One Last Play: A Sporty Romantic Comedy (Sweet Peach Series Book 4)

Annah Conwell finishes her Sweet Peach series in style with the story of Meadow Jane "MJ" Parker, art teacher and trauma survivor, and Sebastian "Coach Bash" Holt, coach of the Georgia Thrashers, a contender for the SEC championship. He sees her at their mutual friends Bennett and Sophie's wedding and is fascinated, but they actually meet at a parent-teacher conference; his niece Maddie, whom he adopted after his sister died giving birth to her, is in MJ's 7th grade art class and, as a dedicated photographer, is one of MJ's favorite students. Bash doesn't impress her at first meeting--he's handsome, but he waltzed in at the end of her office hours as if he owns the school and her time means nothing to him! Plus, he's 11 years older than her and probably leads a charmed life. By the time she finds out about the loss of his sister (Maddie confesses the conflict she feels about her birthday also being the day her mother died), she has already pushed Bash away and thinks he's out of her hair. Not so fast...Over the next few months, he gets MJ's 4 brothers to become surrogate uncles to Maddie and brings his team closer and closer to the number one conference ranking. She, on the other hand, suffers a debilitating migraine and grudgingly accepts his help in soothing it. He researches her food and essential oil preferences; she grouses about her inability to unload her dark secrets on his shoulders, which are broad and strong but maybe not meant for emotional overload. Eventually, they kiss and she feels even worse for shutting him out of her innermost self, so she promises to tell him "soon" what's going on inside."Soon" comes before she's ready, however. Bash is injured in a car crash and suffers a concussion, so she finds out his location from his mom (whom she met at a game when they both, plus her brothers, were given access to the coach's box at a game) and rushes to see him. He presses her for details on whatever's shadowing her face and causing her to wear her stress-reducing lavender oil. Finally she relents. Her mother died of cancer before she graduated high school, and she fell into a relationship with a guy who told her--on the anniversary of her mother's death--that her emotions were too much for him and he was leaving her for someone with less baggage. She spiraled downward after that and used her art as an outlet for her big emotions. She even donated a painting to a charity auction for cancer research to honor her mother's memory. Oddly enough, the purchaser of that painting was Bash! He said it gave him hope, which is what it did for MJ.After that mutual confession, and his surprising acceptance of her (she thought she was "too much", but he reassured her that she's not only "just right", but EVERYTHING to him), they make plans to attend the championship game with Maddie, as a family.After that game, the trophy presentation, and the inevitable press conference, Bash takes MJ to the 50-yard line and proposes. The wedding takes place on the beach, and kissing the bride turns into running into the water with the bride! Maddie crowns the crazy day by asking MJ to adopt her and let her call her "Mom". So sweet!I loved journeying with MJ and Bash, who take different paths through heartache (and in MJ's case, headaches) to come together for a promising future. I was disappointed to find out that I'd started with Book 4, so now I'm eager to read her friends' stories. I hear that MJ's brothers will have a series of their own, and I'm looking forward to reading about them too. In short, I greatly enjoyed my time in Atlanta and highly recommend One Last Play!

I received a free copy of this book, though I also bought a paperback, & am voluntarily leaving a review. This is book 4 in the Sweet Peach Series, & the final one, but is a standalone. You don't have to read the others to enjoy this one but I strongly encourage you to read the other books of the series if you haven't done so already. (I thought that The First Taste was the best & my favorite book of the series but this one rivals it. & just when I thought that Bennett was my absolute favorite MMC of the series, Sebastian is challenging him for that spot too.) The synopsis lets you know what to expect & do take note of the author's content warnings. This is a great opposites attract dual pov age gap romance. Because of the loss that she experienced when she was younger, MJ guards her heart very closely & isn't interested in a relationship. From the moment that Sebastian first saw MJ, he knew that he wanted to get to know her & those feelings grow stronger when he learns that she's Maddie's teacher. (Don't worry. Although he is persistent, he doesn't cross any lines.) MJ refuses Sebastian's invitations to date but, as they spend more time together, it's easy for her to slowly open her heart to him - even if she still keeps some things to herself. Because of MJ's reservations, their romance is a slow burn but the banter between them will more than satisfy readers. It's a clean romance with plenty of sweet moments that will make your heart burst with love for MJ & Sebastian. Aside from MJ accepting her feelings for Sebastian, there isn't much conflict. You will love Maddie, MJ's friends, & definitely want to read more about her brothers (which thankfully they are getting their own series too). There couldn't have been a better end to the Sweet Peach Series. It's bittersweet that it's over & I'm going to miss this series but I am excited for the author's coming projects. Thank you for this beautiful end & giving me a new favorite series, Annah!

Holy smokes! 🔥🔥🔥 I had very high expectations for this book and it did not disappoint. Another five star, absolute must read from Annah Conwell.❤️I knew going into this book that MJ (the female lead) would be a tough cookie, and boy was she ever. But just like Sebastian, if found myself living for the tiny smiles and teasing jabs that she delivered. She made Sebastian work for every single kiss and flirtatious smile but it was so worth it.❤️Sebastian was exactly was persistent and playful as I hoped he’d be. He was the voice of reason in Bennet and Sophie’s story and it was fun to see them switch rolls as he fell head over heels for MJ and needed advice from Ben.❤️What captured my heart was how MJ stepped up for Maddie (Sebastian’s daughter) in so many big and little ways. I think MJ desperately wanted to show Bash how much she cared and the easiest way to do that was to show her love for Maddie. Maddie desperately needed a mother figure and she jumped at the chance to play tiny meddling matchmaker for MJ and Bash - which lead to some very funny scenes.Including one with matching t-shirts and MJ’s four brothers performing a choreographed TikTok dance with Maddie aka ‘Mad-Dog’! It’s exactly as entertaining and oddly swoon-wrothy as it sounds (also a fantastic teaser for Annah’s next series featuring MJ’s brothers!)❤️This book will give you the feels. All of them….true to The Sweet Peach Series, One Last Play is filled with swoony gestures, laugh-out-loud funny scenes, and moments that will make you cry in a good way.❤️Annah wrote the perfect ending to The Sweet Peach series- a story of love and healing I think we all needed. And, the perfect beginning for her next series.This book - and the whole series - is an absolute must read for me! Do yourself a favor and add it to your TBR!!

Annah Conwell in an excellent author. I loved the majority of this book. Unfortunately, I found the ending to be a huge letdown. I was waiting for the big reveal about why MJ was so closed off and scared of getting hurt only to find the reason fell totally flat for me. I don’t actually like a lot of angst in my romance novels, but I don’t think the reason revealed lived up to all the hype. I still enjoyed this book, but I can’t help but feel like it would have been so much stronger if MJ’s reasons for being so hesitant to trust other people had been more dramatic.

A reverse grumpy sunshine book? With a cute almost teen and friends who can’t keep their opinions to themselves? Yes please. Annah delivers another cracking story with MJ and Bash. Add Maddie into the mix as his adopted daughter (his sister died in childbirth) and MJ as her teacher and the whole set up for their story is brilliant. This was possibly my favourite of the series. The character growth and him falling first was great. A perfect end to a brilliant series. And the fact that we meet MJ’s brothers, begin to love them and then find out at the end that they’re getting their own series next was an exciting end to a great book.

I have been so excited for this book. Ever since Annah Conwell gave us a sneak peek of this book in her previous book, The First Taste. A sports romance, single father, teacher, and he falls first. A combination of tropes I was excited for and of course this book did not disappoint. I absolutely loved this book.I don’t even know where to start with how much I loved this book. I absolutely loved the way Sebastian pursued MJ. There were so many sweet moments, including him looking after her when she was sick. Maddie was also a fun character. This book made me laugh out loud, swoon a little and cry. The full range of emotions packed into a book that made me fall a little in love with the characters.I loved the sneak peeks of the couples from the rest of the series, plus the introduction of MJ’s brothers. I am so excited they get their own series soon. I can’t wait to read all the stories.This book has definitely been one of my favourite reads this year. You don’t want to miss this book.

This was a sweet book, I loved getting lost in story of Sebastian and Meadow, and watching them fall in love. I love how much MJ cared about Maddie from the start and the 3 of them got a happily ever after. MJ’s brothers were great and I will have to read their stories now and hope to get a glimpse of what is happening with Sebastian and Meadow.

I fell in love with Sebastian since The first taste - book 3 of the series. I knew immediately that his and MJ’s story would keep me up late at night! And it did!Single dad who is a coach of American football team, closed off but deeply caring art teacher, sweetest teenage girl, meddling friends, protective older brothers - like come on: is there anything better than that?!?🫠It is also a perfect ending to the series in general!