The Troublemaker

I received a gifted copy of this ALC via Valentine PR and am voluntarily leaving this review. THE TROUBLEMAKER is the fourth book in THE DUGOUT series by writing duo Piper Rayne. A marriage of convenience between Chicago Colts shortstop, Easton Bailey, and his friend with benefits turned nanny, Hadley, becomes complicated when pretending to be a family blurs the lines between their no feelings arrangement and the real thing. This is a spicy, open door, first person, dual POV, contemporary sports romantic comedy that includes the following tropes: baseball romance, marriage of convenience, surprise baby, playboy, nanny and single dad, found family, close proximity, and fish out of water. This is the story for the son of the first Bailey couple: LESSONS FROM A ONE NIGHT STAND, which adds so much to this story including the addition of Bailey family to the cast of characters. Bailey and Hadley have a definite connection and playing family for the world only deepens that connection into love. I really adore the reformed playboy trope and the baby in a basket followed by marriage to the on,y woman he had slept with more than once completely changed Easton. He grew a great deal in maturity and Hadley finally found a place where she felt safe enough to put down roots. She had much more to process emotionally and Easton was a great support. This was a full cast audiobook with narrators Connor Crais and Christine Lakin as Easton and Hadley as well as JF Harding, Sean Masters, Teddy Hamilton, Carly Robins, Erin Mallon, Willa Jaymes, Meg Sylvan, and Austin Stone to play the side characters from previous novels in the series. The main narrators did an excellent job expressing the humor and the emotion of the story, and the full cast made the audiobook an experience close to a graphic audiobook, which I highly recommend. The recording held up well at multiple speeds. I recommend this novel for listeners who enjoy baseball romcoms with marriage of convenience and surprise baby tropes.