ABOUT THE BOOK
Made to Break Your Heart is a family saga, set in a gossipy suburb, that explores the complexities of raising a child, holding a marriage together, and maintaining your sanity in the cutthroat world of Little League baseball.
It’s 2008, and Nick Marhoffer is a stressed-out dad who finds himself flirting with thoughts of infidelity. While his job is being threatened by a crumbling economy, he’s fraught with anxiety over his only son’s well-being. So when his son starts playing baseball, Nick becomes a rabid Little League dad who loses sight of what’s good in his life. After developing a crush on a gorgeous team mom, he can’t decide between her and his wife, then finds himself at risk of losing everything that’s most important to him.
This is a smart, sexy, and funny novel about bad breaks, bad decisions, and the long road of life.
MY REVIEW
Misty Hill is a town where everyone knows everyone’s business and Nick Marhoffer found this out the hard way. After signing up for coach of his son’s new baseball team, meeting the hot and sexy Diet Coke Mom, and losing his job at the newspaper during the great recession, the stress was unbearable. When conceivable, but untrue, rumors spread that he was sleeping with Tess, aka Diet Coke Mom, Nick’s world crumbles. His wife, Marcy, kicks him out with nothing to live on, but credit cards. Holed up in a cheap hotel, he makes plans to continue with his life no matter what happens. Will he lose the family he loved because of a stupid misunderstanding?
Along with the seriousness there is a lot of funny stuff in this book including the “bad coaching moments”, dealing with the Notoriously Obnoxious Dad, or N.O.D. for short, the Science Fair Smackdown, and all the trials and tribulations of coaching seven-year-old and eight-year-old boys for the first time.
Nick is a funny, sincere, loving, father and husband who is only human and trying to deal ineffectively with a mid-life crisis. He is likable and it’s refreshing to read about a male protagonist for a change. If you like contemporary fiction about the humorous and serious side of marriage, fatherhood, and little league baseball, you will enjoy this novel.
Thank you to Mr. Fellinger and Bookglow for giving me the opportunity to review this book!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Fellinger is an award-winning short story writer and former journalist who teaches writing at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.
His story collection, They Hover Over Us, won the 2011 Serena McDonald Kennedy Award. He also won the 2008 Flash Fiction Contest at Red Cedar Review and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His short stories have appeared in numerous journals such as Epiphany, Potomac Review, Westview, and PANK.
He’s a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and has an MFA in Creative
Writing from Wilkes University, where he won the 2009 Beverly Hiscox
Scholarship for Excellence in Writing. He lives with his wife and son in
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, where he has retired from coaching Little League
baseball.
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