Catch Her Heart

Vancouver Tridents, Book 3

De: Julia Jarrett

Narrado por: Victoria Connolly, Tim Paige

I’m the oldest virgin in major league baseball. And I’m in love with a woman who’s about to marry someone else.

Listen. It’s not like I planned to still be a virgin at twenty-eight. Or to fall in love with the team trainer, who apparently would rather date a guy who wears polo shirts instead of baseball pants.

But life doesn’t always go according to plan.

When I first laid eyes on Lark Miller, I knew she was something special. Unfortunately, so did her boyfriend.

For years I kept my feelings hidden. I accepted my role as best guy friend, and focused on my career. My priority needs to be securing another contract with the Vancouver Tridents so I can help my parents retire. I can’t afford any distractions.

But then the day comes that Lark shows up at my door, and tells me she’s ended her engagement. Not only that, but she’s broken up with polo shirt guy.

And then she kisses me.

My fantasy becomes my reality. Lark wants me. Me. She’s perfect, we’re perfect, everything is perfect. I’ve got the woman of my dreams, and the best part is she understands how important baseball has to be for me right now.

But remember what I said about life not going according to plan?

My name is Dan “Monty” Montgomery: Formerly the oldest virgin in baseball, and now the newest expectant father.

©2024 Julia Jarrett (P)2025 Julia Jarrett

Catch Her Heart: Vancouver Tridents Book 3

🎧🎧AUDIOBOOK REVIEW🎧🎧

I really like Julia Jarrett’s style! I met her words back in 2023 but haven’t been able to catch up on her backlist yet and every time I have an opportunity to experience one of her stories, I mentally kick myself for not doing better at catching up! She’s a good storyteller that doesn’t fluff up her work or unnecessarily dramatize it. Her stories are fun and relatable and always hit the spot for me.

Dan, our MMC, has been crushing on our FMC, Lark, for quite some time, but alas, she’s marrying someone else. Or is she?! Hmmmmmm LOL This friends-to-more story with an added surprise was super swoony and full of heart. I might have shed a tear or two because Dan was the best guy ever!! I loved his character so much and Lark was his perfect other half! The story wasn’t always smooth sailing but love always wins! ;)

🎙️Tim Paige and Victoria Conolly🎙️ were an amazing team performing this story! I have a lot of experience with Tim Paige so I knew going in that he would not disappoint. He’s always been one of my favorites and this performance was no different! Victoria wasn’t new-to-me, but I’d only listened to one other audio narrated by her and that story was so all consuming twitchy that I don’t even think I heard the narrators. 🤨🤨 But I listened to her this time, and she was really great and memorable! I’ll be looking out for her in the future!

The Vancouver Tridents series has been an absolute joy in my ears for these three books and I cannot wait to have the next in the series, Steal A Kiss in my ears asap! 😍

Catch Her Heart

Officially obsessed with this book, my favorite book of this series! 💕 Dan & Lark have completely stolen my heart! Dan has been secretly in love with Lark forever, but he stayed in the friend zone while she was in a relationship. When she finally breaks free, Dan steps up, like the absolute sweetheart he is, to be there for her. But let’s be real… the tension was bound to explode into something more.

I really enjoyed their journey. Dan had his insecurities that made him afraid he wouldn’t be good enough. Emotionally, Lark went from seeing Dan as a friend to being the love of her life. Lark now is seeing things with new eyes and is trying to figure out how she didn’t always see that her true love was right there. Dan is a virgin and getting to have his first time being with the person he loves more than anything made it so special for him. I loved them together, they just fit together so perfectly.

A surprise pregnancy definitely rushes their new relationship but they couldn’t be more ready. I love how all in they were.

Tim Paige and Victoria Connolly did an amazing job with the narration. The characters were brought to life and were easy to listen to, easy to follow along with.

Great sports romance!

Catch her Heart his book three in the Vancouver Tridents series! It follows Dan and Lark. I loved these two so much!! Monty is so sweet! He can do no wrong in my eyes! It’s nice to see a virgin MMC who has no idea what he is doing and is wanting to learn from the FMC! I absolutely loved that this was an it’s always been you book! Dan was so far gone for Lark and everyone knew it! Watching them go from friends to lovers was everything! There was a lot of back and forth and them having to figure things out as Lark had just gotten out of a long relationship. Through it all their relationship just works perfectly and I loved that for them!

The audiobook was narrated by Victoria Connolly and Tim Paige. These are two new to me narrators and I really enjoyed listening to them. Victoria did a fantastic job portraying the sweet Lark, while Tim did an amazing job portraying the sweet and innocent Dan.

I can’t wait to listen to the next book in this series!!

Read if you love:
Virgin Hero
Baseball Romance
Friends to Lovers
Golden Retriever Hero
Surprise Pregnancy
Forehead Kisses

Entertaining

Julia Jarrett is a relatively new author to me but what I have read or listened to I have enjoyed.

This is Lark Miller and Dan “Monty” Montgomery’s friends to lovers story which was well written, entertaining and ticked numerous boxes for me.

Dan has had feelings for Lark for years but didn’t want to risk their friendship. However, once they cross the line, it was wonderful to watch their relationship evolve.

The narration by Tim Paige and Victoria Connolly brought the characters to life for me. Their voices were easy to listen too and they brought all the passion, drama, romance and humour to their performances.

So sweet, funny, swoony

Catch Her Heart is the third book in Julia Jarrett’s Vancouver Tridents very enjoyable baseball series. Fun for us – we get to spend a bit more time with Ronan and Willow and his daughter Peyton and Mav and Sadie and her weird cat, and the rest of the team.

Dan Montgomery and Lark Miller are perfect for each other, and everyone in the world knows it – except Lark. Which means she has a butthead of a fiancé who doesn’t appreciate her, future monsters-in-law looming, and the wedding from you-know-where being planned with basically no input from her, and Monty is sitting on the sideline pining. Just like he’s been doing ever since he met her. Timing is everything, and Monty’s sucked; he was too late. There he was, flowers in hand, finally with enough courage to ask her out, when one of his teammates pulled him aside and told him Lark was with Baron and had been for a long time. Family connections, families practically had them engaged at birth. So back to the Friend Zone Monty goes. And Lark has him so far in that zone that it takes her a long, long time to realize Mr. Right might be right in front of her.

Monty is a great guy: great son, baseball player, teammate, friend. And too nice for his own good. Monty and Lark are best friends. He knows everything about her, what she likes, what she doesn’t, how to make her smile, how to comfort her, and if staying in the friend zone gives him one more second with her then that’s where he’ll stay. Not really happily, but grateful for any time at all at her side. Other slight point of interest about Monty: he’s just about as inexperienced as inexperienced can be. And once he fell in love with Lark he didn’t have any desire to change that. Maybe someday he’ll meet someone, but he’s not looking so chances are small.

Lark’s biggest personality trait for the first part of the book is cluelessness. Cluelessness and the inability/refusal to take control of her own life. Raised by parents who had high expectations but basically ignored her except to criticize, engaged to a man she has dated for years because their parents are business parents and it’s just supposed to be the next step. In a relationship with a man who belittles her, does not seem attracted to her and seems to just be going through the motions. Her friends have told her she could do so much better, deserves better, and to turn around and take a look at how Monty is looking at her, and we want to grab her shoulders and shake her. Her friendship with Monty is the best thing in her life, but she doesn’t see how he really feels or what could be, and her eyes open slowly to what the rest of her life will be like if she marries Baron, and it takes a night out with her girlfriends celebrating that breakup before she starts thinking “What if?”

After that the story is full of laugh-out-loud moments, sweetness, romance, and surprises. Monty is ecstatic that Lark might really want him, but he wants to take things very slowly, not only because of his lack of experience but because if this is his one shot for the woman of his dreams he doesn’t want to take one wrong step. He really is the perfect man. And when Lark starts to see that, to view him not only as that perfect buddy but as the perfect man, the perfect partner for her your heart will swell with happiness.

Narrators Victoria Connolly & Tim Paige do a terrific job voicing Lark and Monty. Connolly does Lark’s cluelessness just right, and makes you sympathize with her reluctance to push back against Baron and all the parents, to see her as a person intimidated and trying to do the right thing. Connolly makes you wish Lark had figured things out sooner but you don’t resent her. Tim Paige becomes Monty, coming across as friendly and happy and helpful, but with hints of what he keeps hidden inside. Competent and strong, always wanting to do the right thing – and just a bit innocent. Monty is not ignorant, there is just a lot of stuff he has not done, and Paige makes Monty sensitive and shy and bold and full of desire at the same time.

I received an advance listening copy of Catch Her Heart from Home Cooked Books. I thoroughly enjoyed it and cannot wait for the next book in the series – audio, of course, because that’s always best! I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

Monty and Lark’s at bat…

I’ve been looking forward to Monty‘s story! Dan ‘Monty’ Montgomery is just so lovable. He’s been such a supportive friend and teammate throughout the series, so to see him get his HEA with the lady of his dreams was just lovely. The connection between Monty and Lark was well-developed. And in the beginning, when he is feeling deeply for her, but maintaining boundaries because he values their friendship and respects her engagement really showed his character and integrity. I love that he was willing to be whatever Lark needed, even when that was purely platonic. But the fact that she came to feel the same way for him was all the sweeter.

Lark was also a pretty great character. She’s got admirable ambitions and is really good at her job. She’s at a bit of a crossroads; after moving through her personal life in a way that was expected and family-approved, she’s reached a point where that’s kind of untenable. To witness her come to the realization that she has to do what’s best for her and that might not necessarily be what her family wants - that’s a hard position to be in and she handles it well. The growth of her connection to Monty from friendship to love is beautiful. Overall their romance is just very sweet and reading/listening to this book was comforting and it just felt like a warm hug.

The story is low on angst which I appreciate. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a story that is puts more emphasis on the journey of a relationship without too much external conflict. And while there is some initial tension of how Lark will handle her engagement to a guy who’s not right for her, the bulk of the story was very much on how she and Monty navigate their relationship. Jarrett is working with some enjoyable tropes - there’s some he’s-loved-for-ages; a virgin hero.; friends to lovers. There is another that crops up later on, and though not a trope I typically enjoy, was still well-executed. As with previous books, the development of the rest of the Tridents continues to build; each installment makes me want to hear the next guy’s story.

The audiobook was a good listen and is narrated by Victoria Connolly and Tim Paige. Paige is a narrator whose previous work I have often enjoyed. He’s always a fun narrator - you feel the happiness and the joy in his delivery; so, he was a great fit for Monty as his delivery matched Jarret’s rendering and added to the characters’s appeal. Connolly is a new-to-me narrator; she did a good job with Lark. Her performance fit the character, especially the inner thoughts, where I thought her delivery added appealing nuance. It’s interesting because Lark is at the beginning of her career trajectory and Monty knows he’s heading towards the end of his, so their professional lives are in two different places. However, these are also both transitional moments and I thought that both narrators successfully captured the work of navigating those personal crossroads while also delivering on the romantic connection between the MCs.

Overall, CHH was a fine addition to Jarrett’s Vancouver Trident series, and I recommend it to anybody who loves a sweet baseball romance. Looking forward to the next!

I’m grateful to have received an ALC copy of the audiobook via Home Cooked Books. I also read the book via KU. All opinions expressed are my own.

Romantic, swoony and heartfelt

Oh how I needed this feel good romance. “Catch Her Heart” is a romantic, swoony and heartfelt friends to lovers baseball romance that left a smile on my face.

Dan Montgomery is the catcher for the Vancouver Titans and has been in love with one of the team trainers, Lark Miller, for years. But she’s had a boyfriend, now fiance, for years so he’s been just a friend. Lark accepted the proposal and has been planning her wedding but it doesn’t feel right. They have become more like friends so she calls off the engagement. And with a little push from her friends, she realizes that Dan has had a crush on her this whole time. And Lark is ready to see where this crush can go.

Lark and Dan are so adorable together and I loved their story. Lark is an amazing trainer in a man’s sport and is so respected by the team. I loved her passion for her job and how she wanted to help the team so they could win the championship. Dan is such a sweet and genuine guy that he is someone that I would want to be friends with in real life. And I must say that I loved that he was a virgin. That is so rare in the book world so I ate up this audio. Lark and Dan had an amazing friendship that was strictly friends when she was with her ex, absolutely no cheating. Lark was patient with Dan and made sure to go at his pace since this was all known to him. And he was a quick learner for sure. The steamy scenes were great between them and showed how compatible they were. Dan is so romantic and is just an amazing boyfriend who always puts Lark first. I loved his nickname for her, Birdie, is so cute. The ending was so sweet and I loved these two so much.

Victoria Connolly and Tim Paige were great as Lark and Dan. Victoria’s narration was genuine and full of all the emotions Lark went through. I loved Tim as Dan. His narration was kind, sweet and amazing just like him.

friends to lovers baseball romance

Dan “Monty” Montgomery is the catcher we get a glimpse of in earlier books as in looooove with Lark, one of the team trainers but she has a boyfriend so he keeps it to himself and well the team and anyone with eyes. These two are sweet friends to lovers that have good communication, taking time to transition into lovers, and handle their surprise pregnancy well. Good foundation - cute nicknames. Dan is such a green flag with the star and just everything.

The narrators for this one- were perfect voices; they matched these two so well! I mean the Canadian “sorry” got to me and just loved the duel POV and flow of this book. I really like these via audiobooks!


Thanks to homecookedbooks for this ALC

Great characters

This is the best book of the series by far. The rhythm of the plot is very good, and there is not a lot of rehashing insecurities. We get a lot of Lark and Dan together on the page, and they are so cute. I loved that this story was low on the angst and high on the fun parts of their relationship.
Dan is a perfect book boyfriend. He has loved Lark for quite a while but has kept it a secret since she has a boyfriend. When they break up, Dan is still respectful and doesn't push Lark in any way. He is always supportive of her, and he always shows that he is thinking of her. Lark has had a harder road than Dan, and she is not quite sure she can trust her feelings. She completely trusts Dan, though, and they form a lovely relationship.
The narrators did a terrific job. These characters are best friends who become lovers, and the narrators caught that energy. There is a lot of playfulness and humor, even during more serious times. I had a hard time turning it off and kept sneaking listening time.

Lark and Monty

Catch Her Heart is book three in the Vancouver Tridents series, following Lark Miller and Dan “Monty” Montgomery. I loved this swoony, friends-to-lovers, baseball romance. Monty has had feelings for Lark for a long time but settled for just being friends because Lark was in a relationship with someone else. He has been on the sidelines and deep in the friend zone, silently hoping for a chance to win her heart. Lark is not happy in her relationship and realizes her soon-to-be husband will never give her the love and companionship she desires. She has just been going through the motions to maintain her family's approval. When Lark decides to end her engagement, she starts to see Monty in a different light, and the door opens for Monty to show her how great they could be together.

I loved Lark and Monty together! They were meant to be, and I couldn't help but root for them. Lark and Monty had the sweetest, most unproblematic relationship ever, and I loved witnessing it develop into something amazing. Monty was down bad for Lark, and their already solid friendship made their romantic relationship even better. Their communication was on point, and I loved how they handled their surprise pregnancy. Monty's reaction to the news made me melt. He is so swoony and so good to Lark. Their journey to love just felt good and put a huge smile on my face. There was low drama, low angst, and no huge conflicts. Catch Her Heart is a super sweet and heartwarming addition to this series and I can't wait for the next book.

Narration:
Victoria Connolly and Tim Paige do a wonderful job with this dual-style narrated audiobook. They were the perfect voices for Lark and Monty. Victoria and Tim brought the characters to life and made it easy for me to sympathize with them. I felt the vulnerability and love shared between Lark and Monty as they navigated their feelings and new normal. Victoria and Tim's performances made this an easy and enjoyable listening experience.