Calling It by Jen Doyle

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Having a little bit of time before needing to get to my next book club book, I decided to look for something to fill up one of the remaining prompts from my Winter's Kiss board 1. One of the remaining prompts was starts with the letter C, so I went through my kindle and tbr. I came across Calling It by Jen Doyle. This is the first book in her Calling It series. I also was able to use this for the Heaving Bosoms 2022 Reading Embrace for the prompt catch my farts.

Nate is a star catcher in the MLB and just signed with a new expansion club in Chicago. After he gets in a really bad car accident and breaks up with his fiancé, he heads back to the small town he grew up in, Inspiration, Iowa. When he arrives at his sister's apartment, he is intrigued to find Dorie. She's the new librarian in town and hired to help renovate and reinvigorate the town's library. As lust strikes them both, they don't quite act on it. When Nate is roped into helping out at the library, they spend days together. Dorie has been a fan of Nate's since he was in high school and has followed his career since then. As they spend more time together both alone and with Nate's family, they start a connection that's more than just physical. As Dorie struggles with his fame and if it can work between them long term, Nate is all-in. 1,000%

This book was so good. I loved that I kept thinking that something was going to be the big conflict at the end, but it was solved or at least talked about soon. Nate was so freaking swoony and I loved how he used his works, actions and everything to prove to Dorie that he wanted her for life. It was a little love at first sight for him, but I enjoyed it. He was constantly thinking about her and what she likes and just wanted to spend time with her. Nate has had a rough go of things lately since the accident, but really takes the time to not only go home, but get back in touch with all of his friends and family.

There is a little bit of the trope where Dorie pretends she doesn't know who Nate is, but she actually doesn't recognize him at first because she's in the bath when he comes into the apartment (thinking his sister still lives there) and isn't wearing her glasses. When he tells her his name is DB, they both stay quiet on talking about who he really is. I also loved how much thought that Nate put into every moment with Dorie. There were times when they were upset with each other, but for most of it they would separate for a moment to calm down and then talk it out.

Why 4.5 instead of 5-stars? Honestly, it was Dorie. The big conflict was Dorie stuggling with believing that Nate was really in love with her and wanted to make it work. Yes it was fast, but Nate did everything he possibly could to get her to believe him. It really bothered me that Nate did more grovelling than Dorie in the end, especially because she was the one that pushed him away. I know that he said he wasn't going to go anywhere, but when she's spend 3+ weeks constantly telling him it's a fling and won't even let him talk to her about it being more, he ends up leaving her; like she asked. I get he said he wouldn't leave her, but how in the world is it okay for her to constantly push him away and hurt him emotionally? Is it not okay that after being constantly turned down that he decides to give her what she wants and step back? Yes it hurts him because he loves her, but it also hurts that when he's with her he can't even tell her he loves her because she shuts him down every single time. Maybe I should rate this 4-stars instead of 4.5 for how much it bothered me now that I'm writing this, but I really enjoyed most everything else in the story. My boy Nate though, he deserved better. I think if there was some sort of trauma or past relationship issue that caused Dorie to hold back so much, I would've been more understanding, but there wasn't. I just was left slightly disappointed by how she treated him and how quickly he forgave her for it. I just would've liked there to be a discussion about the hurt that she caused him by constantly shutting him out.

I am definitely interested in reading more of the series, but am a little disappointed who the books end up being. Nate has 3 or 4 friends from his high school basketball and baseball team but only one of them gets a book (and another gets a novella). The third book is with Nate's ex-friend that slept with his ex-fiance. I didn't see that Was gets a book and that make me a little bit upset. Former baseball player turned rancher in a small town? How can that not be a book? I guess I'll just live Wash's love story in my head. We'll see when I pick up them up.

Have you read Calling It?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Calling It, Jen Doyle, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 384 pages, published in 2016, small publisher