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 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 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.

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 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 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 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 Samantha Dewitt (Rivera) for Readers' Favorite

For Tatsuyama, the sport of sumo is all that he wants and all that he knows, but the world out there is changing fast. When he is approached by men who want to turn the sport around and allow betting to begin in earnest, he thinks nothing of it, at least, not until the rest of his life starts to come crashing down as well. Before he knows it, Tatsuyama is in a race to not only get his career back, but his very life as well, and he’ll have to use a variety of new allies in order to get where he wants to be ... if it’s at all possible in Sumotori by G.P. Hutchinson.

This book was definitely an adventure story and one where you never knew what was going to happen next. Each of the characters was very deep and seemed to be really believable. You felt like you were drawn into the story from the start, and with a plot that was different from what you’ll find anywhere else. This is a unique storyline and it’s something that you’ll want to check out for yourself. It has a lot of adventure and thrilling scenes with just enough of the romance and camaraderie to tie it all together. With Tatsuyama, Naoko, Shiori and Detective Kobayashi, you’re going to want to immerse yourself in the story, and with the author's writing style you’re not going to have a problem with that. Sumotori is a great book that I will recommend.

Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

The Hook by Kathleen Doler is aptly subtitled: Surfing to Survive a Shattered Family, Drugs, Gangs and the FBI. Set in an idyllic surfing town, this book explores the depth of kinship, crime, and justice, while looking at how far a woman can go to keep her brother out of trouble. As teenagers, Shane and Dana developed an incredible bond while surfing. One has the impression that they grew up in water. Now an adult, Shane has a run-in with a ruthless drug lord who is after him, and the FBI has developed a special interest in him. Dana wants to help her brother and, as she explores the issue, she has to come face-to-face with her brother’s illegal ties to a gang and get embroiled in a war she never asked for.

Everything about this book compels the reader to read on. It includes surfing jargon that will help readers who are not used to surfing understand the experience better. The writing leaps majestically off the pages like irresistible music and begs to be read. The story itself is awesome, with just enough backstory to deepen characterization, intense action, and incredible surfing experiences. Kathleen Doler is a very gifted writer with exceptional skills in prose, plot, and setting. Few writers succeed in making the geography within which the story evolves come clearly to life as this writer does. The plot is indeed the very definition of the hook. I was hooked from the beginning by the plot lines and couldn’t stop reading as each chapter read like a promise of more incredible action to follow. The Hook is, indeed, a satisfactory read.