The Game Changer

By: Julia Jarrett

Narrated by: Heather Firth, Connor Crais

I hired a single mom to help make my small town fall in love with a baseball team. And now I’m the one falling in love…with her.

Buying a small town baseball team might seem an odd choice for a millionaire tech developer, but I welcome the challenge.

Moving back to my hometown and reviving the once-beloved Cedar Creek Thunder is an impulsive attempt to find a deeper purpose, and a life that is measured in happiness rather than dollars.

A chance encounter with the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen has my temperature rising from more than the tea she’s spilled on me. When she walks into my office for an interview later that morning, it quickly becomes clear there’s no one better suited for the job.

Isla Forrester should be off limits, but with a smile that pierces my soul, the single mom is fire wrapped up in sweet temptation. I’ve always had thick walls around my heart, but Isla and her son are breaking them down.

Now my sole purpose is getting her to believe that loving her is no challenge at all.

©2026 Julia Jarrett (P)2026 Julia Jarrett

such a good romance!

okay this was such a good introduction for me to this author! i ate everything about this up!

luca hires isla for a contract in marketing on a baseball team and these two build such a sweet relationship. luca has the same condition as her son and they build such an amazing bond and luca is so sweet towards charlie.

i love the way luca and isla interacted with one another and how feisty she was throughout this. luca wanted to help her constantly but she held her ground about her feelings about certain things and it was so sweet.

the way connor crais says “f**k” in one of the scenes did something to me. changed my brain chemistry. heather firth did such an amazing job as well. i love how it was duet narration, i’m always thrilled about reading those.

brilliant baseball romance

Julia Jarrett at her best! This single mom x boss baseball romance was EVERYTHING that I wanted. Jarrett's writing is witty and sharp. The Game Changer was a wonderful start to Jarrett's new Canadian Baseball romance series and I'm so excited to continue with the Cedar Creek Thunder. This team already has my heart!

The relationship dynamic between Luca and Isla's son, Charlie, was SO precious. This little family has my whole heart!

Connor Crais and Heather Firth bring Luca and Isla to life perfectly. Their duet narration made an already excellent story even better. This was a phenomenal audiobook and I know I'll be going back to this again and again on audio!

Beautiful disability rep!!

I knew from the first look when Isla spilled her tea on Luca that these two were going to be fire. Their meet cute was chaotic & their second meet cute was unexpected for them.
After coming home and purchasing the small town baseball team, Luca is on the hunt for the perfect marketing manager to help him make the team relevant again. So when his dream girl from the coffee shop that morning walks into his office for an interview…he quickly realizes that her marketing prowess she can make his dreams come true in more than one way.
These characters had so much to unpack, but their hearts were perfectly in the right place. The way that Luca was able to bond with Charlie on a different level had me in the swooniest kind of tears. Charlie was such a big personality & I loved watching him come into his own with the help of his amazing mom & Luca.
I loved how Luca made it his mission to do anything possible to make both Isla’s & Charlie’s dreams come true. And boy did he succeed. And even though Luca was a millionaire, he & Isla were so relatable as characters. Their inner monologues & feelings of never being enough reflect very real qualities in the everyday man & woman.
I loved everything about Julia’s baseball world & can’t wait for more from The Cedar Creek Thunder world.

Audiobook Review:
Connor Crais was the absolute perfect choice for Luca. And Heather Firth as Isla was an even better choice. Their ability to completely become these characters truly set this audiobook on a different level.

very cute, satisfying story

this was a super cute, satisfying story. I enjoyed the mature relationship these too had. I also love the relationship between the MMC and the FMC's son, Charlie. both have a limb difference. there isn't a 3rd act breakup up, so that was nice. I hate those.

the narration was top tier. you dont get much better than these narrators. they bring the emotion, humor and lust. When Connor Crais made his voice crack because that is what happens to Charlie. Gold. it was so authentic that I actually thought it was a production mistake. SO GOOD.

overall, this is a must read if you want a low angst, sweet story with a natural progression and no 3rd act breakup.

“Kissing you is definitely my rose.”

A Julia Jarrett sports romance narrated by Connor Crais and Heather Firth... I just knew I was gonna love this one even without knowing any details about it. Connor and Heather were fantastic in this narration, they made the story even more fun and entertaining than it would've been just reading.

Nonetheless, the story on its own was so good. I loved the instant attraction between Luca and Isla, and how they kept trying to fight, unsuccessfully I may add, their feelings for each other. I loved how Luca respected Isla's boundaries and how he was mindful of her image as a woman who worked under him. I also really loved Luca's relationship with Charlie and how he not only gave him that male bonding experience he was missing since his grandpa passed, but he also became someone he could talk to and would understand him about his disability, since he was born with ABS as well.

Quote: “I want you, but more than that, I respect you. And I’m a patient man, especially when something is worth waiting for. And you, Isla Forrester, are worth waiting for.”