December 8, 2011

Catching Jordan - Miranda Kenneally


Young Adult
Pages: 288
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: December 1, 2011


What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though - she leads them as the captain and quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team... and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.

Another contemporary gem that I will rave about. I'm a sucker for unique and strong female voices. In contemporary literature, I think it's one of the most important things. Jordan is one of the strongest voices I've read in a while. She's just so her, so unlike any other character I've read.

Jordan's struggle is with gender discrimination. She's a female football player, that even though she plays just as good or even better than the guys, they tend to see her as a girl. Not in her school though, she's the captain of her team and her teammates respect her.

This was probably my favorite aspect of the book. They're not just her teammates, they're best friends and she has become one of the guys. Since I grew up surrounded by male friends only, I could relate and see how believable and enjoyable this friendship was. Her relationship with Carter and JJ was amazing. Her relationship with her brother and her dad and even with Jake, was awesome. Kenneally has a great talent writing and forming characters and relationships. The writing was smooth and modern and dialogue was spot-on.

Then there's the romance. For some it will be surprising and for some it'll be predictable, but it's yummy and sweet and delightful for all. Even though some little details in the plot ticked me off a bit, the feel of the whole story was so real that I never doubted it.

And finally, football. I'm not American and even though I've lived in Texas for 4 years now, I don't enjoy football, I don't know shit about football, in fact, I don't even understand it at all. I'll accept I didn't even try to understand the tiny parts where Jordan describes plays during games, but I still enjoyed them. Point? You don't need to know or enjoy football to LOVE this book. If you do love it, then you have even MORE reason to read this!

This is definitely a contemporary, witty and fresh read, that everyone will enjoy. For YA contemporary lovers, this is a MUST read.


2 comments:

  1. I think that not understanding football was probably a bonus for you... because I found the whole situation with Jordan possibly playing football at Alabama (one of the top 3 teams in the country) to be basically absurd.
    I really did enjoy the relationships and romance in Catching Jordan, though, so it's a bit of a trade off!
    Great review :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Catching Jordan also has a nice little twist. I loved the direction Kenneally took the story and all the true life moments that I felt helps us, as readers, relate to her characters. The romance in the story is just a plus. Jordan deals with a lot more than boy trouble.

    ReplyDelete

Say something...