The Change Up by Meghan Quinn

Maddox Paige-the bad boy of baseball.  Tattoo covered, fight starting pitcher for the Chicago Rebels.  He is everything you expect from a Rebel Baseball player.  But what you don’t know is he has the softest kindest heart when it comes to his best friend Kinsley. 

Kinsley-vegan, animal lover, doing her part to save the world.  Maddox’s biggest cheerleader. 

Maddox and Kinsley have been best friends since age 5.  They grew up next door to each other and have always been each other’s soft place to land.  So, when Kinsley is offered her dream job in Chicago, Maddox invites her to move in with him. 

This was such a great story. It was a very well-done Friends to lovers romance.  Quinn has a way of writing make leaders who should come off as super macho alphas to being theses truly sensitive caring creatures.  Maddox has a lot of baggage from childhood and it is part of what causes him to go slowly into a relationship with Kinsley.  He has so few people he trusts and he doesn’t want to do anything to ruin that.  I loved getting small glimpses of characters from her other Rebel books. 

If you are missing baseball there is just enough sports talk in this to help fill that void.  This is a fun summer read, with just enough sexy to keep it steamy.  The Characters do engage in a lot of internal dialogue it does cause a bit a lag in the movement of the story line.  As with many of Quinn’s books the first half of the book is a little slow. She lays so much ground work in the first half, which isn’t always needed and causes lag in the story.

Overall, I would give this a 4/5 read.

I am not overly sold on the bad boy with the big heart trope, but Quinn’s characters are well written and developed that it is relatable.  Sometimes Quinn’s male characters come off as slightly feminine in their feelings and behaviors. It sometimes causes you to question if this is truly the kind of character you expect in a sport romance.