THE PERFECT DATE

A young single mother falls in love with an injured major league pitcher.

Angel Gomez is just weeks away from her goal of completing the nursing program that will allow her to make a better life for herself and her 7-year-old son, Jose. When Jose has an asthma attack, a handsome stranger helps keep him calm. That night, Angel meets the good Samaritan again while she's tending bar at a local hipster spot and learns that he's Caleb "The Duke" Lewis—sports celebrity and known playboy. Duke has been hiding the full extent of an ankle injury from his coaches, hoping a miracle will keep him on the Yankees roster for the upcoming season. He’s been visiting the clinic where Angel works to receive dubious, under-the-table treatments from a sketchy doctor there—the same doctor who's sexually harassing Angel. When the paparazzi spy Duke at the clinic, he begs Angel to give him a believable pretext for being there by pretending to be his girlfriend. Angel is a likable character striving to do the right thing, and she values her family and her community more than Duke’s fame and money. Her character is the highlight of this novel by reality TV star–turned-author Lozada. However, the sheer number of wildly outlandish subplots—including implausible financial shenanigans, cheating friends, a vengeful ex with a sex tape, a blackmail plot and a murder mystery—distracts from the underdeveloped romance between Angel and Duke. Even the title is a misnomer, since their only real “date” is such an unmitigated disaster that any friend of Angel’s would have advised her never to speak to Duke again.

A debut novel overstuffed with everything except a persuasive romance.