Review: The Boyfriend League by Rachel Hawthorne

I had my doubts before I read this book. Heck, I almost regretted buying it the moment I stepped out of Booksale.

Title: The Boyfriend League
Author: Rachel Hawthorne
Pages: 336

Summary:

The Ragland Rattlers

$1 Night

$1 baseball cap with home team logo
$1 program
$1 hot dogs
$1 drinks
$1 popcorn

But how much to get the hot pitcher to notice you exist?

For one, I don’t play baseball, I don’t even watch it, and if you ask me to name a few baseball players, I’d only come up with two, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth, the former I know because he was once married to that iconic bombshell Marilyn Monroe.

But then, I realized, this is still a young adult fiction, focused mainly on a girl’s quest to find a boyfriend for the summer, and finding herself falling in love with a boy she swore she’d never fall for.

The setup is like a staple in every Rachel Hawthorne book, which typically features a quite complicated living arrangement, e.g. A Year In Europe, Island Girls (& Boys). Imagine living with your parents and sister all your life, then one summer, host a collegiate league baseball player (not to mention hot) at home. For sure, major adjustments have to be made.

Dani convinced her parents to be part of the host family program, but part of their agreement was, she nor her sister Tiffany were allowed to like the boy living with them. Sounds simple at first, since Dani planned on just befriending the boy, and rely on him to introduce her to his teammates, paving the way for her to find a boyfriend.

After literally running into Jason, the boy who will be living with them for the next couple of months, Dani found herself having a hard time keeping the promise she made. What makes the situation even more difficult was Jason’s apparent crush on her, too.

From the get-go, we know that Dani and Jason will eventually end up with each other. The chemistry between them was undeniable. Their love for the same sport was just an icing on the cake.

There’s no definite conflict in the story. Mac, the “third party”, didn’t even stay long in the picture to fight for Dani. The “no falling in love with the guest” rule was easily resolved when Jason moved out. Jason going away soon for college was not even a threat at all, since, as Dani said, they could always visit each other.

There was no surprise element. There were a few cute moments, but none that would really stand out. Aside from the obvious happily-ever-after, the only other thing I liked in the story was, it didn’t bore or confuse me with too much baseball jargon.

I liked The Boyfriend League, but I don’t think it belongs on my re-read list. Rachel Hawthorne has better works that I’d consider. For this, I give it 2 and a half rating.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ : OKAY - I read it for the sake of reading it.

P.S. If you're interested, Kai has also posted a review of the book on her Goodreads account. You can read it here. She gave it three stars!