Protecting Home by Kyle Shoop

Protecting Home by Kyle Shoop
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

You can’t outrun home.

A game-winning hit.
A mysterious inheritance.
One journey that changes everything.

After the sudden death of his father, major-league all-star Buck Boone is forced to return to the hometown he left behind years ago. But instead of a traditional inheritance, Buck is surprised to find his father left him a final challenge: in five days—the length of a little league baseball game—he must revisit four meaningful places from his past.

Four bases.
One final trip around the diamond.
Only then can he claim what his father left behind.

Each stop uncovers a memory his father could never forget—a defining moment in their relationship, and a moment Buck believed he had outrun long ago. As the journey unfolds, the line between past and present begins to blur, revealing the love, heartbreak, and quiet sacrifices that shaped his life.

Told through an emotionally rich dual timeline, Buck’s return home forces him to confront formidable moments, old friends, a fractured relationship with his family, and the lesson his father lived by: always protect home.

Heartfelt and unforgettable, Protecting Home is a powerful novel about baseball, fathers and sons, forgiveness, and the courage it takes to come home—reminding us that the greatest victories aren’t always won on the field, but in the lives we choose to protect.

Forgiveness is for everyone.

Memories can be tricky things sometimes, so I was glad to see the dual timelines included in this book. Buck’s understanding of the world as a child and teenager were obviously not the same as how he viewed the same events many years later. It was helpful for me as a reader to see how his perspectives evolved as he began to understand his family better and branched out into the world as a professional athlete.

It would have been helpful to have stronger plot and character development. Other than his love of baseball and his close relationship with his father, I’d have trouble describing what Buck was like as a person. For example, no other hobbies or interests of his were included and I’m not sure what it would be like to meet him in person. Was he gentle, loud, thoughtful, or impulsive? I was never certain, but the same could be said of the vague descriptions of his small hometown. Was this set now or sixty years ago? Good arguments could be made for many different decades, and knowing roughly when it occurred would have helped to clear up some of my questions about why the character who was struggling with serious mental health problems didn’t seem to have any medical assistance with them.

With that being said, the descriptions of what it’s like to have a relative who is struggling with their mental health were interesting. Whether it was happening decades ago or in current times, getting help for a family in crisis can be difficult and sometimes provoke feelings of shame and guilt in both the person who is suffering as well as in their loved ones. This isn’t something that can always be easily resolved, and I liked the way the author acknowledged that aspect of the subplot along the way.

Protecting Home was a thought-provoking look at fraying family ties, mending fences, and, of course, the joy of baseball.