Review: Keeping Score by Jami Deise

When her 9-year-old son wanted to play summer travel baseball, Shannon had no idea the toughest competition was off the field.... When her son Sam asks to try out for a travel baseball team, divorced mom Shannon Stevens thinks it'll be a fun and active way to spend the summer. Boy, is she wrong! From the very first practice, Shannon and Sam get sucked into a mad world of rigged try-outs, professional coaches, and personal hitting instructors. But it's the crazy, competitive parents who really make Shannon's life miserable. Their sons are all the second coming of Babe Ruth, and Sam isn't fit to fetch their foul balls. Even worse, Shannon's best friend Jennifer catches the baseball fever. She schemes behind the scenes to get her son Matthew on the town's best baseball team, the Saints. As for Sam? Sorry, there's no room for him! Sam winds up on the worst team in town, and every week they find new and humiliating ways to lose to the Saints. And the action off the field is just as hot. Shannon finds herself falling for the Saints' coach, Kevin. But how can she date a man who didn't think her son was good enough for his team ... especially when the whole baseball world is gossiping about them? Even Shannon's ex-husband David gets pulled into the mess when a randy baseball mom goes after him. As Sam works to make friends, win games and become a better baseball player, Shannon struggles not to become one of those crazy baseball parents herself. In this world, it's not about whether you win, lose, or how you play the game... it's all about KEEPING SCORE.

I was very intrigued by this book, as I am a baseball mom 9 months out of the year. I read this book while away at a state baseball tournament and could not put it down.  The author paints such a vivid picture and does a fantastic job of bringing out Shannon's feelings as she watches her son become more independent. This is a very quick read and you live the mother-son relationship with her. I give this a 5 star review.