Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally


Book:  Catching Jordan
Author:  Miranda Kenneally
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire
Date:  December 1st, 2011
Source:  Publisher via Netgalley
My grade:  B

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.

My Review

I have to admit that I wasn’t sold on this one to begin with.  I mean, a girl who plays football?  And quarterback, no less?  I wasn’t sure, but I decided to give it a try since I’ve been trying to read more diverse genres.

I ended up liking this book.  The story was engaging.  There was a touch of angst and a lot of fluff and it ended up being a happy, feel-good sort of read.  If you’re looking for a light, fun read, this is a good book to fill that request.

I liked Jordan, the main character and I really enjoyed the boys on the football team.  Like most teenaged boys, they were concerned with football, food and sex.  They were also very funny and reading about Jordan hanging out with all of them was fun.

The relationship with Ty felt a little surface level to me.  I mean, I understand about teen girls and how they might fall in love quickly, but this one gave me whiplash!  And the way these characters just jumped right into a sexual relationship with anyone seemed a little overboard.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think that the average teenager is bed-hopping the way these characters were.  But I plan on discussing that with my students to see if it’s accurate!

The plot was fairly predictable, but in the good sort of way.  I knew who she would end up with and that’s how it went down, but the interesting part of the book was seeing how Jordan’s relationship with her father changed and seeing how she dealt with her dream college and playing college-level football. 

Of course, the book wrapped up a little too nicely for real life, but sometimes, you just have to have a little self-indulgence in reading too.  So think of this book as a literary version of a Hershey’s bar.  You know you shouldn’t, but you sure do enjoy it when you do.  It doesn’t last very long and it’s not very filling or substantial, but does it ever taste good while you’re eating it! : )

My grade for this book is B.  It was a guilty little pleasure read that wasn’t too heavy and made me just feel good.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this

3 comments:

  1. "I mean, a girl who plays football? And quarterback, no less?"

    Pssssh, what's wrong with that?!

    Besides football being an incredibly boring sport to play...

    And teenagers are getting a lot more sexual these days. So many girls that graduated from Foard have kids already!

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  2. This book is really good! Once I started it I finished it in a few hours I could not put it down! Girls can connect with Jordan and the struggle for exceptance she goes through not only from her dad but also from the rest of the college football players.

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