Play On (Lewis Creek Book 1)

I had actually read the second book in this series first, so I knew who everyone was, but I really happy to get the full story.I Liked:* Austin was a good guy, who did a lot of growing up over the course of this story. He had still not really come to terms with his father's death, I was glad he had people in his life who pushed him along that path. I also admired his attitude towards Marisa's illness."I don't want easy. I want you."*Marisa had to struggle every day. Thankfully, she had some pretty great parents, and she found a true friend in Austin. I appreciated the honesty with which Smith spoke of Marisa' illness, and how thoughtful she was in her approach.*The bromance between Jay and Austin was top notch. They had so much history, and were so there for each other.*Austin and Marisa were pretty fabulous together. They had some great banter and I loved that they talked. Like, really talked. They talked about nothing and all the BIG things.*I really enjoyed hearing the entire story from Austin's perspective. It was very sweet how over the moon he was for Marisa, and it pained me when he was dealing with the residual pain from his father's death. I think a single perspective really worked for this story.*I loved the small town feel and how the baseball team was such a big part of the community. And just to hammer it all home, the coach's name - Coach Taylor."Baseball is second only to breathing, and even that's debatable."Overall: This was a wonderful story of family and friends. Of accepting who we are and not being afraid to love who we love. Of forgiveness and looking towards the future. I was left with a smile on my face and spark in my heart.

I'm a sports fanatic. Specifically, baseball and football. I love reading sports books, of any kind, but baseball and football are my top faves so when I heard about Play On I immediately added it to my TBR and anxiously awaited its release!Play On is told from the perspective of Austin Braxton, small town hot shot pitcher. In his small town in South Carolina, baseball goes hand in hand with church. They take baseball as seriously as Texas takes its football. So it's no pressure on Austin, who has been struggling in school lately and can't play baseball without a 3.0 GPA.All on Austin's mind is baseball, school, and getting recruited. That is until new girl Marisa talks into his mom's flower shop for a job interview. It's like Austin forgets what words are. It's so cute and made me like Austin a lot more. It showed boys get just as tongued tied. From the beginning, Austin liked her. She was beautiful, funny, and someone Austin found himself opening up with, someone who let him be himself. The real Austin, not just the baseball star that everyone wants him to be.This book was very cute but also dealt with some heavy subject matter. Marisa is struggling with something, something dark and very serious. Her situation hits home for Austin, digging up events from his past he would rather not revisit. Their relationship is tested in a way that scared Austin, scares him so much that makes him revisit his past in an emotional way. All Austin wants to do with be there for Marisa, support her, and understand what she was going through.This book embraces imperfections, illness, small towns, and the power of young love. How you can rely on someone to be there for you as a supporter and to believe in the strength within yourself to seek help and to know you can get better.Play On was a quick summer read that will make you wish you had some hot baseball player (looking at all my baseball guys...), it'll make you fall in love with Austin and Marisa, make you root for them from their very first encounter.My only issue with the book was that I found some aspects lacking, there was something missing, something that left me wanting more, needing to know more of their backgrounds, their story, or just their pasts. There was just details I wanted that were left out. But I did enjoy reading it though and can't wait for the companion sequel.

PLAY ON is a small town tale about a high school baseball star and the new girl in town. Austin needs help maintaining his grades to stay on the team, and chem whiz Marissa, who just recently arrived, offers to help tutor him. She also works at his mom's flower shop. Sparks soon begin to fly, but Marissa's demons emerge to haunt them both.This book tackles the tricky issue of mental illness with nuance and does a great job at both depicting Marissa's clinical depression and Austin's attempts to understand. Austin's father committed suicide a few years back, and he never understood why. Now, with Marissa, he finds himself once again faced with the specter of mental illness.Smith does a great job of developing her characters and guiding both Austin (who narrates the story with a distinctive voice) and the reader to understand depression. Marissa is much, much more than her illness - she's quirky, smart, and a hardcore sports fan.This book is really about the characters, which I love. Each one is fully developed and comes to life on the page. The interaction and drama kept me hooked, and each time life got in the way of reading, I found myself very reluctant to stick the bookmark between the pages and put the book down.

I feel really close to this book because it's basically home for me. Everything was so relatable to me because I grew up in Small Town USA too, and Michelle Smith managed to capture it all: the amazing, the irritating, the bad, the love, everything!The story is told in Austin's POV, which was amazing and authentic and made me fall for him and his story! Everything was so special in this book: the story, the BASEBALL and the love for it, the friends, the small town Southern charm, everything! This book is so not a fluff read; it deals with some big issues, and it manages to do it authentically with the themes shining through! This book took me back to my senior year, in my little middle of nowhere high school. I thought it was so realistic and authentic, and I'm impressed.Shoutouts to my new loves: Austin, Marissa, Jay, Brett, Eric!!! I especially love Jay and Brett! I loved the team so much!!! Beautiful and real book!