Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for an author new to me, Mike DeLucia, but one I’ll be reading every book of from now on >>>

About the Book:

What do a 4 foot 5 inch eccentric billionaire, a Japanese karate master, and a rogue Hall of Fame pitcher have in common? They create the greatest baseball player of all time … And her name is Ryan.

Multi-award-winning author Mike DeLucia is back with new and exciting characters, and a story about the pursuit of dreams, love, betrayal, and how choices drive our life’s journey.

Phineas Stone’s life as a dwarf and a product of the foster-care system mold his dogged determination to rise above his meager circumstances and build a financial empire. But even his magnificent wealth and influence cannot buy his lifelong dream of playing baseball for his beloved Los Angeles Greyhounds.

Together with Rollie Rollins, a former Major League knuckleballer with a penchant for mischief, and his longtime friend, Ito Hachi, Phineas effects a brilliant, yet unorthodox plan of creating an elite athlete under a veil of secrecy and pretense.

The characters in this story are driven by their dreams, but ultimately realize that chasing them brings with it the possibilities of both rapture or insufferable tragedy.

My Review:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A wonderful read!

I’ve never read this author before, and I’ll be sure to take a look at his other books. I enjoyed Born for the Game immensely.

“A speeding red Ferrari weaves recklessly around moving cars on a Los Angeles freeway at dawn.” … from this attention-grabbing opening line, the reader is taken back and forth in time to a handful of characters, who over the course of nineteen years, make history.

This book is so much more than sports fiction, and it is writing at some of its best. I don’t know the game of baseball, but that made no difference whatsoever to my enjoyment of this read. The author did a superb job of pulling me in to the tension and excitement and offered enough context that I never felt like a lost novice. Indeed, I was even able to follow along for the vast majority of the game scenes.

The world building, scene setting, and characterisation were all written excellently, and it made no difference if we were in the head of a rich or poor American, or a Japanese master of martial arts … they all felt real and alive. The chapters are short and concise and contain everything a scene should deliver. Some great issues and questions are raised in this fabulous short read. Things like free will, greed and jealousy, choosing how we react to things we cannot change, what forgiveness actually means, and the power of intelligent perseverance, commitment, and focus in order to achieve one’s goals and dreams.

Born for the Game by Mike DeLucia gets a resounding, foot-pounding, fist-pumping five stars from me. I wish the rating system would let me give it give it more! If not for having to pay dear hubby a teensy bit of attention (wink, wink), I would have read this amazing book in one sitting. Go and grab your copy now!

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NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …

UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/

US … https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/