{Review} Pretty Tough Web Series

Click here to go back to the Girls in Sports Main Page, 
where you can access the schedule!
 Or go here to get involved!

Check out the guest post "Why Sports?" with Pretty Tough Series Co-Author Keri Mikulski!

Visit the Pretty Tough website, where sporty girls across the world are featured!

You can watch the first season of Pretty Tough on Hulu for FREE!

Check out the trailer now:

The Pretty Tough web series started out as a book series penned by Nicole Leigh Shepherd, the pseudonym for authors Liz Tigelaar and Keri Mikulski.

Tigelaar is an experienced screenwriter, and has worked on popular series such as Brothers & Sisters, American Dreams, Dawson's Creek, Nashville Once and Again, Once Upon a Time, and Revenge, as well as creating and executive producing the series Life Unexpected. She was also an associate movie in a gymnastics movie entitled Stick It.  She wrote the first two books in the Pretty Tough series.

Keri Mikulski rounded out the series with four additional novels, and has written two novels in the Ashley Clarke series, SCREWBALL and CHANGE UP.  Ashley Clarke is the starting pitcher of her softball team who also excels at soccer and baseball.

The first season of the Pretty Tough web series is based on the first novel in the series, PRETTY TOUGH.  With five episodes clocking in at twenty-two minutes each, it's easy to breeze through the entire season in one seasons.

Viewers will follow sisters Krista and Charlie Brown as they reconnect through soccer.  The sisters used to be close, but now they're at opposite ends of the social spectrum.  Krista is popular, while Charlie has few friends. She's more into surfing than she is soccer, but all that changes when a new coach comes to town and encourages her to try out.  Now, the sisters must learn to work together again, but on and off the field.  Charlie finally begins to blossom and become her own person, with new friends and exciting opportunities. Krista, on the other hand, is losing control of everything that was ever important to her, and having Charlie in her face 24/7 is the last straw.  Getting along is hard, especially when sibling rivalry is involved!

It was fun to see PRETTY TOUGH come to life though the web series.  The production was solid, with good acting and characters that made viewers invested in the sisters' journey. The girls are so different, yet in some ways, so similar, and I would love to see other books in the series brought to life online.

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title:  PRETTY TOUGH
Author: Nicole Leigh Shepherd

Release Date: August 2, 2007

Publisher: Penguin Razorbill

SUMMARY:

Bubbly, blond Krista brown is pretty and popular. Her sister, Charlie, is more interested in braving the Malibu waves than the halls of the school that Krista rules. 

When Krista and Charlie are both recruited to the school's soccer team, they are forced to face their differences. Can these two sisters become teammates, and friends, in time to make it to the championships? 

Classic themes of sisterhood and romance make Pretty Tough a new take on Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High.  The strong sports element and a tie-in to the Pretty Tough sportswear and entertainment franchise give this first book by Liz Tigelaar added appeal.