The Prospects

      

Title: The Prospects

Author: KT Hoffman

Published: The Dial Press, April 9, 2024

Pages: 386

Genre: LGBT Sports Romance

Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.

Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis inspires.

This triumphant debut romance reveals what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences.

Sports, second chance, friends to rivals to lovers, queer, etc. What more could you need?! Gene and Luis are SO cute. Gene is one of the most positive characters that is somehow not completely obnoxious! Luis is a very anxious baby. Who has the best emotional support dog in the world. I love them. You will love them.

Ratings

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 3/5