Reviewed By Lisa McCombs for Readers' Favorite

It all starts at Rome High School, the heart of the football-obsessed community where Marcus Brinks learns the childish ways of successful adults, dodges the steroid-driven first string gladiators and falls in love for the first and only time. In 1994, all that mattered to the students, faculty, and community members of Rome was the next big win. With fixed grades and over-inflated egos, football players rule the halls of Rome High School, the streets of Rome, and the hearts of all the females who grace those halls and accompanying streets where Marcus Brinks bides his time until he can escape the archaic attitudes of small-town living. Twenty years later, a washed-up one-time rock star, Marcus returns to be with his dying mother to find nothing has changed other than his overwhelming attraction to Becca Walsh, who this time around meets him in the middle and beyond. Just when Marcus believes that something good can come from the ridiculousness of the values in Rome, familiar threats of days gone by remind Marcus that nothing in Rome changes, even when Rome falls.

In The Rome Of Fall, Chad Alan Gibbs shares a superlative wit and mastery of the English language with such observances as “the girl who’d, since I met her half a lifetime ago, owned considerable real estate in my mind.” Starting with the thought-provokingly appropriate play-on-words title, The Rome of Fall is a delightful, heartbreaking cause and effect storyline that makes this novel a must-read. Chad Alan Gibbs is a master storyteller not to be ignored. Loved this novel! Chad Alan Gibbs is my latest favorite author.

Reviewed By Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

The Conman: A Baseball Odyssey by Mike Murphey with Keith Comstock is an interesting way of telling a true story in a fictional manner and throws light on the lives of professional baseball players and the challenges they undergo to make it to the top leagues. This is the story of Conor Nash who was no stranger when it came to failures; he had been released from professional baseball contracts, major league teams, and minor league affiliates. Conor put his womanizing days behind him once he got married to Kate and he avoided drugs because baseball was his drug. What happens to an addict when he cannot get high again? Would it be easy for him to deal with it and get over it?

The Conman is based on the life of Keith Comstock who played baseball professionally for sixteen years. The memoir chronicles his journey, the challenges he faced, the ups and downs, his personal life, and most importantly his passion for baseball. Conor Nash and his adventures will take readers on an entertaining trip, and his sheer strength, determination, courage, and perseverance will fill readers with admiration. Keith Comstock's on and off-field encounters and moments have been woven into the story of Conor Nash. The memoir is all about hope, perseverance, and love, and will encourage readers to stay motivated while playing a sport.

The Conman also reveals the life of a sportsman, the challenges, hardships, the injuries, and sacrifices he endures to make his dream of playing for major leagues come true. This book is a treat for all baseball lovers and will make them aware of the long journey these players have to take to reach their goal. Mike Murphey's writing style is simple, neat, and elegant, and the detailed narration takes readers into the world of baseball, and the ugly side that exists under all the glamour.

Reviewed By Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

Watermark: The Broken Bell Series by Elise Schiller is a heart-breaking story of teenage angst, coming of age, family dysfunction, and poverty in the inner city. Angel Ferente is a little more damaged than your average teenager and yet, she has managed to rise above her circumstances and become a high-school sports star. Angel lives with her mother, her step-father and three half-sisters in one of the poorest areas of urban Philadelphia. Her mum, Pic, is an alcoholic, drug-taking, often absentee mother and her step-father is an unemployed, drug-dealing and abusive, layabout. For most of her eighteen years, Angel’s life has revolved around balancing caring for her three younger half-sisters, working a part-time job at the local laundromat, and attending school when she is able. What lifts her out of this grind is her love of and her excelling at competitive swimming. Swimming is a way for Angel to get away from and forget the awful realities of her daily life but, even more importantly, for Angel, it is something she is able to excel at – something that can finally give her some pride in herself as a woman. Even swimming, though, it seems will not be enough to keep Angel totally on the straight and narrow.

I found this book to be fascinating and insightful. Watermark: The Broken Bell Series delves inside a world that is not often open to inner-city children, especially those of color; the world of competitive swimming. Author Elise Schiller has produced a lead character that is both compelling and frustrating from a reader’s perspective. As a reader you just wanted to grab Angel and give her a good shake, telling her how damn special she is and how she shouldn’t waste this God-given talent that could take her places she’d never dreamt of, like college. The author told her story using three separate voices and perspectives: Angel, her sister Jeannine, and her best friend, Alex. This method was fraught with danger, from a reader’s perspective, yet the author made it work perfectly. In fact, Jeannine emerges from the tale as one of the more fascinating characters of the three and one that evinced great empathy from the reader. All of the main characters were incredibly easy to identify with and to root for. I particularly enjoyed the swimming coach and his assistant who were character summations of wonderful people all over the world who return to their roots and try to give back to the children of their own hometowns some of the opportunities they themselves were denied or were unable to achieve. Yes, the story is bittersweet in many ways but incredibly compelling and a wonderful read. I can highly recommend this story and look forward to the next iteration of the Broken Bell series.

Reviewed By Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

Murder at First Pitch is the first entry in the Ball Park Mysteries by Nicole Asselin and an enjoyable read for fans of murder mystery and baseball. Thirty-two-year-old Madeline Boucher loses her corporate job and goes to work for her family's baseball business. She is the face of the business as she works as Social Media Director. But when she discovers the body of someone linked to the team, someone she's witnessed arguing with her brother at the business function, she wants to be sure that her brother is not suspected of murder. Her brother gets arrested for the murder of Christopher Dailey, a former felon and baseball scout. Maddie wants the truth and freedom for her brother. But does she know her brother, and what if the crime was actually committed by him?

This novel is well-written for fans of baseball and mystery, a story with a strong female protagonist. Madeline is a sophisticated protagonist and it is interesting to watch her go through the dilemma, caught between the quest for truth and the love for her brother. The story is well-plotted and emotionally rich. The author does a great job of making readers guess what could happen next. The short chapters and the timely paragraph breaks augment the enjoyable reading experience and build up the drama that culminates in a strong denouement. Nicole Asselin has a gift for character and knows how to explore emotions in readers. The descriptions are terrific and create strong imagery. Murder at First Pitch is absorbing and deftly written for sports fans.

Reviewed By Trudi LoPreto for Readers' Favorite

It is 1912 and baseball, a young sport, is floundering to find its way. Dead Ball by GP Hutchinson is the story of Hal Gerecke and Rube Wannamaker and the role they played. Hal is a pitcher and Rube is the batter as the season is coming to an end and two last place teams are playing. Hal’s pitch hits Rube and it leaves him bleeding and unconscious at the plate. There is a very mixed reaction – some believing that Hal intentionally hit Rube, others accepting it for the accidental throw it was. Hal spends many hours in the hospital, watching Rube lying unresponsive in the bed and offering to help any way he can. Rube's wife understands it was an accident and forgives him but there are others who vow to get even and make Hal pay. Hal and his new wife are suddenly in danger and must keep a step ahead to stay alive. You must read the rest for yourself because I do not want to offer spoiler alerts to the chase and conclusion.

Dead Ball: A Novel of Murder and Passion by GP Hutchinson has it all – baseball, romance, murder, suspense, and history. I really enjoyed Dead Ball very much. The characters and plot kept me involved and rooting for Hal until the very last page. I believe that if this novel were to be made into a movie, it would skyrocket to the top of the sports category. GP Hutchinson took the history of early baseball and created a winning fictional story. I highly recommend that you put Dead Ball on the top of your reading list.

Reviewed By Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite

American Past Time by Len Joy is a dive into the world of family and family dynamics across several crucial decades in America’s growth as a world power and the incredible social change that was being felt across the country during that period. The author tells his story through the eyes of Dancer Stonemason, a semi-professional ball player who is just a few days from his potential major league call-up. It is September 1953 and playing in what could be the last game for his team, Dancer finds himself on the cusp of pitching a “perfect” game. The dilemma for Dancer is this: Does he pursue the perfect game and risk his upcoming major league debut or does he put his future and his family’s future first and foremost? From the dizzying heights of adulation and fame as a small-town hero, Dancer’s life and that of his family take a downward spiral. We follow them through the “bucolic” fifties, as life seemed to improve for all Americans, through the social change of the sixties and into the seventies, with the backdrop of the war that polarized Americans, the Vietnam War. Through all of this turmoil, Dancer seeks to find the path that will give him the life he so clearly wants.

Author Len Joy has given us a simple story with a powerful message. In American Past Time, using the game of baseball as a metaphor for life, he portrays the rise and fall of a simple, working man in rural America. What I particularly liked about this story was the corollaries that can be drawn between today’s rhetoric and that time in American, seen by many as the “golden age”. It’s well worth noting from this narrative that despite the “rose-tinted” glasses, there was much that was not great about the America of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, particularly for groups of marginalized Americans, especially people of color and those who did not conform to the strict societal and evangelical rules of the time, such as the LGBTQ community. I think the author did an excellent job at highlighting the immense social injustices of the wealth equality gap and the race gap, particularly as it applied to southern, rural America of the time. Dancer as a character was exceptionally well-drawn with recognizable flaws but with a heart for his family and his beloved game. The read is easy, the language simple and the story compelling. This is an excellent book on the social, economic and familial dynamics of a period of American history often hailed as “the good old days”. For many, they weren’t.

Reviewed By Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite

Better Days by Len Joy is an action-packed thriller. The FBI wants to talk to Darwin Burr. Why? His best friend Billy has disappeared and the FBI needs Darwin to help them find him. He’s happy in his life with a beautiful Latvian wife, Daina, a great house, a job helping coach his daughter’s high school basketball team. Who could want for more? He didn’t reckon on Fariba Pahlavi, the flirty coach, and he didn’t reckon on turning up his wife’s secret past, a past that threatens her life. He’s fallen hard for Fariba but he can’t leave Daina and their daughter, Astra. As the hunt for Billy begins, Darwin starts to find out things he wished he never knew. With the FBI’s sights set on him, and his wife taking on a teenager whose family is being targeted by gangs, Darwin’s quiet life is about to undergo major disruption. Can laidback, happy-to-let-the-world-drift-by Darwin cope? Can he find Billy? Or is all hell about to be let loose and turn his life upside down?

Better Days by Len Joy is a fast read, highly entertaining and written in the first person by our main protagonist, Darwin. Packed with action, Better Days takes us on a journey with plenty of twists, some humor thrown in for good measure and a great plot that just keeps you reading. This is more than just an action story. It explores and deals very well with the issues of betrayal, loyalty, gangs, racism, and trust. It is a unique plot that starts off on a steady note but be prepared; it soon revs up and takes off at high speed, leading you through the twists and turns of a shady life as Darwin begins to uncover secrets and lies he wishes had stayed buried. It has some incredible characters, rich, colorful and entirely relatable; this is an exciting story written from the heart by a very talented writer. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it is highly recommended for anyone who wants to lose themselves in a great adventure.

Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

The Backwards K is a sports-themed inspirational novel written by J.J. Hebert. It was the defining moment of his young life, the goal every kid who’s ever played baseball has ever dreamed about. Jet Brine was at bat for his team -- the Boston Red Sox. His fans, who had followed his meteoric rise to fame straight out of high school, were shouting out his name and cheering for his team. Jet could remember the thousands of times he had been at bat since he was young, could feel that satisfying impact of ball hitting bat, the crisp cracking sound, followed by the hushed awe of the crowd as they followed the ball’s trajectory. But this time, at this most crucial moment, when the World Series win depended on him, something awful happened. First, he swings and strikes, and the shock of it seems to freeze him, to end the effortless grace that had gotten him this far, and the next two strikes fly by untried for. Years later, an older, sadder Jet would pack up his old playing cards and other memorabilia and join the graying ex-athletes at the succession of collector shows held in conventions across the country, where he’d haggle with dads who’d try to bargain down his prices.

J.J. Hebert’s inspirational sports-themed novel, The Backwards K, follows the efforts of aging baseball great, Jet Brine, as he tries to get past that awful defining moment of his baseball career and reclaim his life. Hebert’s story examines the concepts of forgiving oneself for the past and finding the courage to start fresh and new. Jet’s first real job as data entry clerk will feel remarkably true to life to most readers who’ve ever worked in a company setting, and his interactions with his coworkers and peers feel authentic and real. Hebert also addresses addictions and the havoc they can wreak on good people’s lives, and the difference that having a support structure can make when trying to change addictive behavior. In Jet’s case, it’s gambling that calls out in a siren song whenever things get bad, and the relationship between him and his sponsor, Boone, as they work to conquer that addiction is a marvelous thing to read. The Backwards K is an uplifting and inspiring tale that is most highly recommended.

Reviewed By Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite

A man who has lost everything — his job, his wife and daughter — gets the one chance to redeem himself, to save a person’s life. In The Chosen Ones by Lisa Luciano, Brody gets fired from his job as a reporter and his wife leaves him. The sports editor of the newspaper gets an anonymous voicemail which claims that one of the top male skaters will be dead before the end of the Winter Olympics. The editor asks Brody to go undercover as a trainer to uncover the source of the plot. Brody knows a life hangs in the balance and time is ticking by, every minute, every day, drawing towards the end, but does he have what it takes to save a life or will he live with the guilt of not having tried hard enough?

I am not a fan of skating, but the reader gets the impression that the author did good research on the topic, allowing readers to have a detailed glimpse of what happens in big sporting competitions — the greed, the corruption, and the racism. The characters are emotionally rich and convincing. I loved the psychological depth of the protagonist, a broken man struggling to find important answers to save a life. The writing is atmospheric and the setting is vividly captured in engaging prose. Lisa Luciano uses suspense to get readers turning the pages, wondering who can possibly be the victim and who is the killer. It’s a story with a powerful premise, a strong conflict, and a gripping plot. The Chosen Ones is a good read.

Reviewed By Scott Cahan for Readers' Favorite

And My Father Was There by Noah McCaffrey is a fictional story that is built around a true baseball legend. The main character is a young man named Laird Young the third. He is the son of a former baseball player/former soldier from World War One. As the story begins, Laird is bitter toward his father for going off to war when Laird was only three years old and then coming home badly wounded and unable to interact with him for the past 20 years. A special gift from Laird’s Mom sets him on a journey of personal discovery that will lead Laird in many unexpected directions.

And My Father Was There is about several very important themes. It’s about the history of professional baseball during the early part of the twentieth century. It also gives us a painful look at the devastating effects a war can have on a soldier and his family. Although both of those themes are played out beautifully throughout the story, they are not the main theme that brings this book to life. And My Father Was There is first and foremost a vivid picture of an imperfect but happy American family during the 1940s. This book is a slice of Americana that gave me a glimpse back in time and made me wish I was there.

McCaffrey’s characters are all colorful and relatable. His plot moved slowly, just as a character-driven story should, but it was still full of enough twists and turns so that I found it difficult to put down at times. And My Father Was There will have you laughing and crying and reading with wide eyes to see what will happen next to the loveable characters of this all-American portrait. I enjoyed it very much and I’m not even a baseball fan. At least I wasn't before. Now I find myself wanting to learn more about the early days of baseball. Great book.