So...I know Just Contemporary actually ended on Wednesday, but I wasn't able to get these posts scheduled before work, and by the time I got home, I decided it was too late to post stuff. So today is Sporty Friday with two awesome sporty posts from two fabulous authors!
Buuuuuuuuuuuuut these were meant to be part of the Just Contemporary event hosted by Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing and Shanyn from Chicks Love Lit.
Also check out my interview with author Miranda Kenneally today on A Backwards Story!
Title: CATCHING JORDAN
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Release Date: Out now (Dec. 01, 2011)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Received: e-ARC from NetGalley
SUMMARY:
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.
Even if you don't know much about football, CATCHING JORDAN by Miranda Kenneally is still easy to get into. It was refreshing to read a book about an athletic girl for a change. Growing up, I best loved books about dancers and gymnasts and figure skaters and horseback riders. I loved the girly sports. There are so many other types of athletes out there, and with the exception of runners and swimmers, I don't often see females featured doing other sports. Especially not football. But there ARE girls out there who play football and soccer and tennis and softball. Why aren't they playing these sports in novels? CATCHING JORDAN is especially unique because not only does Jordan play football, she's the the star quarterback and Captain of her high school football team. She wants to play ball in college. I've never seen a book quite like this and it was intriguing to fall into this world.
Jordan grew up in a sports household. Her dad played football professionally. Her brother is playing for his university. Jordan herself loves football--and she's good at it, too. She wants to go to Alabama and continue playing football throughout college. The only problem? Jordan is a female in a man's world. While her own school is very accepting of her for who she is, not everyone agrees with her decision. Even though she's one of the best players in the state, Alabama might not really want her merely because she's a girl. Even her father doesn't want her playing the game he loves so much. He's never attended a single game, though he goes to every one of her brother's games. It isn't fair. When a quarterback named Ty moves to her area and wants to join the team, Jordan is afraid that the Coach might give him her position...and she's even more afraid that she might, for the first time, be falling for a teammate.
Jordan goes through so many changes throughout this novel. I really like it when you can see how far a character has mentally come over the course of a book's journey. At the beginning, she thinks she has her entire life mapped out, but by the end, she's completely off-course...and okay with that. She's never really dated before and has always been one of the guys. She's terrified when she begins developing feelings for Ty. He's not just any guy, either. He's her teammate, which means that if they ever date and break up, things will be messy at practice and during games. Plus, he plays the same position she does. Is he pretending to be interested in her to usurp her place as star quarterback and captain so he can look better for college scouts? Over the course of the novel, Jordan moves outside of her comfort zone and even begins tentatively interacting with other females, realizing that she can find female friends as well as male ones. I really enjoyed the way Kenneally formed Jordan's family. I always like having a strong family unit in my teen novels since so few books do. One of my favorite characters was Henry, a football player that I'd love to see come back in future books (since the next two novels by Kenneally are also set in this world). Overall, CATCHING JORDAN was a fun read full of elements we need more of in YA.
Jordan grew up in a sports household. Her dad played football professionally. Her brother is playing for his university. Jordan herself loves football--and she's good at it, too. She wants to go to Alabama and continue playing football throughout college. The only problem? Jordan is a female in a man's world. While her own school is very accepting of her for who she is, not everyone agrees with her decision. Even though she's one of the best players in the state, Alabama might not really want her merely because she's a girl. Even her father doesn't want her playing the game he loves so much. He's never attended a single game, though he goes to every one of her brother's games. It isn't fair. When a quarterback named Ty moves to her area and wants to join the team, Jordan is afraid that the Coach might give him her position...and she's even more afraid that she might, for the first time, be falling for a teammate.
Jordan goes through so many changes throughout this novel. I really like it when you can see how far a character has mentally come over the course of a book's journey. At the beginning, she thinks she has her entire life mapped out, but by the end, she's completely off-course...and okay with that. She's never really dated before and has always been one of the guys. She's terrified when she begins developing feelings for Ty. He's not just any guy, either. He's her teammate, which means that if they ever date and break up, things will be messy at practice and during games. Plus, he plays the same position she does. Is he pretending to be interested in her to usurp her place as star quarterback and captain so he can look better for college scouts? Over the course of the novel, Jordan moves outside of her comfort zone and even begins tentatively interacting with other females, realizing that she can find female friends as well as male ones. I really enjoyed the way Kenneally formed Jordan's family. I always like having a strong family unit in my teen novels since so few books do. One of my favorite characters was Henry, a football player that I'd love to see come back in future books (since the next two novels by Kenneally are also set in this world). Overall, CATCHING JORDAN was a fun read full of elements we need more of in YA.
COVER DESIGN:
It is a little odd that the female model looks so slender and delicate since Jordan is over six feet tall and with all the football she plays, I imagined her to have more muscle. At the same time, I think this cover showcases that it's a contemporary sports novel with some romance thrown in. (And the model's outfit reminds me of something Jordan normally wouldn't wear unless she was purposely trying to dress like a girl, which she does do in the novel. I can see her wearing something like this to appeal to Ty, then walking across the field with him after practice.)
[This entry is part of The Story Siren's Debut Author Challenge of 2011. See how I've done so far here.]
I do plan to read this book, probably soon, but I'm rather conflicted too :P Doesn't help that the reviews I've read are all over the place too :P But I can't get over how unrealistic I think it is for a girl, no matter how talented, to be a starting anything on a boys team, especially one like football. Hopefully it's done well enough to be believable! :)
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