Official Synopsis:

There’s no playing it safe in love or baseball in this sparkling debut, perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Kasie West.

Marnie has never had a hard time fitting in with the guys. It would take a lot more than their goofy antics to keep her from joining them at the neighborhood sandlot to do what she loves best: play ball.

An added perk of hanging out at the sandlot? Spending time with Cody Kinski, their high school’s star pitcher and Marnie’s best friend. Sure, he can be stubborn and annoying. He also knows how to make her laugh and respects her skills on the field. And when he gets nailed in the arm by a bone-fracturing pitch, Marnie becomes the team’s best chance at making it to the playoffs. Except no one told the guys they’re supposed to be on her side.

With her own team against her, Marnie begins questioning her abilities. And when fate throws her a curveball, can she play without losing the game, Cody, and her belief in herself?

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review:

Sports, sarcasm, and sweetness all combine in Kris Hui Lee’s debut novel, ‘Out of Left Field’.

I have a confession to make. This book came out on May 1st, 2018. I PREORDERED this book because I knew that I was going to love it. I planned on reading it right away, but that’s when life got crazy with school and I got a ton of June ARCs out of the blue. SO. I finally got a bit of a breather, (hooray for online classes! Even though they still aren’t over…) and made sure to block out time to read this book. It took just over three hours (yes, I timed it out, because I’m that much of a nerd). Anyway, continue reading to actually read my thoughts on the book.

First, let’s talk about the main character, Marnie. I absolutely adore Marnie. (Actually, I adore every character in this book, but let’s start with our girl first.) She’s so sassy, I absolutely love it. Her sarcasm and comebacks are unreal, and she’s definitely someone that I would have wanted to be friends with in high school. I love how she has no problem showing up the boys and putting them in their place. Go girl power!

Her relationship with her friends, Cody, Sara, and Joey, was great. They were all realistic and relatable characters, and their friendship dynamic fluctuated well. Also, Marnie’s relationship with her older brother, Nick, was very well written, as well as how her relationship develops with Santino, Cody’s rival. (You’ll have to read the book to know what I’m talking about. No spoilers from me!)

Now we get to talk about Cody. Dare I say, ya girl might have a new book boyfriend over here. He’s so adorable and sweet and I just love everything about him. He’s an amazing best friend to Marnie, and although they have their ups and downs, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen between them in the end. But Kris was definitely not making it easy on me there for a while. Needless to say, I totally shipped Cody and Marnie together, and once you start this book, you’ll feel the same way too.

The writing style makes it very easy to read, and it’s easy to imagine the book as a movie in your head. (*hint hint Hollywood*) The whole book flowed nicely, and I really enjoyed reading it. Overall, it’s an amazing debut, and I can’t wait to read more of her books!! Do yourself a favor and go read this lovely book.

Although I’m not sure that it every specifies where in the suburbs the book takes place in, I gathered that it’s a Chicago suburb, since they talk about the Cubs and the Sox as the main baseball teams. (If Kris were ever to write a bonus scene where the characters all went to a baseball game like that together…I wouldn’t object…) I actually live in a suburb of Chicago, and even though my family definitely is a Sox family, it was awesome getting to read about Chicago sports teams. (Especially because, although I know nothing about sports, baseball is the only one that I actually like going to games to go watch.)

One last thing! At first glance, it seems like ‘Out of Left Field’ is very similar to Karole Cozzo’s ‘The Game Can’t Love You Back’, which I read and reviewed a few months back. In some ways, the books are similar. Yes, both books have girls who play on the boy’s baseball teams, and both have love interests that are also on said baseball team. But really, the stories are vastly different. While I highly recommend reading both books, because I loved them both, they’re definitely not the same story by any stretch of the imagination! Thanks for listening to my TED talk.

Make sure to buy the book! That’s what the buy links here are for, after all.

Connect with the author!

You can follow Kris on Twitter at @krishuilee!

BUY “OUT OF LEFT FIELD” HERE:

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