Diamond Ring by KD Casey

So, I finally got around to picking this up, after having it only shelf for more than a year. I really wanted a book that would bring on the angst and pining and romance, and I knew KD Casey wouldn’t let me down.

Diamond Ring is the story of Alex and Jake, who first meet after both being called up to play for the major leagues as little baby baseball players (ie. 21, 22, something like that). They become friends and then they become lovers and then they fall out. This story really begins 10 years later when they’re both called back to play for the same baseball team, and are forced to reevaluate old grudges in light of who they each are now.

This was perfectly what I wanted to read, exactly when I wanted to read it. Reading that book that just hits so right is a balm for my ragged and weary soul. The angst between Jake and Alex as they’re both still pining for each other but also angry at each other and unsure how to deal with it, it’s so perfect and lovely and wonderful. Jake and Alex’s character arcs are both great, the side characters are really good too. And the play-by-play baseball scenes are so well written. I scrape by with only the most basic of baseball knowledge, but KD Casey goes super hard into baseball stats and plays and strategies, so like, if you’re really into baseball, I can’t recommend this entire series highly enough.

That being said, my one qualm with this book is just that I don’t care much for the way the book is laid out. The first 30% is essentially a prologue, where we see Alex and Jake meet and become friends and then lovers and then fall out. My problem here being that there are weird jumps in time in this first 30%. I wish this 30% of the book had either been interspersed through the book (like, in Unwritten Rules), or just dropped entirely and referenced as needed throughout.

All in all, I really enjoyed it, but I think the book really hits its strongest stride after the first 30%, and really gets going then.

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for a copy of this ebook (a year ago, I’m sorry) in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyed this sports romance and that the genre as a whole is getting more queer representation. The OCD rep was also thoughtfully written.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I attempted to listen to this book, and it felt too corny and unrealistic to continue.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I loved this book so much. I adored both MCs, Jake and Alex, and loved how this story spanned an entire decade so readers can watch them grow and change. There are so many important things represented in this book- not just homosexuality in sports, but Jewish representation, OCD and mental health treatment. I thought both MCs were well written and formed.

The chemistry in this book is fantastic! Even when they don't realize it's the other person, there is a spark between them. It jumps off the page.

Some people might not enjoy the amount of actual baseball descriptions in this book, but I felt like it added to the character development, especially for Jake. But, just be warned that there is legitimately a lot of baseball talk in this book.

This book is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are some sad / darker parts to it. BUT, at the end I was basically just a giant puddle of love with heart eyes. Their HEA made me happy, too. If you're looking for an M/M story or a new sports romance, definitely check this one out!

I am OBSESSED with this series! Each book gets better and better and this was no exception. I could live in this world forever and be happy

*SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!*

Who knew that I would enjoy baseball romance so much, seeing as I find the game itself quite boring.

I really enjoyed this third book in the series. I really liked both characters, Alex and Jake, and I really liked both of their arcs over the course of the book. I was a bit surprised by the 10 year time jump, but I thought the author did a good job of filling that time in, so that I wasn't left in the lurch.

I really liked what a complex character Jake is, I thought Casey did a really good job of weaving mental health struggles in with the stress and superstition associated with most sports (though it seems to me that baseball is especially superstitious). How many of those superstitions are just that and how many are small glimpses of OCD? I think that within sports it's really easy to not see the OCD coming through, because of all the superstitions. When I was playing hockey I wasn't putting on my left skate and then my right because I thought that if I didn't we wouldn't win or something, I was doing it because that's how I put my skates on and to do it right and then left would feel really, really wrong. But I'm sure there are lots of folks I played with who put their gear on in a certain order because that's what they did this one time and they got a hattrick, so they're going to keep doing it, in hopes of getting another one. So, again, I just really appreciated how Jake's OCD was written, it felt very true and real, and I haven't actually read many books that have characters with OCD in them.

The pining in the first part of the book was a bit much for me, as it's not my favourite thing. I really like just being honest and talking, but thankfully we got through it, and it was fine.

Really enjoyed this one, looking forward to any more that KD Casey wants to write, I will devour them, baseball or not.

“Alex loves me, and I love him.”
If only love were just that simple. That easy. Like pitching and catching. Catch and release. In Diamond Ring, the culminating book in K.D. Casey’s Unwritten Rules sports romance series, Casey certainly makes it feel that way, with her masterful writing and effortless storytelling of a deceptively straightforward love story. But don’t be fooled. Diamond Ring digs deep into the hearts and minds of up-and-coming MLB pitcher Jake Fischer and MLB catcher Alex Angelides, to tell the story of these two best friends and teammates falling in love and then falling apart.

If you enjoy the second chance romance trope, Diamond Ring delivers everything you want, crave even, but in a wholly unexpected, devastatingly beautiful way. Casey tells us about baseball, about falling in love as a non-straight man in a traditionally homophobic sport, and in the most forbidden way – with a teammate. She tells it from the inside. Not the inside scoop. Inside. In their heads, hearts, bodies, and souls. The story lives within Jake and Alex, and Casey doesn’t glorify or create melodrama. She’s subtle, exquisitely careful, and thoughtful. We get clever turns of phrase and seemingly straightforward storytelling that is anything but. Casey’s the pied piper, and we go where she takes us, leaving the breadcrumbs for us to follow, but leaving our minds to fill in the gaps and draw its own conclusions.

Sports romances typically turn on secret relationships and coming out. While that’s an aspect of Diamond Ring, it’s secondary to the real story: two broken men hoping for another chance at glory after fate cruelly snatched it away. Jake and Alex, a pitcher and catcher in love, are successful as a couple because they know each other and understand each other. And yet their scars breed insecurities. Their excellent communication skills and ability to intuit the other’s thoughts and feelings make them strong as a pair on the baseball diamond, but those skills break down on a personal level under the strain of grief.

A decade of separation due to stubbornness. A misunderstanding neither is willing to acknowledge or forgive. We feel the pain of their separation as acutely as they do. But Casey hits us where it hurts most with her portrayal of Jake. It’s a careful, considered picture of a star in the making cruelly sidelined by injury. It turns hope and promise into disappointment and frustration – a feeling of failure that compounds Jake’s mental challenges. Jake constant battles to not to give in, to push through the feeling of imminent doom constantly buzzing in his head – the voice that says he is one pitch, one breath, one mistake from having it all taken away again.

In Diamond Ring, Casey gives a master class in writing with Jake and Alex’s complicated, multi-layered love story. It kept my rapt attention and left me with an awful book hangover – strong feelings that ironically stem from a nuanced, understated story, but that’s because Casey packs it with tons of meaning and emotion.

Casey’s baseball knowledge is evident in every word of Diamond Ring. The story is rich in detail, both factual and emotional. Jake and Alex’s entire journey is metaphorically tied to that eponymous diamond. It’s as messy as the dirt on the pitcher’s mound and as impactful as Jake’s fastball in his heyday. Yet Casey never makes you feel like you’re reading sports. Rather, you’re reading about love in the real world, full of real challenges and real setbacks, but also with real rewards that ultimately support Jake and Alex as real partners on and off the field.

Diamond Ring is everything you didn’t know you needed in a sports romance. It’s brilliant, unique, captivating, and unforgettable – shining like a precious gem, as rare as the sublime writing within its covers, and as coveted as the love Jake and Alex share. Diamond Ring is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and one of the best sports romances I’ve ever read. You don’t need to have read the previous books in this series to enjoy this exceptional sports romance, although I highly encourage you to also read one of my best of 2022 books, the second series book, Fire Season.

Pride Month 2023 Book #10: 3 stars.

Traditionally, I haven't read a lot of MM romance books, and since I'm not a sports guy, sports-themed MM romances are an even rarer read for me. With all that in mind, I enjoyed this book pretty well; a 3-star rating from me means the book was a solid and worthwhile read. The two main characters, baseball players Jake Fischer and Alex Angelides, were well-written and engaging. What I liked most about the book, though, was its frank discussions about the former character's mental health struggles, including OCD and anxiety. There are more and more books that include these themes, but they can sometimes feel like they've been added to create more ballast, whereas here, the author made these issues feel important to the story but not inauthentic or unnecessary. In other words, they rounded out the characters involved and added real weight to their stories. Recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author and publisher for a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love this book- and KD Casey. It's funny, it's sad, it has family stuff and angst. Great mental health stuff, which is hard to put on page. I also really appreciate the pining. This is a great read, highly recommend.

First up is KD Casey’s home run of a romance, DIAMOND RING (Carina Press, e-book, $4.99). Alex Angelides and Jake Fischer are ex-teammates and ex-lovers; they found each other and lost a championship, and now they’re playing together again at the tattered end of their careers, hoping for one last chance at anything.

Michael Chabon once called baseball “nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day.” That’s the Y.A. version; Casey’s book offers the wearier adult perspective: “Some things you can’t fight. Like time or baseball.” In the blink of a reader’s eye, our leads go from fresh-faced rookies to creaky veterans, and fresh fights become long-cherished grudges.

It knocked the wind out of me. Time is the enemy here, a thief who roughs you up and then jams its hands in your pockets to steal your valuables: youth, strength, achievement. But a romance anticipates its own triumph. In this genre, no matter how much our leads have lost, there’s always something wonderful ahead.

I struggled to get into the first book in this series, but knew it was likely me, and not the author, so wanted to grab this one. I wasn't disappointed this time.

Alex is a major league catcher, looking for a second chance. Jake, his ex, has been bounced around the minors following an elbow injury, looking to restart his career.

Now they’re both back, 10 years later, trying to mend the rift and the error that cost them the Fall Classic. Neither wants to be playing together again, but that's the way the majors works.

This book is all about second chances, in both life and love. The MC's have a good connection that shows they once were very much in love.

The book is well written, with some funny moments, but very heartfelt. It definitely hit home for me more on this one than the first. Another good job on the baseball descriptions.

Diamond Ring tells a story in two parts; two rookie seasons and ten years later. Like the other books in Casey's Unwritten Rules series, it weaves the glory, pain, and monotony of major league baseball with intensity and trials of relationships. Jake and Alex are two brilliantly crafted characters — they have distinct voices and mindsets, and it comes through so clearly in the narrative. The way they approach their early careers is so different, as is how they each dealt with how their later careers ended up. It's devastating and real, and that makes the good things even brighter.

A narrative with a large time skip isn't always successful, but Casey does it perfectly. You need the blank space of all the years between them to understand how far they've come what it took Jake and Alex to come back to each other. And like a lot of baseball games, it is a slog for them to get to where they need to be with each other. It could be frustrating, but it mostly just feels true, in how they stop holding themselves back an inch at a time.

Aside from a gorgeous story on its own, it's also really beautiful cap on all the other relationships from the series. I don't know if this is meant to be the final book of this series, but it felt like a very sweet and tidy end to the struggles of everyone we meet. The whole thing could not have been better.

Baseball is not a sport I grew up with. It's not very popular where I live, but I've watched it when I was visiting the States, even went to a baseball game one time to have the experience. I'm not very familiar with the rules, or with how the game is tactically played. But I do love sports romance books and I love to read about baseball. There's just something about these men that I really seem to appreciate.

This is the third book in a series about baseball players, but it can easily be read as a stand alone.
This story is a second chance romance that spans 10 years, though the majority of the book is set in the present. And even though Jake and Alex sometimes frustrated me, I also understood where they were coming from, that they needed time and space to grow and accept that life had different ideas about their futures. They needed time to accept that they had always been inevitable, but that it came at a certain price. Accepting the loss of a life anticipated, a glamorous life in the spotlights of baseball that appeared to not be in the cards, which was against every dream, every expectation. Learning to live with that and accepting is not an easy thing to do, and KD Casey gave us all the feelings and desperation that came with that. The story is written in a beautifully, modest way - no over the top drama. It's quiet, yet it gave me all the feelings. I admire that about this author's writing style.

I loved to be a witness to Jake and Alex's journey together, and without each other. Growing towards that acceptance that they were meant to be. They set their doubts aside, went after what they needed and what made them feel good. I loved how understanding and patient Alex was with Jake, and how Jake eventually learned to trust Alex's and his own feelings.

I love this series and even though Zack and Eugenio from book 1 still hold a piece of my heart, Alex and Jake have become really close to being my favorite couple!

With it being a sports romance about male professional athletes falling in love, of course this book touches upon the subject of homosexuality in sports and the risks of coming out. Okay, more than touches upon it, as we see more of the characters from previous books, especially their official announcements. But the other main topic, in my opinion, is how Jake deals with his mental health problems.

We meet first with Jake and Alex when they come to play for the Elephants. They’re young, ambitious, and life is supposed to be good to them, even when they crave each other but need to hide their feelings. Alex has long accepted who he is, and lives comfortably with himself. It’s the exact opposite for Jake: he has a supportive family, and a promising future, but he hides his struggles behind a facade of smiles and confidence. Only Alex seems to get him. So they become friends, though they both want more. And then, they lose big. Jake is injured, he fights with Alex, and then it’s all downhill from there for him.

Fast forward ten years. They’re both called back to be on the Elephants’ roster and get another chance. Literally. A chance at winning, and a chance at love.

Young Jake mostly ignores his problems, but it isn’t that hard since he’s successful. Older Jake has lived through deceptions and unstability, and despite seeing a therapist and being on medication, he struggles big time. His career isn’t what it should have been, and his love life is basically non existent, and not just because the men he dates aren’t Alex. His treatment affects his performances in bed. A surprising element, for sure, and I loved how the author dealt with it. Jake’s dysfunction doesn’t magically disappear, and it doesn’t keep him from enjoying intimacy with Alex.

Jake is also the Jewish character in this book–Jewish representation is an important element in this series. It felt a bit weird, in my opinion, to spend so much time in Alex’s head when, really, this book is Jake’s story. Yet that doesn’t mean that nothing happens to Alex. Mostly he’s a catcher at the end of his career, starting to think about the next part of his life.

Again, there’s a lot of baseball talk. Detailed depiction of games, strategy, behind the scene moments, the good and bad of such a career… I’ve never watched a game, am not really interested in it, yet I love that kind of detail.

Be warned that, though there’s a happily ever after, the general mood of the book is quite sad and angsty. My kind of thing.

Quickie

- Series: Unwritten rules #3 (can be read as a standalone)
- Hashtags: #MM romance #sports romance #baseball #friends to lovers #bisexual #jewish #mental health
- Triggers: mention of possible suicide, past death, sexual dysfunction
- Main couple: Jake Fischer & Alex Angelides
- Hotness: 4/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + I loved how the author writes Jake’s problems
- – with a little communication, they wouldn’t have spent 10 years apart

While I did enjoy it in the moment, I can’t recall anything that made it stand out against its predecessors in the series. Overall good but unremarkable.

I really liked how there’s a past and present to the story, but it doesn’t flip back and forth between them. The event that separated them seemed in a bit silly in that both characters kind of overreacted and weren’t very supportive to each other, but I suppose these things happen in your 20’s. They get it together in the end. :) I also enjoyed the mental health rep.

Thank you Carina Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a hard rating for me because I think that K.D. Casey is a fantastic writer, and not many people are writing baseball M/M romances, much less with such fantastic Jewish rep, but Diamond Ring had one too many issues for me to bump up my rating.

I don't mind hard-fought romances, but I have to feel like the two MCs are meant for each other, and I didn't quite feel that here. There was so much back and forth with these two and so many hurt feelings and so much time that I got a bit overwhelmed and tired of their story. I didn't think they had enough to sustain them as a couple, and for the length of the book, I didn't think their romance lived up to it.

Diamond Ring has a lot of similarities to K.D. Casey's previous stories. LOTS of baseball details (the author clearly knows their stuff), and lots of various types of Jewish rep (love that), so if those are your things, the book might work for you. I happened to have enjoyed both of the previous books in the series, but this one felt too similar to stand out but also not quite as engaging for me.

I also don't love time jumps and second chance romance books, so those didn't help. I think the author should condense the story and make the guys less... miserable? I hate to say it, but the book felt a little joyless.

I think I'll try another K.D. Casey book, but I'm hoping it's something a bit different and a bit more engaging.

K.D. Casey has one of the most immersive writing styles I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing, which is pretty much the ultimate gift for readers who click with this kind of storytelling and can disappear for the duration of the book. That's me. I can. I'm the winner here.⚾🏆✨

I felt Jake in my marrow, so I started choking up from around 38%, and then from there it progressed to a gnawing fluttering aching in my chest for the remainder of the book. I must have burst into tears about a hundred times for the least dramatic things, but every sentence cut deep. I was that dialed in. Because sometimes, it's the simple shit that tends to hit the hardest.

So what can I say about a baseball series I did not think I needed in my life, but which now feels like a sanctuary of sorts? Maybe just that right there is enough.

The Unwritten Rules series feels like a patiently unfolding, earth in your bones kind of character driven respite, compared to, say, the high octane MM hockey romances I typically read. I think this series is truly magical, highlighting family (what it is), roots (where you from/what you made of), conventional and non-conventional traditions (what's important/what level you on).

And because I always feel like I've emerged from somewhere deep after finishing one of Casey's books, it bears repeating that I feel like I'm the winner here for being gifted this experience, and I am beyond excited for whatever else is to come! 5⭐

Having read (and loved) Fire Season (the second book in the series), I really looked forward to the book, and in particular the author's skill in writing about baseball and some of its hard truths.

Rookie pitching phenom Jake Fischer and catcher Alex Angelides meet in their exhilarating first season where they make it to the Series, but things don't work out the way they'd hoped and planned. Jake's torn UCL means surgery with a 15-20% failure rate and 12 to 18 months of recovery. And a fight between Jake and Alex is the way they leave their fledging relationship.

10 years later ... Alex and Jake reunite for one more season, Jake hoping to make it through the season without getting cut. For Jake, it's a sobering view of what can never be - "to be ten years younger, with a good elbow, with the career he was supposed to have. A championship ring, a record-breaking contract. To stop feeling a hot wash of shame when his parents and friends ask him when he's going to settle down. To give up this stupid fucking dream and begin his actual life."

Where this book really works for me is in the way the author deconstructs the fairy tale, not only of a successful baseball career, but the relationship between Jake and Alex, which doesn't end right away with an unrealistic HEA. And Casey does not stint on how Jake works so hard to manages his mental health:

" ... his therapist asked why he thought he rearranged things when he was stressed. "I guess it's my way of controlling the stuff I can control," Jake said. Because that made it sound normal as a habit. Practically healthy. His therapist smiled, and nodded, and asked him when he felt out of control, casually enough that Jake's honest answer slipped out. "All the time."

KD Casey really brings their A game here as we get a complex story of success and struggle, sweat and heartache coupled with a sizzling connection between Alex and Jake that they finally get right. 5 stars.