Story Rating: 4 stars
Audio Rating: 4 stars

Narrators: Iggy Toma and Kale Williams
Length: 5 hours, 38 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Amazon/Audible | iBooks
Book Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks


Brady Donovan agrees that he has a good life. He has a college baseball scholarship, good friends, and a supportive family. He has never dated much and never found that spark with anyone, until he meets the new bat boy, Kellan Crawford, and everything clicks into place. Brady knows he’s crushing on Kellan, but Kellan is the coach’s son and completely off limits.

Kellan is working on a statistics degree and working with his father on the team’s numbers is his dream job. He does also have to carry equipment and clean up after the players, but it keeps him close to the sports analyst job he wants after college. His father’s number one rule is that Kellan can never play favorites with the players, and Kellan works hard to honor that, but Brady Donovan might be his favorite of all time.

When there is a shift in their relationship, feelings are opened that can’t be closed again. Kellan can’t believe that Brady wants to be with him, but he is also concerned that Brady is still figuring himself out. But Kellan is all that Brady can see and Brady knows he wants Kellan. However, being together while being part of the baseball team may not be possible.

If you are looking for a low angst, new adult story, Bat Boy can fill that space in your reading schedule. Brady never dated much, wasn’t into girls, and didn’t think much about sex until he saw Kellan. He takes steps to make sense of his feelings and his attraction to Kellan, but Kellan isn’t allowed to “fraternize” with the players so as not to have favorites. Kellan’s father is the coach and this was his number one rule and it didn’t make the most sense. Kellan spends all of his time with the team and his father is basically forbidding him to bond or be friends with the players and it only served to ostracize him.

The guys are sweet together (think teddy bears as gifts) as they explore heated attraction to each other and try and figure out how to be together. They both have support from their families and friends, which even extends to Brady’s teammates. The guys did read young to me and I had to keep reminding myself they were in college and not high school. The live on their own while in college, but Brady’s family lives close by and with Kellan seeing his father almost daily, there is a lot of parental interaction. Also, some of their dialogue and phrases weren’t common to their generation and Brady and the team are college level athletes and I will never understand when athletes are written to exist on eating mostly junk food, as was the case here.

There is a great sense of young love and first love, and if you are looking for that fix, this is a good choice. The series does continue with two other team players with a more enemies-to-lovers vibe and I would certainly check that one out as well.

Iggy Toma and Kale Williams narrated the audio and it was a great way to enjoy this story. I have listened to other performances by both narrators and Iggy Toma is instantly recognizable. He does often sound the same to me as the main character he is voicing mostly sounds like his regular speaking voice and the side characters can start to sound like a mimicking voices sometimes. Kale Williams’ voice is soothing and was a good choice for the chapters from Kellan’s POV. While both narrators did sound more mature than the characters, their performances overall captured my attention in a polished performance, as the story went by quickly, and it’s certainly a worthwhile option to check out.