The Art of Catching Feelings

By: Alicia Thompson

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

A professional baseball player and his heckler prove that true love is worth going to bat for in the next swoony romance by USA Today bestselling author Alicia Thompson.

Daphne Brink doesn’t follow baseball, but watching “America’s Snoozefest” certainly beats sitting at home in the days after she signs her divorce papers. After one too many ballpark beers, she heckles Carolina Battery player Chris Kepler, who quickly proves there might actually be a little crying in baseball. Horrified, Daphne reaches out to Chris on social media to apologize . . . but forgets to identify herself as his heckler in her message.

Chris doesn’t usually respond to random fans on social media, but he’s grieving and fragile after an emotionally turbulent few months. When a DM from “Duckie” catches his eye, he impulsively messages back. Duckie is sweet, funny, and seems to understand him in a way no one else does.

Daphne isn’t sure how much longer she can keep lying to Chris, especially as she starts working with the team in real life and their feelings for each other deepen. When he finds out the truth, will it be three strikes, she’s out?

Super cute story with great performance!

📖: The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

Tropes/highlights:
* Sports romance ⚾️
* Anonymous online relationship 📱
* Workplace romance
* Secret identity
* Open door spice 🔥

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice rating: 🌶️🌶️
🎧Audible Narrator: Kristen Sieh - really liked this performance!
⚠️Trigger Warning: Mention of suicide (side character, off page)

* Summary:
After signing her divorce papers, Daphne decides to drink her problems away at a baseball game. In her drunken haze, she heckles a home-team player, Chris, leading to him surprisingly crying at bat. After the game, she feels so terrible that she reaches out to him via Instagram to apologize, and only after they exchange multiple messages does she realize she never identified herself as his heckler. Too late to out herself now, she decides to keep her secret and continue their online relationship. Things only get more complicated when Daphne starts working for the baseball team, and Chris has no idea the woman he’s been texting is also his heckler, and the new sideline reporter on the field.

* My thoughts:
This book was so sweet!! This gave me major “You’ve Got Mail” vibes (for my fellow Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks fans.) It is a lighthearted swoony sports romance that also touches on more serious topics like mental health and suicide of a loved one. The author does such a good job getting you emotionally invested in the story very early on. Even though Daphne was lying and keeping her identity a secret, her inner turmoil was very relatable and helped ease some of my frustrations at her deception. Her emotional connection to Chris felt very genuine, and their physical chemistry was definitely *chef’s kiss*🔥 The only reason this wasn’t a five star read for me was how long Daphne kept the lie going. At a certain point I was yelling “JUST TELL HIM ALREADY!!” in my own head lol. You KNOW it’s going to blow up in Daphne’s face and it’s hard to wait for that ball to drop. Overall it was a very sweet and funny read and I definitely enjoyed it!

Chris and Daphne

A witty, charming and sweet romance that had me smiling the entire time. Chris and Daphne are just too cute for words. I adored them and I enjoyed going on this adorable adventure with them. Fun story!

Great audio!

I loved this story and I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook! Kristen Sieh hits a home run with this narration and I highly recommend listening to it.

Read this is you like:
Sports romance
Epistolary (texting) romance
Hot men that wear chains
Hotel hookups
Friends with benefits
Mental health rep

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

Memorable

This was so cute! Chris is the sweetest, most pure-hearted MMC I’ve ever read. Narration was excellent.

Funny!

I love this narrator! This is a very clever meet cute and spicy! Plot maybe dragged a bit in the middle but a very sweet rom com ending. Enjoy!