The Third Baseman

The New York Lions, Book 1

By: Lulu Moore

Narrated by: Mia Madison, Patrick Zeller

My name is Jupiter Reeves, and I am a fraud.

It's not that what's written about me isn't true. I am the greatest third baseman of my generation, possibly ever. I am surly and unapproachable. I do have a constant scowl with an armor of tattoos.

To the outside world, I play my role as the bad boy of baseball like I was born to do it. But when the doors are closed, and you boil it down, I'm nothing more than a man who lost his heart too young, with no prospect of getting it back... especially as I still have no idea where its current owner is.

That was until I was offered an opportunity I couldn't refuse: Leave the Los Angeles Dodgers—where I've played my entire career—and join The New York Lions in exchange for tracking down the one woman who's consumed me since the day I first saw her fourteen years ago. Job done.

Now we're under the same roof once again, except Marnie Matthews wants nothing to do with me or my heart. So, along with winning the Commissioner's Trophy, I have the added challenge of winning back the only woman I've ever loved before the season ends and convincing her to stay in New York with me.

I might have been stupid enough to lose her once, but I'm definitely not going to do it again. Marnie Matthews is about to become the biggest achievement of my life.

©2023 Lulu Moore (P)2023 Podium Audio

Scoring Position 

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (3/5)
𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 🎙️🎙️🎙️(3/5) 

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:  
Pro-Baseball Romance 
First Love 
Second Chance Romance 
Grumpy-Sunshine 
Touch Her and 💀 
Dual POV 
Dual timeline 
 
𝐕𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬:  
I definitely think I should’ve read this earlier! The dual timeline definitely adds to the story. It was written in the stars - Jupiter Reeves and Marnie Matthews were meant to be together! I didn’t love that it took 14 years for them to find each other again, BUT the angst enhance the spice! and spice. I LOVE that Marnie had an instant girl gang. Reeves choosing to leave the only thing he’s ever known to have a second chance with Marnie - *swoon worthy* Jupiter is absolutely obsessed, and I’m here for it. Marnie’s bookworm tendencies could have painted her as a wallflower, but when the opportunity presented itself, she was not shy about being in Jupiters orbit.  
 
𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞. 
 
𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:  
Narrated by Patrick Zeller and Mia Madison. 
Patrick has a more mature voice than the MMC. The flashbacks scenes are of an 18 year old, and Patrick’s voice sounds in the late 30-40 year old range. His tone during spicy scenes were distracting. I like Patrick’s voice, but don’t believe this was the best book for him to narrate. With dual narration, I prefer to have all male voices narrated by the male voice actor and vice versa. Mia also sounded more mature than the FMC, but her narration did not distract from the story. Overall the pacing was good for both narrators, but there were times where the volume dilated too much. I missed certain phrases had to rewind. 

So good!

I mostly came here to say how fantastic the male narrator was. Wow!! So entertaining. Such a spot on performance of the character.

Jupiter Reeves is my fave

This is now my second listen of this book. I love LuLu Moores universe and the narrators we’re perfect picks!

All new to me, authors and narrators! Great Job!

Ahh the angst! This book started out with all the feels right away & I was hooked!
This is a second chance, turned enemies to lovers romance. 14 years ago high school sweethearts, Jupiter and Marnie were your typical top athlete and nerdy girl high school couple. Until Jupiter broke Marnie’s heart and took off for the major leagues. I fell in love with these two and with the mystery of why Jupiter did what he did to her all those years ago. The Third Baseman goes back and forth from past to present. The past was sweet, they were truly crazy for each other and both determined to reach their future goals. The past really showed you Marnie’s love for the stars and planets and her dreams to work for NASA. The present was emotional for them both. Jupiter was a Major League Baseball player, he was at the top of his game. After moving MLB teams he had one contract condition and that was to bring Marnie back to him, to give her a job with the new team and give him a chance to win her back. Marnie had her dream job with NASA but unfortunately she was fresh off a divorce and when a new job to work for the MLB presented itself, she couldn’t pass it up. Now they were both in New York and Jupiter was determined to win her back, if she was aware of it or not.
Patrick Zeller narrated Jupiter and did a fantastic job. He brought to life Jupiter’s bad boy persona, but also voiced his true feelings towards Marnie, and his regret for breaking her heart and letting so much time go by. He had such a unique voice that made me really vision what Jupiter looked like with his epic tattoos and all. Mia Madison narrated Marnie perfectly. she gave Marnie the maturity and sass she needed to stand up for herself and voice her emotions. I love a second chance romance & loved the baseball aspect of it all.

I listened to it all

I started this book a few times and just didn't get very far before I switched to something else. But I have been on a baseball binge and wanted to give it another try. I am so happy I did.
I really enjoyed this second chance baseball romance. High-school sweethearts that find their way back to each other is such a good story.
Marnie and Jupiter are so good together, and I adored their story. I loved the way he called her STAR, and I swooned so much over him and the things he did to try and get Marnie back.

Mia Madison and Patrick Zeller narrated this book, and I liked it. I really enjoyed Mia, and I believe this is my first book that I have listened to her. She did a really great job.
I wasn't crazy about Patrick in this one. I have listened to a couple that he has done. And it just didn't hit the mark for me.

I am jumping right into the next audio...

A good baseball romance story!

Jupiter is the new player of The New York Lions baseball team.
He is covered in tattoos, broody, self centered prick.
Marnie is a doctor in Astrodynamics. She, after her divorce, decided to completely change her life moving to New York and taking this job for the same club.
And all starts with a magnificent slap.
Jupiter and Marnie know each other. He broke her heart in millions of pieces when he got drafted when he was 18…
But now, he will do anything to get her back.

Tropes:
- Second chance romance
- MMC madly in love in high school
- smart FMC

This is real baseball romance with real sport researches to make it concrete.
What I loved the most?
The way that Lulu describes perfectly a young love and an adult love. This is an emotional story with the right amont of spice and love declaration.
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

What a great start to the series!!!

I have found a new favorite narrator, Patrick Zeller really sold me Jupiter. Both Natrators are amazing and give you all the feels.Now for the story; June and Marnie, what can I say. This two were perfect for each other. After a long, and I mean a long 14 years, so much has happened in their lives, but one thing is for sure, Jupiter never stopped loving her.
Now to get her back, is a journey to Jupiter and back… Haha! ( see what I did there)
This was a slow burn, get your girl type of read and I love it. I also was amaze with all the little references to the starts/planets that were made that just made it more special.
Ready for more of this series!

Narration 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Story Line 🎧🎧🎧🎧
Over all 4.5 🎧 Listen

An excellent series starter

These narrators were so perfect for this story. Patrick captures Jupiter’s confidence and heartbreak perfectly in every chapter and stole the show for me.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Lulu Moore and I’m absolutely thrilled that her books are audios now. This story was so good. I love a second chance romance and Lulu nailed this one.

Amazing performance

* Sports Romance
* Second Chance
* Soulmates
* Workplace / Forced Proximity

Audiobook review - narrated by Mia Madison and Patrick Zeller

4 stars for story
5 stars for performance

This story was so much more than your typical sports romance. The story starts with Marnie moving to New York for a new job with The New York Lions baseball team only to learn her childhood sweetheart plays for the team. Thanks to the expertly placed flashbacks, we learn that Jupiter left a heartbroken teenaged Marnie on the porch of her house just after getting drafted straight out of high school. The rest of the story is a slow burn, angsty journey to see if these two can make their way back to each other despite working together and trying to navigate their relationship. I absolutely love the dual POV and the flashbacks, as mentioned, are perfectly placed to give us the story of how two people, who were seemingly made for each other, didn't make it all those years ago.

When I say Patrick Zeller is an excellent narrator, please know that it's not an adequate description. The way he performs Jupiter's character with so much emotion is something that I haven't experienced in a long time. There were times I felt he was actually experiencing the scenes he was portraying, that is how good he was in this book. Mia Madison was also amazing as Marnie. Her character goes through so many emotions and everyone of them is felt through her narration.

I can't wait to see what's in store for the next Lion.

I’m in love with Jupiter Reeves!

Wow! This story was incredible!

I love a good second chance romance as much as the next gal, but this was perfection!

I absolutely loved all of the flashbacks so that we really got to know Jupiter and Marnie then and now. The way they both dealt with the loss of each other was so realistic and relatable.

I was enthralled from the beginning and can’t wait to continue the series!