There is something undeniably magnetic about a romance built on friction. Two people who can’t stand each other. Two people who can’t stop thinking about each other. Or two people who refuse to admit that the line between professional tension and personal desire was never as thick as they pretended.
In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde delivers exactly that premise, wrapped in the dust and drama of Major League Baseball. This standalone spin-off from Tomforde’s wildly popular Windy City series brings us a heroine who is breaking every glass ceiling the sport has ever built and a hero who has spent two decades proving that family, loyalty, and love are the only stats that matter.
Reese Remington is thirty-five, sharp, uncompromising, and the first female President of Baseball Operations in the major leagues. She has inherited the Windy City Warriors from her grandfather, Arthur Remington, and every camera, columnist, and owner’s-box suit is watching, waiting for her to stumble. Emmett Montgomery is the team’s beloved field manager, a former All-Star catcher in his mid-forties who treats his players like sons and the diamond like sacred ground. He has spent seven years running things his way, and the arrival of a new boss who wants to restructure his world does not sit well.
What follows is a season-long chess match of power dynamics, undeniable chemistry, and two people realizing that the person they’re fighting hardest against might be the one worth fighting for.
Between the Lines: Characters Worth Rooting For
Reese Remington
Reese earns her place not through grand speeches but through quiet, relentless competence. She makes unpopular decisions, endures being excluded by her male peers at owners’ events, and carries the weight of a public that wants her to fail. What makes her compelling is Tomforde’s duality: in the boardroom, she is ice and steel; behind closed doors, she pours herself a glass of Pinot Noir and wonders if choosing her career over companionship was the right call. Her body confidence is refreshingly matter-of-fact. She describes herself as somewhere between a size sixteen and eighteen and never once frames that as a flaw. That ease with herself makes her all the more appealing on the page.
Emmett Montgomery
If Reese is the brain of this story, Emmett is its beating heart. He raised his non-biological daughter, Miller, after her mother passed away when Miller was young. He gave up major league coaching positions for years so she could have stability. Covered in tattoos, fiercely protective, and the kind of man who offers his own coaching salary to keep a soon-to-be father employed, Emmett is gentle in the moments that matter and stubborn in the ones that don’t. The tenderness he shows Reese as he begins to see the fire beneath her composure is the kind of slow, earned intimacy that romance readers live for.
Their dynamic thrives on a running bit of verbal sparring that becomes the heartbeat of In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde. When Reese says goodnight and Emmett replies “don’t tell me what to do,” it is playful, but it captures something real about two people who refuse to be controlled, even by each other.
The Game Plan: Pacing, Structure, and Storytelling
Tomforde uses dual first-person POV to alternate between Reese and Emmett, and both voices are distinct. Reese narrates with a clipped, analytical edge that softens only when her guard drops. Emmett’s voice is warmer, more reflective, often circling back to his daughter, his team, and the creeping realization that he is falling for someone he should not be falling for.
The pacing follows the rhythm of a baseball season, giving the story a natural timeline. Spring training tensions give way to road-trip proximity, which gives way to stolen moments in elevators and late-night gym encounters. Tomforde uses setting as a pressure cooker: a dim hotel gym, a minor league game in Las Vegas where Reese buys their tickets like a regular fan, a charity gala where every dance is a risk.
Where the pacing stumbles is in the middle third. The push-and-pull between Reese and Emmett, while sizzling, follows a predictable loop: they get close, something external reminds them of the stakes, and they retreat. A few of those cycles could have been trimmed without losing emotional impact.
What Works and What Doesn’t: A Balanced Scorecard
There is much to celebrate in In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde:
- The representation matters. A plus-size heroine in a sports romance who is never asked to shrink herself, physically or professionally, is still far too rare in the genre. Tomforde handles it without making it a lesson, which is exactly how it should be done.
- The found-family element is deeply satisfying. Emmett’s relationship with Miller, Kai, Max, Isaiah, and Kennedy creates a warm, lived-in ensemble. Watching Reese slowly become part of that circle is one of the book’s greatest pleasures.
- The sexism Reese faces is depicted with uncomfortable accuracy. The subtle shoulder turns from male owners, the reporters who frame her gender as the story rather than her qualifications, and the online scrutiny she navigates all feel painfully real without being heavy-handed.
- The spice is well-earned. The physical moments between Reese and Emmett carry weight because Tomforde has invested in the emotional foundation first. By the time boundaries blur, it feels inevitable rather than forced.
However, the novel is not without its weaker innings:
- The resolution of the central professional conflict wraps up a touch too neatly for a story that spends so long emphasizing how impossible their situation is. The final act, while emotionally satisfying, could have lingered longer in the discomfort before delivering the payoff.
- Readers who have not followed the full Windy City series may find certain scenes featuring Kai, Miller, Isaiah, and Kennedy feel like reunion callbacks rather than organic story beats. The cameos are generous, sometimes bordering on fan service, which can slow momentum for newcomers.
- Reese’s ex-husband, Jeremy, appears briefly and functions more as a plot device than a fully realized character, serving mainly to deepen our understanding of what Reese sacrificed.
The Bigger Picture: Where This Book Sits in Tomforde’s World
Liz Tomforde built her reputation as a New York Times bestselling author with the Windy City series: Mile High, The Right Move, Caught Up, Play Along, and Rewind It Back. Each book follows a different couple connected to Chicago’s sports world. Emmett was first introduced in Caught Up as a beloved supporting character, and fans have been clamoring for his story ever since. In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde functions as a standalone spin-off, so you do not need to have read the full series to appreciate it, though longtime readers will find richer layers in the ensemble dynamics.
What distinguishes Tomforde’s writing is her commitment to healthy, communicative relationships within heightened emotional stakes. Her heroes are alpha without being controlling, and her heroines never diminish themselves to fit into someone else’s life.
The Recommendation Lineup: If You Loved This, Try These
For readers who devoured this novel and want more stories with similar DNA, consider these picks:
- The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams — A friends-to-lovers sports romance with sharp banter and a heroine who holds her own alongside an NFL star.
- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace — If the rivals-to-lovers tension appealed to you, this hockey romance delivers a similar slow-burn arc.
- The Deal by Elle Kennedy — A college sports romance that nails competitive verbal sparring between two strong-willed leads.
- Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert — For readers drawn to Reese’s body confidence and professional drive, Hibbert writes heroines who are unapologetically themselves.
- Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score — Shares the found-family warmth and grumpy-meets-sunshine energy of Emmett and Reese’s dynamic.
Final Verdict: A Season Worth Watching
In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde is not a perfect book, but it is a deeply satisfying one. It earns its happy ending by making you feel every agonizing inch of the distance between two people who want each other but cannot afford to say so. Reese Remington is a heroine worth championing, Emmett Montgomery is a hero worth melting for, and together they prove that the best love stories are the ones where both people come to the table as equals.
For fans of sports romance, forbidden workplace love, and stories that refuse to ask women to play small, this one belongs on your shelf.