Caught Up | By Liz Tomforde
Book Review | Contemporary Romance
My thoughts
Narrative and Plot
Caught Up is your typical lighthearted sports romance. We follow Miller, a chef taking a break from her career to spend some time with her dad. The next thing she knows, she has become a nanny to the son of her dad’s baseball team’s pitcher, Kal, a single dad.
The story is told from both Kai and Miller’s perspectives. I always enjoy romance novels that the dual POVs. It adds so much to the story and helps us understand where both characters are coming from.
Characters and Conflicts
Miller has her own expectations about how her life should look, and Kai and his son disrupt that picture. The same goes for Kai, and this makes for some interesting character development. However, at times, they acted like hormonal teenagers rather than sensible adults, and the potential consequences of their actions were brushed aside rather quickly.
There was plenty of yearning and tension in the story, but both protagonists were instantly attracted to each other from the very first scene. It took away some of the curiosity for me as a reader. Even though we know what’s inevitable in a romance, a little more relationship development can go a long way.
The path the story takes is also quite cliched, and just about any “nanny and baby daddy romance” could follow a similar plot. In this case, the only real difference is the sports team in the mix. The third act conflict is established right at the beginning, and other than that, there isn’t much that genuinely separates the two characters.
Perhaps it’s just me, but in an attempt to make romance novels more “toxic-free”, it seems like we are getting more and more flawless characters who can do no wrong. You don’t have to be toxic to be flawed. And the lack of genuinely flawed characters in romances can sometimes make the stories feel a bit wishy-washy.
That said, the return of characters from previous and future books makes for a solid ensemble cast.
Conclusion
Caught Up is a fun one-time read if you enjoy the premise described in the blurb. I will be continuing with the series, and this is the kind of book you don’t have to take too seriously.
It’s a sports romance that does exactly what it sets out to do.
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