Cynt Marshall’s “You’ve Been Chosen” is a riveting book no one can put down

Cynt Marshall’s new book – You’ve Been Chosen — was released some three weeks ago, and it’s already receiving rave reviews.

The chief executive officer of the Dallas Mavericks, Marshall is the only black female CEO in the history of the NBA and is one of the most influential business leaders in the United States. Her book captures not only her journey through her fight with Stage 3 colon cancer, but also covers numerous other challenges she’s had to overcome.

“My book is called You’ve Been Chosen, and it started out with the intention of just chronicling my cancer journey, my chemotherapy journey and those six months,” Marshall told Mavs.com. “I kept a CaringBridge journal — it was public. I would just share with people updates.

“So over the years people have asked for that journal because they found it inspirational, educational, powerful — any factions about what was going on through all the different rounds of chemo. But when the publishers got a hold of it, they said: ‘There’s more than cancer. You’ve been chosen for more than cancer. There’s a lot that happened in your life before then that equipped you to really be able to handle cancer – to handle it with the right attitude.’ “

Marshall agreed with the publishers, then went about weaving her life story into her book. It’s a fascinating book written through the lenses of a devout Christian and a powerful business leader who thrives on motivating and inspiring others.

“It’s a story of my life and about how God and good people always show up during the good times, the bad times, the great times and every time,” Marshall said. “So that’s what it’s about.

“I wrote it to inspire people and to just give them faith and optimism that no matter what happens, it’s about how you respond to what happens, and you’ve been chosen. It’s not by accident. You’ve been chosen.”

You’ve Been Chosen has received four-and-half stars on goodreads.com, and a perfect five stars on Amazon.com.

Book enthusiast, Bernadene Scott Davis of The Woodlands, said You’ve Been Chosen was so riveting that she could barely put it down once she started reading it this past weekend.

“I knew I had stuff to do on Saturday, so I went to regroup,” Davis said. “So, when I got up I said, ‘Well, let me just read the intro before I go to the car wash. So, I read a little bit and I said, ‘Hmmm. So, I put the book in my purse and I was reading it at the car wash. I couldn’t wait to get back home and just read some more, and I finished it Sunday.

“(Marshall) kind of reminded me of somebody that we grew up with, somebody that was very well respected in the community. She could have been a member of First Baptist (Church), she could have been a principal at one of the schools, she could have been on the Chamber of Commerce. I could see me as somebody asking her questions as I was growing up. She is that type of lady who would have been in our community as somebody who we admired and looked up to, and somebody who was easy to talk to.”

Marshall often talks about taking time for prayer and feeding her soul, and about getting her emotional support from family and friends. Last week, Mavs governor Mark Cuban, general manger Nico Harrison, coach Jason Kidd, all the Mavs players and former Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki showed up and surprised Marshall during the launch of her book.

And they all wanted her autograph.

“We’ve all been chosen for the things that we go through in life, and we’ve all been chosen to be there for each other,” Marshall said. “So, with the help of God and all of us, we can get through all the bad times and get through all the challenges that we face.

“You’ve been chosen.”

Davis acknowledged that she definitely related to Marshall throughout the book.

“I can’t believe that one human being went through all of that,” Davis said. “Her momma brought her up the way our parents brought us up.

“She was definitely ingrained in the Lord and brought her children up the same way, so it was just a good read. A very good read. Very heart-warming.”

Davis added that she’s speculating if You’ve Been Chosen will follow the same path as another book she read: Where The Crawdads Sing. That book had a release date of Aug. 14, 2018 and eventually was turned into a movie with a release date of this past July 15.

“I was just wondering if there is a movie in the works for (Marshall),” Davis said. “And if there is, I want to go to the movies and see it — and get some popcorn.”

Marshall’s book is available in several places.

“You can get the book everywhere,” she said. “You can go to penguinrandomhouse.com, you can also go to amazon, it’s in Barnes and Noble. It’s everywhere.

“Go and get it. You’ve been chosen. And then I’ll sign it.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice