3.5 Stars

It was good-- writing was A . It's the type of book I LIVE for, but for whatever reason I didn't quite love it. Maybe it was the religious aspects?? ( )

this book was super predictable but also fucking insane, so I guess that was fun ( )

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2016/01/12/2016-morris-award-finalists-an-interv....

Quotes

The thing about prayers is it always feels like an act of faith - it forms some fragile new chamber in your heart, something empty and vulnerable that bleeds loneliness if God never answers you. (Chapter 1)

...faith always makes more sense when you can look back later on, but when you're in a bad place you don't know that's not where your story ends. (Chapter 6)

...when you don't know what made someone leave once, you also don't know what might make him do it again. (Chapter 8)

A place can become a sort of family to you, if you let it. (Chapter 9)

Baseball is a game you play with ghosts. (Chapter 11)

That's the thing about baseball: everything's forgiven when you win. (Chapter 12)

"...everyone carries around unanswered prayers in their hearts. It's part of being human." (Kevin to Braden, chapter 14)

I have that feeling I sometimes get around Trey, that there's a huge gap between how much you matter to a person and how much they matter to you. (Chapter 17)

There are infinite ways it can go wrong, but, like with everything, there's only one way it can go right. (Chapter 21)

It can trap you to be needed. But I hope he'll forgive me, if for no other reason that when someone really needs you, that's also how you know where you most belong. (Chapter 29)

Faith's always felt like a Jenga game to me, where if you try to mess with even a single piece the whole thing can crash around you all at once, and then you're lost. (Chapter 37)

"You don't think it's possible to be wrong about yourself?"
"Do you?"
"Of course I do." (Maddie and Braden, Chapter 39) ( )

To read a book about baseball is marginally less appreciated than watching a game. To throw lousy conditional faith in the mix gives me a story that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The story opens with Braden looking for a sign from God that everything in his life will be all right. At a ball game, if the hitter hits a fly ball and Braden is able to catch it then all will be well. This deal making occurs several times during the book. At a most important part of his life, however, he forgets his church's teachings and lies. Boo!

So many teen tropes are present - abusive father, gay much-older brother, mother who deserted him when he was a baby (although it probably was for the best since she thought it was OK to give a baby a ring pop instead of a pacifier *sarcasm*), father is thrown in jail for running over a police officer, and backing over him again, etc.

Give this book a wide berth. ( )

This is the story of 16 year-old Braden Raynor. He pitches for his high school baseball team and is the son of Christian radio host Mart Raynor. His dad runs over a police officer during a traffic stop and is on trial for first degree murder. Throughout the investigation, evidence comes out that Braden's family is not be all that it seems.

The topic of abuse is very important, and I can see where some teens may find this story very insightful, but it was too religious for my taste. If not for the fact that this was a Morris finalist, I don't believe I would have picked it up in the first place. ( )