Off Season: An 831 Stories Romance

by Frankie Caracciolo

She’s a therapist helping a struggling pitcher get out of his brain and into his body. The curveball she doesn’t see coming is the impact he has on her head and heart.

When Valley Magnolia accepts a sports psychologist role with the San Francisco Seals, she knows it will mean contending with both her father’s legacy and her own grief: He was the baseball team’s pitching coach for decades, and even after his death, he looms large in the stadium. But it’s pitcher Cal Monte who catches Valley off-guard. As she treats the yips that have derailed his career, the two grow closer in a way that threatens to upend both of their lives.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance

224 pages, Paperback

Expected publication December 8, 2026

Reviews

[Hannah]

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!! Ahh I loved this so much! This was the PERFECT baseball romance!the chemistry between the characters was fantastic! And this book deals with so much grief and mental health trials.

This is so vulnerable and it’s definitely up there on my list of favorites from 831 Stories! I loved Frankie’s writing style and I look for to reading more from them!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and 831 Stories for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Annie Tate Cockrum]

Fun! A shorty from 831 about a professional baseball player and a sports psychologist. Some obvious ethical dilemmas come up in that and initially I felt annoyed / creeped out which made me lose touch with the romantic nature of the book for a moment, but ultimately I liked how it was handled in the end. I super loved the baseball plotline. I love sports!

Edit: bumping it to 4 stars because I was just telling my husband about it and couldn’t stop crying. There are several rather moving things that happen in the book.

[Taylor]

When the protagonist in the romance book has real-world consequences for their actions 😻

[Shannon McKechnie]

My favourite 831 stories yet!!!! I am in my baseball era

[Dayvn Kai]

Firstly, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy. This was much more intense than I thought it would be. I was expecting a cute little forbidden romance, but it was so much more than that. It explored intense themes of grief on both ends in different ways and how that grief still impacts you even when you don’t think it does. I really enjoyed both of our main characters, and their relationship felt really realistic. I think that for this to be so short and to be as raw as it was, it was just amazing. I do think we could have explored the relationship our female main character had with her father more, like just showing why it was cold. We were told, but I wish we could have done flashbacks or just gone more in depth with that relationship. Overall, thank you again for the early copy! I do recommend checking this out when it releases as a good palate cleanser!

[betsy]

oh boy did i love reading off season! despite being a sports romance (focused on sports psychologist valley and baseball pitcher cal), this was heartfelt and vulnerable and just so beautifully written. the chemistry between the main characters was palpable and had me holding my breath at times and the male friendships with cal and his teammates were really lovely as they evolved. i also found the exploration of grief really well done and beautiful — as a recent member of the dead dad club who had a complicated father, this hit hard and had me in tears. i love an 831 stories novella and this one i really wish could’ve been twice as long (complimentary!!!). one of my fav romances this year.

thanks to 831 for the e-arc!

[Clare]

Off Season just entered the Hall of Fame of Baseball Romance. No yips in sight!

It's fitting that this book had some of the best prose I've read all year, since baseball is the most inherently romantic sport. Caracciolo's depictions of a ballfield are so visceral, with metaphors on every other page that I had to highlight and come back to. He details, with such specificity, the heartbreak and grief of an athlete's body failing them and losing a parent who sometimes felt more like a legend than a person. A parent you still had things to say to, even if you're not sure what those things were.

I adored our main characters, Valley and Cal, and their wonderful friends who know just what to say, Imogene and Sal. A cat named Marriott, after the hotel parking lot he was found in on a road trip, was the perfect addition.

I know I'll be back to San Francisco and Seals Park before the year is over.

Thank you to 831 Stories and NetGalley for the arc!

[Brooklyn]

Off Season was a story about growth and hope and exploring grief and a sports romance with a new twist. I really liked how much deeper it went than your standard sports romance. The relationship between Valley and Cal felt real and flesh-out with ups and downs between two adults. Being a novella has its limitations, however, and I did find myself thinking the relationship was a little rushed, considering Valley is supposed to be professional as the team's therapist, but overall, it was a satisfying, lovely romance. Another win for 831 Stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and 831 Stories for the early ARC!

[Mere]

I'm a really big baseball fan, so this was a fun book for me to read! I've always thought about the perspective of what it might be like for someone going through the Yips and how they might be helped, and although I know this book was obviously fiction, I can imagine there's some level of truth to how this was navigated! I thought the love that developed was really sweet and it was really fun to read about 😊

Thank you to the Author, the Publisher, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!!

[kerry]

Thank you to NetGalley and 831 Stories for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!!

I really enjoyed the spin on a sports romance where the main female character is a sports psychologist and there’s a bit of forbidden/workplace drama too. I also enjoyed the dual point of view and felt like I got a good read on both characters. It did end a bit abruptly but I enjoyed the sweet gesture Cal made at the end for Valley and her dad’s legacy!

[Amy Dickinson]

831 stories have hit their sports romance stride! They never miss! No yips to be found here!
This was full of so many beautiful moments and descriptions and the feeling of being a lover of baseball and athletics and other people, in all of their flaws and strengths.
Also, if you start playing “Slide Away” the second time it’s mentioned in the book, you might have the song finish the moment you read the last word and let me tell you that was cinematic for me personally 😂

Thanks to 831 Stories and Edelweiss for the ARC!

[Samir Abou Assi]

Off Season surprised me in a lot of ways. The characters drew me in almost immediately, and despite dealing with grief, mental health, and a lot of vulnerability, the book was much funnier than I expected. The chemistry between the main characters felt genuine, and I especially loved the family dynamics.

The baseball setting was another highlight, and I really enjoyed seeing San Francisco through the story. That said, I sometimes wished the world had felt a little bigger. For a book so rooted in baseball and its community, I wanted to spend more time exploring that world beyond the main relationship.

While I cared about the characters, I never felt as emotionally immersed as I wanted to. Even though it’s a relatively short novel, I think some of the emotional beats and conversations could have been explored with more depth. There were several moments where I found myself wanting the story to slow down and let the emotions breathe a little longer.

On a completely unrelated note, the multiple references of the show Lost and Cal insisting that it still holds up made me smile. I couldn’t agree more.

Overall, this is a heartfelt romance that offers a very real portrayal of grief, healing, and vulnerability while balancing those heavier themes with warmth and humor. It didn’t quite reach the emotional depth I was hoping for, but I still enjoyed my time with these characters. If you’re looking to get into the romance genre, especially if you’re a baseball fan, I think this would be a great place to start.

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and the publisher for providing me with an advance reader copy.

3.50⭐️

[Brooke]

Thank you to NetGalley and 831 Stories for the advanced copy in exchange of my opinion.

I feel like this book needs to be longer. It has so much potential but is cut short. The romance was TOO fast. There is more there with the father dynamic. I feel like if there was maybe 100 more pages it would be able to make more of a realistic sense.

Also, the baseball info was sooooo much. That was the most developed part of the story. So many details that honestly didn’t add much to the story.

Overall, I’m more disappointed. After finishing it last night, I kept thinking about how I wish there was more to finish the thoughts.

[Susie (DFWSusie)]

In spite of some structural and genre stumbles, there’s a lot of love in Off-Season.
_____
Summary
Cal Monte has the yips. For eighteen months. The only reason Cal hasn’t been shipped off to the minors is his past performance and a contract too expensive for a ballclub to eat. Valley Magnolia is the daughter of a baseball coaching legend and a therapist, which means she might be the perfect person to fix Cal’s mental game. But when Valley takes the job with her late father’s ballclub, her own long term unresolved grief comes rushing back. Add in their inconvenient and unethical attraction to each other and this quickly becomes a high-leverage situation for the both of them.
_______
Reader Feedback
I’m the kind of nutter that watches a minimum of 162 MLB games a year. This only bears mentioning because the intersection between baseball and sports romance is generally a disappointing one for me, and Off-Season was a pleasant surprise.

Many romance writers treat baseball as a job with little bearing on the mind or behavior of their characters. That’s the opposite of how Caracciolo treats baseball in Off-Season. It’s not just that he understands the game inside and out. It’s that he treats the sport as setting and uses it to inform who these characters are at their core.

When we see inside Cal and Valley’s heads it’s clear how much the sport has shaped their point of view, for good and bad. You can’t change Cal to a QB, any more than you can change Valley to the daughter of a basketball coach.

And when it comes to point of view, another strong suit of Caracciolo is digging deep into the internal emotions of is characters––even when they’re messy, counterproductive, and boneheaded. Both Cal and Valley are navigating extremely difficult bumps in the roads of their journey. Because of the solid interiority, we can feel empathy for them––even when they behave in ways we ourselves wouldn’t.

Cal and Valley finally give in and connect in the bedroom (open-door) and there’s so much character work happening. It’s emotional, and vulnerable, and also very sexy. That’s what I’m looking for in a Contemporary Romance. We’re not backing away from the important moments of connection that happen between two characters when they cross that threshold in their relationship.

As expected with any debut, there’s some problems in Off-Season. First, and more important: The pacing, structure, and beats read as General Fiction, not genre Romance.

The structure is two characters on separate journeys that occasionally intersect. Eventually, after they’ve separately completed their growth arcs, they reconnect. A genre Romance, however, is about partnership during a growth arc, not separation during the crucial moments of the growth arc.

Roughly 2/3rds of the story Valley and Cal are not on-page interacting with each other. Which means this particular story doesn’t meet the promise of the premise for genre Romance readers, and makes the romance secondary at best.

During the biggest moments of their journey they are either with other characters or alone. We are told they have moments of connection in their sessions together, but those are off-page. The deeper connection presumably forged in those first two months remains a mystery. Unfortunately that makes Valley’s willingness to blow up her career not make much sense.

And this issue is painfully obvious in the third act: Cal and Valley split off from each other at 67% and do not reconnect until 98%.

Romance readers want to see these characters as a partnership on page working through the conflict. Sure, there is always room for a separation where the partnership is tested. But that generally constitutes a small percentage of the overall.

I suspect stronger editorial support could have helped this narrative work as a genre Romance without losing all the ways Caracciolo’s voice and craft make this such an enjoyable read.

Still, I liked reading Off-Season enough I’ll give additional grace to the places it did not work as a Romance. I’m also looking forward to reading what comes next from this writer.
_____
831 Stories provided an Advanced Reader Copy which was used as the basis for this unbiased review. Expected publication date: Dec 8th, 2026

[bibi]

(ARC REVIEW)

4 ⭐

this was such a fun read and i had a really good time with it!! i kept finding myself wanting to pick it back up which is always one of the biggest compliments i can give a book

i think valley was definitely the highlight for me. she felt like a genuinely real person and even when i didnt necessarily agree with every decision she made, i understood where she was coming from. her fears and struggles felt very human and there were definitely moments where i recognized parts of myself in her. i also really enjoyed getting glimpses of her expertise as a sports psychologist and i wish we could have gotten even more of that, although i do think some things inevitably had to fall a little into the background because of the novella length

i really liked valley and cal together too!! they had great chemistry and banter but there was also a deeper understanding between them that i really appreciated. my main issue, and probably the biggest thing keeping this from being a higher rating for me, was how quickly we got there. it felt like they had only just met and had a handful of conversations within the psychologist/player dynamic before suddenly there were VERY intense feelings and attraction between them. i believed their relationship once it was established, but i dont think i completely believed the journey that got them there and i really wish we had been given a little more time to watch that connection actually develop

i also wish cal had felt as fully realized as valley did. i liked him and we got pieces of his life through his grief, family and baseball, but he still felt slightly flat to me outside of the romance. weirdly i felt like he became much more alive as a character once the relationship started developing, while i would have loved to understand him better before that point. his grief storyline in particular felt a little unfinished compared to valley's, whose development felt much more complete by the end

one thing i REALLY appreciated though was how the book handled the ethical implications of their relationship. i loved that valley's career and responsibilities didnt suddenly stop mattering because they had feelings for each other. her decisions felt mature and completely consistent with the person we had gotten to know, and i really appreciated that the professional consequences were treated as something real rather than an obstacle that could just be ignored because of the power of love 😭

i also loved sal!!! genuinely so much fun every time he appeared and i would not have complained about getting approximately 300 more pages of sal and rosa content ahahah

overall i really enjoyed this!! it was quick and easy to read, the pacing kept me reaching for it and i really liked the relationship once it got going. i just think the novella length worked against some of the character and relationship development i personally wanted more of. i needed a little more time in that space between meeting each other and being completely into each other for the emotional intensity to fully hit me

still such a fun read and one im really glad i got the chance to pick up!!

thank you to 831 Stories and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Ashleigh]

I lied…I have not yet finished this book. I’m having a hard time. I love 831, but this novel? Very short. Sentences, that is.

^^This is how the entire story reads and it’s driving me crazy. It doesn’t keep my mind engaged and I have to force myself to focus on the words. I had to reread slice of life passages multiple times because I didn’t retain any of the information that I ingested.

Something about the writing feels inherently masculine, and I cannot say whether this is intentional. I think not, because the therapist is a woman and she has the same voice as the ball players. In fact, everyone in the novel could be interchangeable, separate from their back stories. I found myself relying on context clues to recognize who was actually in the scene. Anyone whose name is inserted in a conversation without yet another description of their one core character trait remains a mystery to me. At least for that scene.

Going back to her tone, I know she’s a therapist but her voice, particularly when she does therapist speak feels like AI. What do I mean by that? Her professional sessions and conversations felt like regurgitated affirmations meant to coddle the subject. It disturbed me, and perhaps I just haven’t had a therapist like her but I felt that she was meeting these emotionally stunted men where they were and not in a good way.

Her approach: repeat the problem she’s observed or they have shared, console them for having to overcome this issue, validate their experience or reaction or mistake, and then repeat the problem again—maybe in that same conversation or maybe a week later in a different scenario, with the same formulaic approach. This is my personal uncanny, but not quite deja vu, nightmare.

If I try to rationalize all of the above, it could be a nod to being raised by her dad in a sports sports sport household. Maybe it’s just her personality, idk. I don’t think she was saying anything especially deep or challenging to these men that helped them overcome their fears and/or provided them tools for the future. She felt more like a mascot or vibe curator than a doctor.

One of my biggest issues? Even for a romance novel with a literary fiction bend, there’s zero heat. You wouldn’t know these characters liked each other if you weren’t experiencing the story from their POVs, and even then it feels like a stretch. They’re constantly worried they’re going to be caught, and the whole time I’m thinking honey…no chance. At all. I wish the yearning was palpable; this is what I’ve come to enjoy most about 831 stories, but the yearning and romantic suspense falls flat in this novel.

I’m halfway through, and I’m not going to force myself to finish for now but I probably will revisit at a point to see it to the end.

[Janill]

3.75
Off-Season was a quick, cute read that hooked me from the beginning. My favorite part was Frankie Caracciolo’s writing, particularly the way the FMC describes her emotions and experiences through physicality and movement. Given the author’s background in sports psychology and her understanding of how the body moves, this felt especially natural and distinctive. The vivid metaphors woven throughout the perspectives of both the FMC and MMC were another highlight, giving their emotions a tangible quality and making Caracciolo’s writing feel even more distinctive. The intimate scene was beautifully written because Caracciolo captured the characters’ connection so well—it felt meaningful and emotionally significant rather than like a casual hookup.

Unfortunately, I think the novel’s short length did the story a disservice. Both main characters are dealing with grief and the lingering effects of past relationships, which influence how they understand their present connection. There was so much potential there, but those experiences needed more time and space to be fully explored. I genuinely liked the characters, yet I never became deeply invested in them because the necessary emotional development wasn’t quite there.

Without revealing any spoilers, the third act didn’t entirely make sense to me. The central conflict—if it could really be called that—felt unclear, as did the way it was handled and how the characters ultimately came together. Some important information revealed later also felt mentioned almost in passing, even though it seemed essential to understanding the characters and their choices.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and could see the foundation of something much more emotionally powerful. The characters, themes, and romantic connection were all there, but the book needed to be longer for their actions and the ending to feel fully believable and earned.

[Patience]

Valley Magnolia joins the San Francisco Seals as their sports psychologist to work with a pitcher, Cal Monte, who has the yips. Valley’s arrival to the team puts her in her recently deceased father’s shadow, who worked as the teams pitching coach for decades. When Valley approaches Cal to begin working on his pitching her casual approach catches him off guard. Cal lives a life of solitude, the only joys are his cat, his family and baseball. As Valley begins to crack his hard exterior, they begin spend more time with each other and are faced with the ethical dilemma of their mutual attraction, which crosses the doctor/patient boundaries.

It was challenging to set aside the very serious ethical breach of the romantic relationship; it is never appropriate for a mental health care provider to entertain a relationship with a client. It was difficult to believe that such an accomplished psychologist would put their career on the line. With that said, I do feel that the book does not breeze over the seriousness of the ethical conflict. Each character considers the situation and the consequences before any significant lines are crossed.

As someone who doesn’t watch baseball it was fun to learn about both the physical and psychological nature of the game. Valley’s observations of Cal’s movement and pitching execution were some of my favorite bits of the book. Valley and Cal’s conversations are memorable and carry weight. This book carried a more serious tone than the other books I have read from 831 Stories Romance publication, it was a welcomed addition to the scope of their stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and 831 Stories Romance of the ARC of this e-book.

[Jennifer]

I will forever proclaim my love for 831 novellas. They perfectly fit in whenever I’m in a reading rut and need a sure thing. I love a good sports romance and I enjoyed Off Season, a baseball romance set in San Francisco. As a Northern California girl, I appreciated the throwback reference to the San Francisco Seals (they were originally a minor league team in SF pre-Giants).

Valley is the daughter of the team’s longtime pitching coach who died 5 years ago, as well as a sports psychologist. Cal is their current star pitcher with a case of the yips. When she’s brought in to help him, she has to reconcile being around the team that she often felt more to her father than she did while simultaneously helping Cal (and the other players) and falling for him at the same time.

I enjoyed this but I wish there had been a little more development around their attraction to one another. I definitely got bogged down in all the baseball (there’s a lot of very specific stuff about types of pitches and found myself skimming some of the more technical paragraphs. I probably would have been a little more into it if it was based around a sport I follow more closely. Overall I thought this was a cute and sweet romance. I did love the sentiment at the ending: “You were always my favorite season.”

[Debby Nachmann]

Off season is the story of Valley, a sports psychologist and the daughter of a late, beloved pitching coach and Cal a professional pitcher suffering from the yips. Both Valley and Cal are dealing with grief from the loss of loved ones. The question is can Valley toe the line between being professional and her growing feelings for Cal.

I felt like the intention of the story did not match with the execution of it. I could see this benefitting from being a full length novel which would allowing their initial attraction to be expanded on and therefore more believable. This felt too rushed and insta- lovey. I went back to reread parts of the beginning to see if I missed something about their meeting or if they knew each their before to explain how fast they fell for each other. The tone of the story, also seemed to be too heavy for the little amount that they actually dealt with their grief, at least for Cal’s character. Valley’s story was better developed.

As a baseball fan I enjoyed the behind the scenes of the ball park and the inner workings of a baseball team. I also loved Valley’s friend Imogene, she provided great comic relief.

2.75 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and 831 Stories for the ARC!

[nihaarika]

off season was pretty interesting! for something so short, it packs in a whole lot about grief and letting go, and does so in a way that feels realistic. i found this quite easy to read as well. the writing style was very gripping, and i basically ended up finishing the whole thing in a day (which is easy, given its length)

i found both valley and cal to be super compelling characters. both of them are dealing with their grief about losing people in their own life, and i loved how the story shows us this contrast so well.
individually, i understood both of them characters, and why they were the way they were. however, i had a hard time believing in valley and cal’s relationship. like the chemistry was there, but i feel like the romance and the bond they shared leaned a little too close to being insta-love. in some contexts, it works; it just didn’t here.

i definitely think if some of the emotional beats of the novel had been expanded on, the romance would have worked a lot better.

overall, off season was a decent read, and a nice way to start off my reading for this month.

thank you 831 stories for sending me an e-arc!

[Mal]

Thanks to NetGalley and 831 Stories for the advanced reader copy

Even though taking a job with the San Francisco Seals baseball team means Valley Magnolia will be living under the long shadow of her father Joe (who was a famed pitching coach for the team) she can't pass up the chance to be back in her hometown working as the sports psychologist that she trained to be. While many of the players on the team immediately warm to her, Cal Monte, the team's star pitcher who has a case of the yips, is standoffish and doesn't see how Valley can help him. The more time together the two spend, the more they each see beyond the other's built high walls. But will Magnolia risk the career she's built for herself for the possibility of love?

This was another solid 831 romance. The writing was at times a bit overwrought, but overall this was a bittersweet romance between two people who been broken by life and who need someone else to to truly see them. Tropes:
-workplace romance
-forbidden/secret romance

Off Season is out December 8, 2026

[Nicole LC]

⭐️5/5

831 does it again ❤️

Valley Magnolia, daughter of the Seals former pitching coach, is making her way back to the San Francisco stadium. Cal, current pitcher, is on his last shot for getting rid of the yips. When Valley arrives to help Cal, she finds she may be in over her head as she navigates her complex feelings of her dad’s legacy and her budding feelings for Cal.

As someone who doesn’t particularly care for baseball, I literally go for the vibes & hotdogs, this book was sooo good. I usually am not a fan of professional falls for patient but this was done in a respectful (and steamy) way. The chemistry between our main characters was palpable from the moment they met. So much raw emotion dealing with grief, performance struggles & imposter syndrome yet didn’t feel too heavy. Highly recommend this novella!

Thank you to 831 Stories and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Abena]

The baseball aspect of this book was the most developed part of the story, so if you’re not a big fan, you might find it difficult to get through this.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t spend much time developing Cal and Valley’s relationship. They just go from meeting each other to catching strong feelings pretty much overnight. We never learn why either of them are so drawn to one another other than physical attraction. What doesn’t help either is the fact that they spend most of the book not interacting.

Given the forbidden nature of their relationship — Valley is a sports psychologist for Cal’s baseball team — we needed to see why Valley was drawn to him so much that she’s willing to jeopardize her job for a MLB team and her license to pursue the relationship. It just made her seem wildly irresponsible without that explanation.

And the ending felt a bit anticlimactic and left a few important questions unanswered.

[Arlyn]

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Off Season is the story of a baseball player and a sports therapist for the team who fall in love. As this book is a novella, the characters do not seem to know each other for very long before they fall in love, and to me it seemed to come from out of nowhere. I had a difficult time really caring about their relationship, and it didn't help that I am not a big fan of baseball.
I think that the story would have really benefitted from a longer format to get to know the characters better.

This being said, if you are a baseball fan, this story does a great job of portraying the struggles that the MMC is facing with his pitching arm, and the grief that the FMC is facing following the passing of her father.

It isn't a very long book, so read it if you are looking for a baseball-themed romance. Otherwise, I would give this one a pass.

[cm4rt1n3zc]

Thank you Netgalley and 831 Stories for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.75 ⭐️
Sadly, this was not for me. This is a sports romance between a baseball pitcher, Cal, who is suffering from the yips and a sports psychologist, Valley, who has joined the team to hopefully help him. The amount of baseball info in this book was a bit too much for me though I don't know the single thing about baseball, but it would have been nice to have had a small explaining of things or terms for those not into the sport like I have seen in many other sports romances I have read. This book was too telly and not showy, the relationship move too fast and keep insisting on this connection between the characters that I just don't see.
However, I will say that it was well written, and the ending was very sweet, particularly Valley's closure.

[Andrea]

Sometimes (well, all times, really), you just need a good sports romance in your life. And this one was just what I needed. It's a homerun (sorry, I had to) by an 831 Stories author. The story focuses on Valley, a sports psychologist, and Cal, a pitcher who's got the yips. Valley has been around the game of baseball and the team her whole life because of her dad, and she also is great at what she does. She's called in to help Cal, and as you might infer (correctly), things go from there! The story was wonderful in how the relationships developed, and I also loved the layers of emotion they were navigating that also built the story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the look at this December 2026 release!

[Kristyn Dayton]

2.5 stars (rounded up to 3, I guess?)

Did I want to love a romance novella written by a male author? Yes. Was I willing to read about baseball (a sport I’m not at all invested in) in order to get a heartfelt, steamy romance? Absolutely.

But could I get past the highly unethical psychologist/client relationship happening here? Hell to the no.

These two broke so many professional rules, had hardly any chemistry, and ultimately just gave me the ick. Honestly, I would have rather read another 300 pages about Valley’s relationship with her dead father than watch this romance unfold.

Thank you to NetGalley and 831 Stories for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. “Off-Season” hits shelves on December 8, 2026.

[anj (acozyday)]

Sports romances are having a moment, and I’ve been lucky enough to read some really great ones lately. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I think the novella format is part of the challenge. As much as I love a quick, bite-sized read (and as much as I love 831!), sometimes there just isn’t enough room to really feel the story. I found myself being told about the characters’ connection rather than actually feeling it develop. For me, this one was missing some depth and chemistry, and I ultimately struggled to really connect with the characters or root for the romance. Definitely a case of right genre, wrong book for me

[Desi]

I like this book but I am going to start this with just saying in needs an epilogue, I wish there was more to the ending it almost felt unwished. When she took the job to help Cal Monte primarily Dr. Valley Magnolia know she had some big shoes to fill in and she slowly stated doing just that. Her dad was one of the pitching couches on stuff the person who had helped so many players and he was gone and here she was on his playground. Everything was going great even Cal slowly started getting his mojo back but somewhere in the process of helping him lines got blurred and feeling come up. Will they give up on each other or keep fighting