Agree with another’s sentiment that I wish this was longer than just a short story, but for what it was, I enjoyed it. Our main characters are just out of high school so I gave them both grace for some of the mistakes they made. We will definitely check out another of authors work that seems in the second chance, cheating trope I like for the tension.
I wish it had been a full.story. but.its a quick read and she's pregnant goes to tell him and he's telling everyone he is breaking up with her. She overheard him then she saw him come out of a bedroom followed by a skank and she breaks. He leaves, blocks her on media and changes his phone number. Never says goodbye. I just hated him. She has baby and he comes back. Sees it and knows but she is pissed. But not that much. lol he tries to.prove it to her. I just found him unappealing. His whole plan to just ghost her was stupid.
Well, here we have a supposedly mature professional athlete who abandons his GF and, on the advice of his friend, severes all contact with her...to the point of getting a new phone. Very mature. She was pregnant and had the child alone. When he returned the groveling began and he did win back her trust and love.
One aspect of these stories that I have enjoyed is the confrontation with the OW/predator/wanna be. For me, it was satisfying that these women had some consequences for their choices and behaviors.
Hawthorne is called up to the majors, wanting to protect his girlfriend he breaks up with her. Not only that he makes it impossible for her to contact him at all. When he returns home and finds that he left more than his girlfriend when he left he is forced to grovel to get her back. A quick betrayal and grovel read with no cheating.
The OW confrontation scene if you wanna call it that was IMO stupid. Trying to put the blame on her that he missed a year of his child's life like he didnt change his number and block the h...but it was all the OW fault rigggghhhhhttt...let's just rewrite history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Breaking Ball was about Hawthorne Jefferson, a professional baseball player, and Primrose Hoffit, a college student. (No ages were given, although they were both old enough to have their own apartments, and no job description or college major was listed for Primrose.)
Hawthorne and Primrose had been together for six months when she learned she was pregnant. While she was trying to decide how best to tell him, he was telling himself and his friends that, since he had been called up to the major league baseball team, he was going to break up with her because he "didn't need the distraction" of a girlfriend back home. Unfortunately for him, Primrose overheard him telling his BFF he was going to break up with her, and then, as a double whammy, she saw him come out of a bedroom with another girl. She left the party and never heard from him again...until after the baby was born.
Hawthorne returned to his hometown for the week or two the team had off before spring training began. He was shocked when he saw Primrose in the park...holding a baby. He knew the moment he saw her daughter that the baby was his, but he asked anyway, only for her to confirm it.
Side Note: The title did not fit the story. If the author had wanted the story to hold a breaking ball scenario, she didn't provide it.
While this was a cute love story, it had way too many issues for it to be considered good. It moved way too fast, it had too many unresolved issues, and the conflict was resolved before it ever truly began. I also can't say that the two main characters were well-developed or mature because there wasn't enough time spent on showing that to the reader. If there was any growth being done, it was all off-page and left unspoken. Also, the only time the two main characters were together was in bed, in a restaurant with others around (twice for that scenario), or with the baby. The author didn't provide enough time spent together for them to build their relationship. I only gave it a three-star rating.
Spoilerwow what a pushover. It's all the other girls fault, not his. They weren't together for a year all because of the other girl, I'm no, stop saying that.
One this girl has came on to him multiple times yet he goes into a bedroom so she can show him something. Really
Second he blocked her and then he changed his number. He never even had the guts to end it, just left with no word.
But no worries, she sleeps with him right away because no self respect. Great role model.
Hawthorne - called to the pros. Decides it’s better to end relationship while they still love each other. He needs to focus on career and she needs to find herself.
Primrose - college aged. Finds out she’s pregnant. Attends his celebration to tell him but sees him coming out of the house with Brittney. Her lipstick is smeared and her dress rumpled. She tells her H just cheated with her.
Hawthorne finds out and is furious. He wants to tell her the truth. However his teammate Tye tells him it’s better this way. She will be angry at Brittney and will move on faster. He even takes the advice to change his phone number and block her on all social media.
Eight months later he loves Seattle but misses her terribly. Tye tells him to apologize but it’s better this way. Primrose has a little girl.
Two months later H comes home and sees P with a baby. He automatically thinks she’s moved on with another man. As soon as he approaches her he realizes the truth.
He transfers to be closer to them. They are Brittney at a restaurant and confront her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Not a bad read overall — the drama held my attention, and the redemption/grovel felt fitting for the level of betrayal.
However, the epilogues didn’t quite work for me. They seemed to drift away from their original purpose and tried too hard to wrap everything up, which made the ending feel a bit forced instead of natural.
A solid story, but it would’ve landed better with a simpler, more focused finish.
Hawthorn behaved badly towards Primrose. A coward really who didn't have the guts to face her instead decided the best thing to do is make her believe he cheated, leave town and completely ghost her. Class act. When he came back he finally realised the true consequences of his behaviour; Primrose has been pregnant and was now raising their child alone.
Hawthorne leaves Primrose without knowing she is pregnant just changes his number and leaves with her thinking he cheated on her and because he spoke about breaking up with her which she overheard.
He comes back when the baby is 10 month old finds out he has a child and they get back together
Deserved more grovelling, she just sleeps with him and tells him she forgives him
I have misgivings from this author and was pleased this one was alright. Not perfect..short and sweet basically. I did need one more thing to solidify that he was miserable without her. I needed to read that he had focused on his baseball and hadn't tried to forget her with someone else or a lot of someone else's. That would have made him more endearing.
How to tag? It was so fast a read and full of such BS...take the cover for example. It has a football player on it, but the H is a baseball player. Timelines are an issue. They were separated 10 months, then three months later they are made at OW because she caused them to miss the last 10 months...but three months have past?? It just kind of sucked...and I rarely say that about a book.
Oh when bad decisions bit us. Hawthorn learned that the long hard way. Brittney helped with that but hawthorn started it all. At least he did the work to earn primroses trust back.
Poe Loves Her AI-Generated Communal Misogyny. There Was Mo Grovel, Just Communal Triangulation From Abusers All Around Her, Especially Her "Friend", The Disgusting Pick Me