Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Hardball
    Unavailable
    Hardball
    Unavailable
    Hardball
    Ebook402 pages6 hours

    Hardball

    By V.K. Sykes

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Book One in the USA Today Bestselling Philadelphia Patriots Series

    Will she be willing to play his game?

    Dr. Holly Bell has finally achieved her dream: working as a cardiac surgeon at a prestigious children's hospital. She's totally dedicated to her patients, and she won't let anything or anyone get in her way. And a hot affair with a superstar athlete is most definitely getting in Holly's way.

    Nate Carter, star pitcher for the Philadelphia Patriots, has the world in the palm of his glove. He thinks he has everything he wants--until he meets the beautiful and brainy Dr. Bell. Nate is totally up for a hot, no-strings affair, and Holly turns out to be the hottest.

    But when a stalker goes after Holly, Nate has to risk everything, including his career, to protect the woman who means more to him than he ever thought possible.

    The award-winning Philadelphia Patriots Series

    Prequel: Fastball (Maddie & Jake)
    Book One: Hardball (Holly & Nate)
    Book Two: Bigger Than Beckham (Martha & Tony)
    Book Three: Curveball (Taylor & Ryan)
    Book Four: Payoff Pitch (Teddy & Noah)
    Book Five: Scoring Position (Kate & Nick)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherV.K. Sykes
    Release dateJun 15, 2011
    ISBN9781458186676
    Unavailable
    Hardball
    Author

    V.K. Sykes

    V.K. is a wife/husband writing team—Vanessa Kelly and Randall Sykes—who write romantic suspense and single title contemporary romance. When Vanessa’s not writing as V.K., she slips into a telephone booth and emerges as Vanessa Kelly, author of sizzling hot Regency romance novels for Kensington Publishing. Her first novel, Mastering the Marquess, hit the shelves in April 2009. You can check out Vanessa’s books and other fun stuff at www.vanessakellyauthor.com.

    Related to Hardball

    Related ebooks

    Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Why These Children Fell into Endless Sleep

      Sep 22, 2021

      I had barely stepped foot over the threshold and I already felt claustrophobic. I wanted to turn back. People shuffled into the room in front of me, while somebody else stood directly behind me, a little too close. It felt hard to escape. I could see

      12 min read

    • Article

      Holly the HEART HERO!

      Sep 22, 2021

      Holly the HEART HERO!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Pneumadectomy

      Jan 10, 2022

      Rolly stood for a few minutes in the shade of the large oak, just out of sight of the boys gathered on the dry shaven green of the bowls club. All aged around eleven like himself, they were dividing up their meager numbers for a game of soccer, knowi

      10 min read

    • Article

      What Did Daddy Do?

      Aug 13, 2020

      What Did Daddy Do?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Wait Times

      Mar 29, 2021

      Wait Times
      16 min read

    • Article

      Their Baby Died During His Nap. Then Medical Bureaucrats Deepened The Parents’ Anguish

      Mar 27, 2019

      Many people think SIDS has gone away, but thousands of babies a year die suddenly in the U.S. for unexplained reasons. James High was one of them.

      19 min read

    • Article

      The Homecoming

      Jul 13, 2022

      The Homecoming
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Homecoming

      Jul 13, 2022

      The Homecoming
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Emergency

      Mar 19, 2022

      The Emergency
      17 min read

    • Article

      Unstoppable!

      Feb 15, 2024

      Bianca Collins, 33 As I glanced out of the front window, I saw a little blur whoosh past. My daughter Aliannah, then 6, was racing up and down our quiet street on her bike. Legs pumping, leaning low over the handlebars, a huge toothy grin on her face

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Cardiologist’s 9/11 Story

      Sep 13, 2018

      The morgue was inside Brooks Brothers. I was standing at the corner of Church and Dey, right next to the rubble of the World Trade Center, when a policeman shouted that doctors were needed at the menswear emporium inside the building at One Liberty P

      14 min read

    • Article

      Face Value

      Oct 24, 2021

      Face Value
      7 min read

    • Article

      Belle Of The ball

      Apr 20, 2023

      Belle Of The ball
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mayonnaise

      Jun 10, 2022

      You know what they say: when life gives you ASS, you make mayonnaise with it. That’s exactly what Dr. Loriah Harp and the good folks at Natural Light Foods did. And they didn’t hide the ASS at the bottom of a label, either—their entire marketing camp

      17 min read

    • Article

      It’s A Sin Star Callum Scott Howells: ‘People Deny That Covid-19 Is Real? My Grandparents Are Dead From It’

      Jan 28, 2021

      This article contains major spoilers for ‘It’s a Sin’ A young man convulses on the floor of a printing shop. “Freedom” by Wham! blasts out of the speakers. The printer churns out page after page. And Colin lies gasping for breath as spasms ricochet t

      6 min read

    • Article

      My Fiancé CHEATED With My BEST FRIEND While I Had CHEMO

      Jul 14, 2021

      Cuddling my newborn twin sons, I was so happy. With two daughters under five already, the boys had been a surprise for me and my fiancé, Will, then 25. Together since we were 17, we’d got engaged the year before, but when I fell pregnant we’d had to

      3 min read

    • Article

      Doctor HOLLY

      Nov 12, 2020

      Doctor HOLLY
      5 min read

    • Article

      My Story The Day I Lost My Mind … And How I Found It Again

      May 19, 2021

      I’m back at last … back to how I was before I lost my mind. Sitting in the tranquil Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland, I roll a ball of black sapote ice-cream around my mouth, feeling all the terrible anxiety I’ve carried for the last year

      7 min read

    • Article

      My Story The Day I Lost My Mind … And How I Found It Again

      May 19, 2021

      I’m back at last … back to how I was before I lost my mind. Sitting in the tranquil Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland, I roll a ball of black sapote ice-cream around my mouth, feeling all the terrible anxiety I’ve carried for the last year

      7 min read

    • Article

      At Life’s End, an Unconventional Therapy Puts a Woman at Ease

      Jan 5, 2018

      Nothing was ever easy in this woman’s life. She felt trapped — trapped in a life with the wrong parents, surrounded by the wrong people, and, as a result, she had a pregnancy with the wrong man for her and her child. But some lives are fulcrums on wh

      4 min read

    • Article

      Separated At Birth

      Sep 11, 2019

      Separated At Birth
      8 min read

    • Article

      Storyteller

      Nov 4, 2021

      Storyteller
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Vodka Trial: In Search Of A Treatment For Vocal Disorders, A Researcher Puts Patient Anecdotes To The Test

      Feb 10, 2020

      Leads for new therapies often emerge from endless libraries of chemicals or gene sequences. A researcher wondered: Could the liquor cabinet yield that sort of breakthrough?

      12 min read

    • Article

      Exploring The Boundaries

      May 31, 2018

      The human body: a horse gliding through a field. A monkey skipping between branches. A comet hurtling through the black moors of space. The human body can be these things, or anything, without pain. Sontag famously declared that “everyone who is born

      16 min read

    • Article

      Where There Is No Hospital

      Mar 8, 2022

      Where There Is No Hospital
      15 min read

    • Article

      Yokai

      May 1, 2024

      Yokai
      15 min read

    • Article

      Reaching OUT

      Jan 17, 2024

      Reaching OUT
      6 min read

    Reviews for Hardball

    4/5

    35 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      An all-star Philly baseball player, Nate Carter, bumps into a sweet doctor with a big heart, Holly Bell when he's making rounds cheering up children at the local hospital. The chemistry is instant and Nate knows he'll need to find a plan to get to know the good doctor better.

      Holly was caught off guard when the charming, athletic, breathtaking Nate stumbles into her in one of her patient's rooms. Cautious with her heart and dedicated to her work, dating a celebrity athlete was not part of her plan. When Nate asks her to accompany him to a golf dinner, however, she finds it hard to refuse.

      As things grow steamy between Nate and Holly, things at the hospital begin to heat up as well - but not in a good way. A difficult father threatens Holly's life as well as puts the life of his son in jeopardy. Holly must put the boy first in a fight to save his life, despite his father's threats and stalking. Meanwhile she's falling fast and hard for Nate, who doesn't appear to be ready to make the some commitment she is. Will Nate be willing to give up his wild lifestyle for Holly? Will Holly risk her life to save her patient?

      This book is a page turner. A great mix of an exciting story, a steamy hot romance, and a nice dose of baseball for the fans out there. I totally loved this book!
    • 3/5
      Hardball is a pleasant romance with a lot of heat! You can probably guess the amount of heat by the cover. It's too bad I read the ebook and didn't get to look at it in between chapters!The story doesn't really have any surprises in it, but it's very well written and easy to read. Holly is a strong female protagonist and enjoyed her standing up to Nate for what she needed. The characters are very likeable, and oh so very human. Their strengths are shown as well as their flaws, so the reader can see them as real people.If you prefer your romance without any spice, then give this book a skip. Everyone else, you'll really enjoy it!*Disclaimer: I received this book from the authors for review, I was not required to write a positive review.
    • 4/5
      Review: I confess, I don't usually read just straight romance books; I prefer paranormal romance or romantic suspense. This book sounded like such a fun read I couldn't turn it down. Plus, it actually does end up having some suspense elements to it that I wasn't expecting! Also, did you SEE that book cover?! The only word that comes to mind is H-O-T! 1) Character Development: I was able to relate and connect with both of the main characters, Holly and Nate, but perhaps not as much as I would have liked. Nate was a really down-to-earth guy, despite the fact that he was a famous baseball player; not stuck up at all and not especially full of himself. Holly was a pedatric surgeon; I like that she was a successful, confident female lead. She was completely independent and obviously very smart. There were times she annoyed me with her insecurities when it came to Nate, but at the same time I could totally understand where she was coming from. 2) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: First, The Good - I enjoyed the characters and seeing their relationship develop. The story overall was interesting; in addition to finding herself smitten with Nate, Holly also has to deal with the beligerant and menacing parent of a sick child she is caring for. That definitely adds a few tense moments, especially when she suspects that he doesn't have his son's best interests in mind. Also, the sex scenes were very steamy, but they didn't take up the whole book like sometimes happens with romances. The Bad - I felt like sometimes the dialogue (mostly on Holly's part) seemed a little awkward, where I found myself saying "Do people actually talk like that?" I also had trouble with the fact that the first few times Holly meets Nate she's really insecure and somewhat shy, as she was wondering why he wanted to spend time with her. Then on their first "date", she turns into kind of a sex kitten. It didn't really jive with how I expected Holly to act in that situation. The Ugly - I don't have anything horrible to say in this case, it was a good read. 3) Romance Sizzle Or Fizzle?: I would say sizzle. Holly and Nate definitely had a connection from the beginning and as I said before, it made for some extremely hot and steamy sex scenes. They were really good together, yet I felt like Holly moved way too fast in the relationship considering they hadn't been seeing each other very long. Maybe that's why I felt like I connected better with Nate in the long run. Overall though they made a cute couple and had some great chemistry. 4) Uniqueness Of Plot: I wouldn't say this book is especially unique; all of the elements were ones I've read before. It was still an enjoyable read though. 5) Final Thoughts: Overall, I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I was hoping, but I chalk that up to the fact that I'm not really a big fan of this kind of romance. Regardless, I did like the book. If you like hot male baseball players, steamy romance, and some suspense then this book is perfect for you!