Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Summary (from Goodreads):

ONE OF THE BOYS

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 of 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 everything’s she ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he’s also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan’s feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart’s on the line?

Review:

So, I’m not really sure as to what took me so long to read this one. I’ve read a lot of good reviews for Kenneally’s books. I love books that depict female athletes because we don’t get many of those in YA. And I just adore these book covers! They are so eye-catching. On the other hand, this really is a perfect lazy summer day read, and it’s just what I needed right now.

Jordan is such an interesting main character. She’s not a typical girl at all. She prefers binge eating on buffalo wings, playing foosball, and watching videos of old football games to just about all else. She’s a tomboy of the first order, always rocking the sweat pants/sportswear look. And all of her friends are boys.

The relationship she has with her team is wonderful. They all love her and respect her. When anything is said about her being a lady or about some other guy disrespecting her, they take care of her. She’s also a really great quarterback.

She lives in a town obsessed with football, and her dad is an NFL player. It doesn’t sound like there’s much to be sorry for her. Then you see how her football obsession takes over her life. She’s never dated anyone and says no to most social gatherings and parties, in effort to watch more football and prep more for games. But more than that even is her disintegrating relationship with her father.

He refuses to support Jordan’s dreams of playing football. He goes to Jordan’s brothers’ games. He practices with Jordan’s teammates and friends. He helps Jordan’s friends with colleges. But he won’t support his daughter; he is desperately afraid of her getting injured. And stubborn, strong, sarcastic Jordan refuses to let anything or anyone prevent her from accomplishing her dreams.

The book is good at making it clear how complicated sports (especially football) is for women. Everyone always expects Jordan to be hideously manly or feminine and terrible. She deals with copious pick up lines, comments about her gender, and jokes from everyone she’s up against. The college she’s been dreaming about attending for years seems interested in her, but she has to deal with sexism in an academic setting too. She’s recruited for calendar photos, and college promotions. All she really wants to do is play football. And everything involved with being a woman makes this 100 times harder than it should be.

The boys in this book are great! Actually, most of them are players, but I still love them. I love the biggest player of all, her best friend. And I also kind of loved her first boyfriend, Ty. There’s a lot of things I didn’t agree with in regards to the boys’ behavior, but overall I thought this was rather authentic.

What I loved most was watching Jordan deal with emotions she wasn’t used to feeling. I loved learning about why she became such a “guy.” And I loved watching her handle her first serious relationships. She’s not someone I think I could easily be friends with, yet at the same time she reminds me of one of my closest friends. You know she’s someone who would have your back no matter what. She’s the kind of girl who would stay friends with the guys she dates after she breaks up with them. And she always wants to do the right thing for her team, above the right thing for herself. She is a true leader, and kind of a true inspiration.

The writing and dialog in this one were not my favorites. Sometimes a lot of the dialog between Jordan and her friends seemed forced and dumbed down. The author kept emphasizing how not all football players were the same. Some liked to write, some liked to cook, some were players, and some were afraid of talking to girls. Yet, none of their conversations seemed too intelligent, and I kind of wish she wrote the team to be a little bit smarter.

All in all, I loved this book. I was highly entertained by Jordan and her team. I found the romance addicting. I found the games and practices suspenseful (something I was not expecting), and I found all the hardships Jordan had to face because of her sex to be empowering. I wish certain characters and certain conversations sounded a little smarter. But, this didn’t take too much away from the story. I still read it in one day. It gets a 9/10 from me.