In Her Own League

by Liz Tomforde

As the first female team owner in Major League Baseball, Reese Remington has spent her entire life preparing for this role. With a sharp mind and years of experience working behind the scenes, she's more than qualified. But the public only sees a woman in a man's world - not the person who's earned their place on the field. Under constant scrutiny and pressure to prove herself, Reese can't afford distractions.

Especially one that comes in the form of the team's tempting field manager who questions her every decision.

Emmett Montgomery is a former All-Star turned coach who treats his players like family and the field like home. After years of running the team his way, the last thing he wants is a new boss - let alone one who seems ice-cold and laser-focused on business. But forced to spend long hours - and too many away games - side by side, he begins to see the fire beneath Reese's control, the heart behind her ambition and the unwavering determination to prove herself.

When heated banter turns into sizzling chemistry, professional boundaries blur and the spark between them becomes impossible to resist. But Reese is constantly reminded of how many people are waiting for her to fail, and the safest move is to keep Emmett at arm's length - for the sake of the team, the season and her career.

But keeping their distance is one game neither of them can seem to win...

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Sports, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Baseball

458 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2026

About the author

Liz Tomforde is a New York Times bestselling author of sports romance novels that depict realistic and healthy relationships. Her books offer a mix of witty banter, undeniable chemistry, a healthy dash of spice, and swoon-worthy men who look good in a uniform.

Born and raised in Northern California, Liz is the youngest of five children. She loves all things romance, traveling, dogs, and hockey. When she's not traveling or writing, Liz can be found relaxing at home or listening to a good audiobook while on a walk with her Golden Retriever, Luke.

For more information, please visit Liz’s website and subscribe to her newsletter at liztomforde.com. You can connect also with Liz on Instagram @liztomforde.author.

Reviews

[sasha]

here i am yearning for someone’s grandpa

[maria]

┆ ⤿ ⚾️ ༝ pre-read:

ITS TIMEEEEE!!!!!!

omg I can’t believe this book it’s finally out😭😭 been waiting years for Monty’s book. I’m so excited and I have high hopes for this to be 5 stars🤞🏻

________

I JUST READ THE SNEAK PEEK and it has material to be 5 stars🙌🏻 please don’t let me down with this one Liz😭😭
__________

MONTY AND REESE’S BOOK🗣️🚨🚨

FINALLY!! Monty deserves his own book so bad but what you mean I have to wait a year…

[ଘRory]

__Now in my own peace to finish this one 🍿 Reese and Emmett 🤝💕

_Iconic cover😍.Must have it as a poster!

_OMG WE HAVE A TITLE 😛

[manas (traveling)]

buddy reading with my favorites, vee & gry. 🖤🖤

[Salma [Ramadan HIATUS]]

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

˖ ֹ੭୧ pre-read:⊹ ࣪ ⑅

THIS BOOK WAS MY HIGHEST ANTICIPATED RELEASE, AND IT IS FINALLY HERE!! 🤭 Expectations are through the roof right now, so I really hope it doesn't disappoint! I will not accept anything less than five stars, otherwise I'll throw a tantrum.

Time to read about Daddy Monty, Kai, and Isaiah

Will most likely not read this in Ramadan, because I'd like to give it the attention it deserves, but I'm putting it in my CR shelf anyway lol

[April]

ᯓ★Pre-read

I have fallen into a slump and am hoping that Liz can work her magic and help me out of it 🤞This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I'm sooo excited to jump in. Please deliver 💖💖


AHHHH!! We have a title!! 🤭❤️ I need this book like air but have to wait until March 😩

[cherie ^_-★]

pre-read ⚾️
HAPPY RELEASE DAY 🤸🏻‍♀️💃🏻🕺🏻 i can’t believe it’s already the 3rd of march?! it honestly doesn’t feel like i waited that long for this book… but it’s one of my most anticipated releases of the year so it better not disappoint!!! 😤

[Lilyya ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

what am i supposed to do with my life now?

[Ri ♡]

“And lastly, her biggest fault of all...she looks like that. My new boss is not only a pain in my ass, but she's also fucking stunning and the first woman my body has decided to pay attention to in God knows how long.”

i just know daddy monty is gonna be my next obsession 🤭

daddy monty is coming to us in 2026 🫶🏼

[Youssra (semi ia)]

I can't wait to get to this book sooonnn😭😭

[aira]

hyperventilating because what do you mean it's here?!?! like omggggg ✋😩

[nikki]

MONTY AND REESE NATION RISEEEEEEEEEE🗣👏🏽

[bookluvr]

YOU WILL SEE ME LATER MY SWEET!!!

[EMthebooktrovert]

JESUS, this feels exactly like someone has given me an unexpected Christmas present.

I love Monty so much in Caught up, and he deserves a book of his own. And this is not just a novella. Thank you so much, Liz Tomforde.

Immediately pre-ordered this without a heartbeat of hesitation. I will buy her next book even if it's just a story about cutie Max going to school.

[becs ౨ৎ⋆.˚ (semi-ia + comment restriction)]

title reveal!!!!! 🤭

liz finished writing their book and we’re getting the title reveal soon??? i’m so excited 🙂‍↕️ montyreese my loves 🫶🏽

[angelinabvby ۶۟ৎ]

goddamn y'all are obsessed w this book

[Aleksandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beware that my rating is not objective. I love this series too much to be rating it objectively lol

I loved them both, what a powerful couple 🫠




safety info:
- age gap (h 35, H in his mid 40s)
- no real OWD/OMD (just some jealousy, 3 scenes from her (I was annoyed af but he wasn’t interested at all, so it helps, no jealousy scenes from her after 50%), 5(?) jealousy scenes from him (even after 50%))
- dead girlfriend (but do not worry, he loved her yes, but she died 20 years ago, and the love he feels for the fmc is much much stronger, she didn’t feel like a second best even for a second, he always talked about the fmc as his everything, not many mentions of dead gf, it’s barely even there, and trust me, HE LOVES THE FMC MUCH MUCH MORE)
"But we had one year together, and it's been over twenty years since. After spending some of those early ones grieving-for myself, but mostly for Miller-I've been able to shift that grief to gratitude. The thing I love most about Claire now is her daughter. I thank God every day that I met her when I did because Miller needed me. She is the best part of my life and I'll forever be grateful to her mom for trusting me to raise her. But I'm not still in love with someone else."
I'm in love with you.
- H celibate for 20 years:
”When I said I didn't have it in me to move on, I didn't mean emotionally. Or that my heart was still taken. I meant that I physically didn't have it in me to move on. I was a single dad. I was exhausted all the time. I didn't have the time to focus on someone who wasn't my daughter. I was too busy trying to figure out how to do right by her. And by the time Miller was old enough to be on her own, I was older too and thought I'd missed the train on the whole 'finding a life partner' thing."
- h celibate since she divorced her ex husband, a few years, it wasn’t said and I didn’t have patience to count 🤣
- no 3rd act breakup/cheating/sharing
- no real drama, just some blackmail, Reese solves it like a queen she is 🤭 but Monty is dreamy too
- HEA (engaged, to be married)

[Christy]

Gahhhhh! I'm so excited for this one!!!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5⭐️ full review will be posted on my socials the week of release, but yes yes yes! loved this one and it’s a must read for lovers of the windy city series 👏🏼✨❤️‍🔥

[Alya ( 20 comments restriction )]

Keeping this here to remind me to finish the other books cz it's getting ridiculous 😂

My Bookstagram

[LiL (catching up)]

Ok so what you’re saying is that my dreams are coming true!! Monty and Reese are coming baby!!!! 🤭

[veerali]

── ✦ pre-read review

almost halfway through this and manas, gary, and i are LOVING it already!! 🤭 live laugh love monty 🙂‍↕️💗

[❀ · Rating 1 out of 5]

"𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭-𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬."

Something must be in the air cause my most recent reads have been all so bad and horrible, I'm considering just leaving all my past experiences with authors I like, because they all seem to disappoint me nowadays.
The Windy City series went downhill for me anyway, but I thought this book would be the one that finally makes me a Liz girlie again. Well that didn't happen, because this book was just as bad Caught Up. Do you guys see a pattern here? Both books have age-gap and they also feature the same family. Yeah I guess you could say that I have beef with the Montgomery family. And Kai. And Reese. Only with the main and side characters of this book.

This book made me want to quit after only 50 pages and I'm being completely serious. These two are the most annoying, aggravating, irksome characters I got to read about I think in the whole series. They even topped Millie and Kai and that's like a huge accomplishment. I wanted to bang my head into the wall throughout the 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 book. I seriously considered scraping out my eyeballs. Does that sound dramatic as fuck? Maybe, but I swear it's the book, not me.

Some people definitely want to say right now that I should've just DNF-ed this book, because no one forced me to finish it. One thing about me that you should probably know is that I'm a hater to my core. It's just when I DNF a book, I feel like I can't lash out with full force and write reviews criticizing the book, and that it would be unfair towards the author. I like to hate with all I have, and to do that I need to finish these books so I can be fully sure I made the wright decision by giving the book 1 star. Maybe there's a half star waiting for me at the end, you know?

Now that I explained why I decided to torture myself by finishing the book, let's get back to the book itself to tell you why I absolutely despised it.


There was no hate. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Semmi. These bitches have been sexually attracted to each other since page one, and couldn't talk about anything else beside the other's body and sexiness for the rest of the book.

Emmett...Emmett Montgomery. This man is someone you'd call an idiot. Poor guy literally has nothing in the place of his brain, just complete void. Since that's impossible, I'll be humane and say he does have a brain with exact 2 braincells.
He's at the sake of losing his job by the end of the season, and he knows that it's because his and Reese's dislike for each other. One minute he's calling her basically a heartless bitch and then the next sentence is him saying that he cannot stop thinking about her because she's sooo hot. Especially in that pencil skirt. Guys I'm being so serious right now, the fact that Reese wears pencil skirts has been said at least almost every chapter at the beginning of the book and even towards the ending. Please believe me when I say that no one cares that much about what the characters are wearing.

So basically the only thing we got to know from Emmett's POVs is that he want to dislike Reese, but she's so hot he can't. So much about respecting your boss, even though she's a woman. The whole book is centering around sexism by making Reese an owner of a rather successful baseball club, but the MMC can't say anything else about her beside her hotness. That's good writing there. Also, another thing which proves Emmett's IQ level is his behaviour from the beginning of the book to like the 40% mark. This man was literally unable to stop for just 2 minutes and think. There were at least 3 scenes, where Reese was making a rather immoral decision, and he humilated her so bad, just because he didn't agree with her. And that's thing..it seemed like Reese was making an immoral decision, but these idiot men couldn't comprehend the fact that she did those for the club's sake.

Just one example so you guys understand what I'm trying to get at. This happens at the very beginning of the book, like first 50 pages, so it's not much of a spoiler if you're actually going to read the book.
The club doesn't have that much money, so Reese has to fire someone from Emmett's team. Some type of assistant of sort. And so she tells him to choose someone out of the 3 guys, or she will by the end of the week. Monty refuses, actually thinks that nothing's going to happen, because he said no to her. Yes well the guy gets fired, because again the club needs the money(!!) and Emmett's perfect reaction for that was basically exploding and making some really snarky remarks about Reese and her ability of being and owner. After that there was a scene when he gets to know Reese actually called another team and recommended this assist to them, and the guy has a perfectly good job and that's the moment where Emmett realizes that "oh my gosh, Reese is actually not a fucking monster, and maybe I shouldn't have treated her like a piece of shit, especially since she's my boss and she knows what she's doing". And it's just one example. There are many more.

"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭."
the quote for said situation

"𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞."
thank God you remembered that when you fucked her in the gym or her office

Yeah I'm not a fan of Emmett, especially since a lot of "conflicts" could've been resolved by him thinking just for a second and putting himself in Reese's shoes.


Maybe it seems like I'm defending Reese here, no worries that's not the case. I hate everyone here equally. She was just as dumb as Emmett, and honestly they so deserved to be caught lmao. Girl you're talking about how you dreamed of this position since you were a little kid and have done everything to get where you are right now, just to crumble when a man shows up and you're sexually attracted to him. This woman, and Emmett too, kept saying how they 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 stay away from each other just to make out in a fucking elevator. And then they kept fucking in their offices and the gym when they literally talked about being careful. Y'all wanted to be caught at this point, so take responsibility.

"𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐞'𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦."
Someone please explain to me how can you fuck around with professional boundaries. I'm eager to learn.

Honestly the whole book felt off for me, it was very insta-lusty and so I couldn't take them seriously when they were supposed to be obsessed with each other. They kept saying how much they like each other, but let's be honest, and I'm really sorry for being so vulgar, they needed a good fuck because they haven't had sex in ages. That was their one and only connection.






happy release daaay!!! i'm so excited, this has to be good because i cannot accept anything less than perfect

[gabi⋆˙⟡♡]

Let me tell i have the biggest fomo and i'm SO JEALOUS of everyone who has this on their hands already 🤧🤧

⋆｡˚୨𝓟𝓻𝓮-𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰୧˚｡⋆
We finally have a cover and it's SO INCREDIBLY CUTE.
Can't wait to read MontyReese and see her leading him on a leash 🤭💘

[Literary Child (Tania) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Це неперевершено💔
Це незабутньо🥹
Це неймовірно🔥

10000000/10⭐️

[mica · Rating 4 out of 5]

liz tomforde por desgracia (para vos) vas a tener que seguir escribiendo hasta que físicamente no puedas hacerlo mas, acá no existe el concepto de jubilación, si no sacas libros todos los años te vamos a tener que caer a tu casa, no hay otra hermana

[mk · Rating 5 out of 5]

One last trip to the Windy City

Goodbye is real this time :,)

Liz truly went all out with this book and I am so grateful I was able to read an early copy of In Her Own League. This book follows Monty and Reese, the best MLB coach and the newest team owner in the league. To say the don’t get along would be an understatement. Monty has been coaching this team for years and is up for a new contract and Reese has an immense amount of pressure on her shoulders being the new owner, and first female owner in history. Two strong personalities with a lot to prove could be a recipe for disaster or the best partnership. Navigating this new work relationship is difficult enough, add in their undeniable attraction, talk about trouble.

I loved this book! IHOL is definitely in my top 3 Liz Tomforde books and I am in desperate need of a full reread. I hope you all love Emmett and Reese as much as I do.

Arc Review

[dominika.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

TO BYŁO JAK POWRÓT DO DOMU. Na przemian płakałam i piszczałam. 🥹

[marioncoin | coin.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

"𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜"

j'arrive pas à croire que c'était le dernier voyage à chicago 💔

je suis tellement nostalgique de me dire que je ne retrouverai jamais tous ces personnages 😭

j’ai tout aimé de ce spin off, merci pour cette histoire, merci pour ces personnages, c'est tout ce dont j'avais besoin actuellement... quel plaisir d’avoir retrouvé mes chouchous of all time, les frères rhodes - cette found family is everythingggg, devoir les quitter c'est vraiment terrible, mais Liz nous a, comme à son habitude, servi une dernière masterclass avant de tirer sa révérence,

la dynamique entre reese & monty était tellement authentique et totalement ce à quoi je m'attendais, j'ai vraiment tout aimé de leurs personnalités respectives, ils forment un couple exceptionnel

cette saga de sports romance sera gravée dans mon cœur à tout jamais, j'avais l'impression de rentrer à la maison le temps de quelques pages, devoir leur dire aurevoir est vraiment déchirant, heureusement qu'elle vient annoncer sa nouvelle saga parce que je sais pas comment j'aurai survécu à ça sinon✋

les tropes : sports romance • dislike to lovers • women in sports • coach x team owner • forbidden • age gap • baseball • workplace ⚾️

─ "this woman is truly in her own league in every sense of the phrase. i’m sat here utterly speechless, and so fucking in love with her."


────୨ৎ────
↝ 𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜 & 𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚜 :
#𝟷 - mile high • 4/5☆
#2 - the right move • ♡/5☆
#3 - caught up • ♡♡♡/5☆
#4 - play along • 5/5☆
#5 - rewind it back • ♡/5☆
#- in her own league • 5/5☆