I am surprised I can read the words I wrote for this review because of the tears in my eyes. Oh my goodness! What an emotional read. The characters are so richly developed, the relationships beautifully crafted, the storyline one that will tug at your heart. I admit that I'm a huge baseball fan so the lingo and references rang true to me. As with all of Joe Siple’s books, he will take you on a journey of discovery. A lesson of family, friendship, growth, integrity, and love. I fell in love with Pippin and can’t wait for you to meet her. You need to hurry up and buy this book so you can experience a bases loaded home run of a read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

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I love Joe Siple's books and I am quite sure I have read them all!
Why? Because there is always a lesson to learn. A lesson of love, friendship, heart and that family is first!
There are wonderful characters that I adore and want as my friends, and I always, no matter what, laugh and cry throughout the chapters.
This novel is just that good!
This story is for anyone, but those who love the game of baseball will no doubt adore Charlie and his little sister, Pippin. How can anyone not?
Excellent, quick read! Well done!

Charlie Fightmaster and the Search for Perfect Harmony is the fourth novel by American author, Joe Siple. On the cusp of achieving his Major League Player dream, Charlie Fightmaster is presented with the one reason he will defer it: his younger sister, Pippin’s worsening struggle with chronic anxiety, possible a product of her abandonment by her mother at a very early age. Despite her vibrance and intellect, her confidence is low, and her nervous tic makes her the target of school bullies.

Compounding this is the news that his father, coach for decades of his hometown’s Sweetwater Stallions, is dying: “…one day ago, I was going to be a Minnesota Twin. Now, I’m headed back to Sweetwater where my sister is struggling and my father is dying. Twenty-four hours can make a world of difference in a life.”

Pippin, thrilled with the return of the brother she idolises, shares her three most fervent wishes: to beat Skyler Shepherd in the State Middle School Science Fair; to create the perfect baseball bat; and for the Sweetwater Stallions to win the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Championship. Charlie doesn’t take that much convincing to play with the Stallions, and to help his amazingly clever sister make that bat.

During his first practice session he has an unpleasant altercation with a rude old man who then turns out to be the Sweetwater Stallions’ one claim to fame: Bud Crawford. And then Charlie’s performance in their first game is lacklustre.

The real irritant, now he is back in Sweetwater, is the persistent presence of Emily Conroy, the girl he left behind ten years earlier: he knows she must hate him after his appalling behaviour, yet she insists on taking him to Bud Crawford to talk about improving his hitting. Bud will, with some encouragement, reveal the three secrets to the perfect harmony that will improve not just his game, but his life. But that’s not the only surprise Emily has for him…

Siple prefaces each chapter with a short explanation of a baseball term that has some relevance to the content of the chapter. While it isn’t necessary to be a baseball fan to enjoy the story, it is rather heavy on jargon in the final chapters.

At twenty-eight, Charlie seems to be unbelievably immature, arrogant, and self-absorbed. His priorities are definitely askew, although this is perhaps enabled by the deference that everyone around him has always afforded his baseball career. This might be something you need to be a baseball fan to comprehend? And considering his obvious love for his little sister, his intention to return to his career in the summer puts a question mark over his sense of responsibility.

Fans of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novels may enjoy this feel-good coming of age tale. Just one glaring omission lets this novel down: even when his father’s condition deteriorates to the point he can barely walk, Charlie still plans to leave, to resume his career, and not a single mention is made of what will happen to twelve-year-old Pippin when her father dies.

Siple gives his characters lots of wise words and insightful observations, and the requisite, if slightly predictable happy ever after, but there will be readers who would have wanted to take that quebracho bat and whack Charlie’s head out of the clouds long before he finally came down to earth. One for baseball fans.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Black Rose Writing.

Charlie Fightmaster and his sister Pippin live with their single parent father in their family home and as this story begins Charlie has given up his dream of playing Major League Baseball to help look after his sick father and Pippin, who is considerably younger than Charlie. She is a quiet, nervous girl who is subjected to bullying at school just because she is a little different. This breaks Charlie’s heart and he is determined to help her, especially as his father has a terminal diagnosis. Charlie has been away from home for many years, chasing his dreams and it saddens him to see her tics and how withdrawn she is. Pippin is delighted to see Charlie. He is her hero and he encourages her to build up her confidence and to enter a school competition. Her original idea has been very successful, in fact she came second, but she has a better idea for the final competition against other schools. She knows just what she wants to do and her determination and meticulous research impresses her brother.
Pippin is mad about baseball and supports their local amateur team. Her father never misses a match and used to actively coach the team until he became too sick and eventually wheelchair bound. Charlie promises Pippin that he will stay at home, help her with her project and even join her team to try to win the amateur league. After all, baseball is in his blood. It will feel strange to play at a local level but nevertheless he dedicates himself to achieve all of his promises to Pippin. She has had a brilliant idea for the grand final. She wants to build a baseball bat that is light, will achieve better speed once hit in the sweet zone and will travel a lot further than a traditional bat. She has worked out the science and calculated every measurement with accuracy and precision. Charlie himself does not understand her methodology or the science she has used, but when he first hits a ball with the new bat, it is absolutely perfect, the best bat he has ever had.
Bud Crawford, once the teams’ most talented player, takes an interest in Charlie’s game and becomes his mentor, encouraging him to achieve perfect harmony by following the three secret steps that he, Bud, had followed when he was at the very top of his career. Charlie is a tad sceptical, but finds out that this approach actually works for him, and with his new super bat he feels invincible. He also finds that can even apply the three steps in his social and love life. This is the story of the Fightmaster family, their troubles, triumphs, atonements and love for each other.
I have read all but the first novel written by Jose Siple. That novel is as rare as hen’s teeth! Joe certainly has a unique voice for the downtrodden, the troubled and families in crisis. His storytelling is charismatic, his characters relatable and his storyboard robust and authentic. His style is well suited to his tried and tested formulae and he writes with compassion and understanding of issues he has chosen for his characters. I felt sympathy for Pippin and greatly admired the tenacity and work ethic. I thought Charlie was learning lessons about his family as the story moved forward. Most of all he was driven by his desire to impress his father and make him proud of his only son. The love of each family member for each other was evident from the beginning when Charlie gave up his chance to play for the Major League and returned home when he found out Pippin was struggling. It is no wonder with her father being so ill. She is bright and would be worried, having already been abandoned by her mother. All of Pippin and Charlie’s issues had routes from the past.
Thank you for my copy of this novel received through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher, Black Rose Writing, sent to me in return for an honest unbiased review. I enjoyed it and my review reflects this. I recommend this novel as an uplifting and heart-warming read with a satisfying ending 4.5*