[ARC REVIEW] “The Callahan Family Box Set” By: Carrie Aarons

A family engulfed in scandal, one small town, and the baseball dynasty that ties them all together. Grab these five small town, sports romances and a brand new Opening Day extended epilogue in this box set from bestselling author Carrie Aarons.

The Callahan Family Box Set includes five standalones:
Warning Track
Stealing Home
Check Swing
Control Artist
Tagging Up

PLUS: A brand new, never-before-released Opening Day extended epilogue featuring a chapter from one half of each couple! 15k of new content from your favorite family dynasty!

More about the books inside:

WARNING TRACK

Colleen Callahan is exactly where she’s always dreamt of being.

Hayes Swindell would prefer hell over the place he ended up.

Fate has other plans, though. If their forbidden chemistry is found out, it could mean the end of both of their careers. Except hurtling so close to the danger zone has never felt more right.

Should they head for disaster together, risking it all, or course-correct and save themselves the ultimate price of heartbreak and scandal?

STEALING HOME

Walker Callahan has loved from afar for as long as he can remember.

Hannah Giraldi never wants to fall in love again.

Can Walker risk his own future and show her how to trust again? Or will the feelings he’s kept hidden for years throw him out of the game before he can even attempt to play?

Is there a way to heal all of the broken parts, or will Hannah go down swinging while attempting one more shot at a happily ever after?

CHECK SWING

Sinclair Callahan is a trust fund baby.

Francesca Kade is an independent goal-getter.

Can he shoulder the responsibility he’s always shrugged off? Or will he balk at the real-life complications and strike out completely?

Will she ever be able to trust that he’ll put both her and his responsibilities before his vices? Or will their differences cost them the game?

CONTROL ARTIST

Dahlia Akana has no idea where she’s going in life.

Garrett Chester has always known exactly what he wants.

When secrets, lies, and a humiliating public scandal rock their world, will she be able to stay with him? Fight for him? Or will her age-old tactic of fleeing erase any shot at a happily ever after?

Can he put the rumors to rest, piece together a career in shambles, and be the hero she needs?

TAGGING UP

All Anna Callahan wants is her independence.

Clark Nyle swore a long time ago he’d never be committed to anyone.

But, when their secret is finally discovered, it sends the already skittish bad boy running for the hills. And although she claimed to want freedom with no strings, Anna can’t help but feel the sharp pull to be with him forever.

When they’re found out, he’s forced to choose between his demons and the disapproval of his closest friends … or her.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

The Callahan Family Box Set is here! Along with not one, not two, but FOUR brand new epilogues set in the future! I loved reading the epilogues, it was so nice to see where all of the characters end up after the conclusions of their individual stories. The epilogues took me just over an hour total to read, so it’s a a lot of content! Thanks so much to Carrie for providing me with an early copy of the epilogues to read — the box set is available now!

Looking to start the series? Check out my reviews of each of the four books in the box set below!

Warning Track –

Whenever I get the chance to be on the review team for Carrie, I do it, no questions asked. I’ve loved her books in the past, and this one is no different! In the kickoff (wrong sport, I know) of her newest series that follows the Callahan family, we meet general manager Colleen and stellar baseball player Hayes — plus an assortment of side characters that I know we’ll be seeing in the rest of the books (Walker, I’m looking at you).

I guess the book could sorta be classified as an enemies-to-lovers, but there isn’t really the witty banter — Hayes is just angry that he’s on the team, and Colleen is trying to act professional. Still, I thought their relationship developed nicely.

The book deals with some hard topics — from foster care, to growing up in a loveless house, to domestic abuse, which I’m assuming is being explored more throughly in the next book. That’s all I’ll say — no spoilers!

Even with the uneven power dynamic of general manager and player, it didn’t really feel uneven. If the genders were to have been flipped, we definitely would’ve seen it, but it was nice to see the woman in the main power position for once!

Overall, this was another fun new adult (ish — I think Colleen is 29 and Hayes is 32? Don’t quote me.) book from Carrie, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series! Huge thanks to Carrie for giving me a copy to review — the book is out now and is free on Kindle Unlimited!

Stealing Home –

Please be advised, this review mentions spoilers from the first book, Warning Track, so read at your own risk! Stealing Home is a great next installment to Carrie’s Callahan Family series. We first met Walker and Hannah in Warning Track, with this book dealing with the aftereffects of Walker, Hayes, and Colleen finding Hannah’s husband, Shane, beating her up in the stadium’s parking lot. The book is dual POV, showing both Walker and Hannah’s perspectives.

While I can’t speak from personal experience, I thought that Carrie handled the domestic violence aspect of the book well — nothing felt exaggerated for the sake of adding drama, and we see Hannah struggle with overcoming the manipulation she’s been dealing with for about five years or so.

The “breakup” part of the book felt a little weird, since it didn’t really feel like something that Walker would do, but it made more sense as it was explained. Still, I thought that Walker’s interactions with Hannah’s kids was really cute, and I was excited that we got to see and learn more about Hayes and Colleen’s relationship, too.

Check Swing –

Please note: This will contain spoilers for previous books in the series, so read at your own risk!

First of all, I loved getting to see Colleen, Hayes, Hannah, and Walker from the first two books. It was cute seeing how their families have progressed since their stories last concluded. (Y’all know that’s something that I love in books, when former characters show up!)

We’ve seen Sinclair pop up in the previous books, but we got to see him do a lot of growing up in this one. After his accident in “Stealing Home,” this book picks up about a year or so later. Sinclair is able to connect with Frankie in a way that he hasn’t with anyone else before, likely because she doesn’t realize who his family is. At least in the beginning, Frankie actually is higher up in the organization (job wise), so technically she kind of has the upper hand there…a little.

It was interesting to see the dynamic of Frankie being a female strength coach, and how that impacted her interactions with those around her — both her boss’s, and the players that she was coaching. She’s very independent, and I liked that she didn’t suddenly become dependent once her and Sinclair got together.

Overall, I think this was a great addition to the Callahan family series! The fourth book in the series releases this summer (which is previewed in this one!) but I’d be interested in a series following all of their kids as adults sometime in the future as well! Thanks to Carrie for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review!

Control Artist –

When I first saw that this book was going to be about Dahlia and Garrett, I was surprised! I always thought, based on the other books, that she would be with Clark (he’s with Anna in the next book in the series, “Tagging Up”).

I think that their dynamic was really interesting, especially with the internal and external looming threats. Garrett is dealing with someone leaking his past to the press, and Dahlia is struggling with her wanderlust. Neither were born in or grew up in Packton, but Dahlia is used to traveling all over the world, so putting down roots isn’t something she’s looking to do. These underlying factors, along with the fact that neither of them are looking for a relationship, leads to a lot of tension and room for problems.

It was nice to see the two of them challenge each other, and I was surprised at how their story ended up. It was bittersweet in some ways (don’t worry, it’s still HEA), but an interesting change to the series that I wasn’t expecting. Since this was the fourth book in the series, it was nice to get to see the characters from the previous books, especially Hannah and Walker.

Overall, I think this was a fun addition to the series, and a great read for those who enjoy sports romances, especially those involving baseball! As with all new adult books, I recommend them for 18+ due to some of the sexual content, but as always, you do you.

Tagging Up –

I can’t believe this is the final book in the Callahan Family series! After meeting Anna and Clark all the way back in the first book of the series, it was great getting to see the two of them finally in the spotlight.

Unlike the rest of her family, Anna’s chosen not to work in the family baseball business, and instead forges her own path. It was interesting to see that dynamic for the first time, especially considering the previous books explored the difficulties that the characters had navigating their familial relationships within the family business, whereas Anna had the pressure of not being in the family business. Well, that, on top of her parents being scared to let her move out on her own, along with the age gap between Clark and Anna.

Clark is dealing with his own family issues too. After his dad dies prior to the start of the book, he struggles with his conflicting feelings on their relationship, along with the added stress of not wanting to have his relationship with Anna end up like the relationship his parents had.

Anna and Clark really have the odds stacked against them, considering Anna’s related to Walker, who is Clark’s best friend. There’s also the whole ‘Callahan dating another member of the Pistons organization’ problem too, which has been present in a lot of the books, but that’s not quite as prevalent here.

Overall, this was a nice ending to the series. It was great getting to see all of the characters from the previous books, and I’m so glad that we got Clark and Anna as main characters! As with all new adult books, I recommend it for 18+ due to some of the sexual content, but you do you.

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