his feet in acknowledging there was something real between him and Eitan, and for how much of the emotional labor he forced Eitan to do, I did really enjoy their chemistry. Overall, I did feel like Akiva and his backstory felt a little less fleshed out, to the point of occasional distraction -- he does a bunch of odd jobs, including modeling, which is how the fake dating situation comes up in the first place, but then we literally never see him take on another modeling job again, and it's not really clear how he got into that, what kind of modeling he does, how he even considering the fake dating job, etc. Particularly distracting for me because the modeling thing was central to the start of the plot and then was never really fleshed out so it felt just like a naked plot device. And while I always really love and appreciate the way this author incorporates Jewish MCs in a way that feels really authentic and natural and covers a broad range of experiences, Akiva's actions and life didn't totally line up for me with any of the Orthodox Jews I know (who are, of course, not a monolith). Heather K (dentist in my spare time)'s review puts this much better than I could, and it was a very small nitpick, but I think especially because Akiva is a writer in this book who agonizes over "gentile-washing" the novel he wants to write, it did stand out to me.
I did really enjoy the characters together, and I wish the pacing had been a little more aggressive with them getting together, and a bit steamier, because what we do get of them together is excellent, but it wasn't quite as much as I wanted.
Overall, quality writing, unique and engaging characters, and an all-around good time!
I did really enjoy the characters together, and I wish the pacing had been a little more aggressive with them getting together, and a bit steamier, because what we do get of them together is excellent, but it wasn't quite as much as I wanted.
Overall, quality writing, unique and engaging characters, and an all-around good time!
Read
December 8, 2025This fits into several categories of romance that I almost never read (contemporary, sports), but a friend suggested it for a buddy read, and I'm always down to read books with Jews in them! It was lovely. The baseball was...I don't know anything about baseball. I assume it was accurate. The book had a lot going on, and was maybe a little squishy in the middle, but Casey can really write. This was a nice respite from a couple of localized crises this past week.
August 12, 2025
Gosh. GOSH IT IS JUST SO SATISFYING WHEN A BOOK YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO AS MUCH AS THIS ONE WAS EVERYTHING YOU’D HOPED IT WOULD BE. I just. Queer Jews in love!! Who did finally figure out how to use their words, but never ever ended up not a bit repressed, because that’s just how we are. I loved (and this feels really odd to say, but it’s true) how realistic the homophobia that Eitan faced felt. Sometimes it’s obviously, like when not!Pete Rose cleated Eitan’s angle (Ok, fine, that’s probably not what Casey was going for there, but I hate him, so I’m pretending otherwise) but mostly it’s just people who you previously thought had your back turning cold. It’s the lost opportunities. And the mirroring of that with Akiva’s experiences with antisemitism was just so A+++ GOD I love how they are broken in complimentary ways. I love how matter of fact Akiva is about sex and how he felt like this was something he had to cultivate because the fact that he was Orthodox meant that folks thought he didn’t fuck!! I love Mark and Rachel and the fact that Akiva had a family to catch him when his parents let him fall. (That is my one knock on this book, and why realistically it is a 4.5 I’m rounding up. I just don’t think that Akiva really needed the reconciliation attempt to finish his arc. That either needed more or less development to really land right with me.) I LOVE Eitan’s mom and her love/hate relationship with the national anthem. (I’m sure I’d love his dad, but Mom’s presence over-shadowed him in a way that made me go “oh I’ve met these folks at shul” 😂) I love that Eitan didn’t know he found teflin hot and I ADORE Casey’s note in the back that all Jews do (because, um, yes.) And finally I love how Akiva got the biggest of the happy endings, because it’s not quite as showy as showing up the homophobes, but it made me grin so hard, because Akiva deserved something happening just for him damn it!!!
November 14, 2025
Just enough Jews, thanks.
Moving, lovely take on faith,
money, self, family.
Nothing will ever match Unwritten Rules for me, as Casey just turned me inside out with their dual timeline, unreliable narrator, such slow burn, hard of hearing, deaf, Jewish depressed Zach Glasser and his slow but inevitable fall for baseball (again and still) and Eugenio Morales (again and always). And, I read a lot of fic and am so comfortable in the claustrophobic fervency of third-person, present tense and missed that here. But, as a first-time self-publishing author, I appreciate Casey's decision to use fake dating, past tense, and a rom-commy cover to hedge their bets, whilst also grounding this love story/baseball story/coming out story in deep meditations on what it means to be Jewish right now.
I very much liked Eitan and Akiva's hard-won willingness to compromise and their ability to barely have to (they got lucky, in so many ways). The sex was hot, the friends were true, and the game (thank you, Mx Casey) at last took a back seat to the story. It was unclear to me how much actual sex work Akiva had engaged in before his deal with Eitan, and I wish that had been clarified... was model an euphemism or not?
Moving, lovely take on faith,
money, self, family.
Nothing will ever match Unwritten Rules for me, as Casey just turned me inside out with their dual timeline, unreliable narrator, such slow burn, hard of hearing, deaf, Jewish depressed Zach Glasser and his slow but inevitable fall for baseball (again and still) and Eugenio Morales (again and always). And, I read a lot of fic and am so comfortable in the claustrophobic fervency of third-person, present tense and missed that here. But, as a first-time self-publishing author, I appreciate Casey's decision to use fake dating, past tense, and a rom-commy cover to hedge their bets, whilst also grounding this love story/baseball story/coming out story in deep meditations on what it means to be Jewish right now.
I very much liked Eitan and Akiva's hard-won willingness to compromise and their ability to barely have to (they got lucky, in so many ways). The sex was hot, the friends were true, and the game (thank you, Mx Casey) at last took a back seat to the story. It was unclear to me how much actual sex work Akiva had engaged in before his deal with Eitan, and I wish that had been clarified... was model an euphemism or not?
September 25, 2025
Reads a little like an updated You Should Be So Lucky; both books feature an ebullient, golden retriever baseball player and a wary shelter rescue writer as their MCs. (It is disheartening to realize that, compared to the mid-century setting of YSBSL, relatively little has changed regarding current professional athletes' freedom to live openly queer lives.)
Both MCs struggle with figuring out what they're willing to sacrifice to keep their professional dreams alive, and Akivah's precarious financial situation shows the high price of walking away. It's all very thoughtful, charming, and just the right amount of hot . I didn't quite feel the "can't live without you" vibes, but that slight reserve kept the angst from reaching an unbearably high level.
Both MCs struggle with figuring out what they're willing to sacrifice to keep their professional dreams alive, and Akivah's precarious financial situation shows the high price of walking away. It's all very thoughtful, charming, and just the right amount of hot . I didn't quite feel the "can't live without you" vibes, but that slight reserve kept the angst from reaching an unbearably high level.
August 16, 2025
WE ARE SO BACK !!!!!!!!!!
not to make a terribly obvious reference but you guys.... K.D. Casey once again hits it out of the park. love being in the hands of a competent romance writer. love reading about adults with jobs. love a book that is about LOVE and CONNECTION and TAKING A CHANCE even though it's scary. one of those books that makes you wanna fall in love to be perfectly honest !!!!
this is probably a 4.5 or 4.75, mostly bcs i don't know how i feel about the characterization of a minor female character. not a major gripe, just something i would have liked to see a bit more fleshed out.
but all in all a lovely and REALLY romantic book!! also i super appreciated the glossary of Jewish cultural and religious practices - i googled a bunch while reading, but i do love a cheeky and informative glossary!
thank u K.D. Casey for the ARC!! i love ARCs!!
not to make a terribly obvious reference but you guys.... K.D. Casey once again hits it out of the park. love being in the hands of a competent romance writer. love reading about adults with jobs. love a book that is about LOVE and CONNECTION and TAKING A CHANCE even though it's scary. one of those books that makes you wanna fall in love to be perfectly honest !!!!
this is probably a 4.5 or 4.75, mostly bcs i don't know how i feel about the characterization of a minor female character. not a major gripe, just something i would have liked to see a bit more fleshed out.
but all in all a lovely and REALLY romantic book!! also i super appreciated the glossary of Jewish cultural and religious practices - i googled a bunch while reading, but i do love a cheeky and informative glossary!
thank u K.D. Casey for the ARC!! i love ARCs!!
December 29, 2025
Felt so much like a cousin of Cat Sebastian’s Midcentury NYC books that it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize this was contemporary. 😅 Charming enough to read and enjoy, but falls short just a few times too many to be perfect.
The characters are lovely. Their hopes and dreams are lovely. Everything feels nice and lovely, just not exactly memorable.
The characters are lovely. Their hopes and dreams are lovely. Everything feels nice and lovely, just not exactly memorable.
September 20, 2025
this one i felt in my chest y’know
September 8, 2025
Like all of KD Casey’s books, Breakout Year is lovely, aching, and romantic, with a happy ending as optimistic and satisfying as our real world is terrifying and disheartening. Casey’s books make me feel like a better world—one in which people can be themselves and love who they love—is not only possible, but right around the dimensional corner.
This book follows pro baseball player Eitan and former minor leaguer turned writer Akiva when they reconnect seven years after first meeting. It’s a change from Casey’s previous work in several ways—only one of the characters is still a baseball player!—but retains her signature blend of angst and sweetness. I loved that Casey put her own spin on the writer romance protagonist in this installment. Akiva is a ghostwriter of mystery romances that I imagined along the lines of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, and let’s just say Eitan is a fan. There’s a bit less baseball than in prior books, but readers will still benefit from knowing like, where the bases are and what a pitcher is, lol.
I always appreciate how Casey develops such nuanced characters in every book, covering a lot of ground in terms of “diverse” identities while never lecturing or over-explaining to readers. I had to google a few terms for items Akiva uses as part of his Jewish prayer practice (there’s also a glossary at the back of the book) but I appreciated that there weren’t contrived scenes where characters explained Judaism to each other, especially since both Eitan and Aviva are Jewish. Eitan also has dyslexia that never becomes a big plot point, but is just seamlessly incorporated into his character. Class differences between the characters are handled better than perhaps any other romance I’ve read—who knew a broken air conditioner and its associated costs, both financial and relational, could bring tears to my eyes?
The plot isn’t high drama, so don’t go in expecting a painful third act breakup (something only I seem to want lol) or screaming fights. Instead the plot is built around quiet moments of connection and misunderstanding that slowly burn to an incredibly satisfying finish. I would have liked a bit more overt angst, but still loved the little bit of angst we got. And Casey puts on a masterclass in sex writing in every book.
This is a must-read for those who love understated queer romances that are full of heart! Thank you to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book follows pro baseball player Eitan and former minor leaguer turned writer Akiva when they reconnect seven years after first meeting. It’s a change from Casey’s previous work in several ways—only one of the characters is still a baseball player!—but retains her signature blend of angst and sweetness. I loved that Casey put her own spin on the writer romance protagonist in this installment. Akiva is a ghostwriter of mystery romances that I imagined along the lines of Sherry Thomas’s Lady Sherlock series, and let’s just say Eitan is a fan. There’s a bit less baseball than in prior books, but readers will still benefit from knowing like, where the bases are and what a pitcher is, lol.
I always appreciate how Casey develops such nuanced characters in every book, covering a lot of ground in terms of “diverse” identities while never lecturing or over-explaining to readers. I had to google a few terms for items Akiva uses as part of his Jewish prayer practice (there’s also a glossary at the back of the book) but I appreciated that there weren’t contrived scenes where characters explained Judaism to each other, especially since both Eitan and Aviva are Jewish. Eitan also has dyslexia that never becomes a big plot point, but is just seamlessly incorporated into his character. Class differences between the characters are handled better than perhaps any other romance I’ve read—who knew a broken air conditioner and its associated costs, both financial and relational, could bring tears to my eyes?
The plot isn’t high drama, so don’t go in expecting a painful third act breakup (something only I seem to want lol) or screaming fights. Instead the plot is built around quiet moments of connection and misunderstanding that slowly burn to an incredibly satisfying finish. I would have liked a bit more overt angst, but still loved the little bit of angst we got. And Casey puts on a masterclass in sex writing in every book.
This is a must-read for those who love understated queer romances that are full of heart! Thank you to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
October 2, 2025
I had THE MOST fun reading this book. It was my first @kdcaseywrites book but definitely not my last. I saw so many people talking about it so I needed to know what was going on and I was *not* disappointed.
After accidentally outing himself at a press conference for his new baseball team, Eitan is tasked with “fixing it” along with the team’s PR person Isabel, and fix it, he does.
We *LOVE* a fake dating scheme on this page and I loved how Eitan was interviewing fake boyfriends. Coming across a former teammate set everything in motion and oh my gosh why was it SO CUTE!!!!!
Eitan and Akiva were the CUTEST SWEETEST little love muffins. I absolutely adored their vibe, it was almost grumpy sunshine, but like, not! Eitan was so freaking endearing and sincere and sweet and wholesome. Akiva was so thoughtful and scared but also very interested in trying to move things forward. I loved that they had their own lives (baseball and writing) and I was rooting for Akiva’s books!!!
Their intimacy was so beautifully built up from their original friendship and knowledge of each other. The way they just *got* the little things about each other. The tea????? Those innocent first kisses to the *real* first kisses and oh my goshhhhhh those bedroom scenes. Yes PLEASE thank YOU. And I literally cried for the whole chapter where Eitan goes to Akiva toward the end after the free agency (IYKYK) and I was so angry and upset for him.but yall that ending was well worth any of the pain.
Can I just say how much I adored the author’s note as well? Fantastic.
After accidentally outing himself at a press conference for his new baseball team, Eitan is tasked with “fixing it” along with the team’s PR person Isabel, and fix it, he does.
We *LOVE* a fake dating scheme on this page and I loved how Eitan was interviewing fake boyfriends. Coming across a former teammate set everything in motion and oh my gosh why was it SO CUTE!!!!!
Eitan and Akiva were the CUTEST SWEETEST little love muffins. I absolutely adored their vibe, it was almost grumpy sunshine, but like, not! Eitan was so freaking endearing and sincere and sweet and wholesome. Akiva was so thoughtful and scared but also very interested in trying to move things forward. I loved that they had their own lives (baseball and writing) and I was rooting for Akiva’s books!!!
Their intimacy was so beautifully built up from their original friendship and knowledge of each other. The way they just *got* the little things about each other. The tea????? Those innocent first kisses to the *real* first kisses and oh my goshhhhhh those bedroom scenes. Yes PLEASE thank YOU. And I literally cried for the whole chapter where Eitan goes to Akiva toward the end after the free agency (IYKYK) and I was so angry and upset for him.but yall that ending was well worth any of the pain.
Can I just say how much I adored the author’s note as well? Fantastic.
December 22, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up.
A bit repetitive, and I feel like they never actually talked through or resolved the money/payment issues.
A bit repetitive, and I feel like they never actually talked through or resolved the money/payment issues.
September 19, 2025
Stayed up well past my bedtime bc I HAD to finish the last quarter of the book. Would kill for Eitan, love the bodega appreciation, everything I want in both friends to lovers/fake dating, plus BASEBALL god the baseball is so good. No notes!
August 19, 2025
Thank you to KD Casey for the eARC of this book. I already knew I loved KDs writing and KDs baseball romance but this blew me out of the water. I actually pumped my fist and went WOOHOO out loud towards the end. I loved the incorporation of Jewish practices with Akiva and the importance of baseball itself in their story. I will read a million KD Casey books because they are always winners and this is absolutely no exception.
Read
October 25, 2025I’m a newly minted certified fan of KD Casey. RTC
One very niggling complaint- the phrasing “except for..” was used too many times; I really like it but it needed to be deployed half as often. 3x in chapter 15, 4x in chapter 18, FIVEx in chapter 24. Nineteen times between chapter 7-26! “This isn’t real. Except for all the ways it was.”
September 14, 2025
Casey writes some of my absolute favorite sports romances so I was so honored to be added to the street team for Casey and this fantastic book. Few people write characters as soft and complicated and precious as Casey.
I adore Eitan and Akiva so much. Casey’s books are character studies just as much as they are romances. I love every thought these characters have, love learning everything that makes them tick. Eitan is completely adorable. He has no idea how to talk to the press and is charismatic in a way that feels almost bumbling. I love how casually good he is at baseball and I’m just as invested in his baseball stats as I am his love life. Akiva is in a very different place in his life than Eitan but when they both come together there’s so much chemistry my book was practically on fire in my hands.
There’s something just casually so beautiful about Casey’s writing. It’s so wild how much I FEEL when I read about these characters. I want them to be happy and successful and win all the World Series (even if they do play for NYC). I also want to say something about the Jewish representation here which is completely stunning. It’s also casual in a way that makes it feel special and also grounded. It’s not forced in the slightest and it’s so refreshing to read characters that I feel like I could know in real life.
I love everything about this book and if you also want the same cozy, rip your heart out kind of feeling when you read a romance then definitely pick up Breakout Year!!!
Thank you to Casey for letting me be a part of the street team and Go Cubs!
I adore Eitan and Akiva so much. Casey’s books are character studies just as much as they are romances. I love every thought these characters have, love learning everything that makes them tick. Eitan is completely adorable. He has no idea how to talk to the press and is charismatic in a way that feels almost bumbling. I love how casually good he is at baseball and I’m just as invested in his baseball stats as I am his love life. Akiva is in a very different place in his life than Eitan but when they both come together there’s so much chemistry my book was practically on fire in my hands.
There’s something just casually so beautiful about Casey’s writing. It’s so wild how much I FEEL when I read about these characters. I want them to be happy and successful and win all the World Series (even if they do play for NYC). I also want to say something about the Jewish representation here which is completely stunning. It’s also casual in a way that makes it feel special and also grounded. It’s not forced in the slightest and it’s so refreshing to read characters that I feel like I could know in real life.
I love everything about this book and if you also want the same cozy, rip your heart out kind of feeling when you read a romance then definitely pick up Breakout Year!!!
Thank you to Casey for letting me be a part of the street team and Go Cubs!
January 12, 2026
no one is doing romance like K.D. Casey!!!
September 26, 2025
Now I see why so many people love KD Casey—it’s that brilliant combination of high stakes competitive baseball combined with all the cozy tender moments least expected in that world. Throw in two queer main characters, one who left baseball because he couldn’t reconcile playing with his Orthodox Jewish practice, and the other, a first generation Russian Jew who may have just recently contemplated his sexuality as being anything other than straight on national TV. You could not ask for more of a curve ball (pun fully mine and fully intended) to be thrown at a sport known for its American ideals.
Eitan loves baseball. It’s just that he’s in a position to question just how much baseball loves him. In a moment of a sexual identity crisis, Eitan swiftly inserts his foot into his mouth at a press conference after being traded from his home team of Cleveland to New York. Considering that maybe he didn’t make the smartest move when he’s already the New Guy™️ on the team, Eitan decides to fully embrace his queerness and hire a fake-boyfriend to curb the media frenzy.Eiran just never expects Akiva to show up for the role.
Akiva and Eitan haven’t laid eyes on each other since Akiva walked away from baseball seven years ago. This is unrequited love at its finest with repressed pining and denial of feelings as ever being reciprocated. I immediately loved Eitan’s golden retriever happy-go-lucky attitude, but Akiva is the one who burrowed under my skin with his quiet longing.
Casey does a few things really well in this book. First she writes a baseball romance. Note I didn’t say sports romance, because baseball is so intrinsically tied to every part of the characters and the story. Reading this just refueled my love of baseball. It’s a love story with the sport of baseball, and a love story between two men who try as they might to fight it, are meant for one another. I love the idea that baseball itself (the fame, the money, the adherence to what has always been) is the very conflict that might drive a wedge between Akiva and Eitan, almost like a jealous partner. In my opinion, too often sports romances are heavy on the romance and light on the sport, but Casey treats baseball as the third person in this relationship. Casey also could write a Master Class on character studies. I felt like I understood the complexities behind Eitan and Akiva; they felt fully realized and I knew what drove them as much as their insecurities. The way culture and religious practices are brought into the story was so interesting and natural at the same time. I love it when I want to Google unfamiliar terms (in this case Jewish references), but I never felt like I was being lectured—the way in which they are used is completely natural to who the characters are. Note: there is a glossary for most terms should the reader wish to use.
This is a slowburn (worth it) with lots of kissing, fumbling, and desire along the way and so much love. I’m really glad it was my first KD Casey and know it won’t be my last. I received an early copy from Victory editing. All opinions are my own.
Eitan loves baseball. It’s just that he’s in a position to question just how much baseball loves him. In a moment of a sexual identity crisis, Eitan swiftly inserts his foot into his mouth at a press conference after being traded from his home team of Cleveland to New York. Considering that maybe he didn’t make the smartest move when he’s already the New Guy™️ on the team, Eitan decides to fully embrace his queerness and hire a fake-boyfriend to curb the media frenzy.Eiran just never expects Akiva to show up for the role.
Akiva and Eitan haven’t laid eyes on each other since Akiva walked away from baseball seven years ago. This is unrequited love at its finest with repressed pining and denial of feelings as ever being reciprocated. I immediately loved Eitan’s golden retriever happy-go-lucky attitude, but Akiva is the one who burrowed under my skin with his quiet longing.
Casey does a few things really well in this book. First she writes a baseball romance. Note I didn’t say sports romance, because baseball is so intrinsically tied to every part of the characters and the story. Reading this just refueled my love of baseball. It’s a love story with the sport of baseball, and a love story between two men who try as they might to fight it, are meant for one another. I love the idea that baseball itself (the fame, the money, the adherence to what has always been) is the very conflict that might drive a wedge between Akiva and Eitan, almost like a jealous partner. In my opinion, too often sports romances are heavy on the romance and light on the sport, but Casey treats baseball as the third person in this relationship. Casey also could write a Master Class on character studies. I felt like I understood the complexities behind Eitan and Akiva; they felt fully realized and I knew what drove them as much as their insecurities. The way culture and religious practices are brought into the story was so interesting and natural at the same time. I love it when I want to Google unfamiliar terms (in this case Jewish references), but I never felt like I was being lectured—the way in which they are used is completely natural to who the characters are. Note: there is a glossary for most terms should the reader wish to use.
This is a slowburn (worth it) with lots of kissing, fumbling, and desire along the way and so much love. I’m really glad it was my first KD Casey and know it won’t be my last. I received an early copy from Victory editing. All opinions are my own.
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