The Devil in Denim by Melanie Scott

 Life Just Threw Her A Curveball.

As the team-owner’s daughter, Maggie Jameson grew up in the New York Saints’ stadium—glove, cap, hot dogs, and all. Baseball’s in her blood, and she’s always dreamed of the day when she would lead the Saints to victory herself. That was before her dad had to sell the team to Alex Winters. The fast-talking, fiercely attractive businessman has a baseball pedigree that’s distinctly minor league. Maggie wants to hate him but his skills of seduction, however, are off the charts.

Will Love Be A Home Run?

Alex could never have imagined how much this team means to Maggie. He needs her to help show the players that they’re still a family…even if he and Maggie are at the verge of exchanging blows. But her fiery determination and gorgeous looks prove irresistible to Alex. And much as he wants to relegate their relationship to the playing field—and get the Saints back in the game—Alex just can’t help himself: What he wants to win most is Maggie’s heart…

Over the past few years, I have surprisingly become a fan of the sports romance.  I’ve read quite a few and have learned to really appreciate them.  This book, for me, was a middle of the pack sports romance. It’s a sports romance, but not in a traditional sense I thought.

Maggie Jameson always thought she would grow up and follow her father’s footsteps as CEO of the Saints Baseball team.  Her father had other plans, it seems.  Just as Maggie is finishing her studies and poising herself to throw her hat in the ring, she finds out her dad has made a deal to sell the team.  When one of the new owners, Alex Winters, approaches her and offers her a positon with the team to help with the transition of the sale, Maggie thinks this could be her in.  As Maggie and Alex begin to get closer, Maggie finds that her loyalties are tested.  Does she care more about her lifelong dream or the man who possibly be the “one”?

First, I will start with my one big criticism of this book which is that for a sports romance, there was a shocking lack of sports!  I mean, we only got to really meet one player from the team, and the timeline apparently takes place in the offseason so there’s no real sports drama in the traditional sense.  It’s more a behind the scenes, office/politics drama, which is different than what you seem to get in your normal sports romance.  I’m not sure that it was a bad thing necessarily, as I enjoyed the storyline, but I guess it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

As far as characters go, I thought the best character by far was Alex.  He was really sexy, but also a kind, smart and generous man.  He’s basically everything you could want in a romantic hero and was the most relatable.  Maggie, on the other hand, seemed kind of immature.  She has such a single focus through most of the book, it made her come off as a bit whiny and annoying.  I get that her life’s dream didn’t work out as she had planned, but you have to learn to roll with the punches.  And Alex seems like a pretty good consolation prize to me!

Overall, I did enjoy this book.  It may not have been what I was expecting, but it still was a solid story that kept me interested and entertained.  I give it 4 stars!

The Devil in Denim is a sports romance with a twist. Typically the sports romances I read involve an athlete or a recently retired athlete as the main character, but in this book the sports angle has to do with the acquisition of the baseball team and centers around the team's management. While it's true that Alex and his partners were athletes in college, Maggie has the actual sports pedigree as she grew up as part of the team and expected to take over when her father retired. So it was quite a shock when he sold the team without telling her.

Alex loves the Saints and wants to revive the team and keep them in New York. He hopes that with Maggie's support, he'll be able to make the ownership transition smooth for all involved. But he quickly learns that Maggie's father failed to inform her the sale was happening and Saint Maggie isn't quite so saintly when blindsided. As the sparks fly between these two and anger transforms into passion, the heat ignites to inferno levels when Maggie finally gives into the temptation that is Alex. But internal turmoil is not all that stands in Alex’s way as another party makes a bid for the team out of spite and threatens not only his pending ownership, but his relationship with Maggie as well.

The Devil in Denim is a great start to the New York Saints series. Ms. Scott has created a great cast of characters and has introduced me to a side of sports romance that I haven’t been exposed to much … the management. All of the personal and business struggles that Alex and Maggie endured made this for an engrossing read that sucked me in from the beginning. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, Angel in Armani. 

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