Steal Away Home ~ Review

Steal Away Home
By Billy Coffey

Steal Away Home takes place during Owen Cross's first Major League game. It's just a one-game stop before returning to the minors. But this will be a game that he will never forget, one that is filled with the ghosts of the past - the dreams, the memories, and the regrets. The date is June 5, 2001, and the place is Yankee Stadium and it is the culmination of Owen's life's work and the fulfillment of his father's dreams.

Memories of his friendship with Micky Dullahan keep filling his thoughts as the day and game progress.  Mickey, was a nothin' in the eyes of Camden, called Shantytown home. Her friendship with Owen and Micky was a secret kept from Camden and their fathers. And it was the one thing that could have kept Owen from following his father's dream of a career in the majors.

But the Summer of 1990 changed everything because Micky had an experience that no one ever expected to have. An encounter with God and one that drove a wedge between what was and what is. For 11 years Owen has been running from that summer and now he is facing what he gave up and left behind for a dream.

Steal Away Home is more than a baseball story or a story of first love. This is a story of everlasting, eternal love. A love that is above all others. A love that has to be accepted in order to experience it.

Now I will admit I had a bit of trouble getting into this book when I first started reading it. The back and forth between the present and the past at times got a bit confusing but once I got into the story the flow became easier. Some of the dialog has a definite Southern flavor to it so don't get thrown off by this as it adds an additional depth to it. Overall it is a fairly good story. I've read a few of Billy Coffey's work in the past and this is the best of his work in my opinion.

Fans of baseball will enjoy this book and its weaving of an actual game in with the fictionalized portions. With baseball season soon to be upon us pick this one up and stay for all nine innings.

I was provided with a review copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers with no expectations of a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

About the Book:

Owen 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 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.