I love to read anything from this author, he always challenges, me surprises me and I leave the pages of his novels with enriched thinking and feelings.
But, unfortunately - while still intelligent, this is the weakest novel I have ever read from Mr Coffey. Maybe because I am not a sports fan, but this story of a man driven by his passions and haunted by the lost of something true was not that challenging, this is not a new story or a story with a new angle.
But as a story of a man in a need of redemption - yes, definitely a strong story. But not this magical, logic-twisting-yet-working, heartstrings tugging novel of a catharsis I am used to read from this author, I am sorry to say.

Tried to finish it many times but just could not get into it. I didn’t realize this book was a faith based one (I’ll pay better attention next time) and I am not really interested in that.

Oh goodness. Here we go.

Steal Away Home is a coming of age story mixed with reflection, and I guess you can say a pinch of faith?

The overall atmosphere through the first half of the book is reflective and melancholy. The reader knows something has happened to Micky, but not exactly what. The story is told with two timelines, the past (how Micky and Owen meet and fall in love) and the present (Owen playing at his first MLB game). This was my favorite part of the book. I felt as in a haze of someone who lost a loved one at a young age and never recovered, remembering how it started and struggling to live afterwards. It would have been a solid 5 starts from me.

But the second half of the book sends it off the rails (literally). A near death experience changes the way Micky views the world. Owen, also present for the NDE, struggles to understand this new Micky and her outlook on life. All the plans he had are crushed with Micky refusing to leave their town of Camden.

Micky's new outlook on life really failed this book. There were so many other outcomes my brain created to why Micky wasn't with Owen, but a crazy 'religious cult' was not one of them. It really ruined the whole reading experience for me.

[Book Review] 3 stars.
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Billy Coffey writes like few others. There's a marvellous lyricism to the flow of his words. This style appears again in #StealAwayHome but I just didn't resonate with this book like I did with #InTheHeartOfTheDarkWood.
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While this book was not my "thing", it is going to appeal to many others. I'll also be back for more from Billy.
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Thanks to @netgalley & @thomasnelson for providing a free arc in return for a review. P.S. I'm sorry this is so late.

I really wanted to get into this book but it just was not for me. it started off slow and was hard for me to get into. i was able to read about 3/4 of it before putting it down. i will try to get back into it another time.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

I have to admit, it was a bit hard for me, as a woman, European woman, without much prior knowledge of the rules of baseball (or interest for it, to be completely honest), to follow the story line about the sports career of the male protagonist. I really don't find that part of the book very interesting, but I am aware that's just my personal opinion. The social part of the book, the differences between rich and poor, destinies depending on the origin of the individual, the psychology of the mass seduced by religion... all of that was much more interesting for me as a reader.

Although the book is not the best I've read lately, it was still well worth the investment and also quite interesting.
One of the things I would gladly change is certainly the ending which seems inconsistent with the rest of the book and leaves the impression that it was designed and written in a hurry to meet the deadline.

I love baseball so I was excited to read this book.
Unfortunately, I could not get into this story. I gave up 25% in.

My e-reader was out of commission and I was unable to finish this title, and many others. I cannot provide an honest review for this title.

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.

I wish I enjoyed this novel but I didn't.
I read about 40% of it and abandoned.
That cover though. It's so good!

Owen Cross is in NYC to be the backup catcher for the Orioles, his first (and possibly only) day as a major league player. As he prepares for and sits in the dugout for the game against the Yankees he thinks about all that has happened to bring him here including the life-changing spring and summer of/after his senior year of high school.

I enjoyed the way the story was broken up into the present day game's innings. It is a nice summer read that reminds us of our need for a love that will never fail us.

Over the course of a single baseball game, Billy Coffey shares a story that connects past and present, first love, baseball, and a bit of magical realism. Steal Away Home is compelling and atmospheric, as engaging and charming as Coffey’s previous novels, and it’s a story I will not soon forget. I loved getting to know Owen Cross, his experience and history, and Coffey tells his story so beautifully. It was hard to put down. I enjoyed reading every page, highly recommend it to fans of the author, and look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

this book wasn't for me, but that doesn't mean that someone else may not love it. This book was just hard for me to get into, The way the book was formatted was hard for me to follow. I also think that the author had a lot of things going on in the book with for me to away from the story. For instance, the author focused on a story that has to do with coming of age, love, baseball and religion. in my opinion it would of been better for the story if the author had only focused on one or two things instead of overwhelming the story with too many subjects.

This was not the book for me. Although the plot sounded interesting, once I got into it, the story was slow and boring, the characters lacking any qualities that made them relatable to me.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

All i can say is that I grew up loving and playing baseball. In fact, baseball was my god. I wanted to be a major league baseball player. What is unique, is that at the age of 10 I had this "moment" where I told my mom, "after I play baseball I want to be a preacher." It was an emotional decision because it was right after a revival speaker and I didn't fully understand what I was saying, but I remember that moment. Well, funny story is I played baseball as long as I could, and after I played baseball, I felt called into the ministry. So reading this book was like reading a glimpse of my past while having a different twist on it with his story. I laughed a couple of times thinking if I was a good writer, this is probably how I would have written the story based off of what I experienced as a young man. I love the Coffrey is using story to get people to Jesus. I love that people recognize their gifts and use them to increase God's Kingdom. I work on sermons and I love reading, but every once in a while I just need a different type of reading and so I will pick up a fiction and spend a few days reading it just to change up the pace and I was so glad to have done so with this book,. Thank you.

I could deal with the baseball, you know? I know zilch about the sport, but reading about it was a lot more enjoyable than I had expected, even if I didn’t understand most of what was going on. When the book was just a beautifully-written tale about a young man being torn between the two great loves of his life - his childhood girlfriend and the sport - I could go along with it quite happily… even if I was mentally routing for the guy to pick baseball because, let’s be honest, teenaged relationships don’t last. But, when Steal Away Home suddenly veered towards religion, my enjoyment of the novel plummeted.
I am an atheist. Always have been and always will be. And don’t get me wrong, a vaguely religious undertone to a novel is something that I can quite happily get on board with, but when it’s this heavy-handed? Hell no.
Owen’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl girlfriend was annoying from the very first page. I mean, her accent made my teeth grind together and her characterisation was frankly little more than two-dimensional. But when she experienced a near-death experience and became a religious messiah? I have never rolled my eyes so hard and I had to draw the line, as anyone marching around town claiming to be the second coming of Jesus would surely be tested for schizophrenia if this book was reality.
Honestly, it got a little too cultish, a little too hysterical and Owen’s girlfriend, Michaela, turned a little too much into a character akin to Ophelia for me to get any true enjoyment from this book as it reached its close. So yeah, I loved the writing and where this book started, but not at all where it ended up and frankly, my rating dropped star-by-star as Steal Away Home zigzagged towards its abysmal conclusion.

I'm a big Billy Coffey fan. His fiction books grab you at the beginning, and the characters become your friends. When I first learned of this one about a seasoned baseball player who was getting his one chance in the bigs, I couldn't get a copy fast enough. There's romance, family dynamics, baseball memories and all in all, several great storylines in this book. I couldn't have liked it more.

I just couldn't get through unfortunately. I tried.. I forced myself to read it, but it was not for me. All the terminology of baseball was unknown for me and the story was really hard to follow.
There were also a lit of flashbacks and those were really confusing.
I didn't like the writing style as well. I really hated it when Micky talked and the accent she had.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my candid opinion.

I like this book. I enjoyed this book. I felt compelled to find the resolution to the two stories that were going on. I liked the characters. But, I struggled with the ultimate message of having to give up everthing else in your life for God. That does not match my beliefs. I believe that you reach God by living your everyday life as he would want it.

Having said that, I thought the book very well written, suspenseful, and good to read.