Home Run

Home Run Series, Book 1

By: Cole Bates

Narrated by: Richard L Walton

Length: 2 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Eighteen-year-old Alex Matthews is smart, good-looking, the star of most of the plays his high school puts on, and gay. Since he came out of the closet in middle school he's been tormented by the same group of boys he goes to high school with, the jocks on the baseball team who have shown him no mercy. He keeps to himself as much as he can and doesn't even tell his mother who raised him alone and has been his best friend. So, when his mother meets and marries the father of one of those very same boys an Alex is faced with a choice between breaking his mother's heart and living under the same roof as one of his tormenters, he chooses the latter. Now the question he faces is how to survive with Ryan Reed, one of the most popular guys on the baseball team living in the room next door. Alex tries to ignore him both at home and at school, but in spite of all of the years of strife between them, Alex begins to see something in Ryan that goes way beyond his hot body, gorgeous face and seemingly black soul. Can Alex save Ryan from himself, and if so, at what cost to his own life?

Ryan Reed is good-looking, athletic and one of the most popular seniors in school. He's grown up with a single father so most of what he's learned about life was how a "real man" would handle things. He has it in his head that masculinity also means keeping your emotions tucked away where no one can see them and they can't be used against you. He's learned how to channel his feelings into baseball and any angst that's left over is used spent in the torture he and his friend's heap on his new step-brother, Alex Matthews. Picking on Alex is not as much of an option now however since his father has warned him not to. But not participating in the actual bullying and doing something to stop it are two different things and Ryan's not ready to risk his reputation to save a boy he's not even sure he likes.

©2018 CWG Publishers (P)2018 CWG Publishers

Home Run, book 1

So, I don't think this book was meant to be funny. But I found myself laughing out loud a few times. There were a few spots that were just over the top cheesy. LOL. But overall this was a fun and quick book. The audio was decent and the narrator did alright even though he was definitely more reading the book than narrating the story in it. It's got me curious to see what happens in the next book between these two guys and how the rest of their story plays out.

Enemies to lovers

High school senior Alex has been bullied since he was outed as a freshman, with the baseball team jocks being the worst. His mother re-marries and Alex's new step-brother, Ryan, was one of those bullies. While Alex is a model student, Ryan is in danger of failing and not being able to play baseball, when Alex offers to tutor him. While Alex has always been physically attracted to Ryan, Ryan begins to discover an attraction to Alex, but fights the feelings, refusing to acknowledge he might be gay. This was an enjoyable book and I recommend it. I was given this audible book free in exchange for an honest review.