How can you not be romantic about baseball?

Somehow, this lifelong baseball fan fell in love with the game all over again over the course of twenty eight chapters and an epilogue.

Jake and Alex have obvious chemistry from the minute they land on the page. Jake with his charismatic charm and megawatt smile, and Alex with his three word answers and sarcasm. Two rookies, called up together, getting their starts together, each with different career trajectories.

They grow close in a way that pitchers and catchers grow close; calling games, reviewing tapes, learning to trust in one another – and themselves. They grow close in other ways too, but neither one knows exactly what to say or how to say it, or if what’s there is *really*there.

When Jake goes down with Tommy John his career takes a path he never saw coming, and things with Alex are left on unstable footing. Ten long years stretch between them – wins and losses, trades and outright releases, and then fate – in the form of John Gordon – brings them back together again. Time hasn’t healed all wounds with these two, but perhaps the game of baseball might.

Alex and Jake have to learn to trust each other again – with more than just calling and throwing pitches. They have to learn to trust each other with their hearts and heads and lives. After everything that went on between them, they once again find themselves beside each other in the clubhouse, living within minutes of each other, and frequenting the same hangouts…I won’t spoil anything, because their eventual reunion needs to be experienced for yourself.

Baseball is a game of heartbreak and hope, and Diamond Ring tells that story of heartbreak and hope in the form of a love story between a pitcher and a catcher navigating all the things that could go wrong – and in some cases, do. With cameos from Reid and Charlie, Zach and Eugenio, and a whole supporting cast of ballplayers I’ve come to know and love, Diamond Ring is an absolute home run.

This series is perfect. This book is perfect. It is everything I wanted, and everything I didn’t know to want. KD Casey writes with such joy and beauty and precision. This book, in a different but no less excellent way than their others, captures the joyful, exhausting, awe-inducing, fun, disappointing, and turbelent spirit of baseball and love. Every KD Casey book is a beauty to read, and this is no exception.

First and foremost I LOVED this book!!!! All the stars for so many reasons!

Second-chance romances are not my favorite trope, but KD Casey writes a book and I’ll read it!! I’m so glad I did!! Let me try to count the ways …

Both Alex and Jake felt like deeply realized, nuanced, three-dimensional characters in their own right, and their relationship then felt deeply realized, nuanced and three-dimensional

I loved following both of their journeys from young brash ball players to older, more mature but still flawed men and then finding each other within that journey

The emotional arc of their relationship was believable, painful and then SO SATISFYING.

The aspects of Jakes faith throughout was so important, wonderful and well done; as was the very real depictions of what anti depressants can mean to the person taking them.

Alex is just one of my favorite characters ever! I love him and his family and the way he was a solid player but not a star. It’s cool to read about the rest of the roster when so many MCs are the best and brightest

What I’m saying is run don’t walk to get this lastest! It might be my favorite from the series?! But who can tell they’re all great!

Mein Leseerlebnis

Der vorliegende Liebesroman hat mir insgesamt gut gefallen und nach Lesepausen haben ich mich je darauf gefreut, zu den Charakteren und zur Geschichte zurückzukehren.

Die Liebesgeschichte, die sich um zweite Chancen auf mehreren Ebene dreht - in der Liebe und im Spiel - ist intensiv und wird ruhig erzählt.

Man hat die Chance die interessanten Charaktere gut kennenzulernen und ich konnte sie mir ohne Probleme als echte Personen vorstellen. Ihre Liebesgeschichte hat mich berührt und ich habe mich am Ende gefreut, dass beide als Paar zuversichtlich in ihre gemeinsame Zukunft blicken.

Insgesamt wirkte das Buch fast schon etwas melancholisch auf mich. Es gibt nur wenige leichte, sehr lustige Szenen. Vor allem am Ende, als beide Hauptcharaktere zusammen ein großes Ziel erreicht haben, hätte ich mir etwas mehr Heiterkeit und Zeit zum ungetrübten Jubeln gewünscht. So wirkte dieser Moment und die Stimmung in ihm auf mich etwas gedämpft, was ich schade fand.

Ich bin eine Leserin, die am liebsten lockere und heitere Liebesromane liest, das hat “Diamond Ring” nur bedingt zu bieten. Gerne gelesen habe ich den Roman trotzdem.

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Für wen?

Wer ruhige Liebesromane um zweite Chancen mag, sollte sich den Roman auf jeden Fall mal näher anschauen und die Leseprobe checken.

I was so delighted to receive an advance copy of Diamond Ring in exchange for an honest review! I've been looking forward to KD Casey's latest in this series since Fire Season made its way onto the NYT Romances of the Year list and I picked it up in 2022. Like Casey's other works, Diamond Ring has so much heart, balanced by the right amount of bittersweet angst. Seeing Jake and Alex's story play out over ten years gives a chance to explore some really high highs and really low lows with them, showing the ways they change and grow together and apart. I found myself immediately rooting for them, for the balance and peace they found together. I loved the representation of a Jewish athlete and the mental health representation in this book is so thoughtful and read, even in the hard moments. I also loved that we got a little glimpse of the couples from the other two books in this series to tie a bow on things. Excited to get all of my friends on board with baseball romance this spring!