Audiobook8 hours
Thrown by a Curve
Written by Jaci Burton
Narrated by Lucy Malone
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Alicia Riley considers her job as a sports therapist for the St. Louis Rivers baseball team is a home run-until she becomes the primary therapist for star pitcher Garrett Scott. Out of the lineup with an injury, he's short-tempered, hard to handle, and every solid inch a man.
Right now, the only demand he's making on Alicia is that she get him ready to pitch in time for opening day. Except the sexual chemistry between them is so charged, Alicia is tempted to oblige Garrett just about anything. But both their careers are at stake-one bad move and it's game over for both of them.
Garrett also feels the hot sparks between them, and the way he figures it, what better therapy is there than sex? Now all he has to do is convince the woman with the power to make the call.
Right now, the only demand he's making on Alicia is that she get him ready to pitch in time for opening day. Except the sexual chemistry between them is so charged, Alicia is tempted to oblige Garrett just about anything. But both their careers are at stake-one bad move and it's game over for both of them.
Garrett also feels the hot sparks between them, and the way he figures it, what better therapy is there than sex? Now all he has to do is convince the woman with the power to make the call.
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Reviews for Thrown by a Curve
Rating: 4.011627953488372 out of 5 stars
4/5
86 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thrown by a Curve
4 Stars
Finally a solid installment in a series that has been mostly uninspired.
Alicia and Garrett are an endearing couple and their romance is sweet and sexy with no unnecessary angst. In a series with so many obnoxious heroes, Garrett is a breath of fresh air. He starts off somewhat self-absorbed but turns into a thoughtful and caring man unafraid to apologize when he is in the wrong. Alicia is honest and forthright with no qualms about calling Garrett on his BS.
There are some entertaining cameo appearances by the rest of the Riley family and an intriguing reunion with Garrett's college roommates who will apparently be the heroes of the next few books.
All in all, my persistence with the series has paid off and I can only hope that this positive trend will continue. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another hot read in the Play by Play series. Not quite as good as my favorite Mick but that is hard to do. If you like sports mixed with your romances you can't go wrong with this series!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this. Loved it. Swoon. Yum. Love. Sigh.
First, I should disclose that I work in an industry, that especially where I live, is mostly male. Mostly egotistical males that don't think women have a place in their work world (no, really--they still exist, in droves). So this book with Alicia being one of only 2 women physical therapists on the Rivers team roster resonates. She's got something to prove to herself, to the man she's treating, to her boss and to the head coach. She knows she's good but wants the validation of having that acknowledged.
Garrett is by all accounts a really decent guy with a shoulder injury that has made him worried about his sports future. So, understandably, he's acting a bit like a whiney asshole--and men being men aren't helping that. Alicia can't help herself one day as she watches them mollycoddle Garret and says what she thinks about the pansy approach, his efforts, and the other physical therapists tip toeing--and she gets herself the job of sole therapist on Garret's case. And she rides his ass until he's ready to play ball again. Along the way, of course, he ends up riding her :) Which we love. But he's sweet and kind and you just get the feel that they are a great match. He, naturally, has some intimacy issues from a parental divorce that they need to get past. And she gets past her "proving" needs.
THe only spot that was almost awkward, but mostly worked, was when they go to OK for a guys weekend with the guys Garret roomed with in college. This is clearly Burton's next group of athletes for the next 2 or 3 books. I get that she needed to do it. And I liked the guys' banter and interaction with Alicia, but I hope for the sake of the next few books that Burton returns to that group dynamic or the "intro to new characters" ploy will leave a yucky taste in my mouth.
Otherwise the book was spotless and delicious and a even a bit naughtily hotter than the other books with some voyeurism added to the mix. Enjoy. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible book! I was so looking forward to reading about Alice and I was so not disappointed! And how hot were hers and Garrett's scenes together!? They had some crazy chemistry and it was just awesome to see how they grew into their relationship and how that affected their working relationship. I can't believe that the series is ending with 'One Sweet Ride', but I hope that's not true.
Oh, and again we have those amazing characters from the previous books all thrown together and with their lives all sorted out, or in better shape than when we read them. :) - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/52.5 stars...ish?
I wanted this to be SO much better. The earlier books in the series were great!
In the end, I just didn't connect with the characters...at all. It was just, meh. Also, I know that there was a desire to bring back some of the characters from earlier books, but I found my mind spinning from all the names. I spent a lot of time trying to remember who the characters were and which book they were from. It seemed almost like the book was written just to keep the series alive, rather than to stand on it's own merits.
I really, really hope the next one is better because I love the way Jaci Burton writes, normally! - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.Quick & Dirty: You should probably like baseball to read this book. Garret Scott hurt his shoulder during a game and it is up to Alicia to make sure the star pitcher gets better for the start of the season and what therapy is better than the sexual kind?Opening Sentence: Garret Scott sat in the St. Louis Rivers Therapy room facing an entire team of sports medicine specialists, all wearing looks of doom on their faces.The Review:This is about a baseball player, Garret Scott who injured his shoulder while pitching during a game. For months therapists have been working to fix his arm, but he is stuck inside his own head believing he will never recover. That is until he notices Alicia Riley and asks her what she thinks of his therapy and chances to pitch again. Alicia is not one to beat around the bush and tells him straight that it is his fault he hasn’t recovered yet. Garret likes her telling him what she thinks so much that he makes her the head of his therapy team. Sparks start to fly the first time they work together. Garret is all for taking their relationship past the professional but Alicia wants no part of it because if she messes up it will be both of their careers that are ruined.I did not enjoy this story very much. A big part of my disappointment comes from the fact that I am not a sports fan and so I don’t typically read books based on sports. However, I could not relate to the characters either. Alicia is a sports therapist who has always loved helping athletes get back in the game after an injury. I do like that when everyone else would let Garret do what he wanted and acted like it was ok, Alicia stood up to him and told him to pull his head out of his butt. She put him in his place which made him realize he needed to do more to help his own recovery. The thing I did not like about Alicia is that her work came before everything else. I understand that if you love your job you don’t want to jeopardize it, but she never explains to Garret why they should not be in a relationship. She just assumed he knew why they shouldn’t.Alicia’s character was a lot more likable than Garret’s though. I just could not like him. First, all he does is whine and is all doom and gloom. From the first paragraph in the book he believes he is finished and will never pitch again, but we quickly learn that he has not even really been trying to help his recovery. If that wasn’t bad enough as soon as he does start to show signs of improvement he thinks he should miraculously be a star pitcher again. This would not be so bad if he didn’t take his frustrations out on Alicia and turn from her to work with someone else as soon as things do not go his way. Garret was so used to always having things go his way that when he injured his shoulder and that was no longer the case he became a big baby.If you enjoy sports then maybe you will enjoy this book. I personally thought that there just wasn’t much to make this story enjoyable. On top of the poor characters, I thought that the book focused more on what the two of them did behind doors rather than the actual romance between the two. I’m sorry if I seem really harsh about this book. I do believe that the author, Jaci Burton, is a great writer. Even in this book you can see her talent. If she wasn’t so good, I wouldn’t want to reach into this story and knock some sense into Garret’s head and I definitely would not have finished reading the book.Notable Scene:“Don’t look at him,” Garret said. “Tell me what I’m doing wrong.”She sat next to him on the bench and laid her notebook down, her gaze lifting to his.“Fine. You’re argumentative, confrontational, and a general pain in the ass to deal with. Honestly, no one wants to work with you because you fight recovery.”FTC Advisory: Berkley/Penguin provided me with a copy of Thrown by a Curve. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Another banging installment to this light and fun and smuttty series.
Alicia Riley, Cole's sister and Gavin and Mick's cousin, is on the Raven's therapy team. She's assigned to Gavin Scott's shoulder therapy in the hope of getting him pitching again after an injury.
You can guess how that goes. Well, it goes great, actually - therapy wise. And it also goes great in the smut department.
Although these types of stories usually follow a certain formula, they each bring something a little different to the plot and make it special.
Jaci Burton has a way with writing cheeky contemporary romance. Her characters are fun, funny, annoying in a pretty good way most of the time, hot (obviously, we don't want a slob as a hero/heroine) and all around drool inducing.
Looking forward to some car racing hotness in June. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprisingly, I sort of like it again. This series have pretty uneven pacing and characterization but it managed to be intriguing as well. Although I like Burton even more when she include supernatural in her romance but this time, I was quite impressed by her way of making sports interesting enough to say the least. Add some romance and hot stuff, you definitely got this book right.
Thrown by a Curve started of by a brooding injured player who gone disgruntled over his shoulder injury that he think about quitting until one of the sports therapist challenged her other seniors and him with a promise that he will pitch by the coming next season. There's some baseball terms which I never familiarized with so it does made me curious to the end of the book. I'm neither a sports fan so I guess this is enough as a decent sports wiki for me. Of course, its a romance novel...
This time, I like the characterization of Garrett more than the earlier novels in the series (which I only remember their name as they read like the same character all over again). Alicia Riley is a no-nonsense girl which Garrett always admire about her and their hotheadedness complemented with each other and these made them behave rather naturally with their work and the eventual personal relationship. In between them, we're introduced to more future characters in the series which one of them will lead in the next novel.
I find both character have these sort of dry humor and humanity within them that made it feel they're more less like a fictitious characters. They both made mistakes and both of them don't have it easy between them and the heat is subtle enough that made reading the sex part of the book quite unnecessary and at time, intrusive and funny at the weirdest place. In the end, its a cute story even when it have some serious heat in between the story arches. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THROWN BY A CURVE is another sensual sports romance by Jaci Burton. Major League pitcher Garrett Scott has hurt his shoulder and is afraid he won't ever pitch again. This has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy since it is causing him to blow off his rehab. When Alicia Riley, new sports therapist for the team, tells him to get his head out of his rear, he decides that he wants her in charge of his rehab. Of course, they are immediately attracted to each other and star in each other's sex fantasies. Alicia wants to keep things professional because she doesn't want to lose her job or her professional reputation. After Garrett gets over the grouchy and argumentative stage and after they begin living in the same house in Florida, Alicia overcomes her objections. As is the case of most romances, neither wants to tell the other when they realize that they have fallen in love which leads to all sorts of difficulties. I liked that both characters were strong characters and their relationship was balanced. Alicia certainly wasn't going to put up with any of Garrett's antics. I also liked getting a chance to catch up with the other Rileys from earlier books. The strong family dynamic filled with support and love is one of the things that make these romances so memorable. The dynamic also provides a contrast between the two characters with Alicia having strong family support and Garrett having a much more dysfunctional family. The strong friendships between Alicia and her gal pals and Garrett and his college buddies are also positives for this romance. Fans of spicy romances will enjoy this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this one. I appreciated the straight up communication and honesty between the H/h and really liked the way the heroine didn't take any crap from the hero. The sex scenes were a bit boring for me, probably cuz it just seemed like same old same old stuff, but I really enjoyed the story as a whole. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one in this series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alicia Riley is a sport medical specialist and Garrett Scott is an injured pitcher. Alicia has grown up in a family of sports heros and they are pretty much a pain in the ass to her. When she heard Garrett wimping about never pitching again and how nothing was working, she told him like she saw it. To pull his head out and suck it up. Now was she going to love the job she loved so much and trained so long for?
She is assigned to be his personal therapist. With a bit of give and take on both sides the perfect solution surfaces in the end.
Burton has done it again. Nothing like the previous books in the series yet all of the characters come out to play. Burton successfully crawls into her character's heads and they stay true to her concept of them through out the book. No one is perfect, but everyone is basically a good soul. The quietness of Garrett impressed me the most. He is not an alpha but he is hot, intelligent and willing to admit when he is wrong.
Alicia is clear thinking, determined and stays the course. Her strength is just what the very talented Garrett needs at this point in his life.
The next book in this series is a racing car driver...My favourite sport. Hear the engines, smell the fuel...can not wait. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is another awesome book in an awesome series. Cannot wait for the next one.