Full Count

San Diego Barracudas #1

by Violet Fitzgerald

Three balls.
Two strikes.
One chance left.
Will they risk it all for love, or walk away before a
viral scandal costs them both the game?

Evan Delgado can handle pressure. He’s built a career on control, and a life behind walls high enough to keep the past out, the pain buried, and anyone who might matter at a distance.

Then CJ Hartman gets traded to San Diego.

Seven years ago, CJ was Evan’s best friend, secret love, and the person who broke his heart. Now he’s a World Series champion, the Barracudas’ newest outfielder, and impossible to avoid.

CJ never planned to end up on Evan’s team. He never planned to share a clubhouse, a city, or a season with the only person he ever loved. Only this Evan is colder, sharper and harder to reach. But that won’t stop CJ from trying to fix what he destroyed now that they’ve been forced together again.

Same team. Same clubhouse. Same unfinished history. Their old chemistry simmers beneath every conversation, every accidental touch, and every memory they swore they’d buried, making it impossible to ignore what still burns between them.

CJ never stopped loving Evan. Evan never forgave him for leaving. And as the season unfolds, they’ll have to decide whether some risks are worth taking twice.

330 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2026

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*

Though she lives in Pennsylvania now, Violet Fitzgerald was raised in Boston and is unapologetically loyal to New England sports teams. Bruins. Sox. Pats. Celts. In that order. Undeterred by geography or reason, she remains aggressively Bostonian, which serves as both a personality trait and a warning. With degrees in journalism and sport management, it was inevitable that she'd end up writing stories where ambition, competition, and complicated feelings collide.

By day, Violet makes good trouble with a brilliant group of co-conspirators. By night, she retreats to her writing cave, chasing plot bunnies that keep her awake, and trying to wrangle unruly men into behaving long enough to let her write their story. Her husband doesn't quite understand why she's negotiating with fictional characters but he supports her unconditionally anyway.

When she's not working or writing, Violet can most often be found drinking too much coffee, staying up past her bedtime to finish whatever queer romance she's reading, or making questionable financial decisions to buy hockey tickets.

Reviews

[Sully (sulliedjedi)]

This is written by a Red Sox fan, and I'm wicked excited for this!!

I need more baseball romance, especially when the Sox are playing the way they are. 😩

You can pre-order it for 99¢ on Amazon!

I'm ready for the switch-hitters, for the nasty backdoor sliders, for breaking balls, short strokes, honey holes, a dirty splitfinger, and pounding the zone.

Taking him deep!

Okay, I'll stop. ⚾

[Evelyn Bella (there WILL be spoilers) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Help! I have all this hate for CJ and after the last 10%, I don't know what to do with it.

Here's the thing. CJ is exactly the type of MC I DON'T want in my second chance romances. (tbf when do I ever want second chance romances but it's because of MCs like him that I don't).

CJ made his call at 22 that he wouldn't be choosing Evan and he'd pursue his career. Fair. Fair, because I respect a MF who says I can't be what you want and stands on that shit, rather than the half in/half out bullshit many try to pull.

Also respected tf out of Evan in that moment. Took his dumping like a champ, no begging, no tears, just 'it is what it is' and no further explanation necessary, I'm good. Sadly, this respect was not destined to last.

7 years in, neither has looked back. They both play pro baseball on different teams and if they're not happy, that's no one's business but their own. Separately.

Then CJ gets traded to Evanvs team, and things fall apart.

I was good with the original animosity/feigned indifference. For Evan, it's fuck you to the love of his life who chose baseball over him. He has nothing to say to that man. For CJ, it's more a lack of how to begin. Because he made his choice and he can't take it back so what even is there TO say?

So far so good, yes?

Probably for the sake of it, CJ finds it in himself to approach Evan and tender an apology.

I was glad when Evan asked if he's actually sorry or if he's doing it for the plot because they're now forcefully in each other's lives again and he just wants to brush shit under the rug.

I was honestly so happy when CJ was muttering something about not expecting forgiveness and Evan was all like, "Good. Because I don't have anything of the sort to offer you."

Imagine my horror when Evan started cracking first. Like.....excuse me? I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you!

I'm not going to lie, I wanted CJ walking over hot coals for that man. In order for me to invest in second chance romance, I need to believe the offending MC yearns to be forgiven. That he's up nights beating himself up over it.

This is where my complaints begin because I don't know what CJ's been up to the past 7 years. I know he's not been sleeping well, which—good. But what else?

When he dumped Evan back in college, he didn't deny that his plan was either getting a girlfriend or celibacy. I wanted to know which route he took. Crickets on that.

I hatedddddddd that Evan ended up jealous over seeing CJ having an innocent interaction with another guy and showing his hand too early.

I wanted CJ to make the first overture. Why are you laying yourself bare and telling all your family secrets to this strange man who left you for dead(emotionally) 7 years ago and didn't look back once?

Get UP, Evan. Ugh.

And for him to put himself out there like that and basically get left on read💀

I felt so much secondhand embarrassment from that chapter that I wanted to shrivel up and die.

Even resolving that took too little effort from CJ, imo. Why's everything so easy for CJ?

Evan need only see a 10% hint of interest and he's running to offer the 90% effort to keep the ship afloat.

I hated it so much for him.

They got back together waaaaaaay too easily. I know I'm a hater because their first sex scene? I was absolutely the evil eye watching them from the corner sitted in the cuck chair with nothing but HATE in my heart.

I'm absolutely a hater, guys. No question about it.

And to think, immediately after this, Evanvs saying things like, "I'm not going to pretend I'm not waiting for the other shoe to drop because I am. And I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Babes, the cum isn't dry yet. I want to believe you but there's an overcooked noodle where your spine should be.

Saying "No point coming out or telling people we're together if we end up proving we can't make it two weeks without someone running away."

💀 Loved the little passive aggressive dig but I would have preferred it come before agreeing to get back together with this man who's done NOTHING to earn you.

And guess what? I was right.

Evan agreed to this reconciliation too easily and THEN they both had to learn the hard way that your nervous system doesn't just reset because you've decided to be a doormat for your college ex.

Suddenly it's Evan tensing up at people possibly suspecting them, it's him who doesn't want to think of a future, it's him who defaults to mistrust when CJ makes grand declarations.

This is why you extract your pound of flesh, people!!!! Not because you're a venomous unforgiving bitch(which it is absolutely valid and okay to be❤️) but because pushing things under the rug DOES NOT WORK.

And Evan's just pushing through it in spite of his own misgivings and CJ can see that and I'm sitted in my cuck chair again but this time cackling with glee because fuck you thought?

I liked that in spite of his best efforts, Evan couldn't just let himself trust CJ and it was obvious as fuck to CJ who thankfully got to have an immersive experience in what it's like to know you might not get to be with the man of your dreams because his fear is greater than his love for you.

Except this time it was all CJ's fault and he knew it.

Then they get outed and Evan crashes. I loved that CJ got to see him tapped out and saying stuff like "It's fine. I know what you're going to do. Just say what you need to and leave." and be horrified that the man he loves thinks so little of him.

But why shouldn't he, boo? Verbatim, Evan tells him, "Well you have a shitty track record, so."

And he's right. Why should he expect any different? That man left him just on the power of fear they'd be discovered and fucked off for 7 years without a word. Now the worst has happened so Evan's right to expect worse.

Just lying there emotionless. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

None of this would have happened if he'd gotten a good respectable grovel from CJ. If CJ had reached out at any point prior to necessity forcing his hand. If CJ had been the one to bring up the idea of them together again.

But no. He jumped the gun on all these and took that man back too easily and now he doesn't believe in them because it's always been him doing the fighting!!!!!

To be fair, CJ massively steps up when it counts. Well, massively by CJ standards. But by then it's just 10% left in the book and I've disliked him for so long that it's so hard to change my mind on him by then.

I genuinely don't feel like he tried enough prior to this. A lot of this reconciliation is pushed by Evan, with CJ as a willing participant. But that works less for second chance than for one where the MCs are meeting for the first time.

Which brings me to my second major complaint.

We don't get to see these two fall in love. Not the first time at 19(we only get a brief flashback into the day they met). And given that the book starts with a very elaborate prologue of CJ dumping Evan at 22, I feel like there's not enough positive depictions of CJ to buy him goodwill in this story.

No insight into what he's been doing in Chicago for 7 years further compounds that. If I knew he'd been celibate and full of regret, I'd be more understanding.

All I see is a guy who left Evan, went on to have a flourishing career and only thought of Evan when he was literally forced to by the league.

And Evan not standing on business didn't help. I'd have liked to see CJ put effort in. Serious effort. I don't even know if he wanted it before Evan brought it up that night. He'd never thought it to himself even in his own POV.

What am I supposed to do with that?

Nothing against the writing, though I also hated how quickly time seemed to pass. A lot of instances where it's mentioned that weeks or months have passed and I was thinking, wait, NO!

This is the stuff I want to see. I don't want to know that they've been seeing each other again for weeks and growing closer. I want to see it. I wanted to see CJ be a solicitous boyfriend. I wanted to see this paragon that Evan's so in love with.

I know the intensity of Evan's feelings for this man, I just don't see why.

It really doesn't help that months later in the epilogue, CJ makes some pretty serious commitment comments and Evan is STILL afraid to let himself believe them. He has to gird his loins and ask if CJ means it.

Pretty telling of what their relationship dynamic still is.

I love angst but I was just really sad for Evan in this one.

[Sarah☀️ Somerville]

DNF @ 50% - I’m not enjoying this so I’m going to call it quits. The writing is very polished, but there’s no feeling or character to it. The whole book has been focused on the relationship, but the main characters have no personality, no connection, no chemistry. The side characters exist purely to discuss or be barriers to the relationship. The baseball is completely uninteresting because there are no related issues.

[Mandee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet second chance romance between two baseball players.

[Arlette R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evan and CJ met on the college baseball field and fell in love. Both being destined for the MLB, they had to be careful to keep their draft stock high. The consequences of being discovered, they think, will be devastating for their careers. The story that follows takes them from college to the MLB years later. The characters are complex and well-written. Not everything is easy or glossed over and it makes the story more believable. Their journey is touching and heartfelt and the HEA is well-earned.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Brittany St Thomas]

It was repetitive and hard to keep focus for the beginning 35%. Then I got to the point of not wanting to move forward, but also wanting to know what happened. I skimmed and unfortunately, don't feel like I missed anything.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story follows the MCs from the moment they meet at university up to the present.

Not always an easy road, especially for two complicated characters, but very well described.

💞Thank you to the Author for the opportunity to read and review this ARC💖

[Amanda Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full Count is the first book in the new San Diego Barracudas series by debut author Violet Fitzgerald. This is a second chance, teammates to more, found family read about CJ and Evan. I really enjoyed this slow burn story and the characters.

[Ashley Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc read - 3rd person pov, fun read, heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time