“This is a powerful story of grief, love, forgiveness, and holy mystery, and I loved it. Billy Coffey is a master storyteller.” —Lauren Denton, USA Today bestselling author of The HideawayOwen Cross grew up with two loves: one a game, the other a girl. One of his loves ruined him. Now he’s counting on the other to save him.Owen Cross’s father is a hard man, proud in his brokenness, who wants … father is a hard man, proud in his brokenness, who wants nothing more than for Owen to succeed where he failed. With his innate talents and his father’s firm hand guiding him, Owen goes to college with dreams of the major leagues—and an emptiness full of a girl named Micky Dullahan.
Owen loved Micky from the first time they met on the hill between their two worlds: his middle-class home and her troubled Shantytown. Years later he leaves her for the dugouts and the autographs, but their days together follow him. When he finally returns home, he discovers that even peace comes at a cost. And that the hardest things to say are to the ones we love the most.
From bestselling author Billy Coffey comes a haunting story of small-town love, blinding ambition, and the risk of giving it all for one last chance.
“In one evening, a single baseball game, Coffey invites us into a lifetime. With lyrical prose and aching description we join Owen Cross on a journey of love, loss, faith, the unexpected—and America’s favorite pastime.” —Katherine Reay, author of Dear Mr. Knightley and The Austen Escape
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I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild, I was not required to give a favorable review. I found this book very thought out. It was a story that made you think about human nature. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great story.
Sometimes I have a problem following the author’s stories like this one. I couldn’t figure out at first what the book was about. I continued to read and suddenly it clicked. The author has a way of getting your attention in subtle ways. He is definitely a storyteller that weaves emotional characters into your heart.
Shantytown is a place no one wants to be from or even visit. It’s where the poor reside or people from the wrong side of the tracks as we use to say. There is a girl named Micky that lives there. She is a pretty special girl to Owen. I found it interesting that their relationship had to be a secret. Looks like some people just don’t accept everyone no matter where they come from. Their relationship was a bit complex and at times I wanted to just give up on them.
I liked the baseball references and knew that Owen was destined for big things.I didn’t care for his parents much. They remind me of people who go to church to be seen and love to criticize everyone. They had an attitude of being so religious I wanted to scream. The author confuses me at times when he jumps from one time period to another. Owen wants to be in the big league with the pros and the book centers around how to achieve his dream. The story does have some redeeming qualities that make the book worth reading. One thing I could relate to was trying to get approval from a parent. It is never easy when the parent has their eyes set on what they want you to become. I’ve learned over the years that I don’t need approval from anyone to be happy. I encourage readers to give this book a try. It will remind you that we all come from different backgrounds, but we are all equal
I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild. The review is my own opinion.
Really enjoyed reading this one. Couldn’t hardly put it down.
3.5
. . . .faith comes hardest for those who have much to lose.”
Folks in Shantytown had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Isolated from the fine, upstanding citizens of Camden, Virginia, they eked out an existence on the fringes of life in general. Except for Michaela Constance Dullahan, daughter of the meanest drunk in Camden; Micky dared to become herself; befriending a newcomer, Owen Cross, and falling in love with friendship.
Owen Cross has been raised up as a baseball player, and for good reason, he is extremely talented. His father has made sure that Owen’s life goal is to play at the highest level, having had his own ball career cut short by a debilitating shoulder injury. Besides baseball, there is nothing in Owen’s life worth more than Micky Dullahan. Their secret rendezvous on top of the hill between their homes, sharing their innermost thoughts and dreams, is a lifeline for both of them.
Sadly, everything changes on the night of their senior prom, when life and death pass before their very eyes, leaving Michaela with a pure sense of her own destiny, while Owen continues to wish that what he thought was worth everything, was at least worth something.
The context of this story is brilliant, the author using baseball as a means of delivering his own sermon about life. The weakness lies in the sheer volume of his musings, so much so that it may leave readers scratching their heads, wondering what they have just read. Crystal clear however, is the deep desire within all of us to claim a “love everlasting”, illustrated so beautifully in the somewhat tragic characters of Michaela and Owen.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions stated are entirely my own.
I’m not a baseball fan, but this book made you feel like you were in the midst of the game inside Owen’s head as he reflects on regrets of the past and a girl from his past. It captures life in a small southern town where the poorest can not cross the barriers to associate with other classes. Owen and Micky break that barrier on a hill, but the love of baseball, religion, poor choices, and unforeseen circumstances surrounded in mystery keep you reading to find the answers. I was very disappointed in the ending, as my questions weren’t answered, but I rated this four stars because of the poetic phrasing and the fact that I couldn’t put it down. This novel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but to experience the words written in beauty should be experienced. The family dynamics aren’t idealistic, but are raw, gritty, and real.
I received a complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson & Zondervan Fiction Guild. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required.
Favorite Quotes:
The house looked wrong somehow, on some deeper level. Like sadness had distorted it as despair can a person. It spoke of a life beyond mere want, worse than disease. Shantytown was like a bruise on an apple that reached all the way to the core.
She offered a smile that reminded me of a bright ribbon tied to a broken gift.
The value in spending most of your Sunday morning having to sit still and listen to the most boring person you have ever known go on about your own badness was always lost to me.
A siren called in the distance. Horns blaring. It sounded as though every law enforcement officer in four counties was on its way, even though it was but one old Crown Vic traveling a little over two blocks from the sheriff’s office. Clancy stopped the car at an angle to the sidewalk. He parted the crowd like Moses, calling each man and woman he passed by name.
So much of my childhood was spent in such dreaming. The past was unchangeable, better forgotten, the present often boring toil. Yet my tomorrows shone like lights on some far hill, offering me guidance and direction.
You never know what to do when a parent dies. Doesn’t matter how old you are, you feel four years old again and lost inside some huge department store where bright lights shine in your eyes and everywhere are strangers that look like they’re one bad choice away from grabbing you.
My Review:
This was a challenging read for me for many reasons, and I adored and begrudged it in equal measure. I remain conflicted even now while writing this review and am struggling in how to rate and classify this genre-straddling story as there were interesting and original elements of so many to chose from; Sports, Coming of Age, Small-Town, Southern, Christian, Fantasy, Paranormal, YA, Romance, and Contemporary and Literary Fiction.
The wisdom, dialogue, and inner musings were often comprised of the peculiar and compromised grammar of the Appalachians and required additional thought to fully absorb, however it was more than worth the effort. Having been reared also in the South but further west by overly rigid and strict Bible banging hypocrites who forced me through the church doors every time they opened, I generally eschew Christian religious themes as narrow-mindedness greatly annoys me, and this proved to be more than a bit of a problem for me as I read. However, the unusual twists to this story kept me reading despite my bias as the petty and small-minded tendencies were well affirmed and part of the tale.
There was a highly skilled, well-crafted, and pervasive heaviness or emotive heft to Owen’s narrative that continually squeezed my heart as if his recounting of events was actually a heartfelt confessional of his regrets, anguish, and childhood discomfitures. Mr. Coffey’s unique and cunning writing style was new to me and while I found some of his story threads tediously repetitive, I also found myself frequently struck by hot licks of brilliance, thoughtful and deeply moving insights, and a poignancy that stung my eyes and constricted my throat. There were five pages of favorite passages and saved quotes on my Kindle once I finished. All in all, it was oddly, unevenly, and annoyingly luminous.