Through the first half of the book, I thought I was going to give it 3.75 or four stars. I didn't love that they were just on vacation and not actually playing baseball but I thought Cory was a very sweet love interest and I liked how kind he seemed to be and how respectful he was towards Natalie. I was excited for them to leave the vacation and go back to baseball, but unfortunately that is where it went downhill for me. Most of this review will be spoiler-y because most of my problems with this have to deal with major plot points. As far as non-spoiler stuff goes. I liked the conflict through the first half of this book but the conflict towards the end was very annoying and unrealistic beyond the point where I can suspend my disbelief.

Spoiler section!

One of the first things that really annoyed me was just how unrealistic the sports element of this book was. I watch basically every major sport and am a sports fan in real life and I especially like hockey and baseball. I go into sports romance fully expecting that some details may not be realistic in the context of real life sports and I am completely fine with that. However, I start to get annoyed when the those difference become distracting and they did in this book. The idea that fans of a team would boo the star player all season just because he grew up a fan of the rival team, is dating a fan of the rival team, and didn't get into enough fights is actually insane. If you grow up playing a sport and go pro, there is a very, very small chance that you will end up playing for the team you supported growing up. Players are sometimes drafted to or traded to teams they hated growing up. Take this Boston Bruin player as an example:



He was drafted to the Bruins, a team with rowdy fans, and they didn't hate him and now he likes his team. I fully accept that this may be seen as a weird criticism by some who don't really care if the sport part is unrealistic but in this book, when Cory was booed even after hitting a 3 run home run, I found it distracting and eye roll worthy.

I also hated the fact that apparently after a photo came out of Natalie and Cory kissing while she wore the rival teams shirt sponsors were threatening to pull out. It is crazy unrealistic that a sponsor would pull out because of something a players girlfriend was wearing. And the fact that she was attacked by fans at spring training is also ridiculous.

Back to the plot, I really didn't love the separation part at the end of the book. It's just a plot point I don't love in my romances because it always seems so avoidable to me. Like if either Natalie or Cory, who were supposedly still in love with each other, had just picked up the phone or talked to one of their siblings this all could have been avoided.

I haven't read any of the other books in this series and I doubt I will after this. I liked the romcom nature of these and the characters were cute at the beginning but from what I've seen in other reviews the other books have similar endings and I don't really want to read more of that. There are parts of this book I really liked and found very cute. I think a lot of people would really like this, it just wasn't a favorite for me. ( )

personally dnf; was just too slow and I couldn’t get invested in corey and natalies romance! ( )

The Trade is my first Meghan Quinn book. This was part slow burn and part sports romance. Cory and Natalie meet at her foundation's fundraiser. He is enamored with her, but finds out that she is married. In actuality Natalie is in the process of a divorce. Later they are thrown together when they join friends and siblings on a vacation getaway before the baseball pre-season starts. The romance takes off from there. Their relationship is not all smooth sailing and it was easy to get frustrated especially with Cory at times. All in all it was a nice romance that I would recommend to those who love baseball/sports romances. If you like an age gap, there is one of about 10 years although it is not really apparent in how they interact. There is some steam that builds over time. ( )