‘Baseball Is Slowburn’: Lynn Painter, KT Hoffman and More Unpack the Romantic, Sexy Side of Sports
By Rachel Mcrady
Published on April 24, 2026.
Romance authors Lynn Painter, KT Hoffman, Piper Lawson, and Olivia Belle discussed the popularity of the sports romance genre at BookCon 2026 in New York City. They highlighted the appeal of athletes who make for good romantic leads in sports novels. Hoffman's debut romance, The Prospects, tells the love story of the first openly trans professional baseball player and his rival. Painter noted that sports having teams gives readers something to root for and that athletes make sense of the sport. Both Painter and Hoffman agreed that baseball is slow, with Hoffman stating that it can be explosive, but both authors agreed on the sport's reputation.
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