Review: Catching Jordan

Posted October 27, 2014 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Review: Catching JordanCatching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #1
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Published by Sourcebooks on December 1st 2011
Also by this author: Breathe, Annie, Breathe, Jesse's Girl, Stealing Parker, Things I Can't Forget, Racing Savannah, Defending Taylor, Coming Up for Air, Four Days of You and Me
Format: eBook (283 pages) • Source: Purchased
Goodreadsfive-stars

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 she's 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?

story and plotHOW have I gone so long without reading a book about football? The only hobby/interest I have outside of reading? JESUS. Catching Jordan was always kind of on my radar but I literally purchased it on a whim when it was on sale for Kindle. I also decided to read it on a whim because my library books didn’t sound appealing at the moment. I absolutely loved Breathe, Annie, Breathe even though I wasn’t expecting to (not sure why, most likely because running = death)… so I knew that reading a book by Miranda Kenneally about FOOTBALL would be even 2014-10-16 14.11.24better. I was right. This is a story about a Jordan, a female quarterback for her high school team. She’s the daughter of some football prodigies but doesn’t get as much attention from them as she’d like because, of course, she’s a girl. She has dreams of playing football for Alabama and won’t let anything stop her… not even when a swoon-worthy, incredibly talented QB moves to to town and joins the team. It was so great watching Jordan find herself and learning about her friendships. There were so many instances where I expected her to keep her feelings bottled up but she surprised me every time; this book had so many opportunities to slip into the predictable YA books I’ve become all too familiar with. You know, the MC refuses to share their feelings or lies about them when people close to her try to help. This book was such an amazing portrayal of friendship. The characters were REAL to me because they were so fleshed out. I loved the little stories that Jordan would reminisce about, like her graph paper bedding and Henry being scared inside the fake whale. It was like I was learning about the characters on another level aside from the basic characterization I see in other books. Henry and Jordan’s friendship was to die for. She was close with the guys on her team in different ways and they were totally the type of characters I’d jump in the book to hang out with. I’m familiar with having all guy friends, because my high school friend group consisted of 10 boys and 2 girls, including myself. It was really easy for me to relate to Jordan.

[Picture – the Catching Jordan costume I made for the BSM Photo-A-Day Challenge on Instagram! The prompt was for a Bookish Costume, so I thought this would be a good one]

quote“I once read that football was invented so people wouldn’t notice summer ending. But I couldn’t wait for summer vacation to end. I couldn’t wait for football. Football, dominator of fall—football, love of my life.” (AMEN GIRL)

characters

  • Jordan is sassy, talented, and honest. I was so happy when she opened up to her friends and family instead of closing herself off. Based on her characterization, it was really refreshing to see that it didn’t happen that way. She’s considered “one of the guys” because all of her best friends are on the football team. It was great to see her start to develop friendships with some girls, too. She really focused on finding herself and expanding her horizons throughout the book and I loved being able to connect with her on a lot of different levels.
  • Henry is Jordan’s best friend; they’ve known each other since they were kids. It was cute hearing all of the stories from their childhood and growing up together. I LOVED that Henry would sleep over her house and sleep head-to-toe in her bed. They had a friendship everyone wishes they could have, regardless of the other person’s gender. I swooned over him, not gonna lie. He was more than just a player/guy who slept with a bunch of girls. He was sweet, thoughtful, and perfect.
  • Ty is the new QB that comes to town. Jordan instantly swooned for him. I was leery of him throughout the book and had a lot of mixed feelings. He was a good guy who cared a lot about his family but it didn’t seem like there was much going on besides that.
  • Jordan’s team and family were really important characters that helped Jordan be where she wanted to be. She learned about herself and found some other interests and friends outside of football. I loved the guys on the team like JJ and Carter. Her family, like her mom and brother, were so supportive of her; I loved watching those relationships and seeing how close they were. Her father, the great Donovan Woods (QB for the Titans), was less supportive because he was nervous she would get hurt. It was awesome to see him warm up to it all and watch the two of them become closer throughout the book. There was a lot of relationship development in this book, which was really nice.

writing style and flowAs usual, I loved Miranda Kenneally’s writing style. It was nice to see the words written down for once, since I listened to Breathe, Annie, Breathe as an audiobook. I loved the pacing of this book. It was a quick read and everything flowed together really well.

who should read itCertainly football fans! It was cool to hear all of the references to past football players, football teams, etc.  It was a major focus of this book, but even people who don’t like football or don’t follow sports would enjoy this one. If you’ve read and enjoyed any other books by Miranda Kenneally, you’ll love this one.

final thoughtOverall, this book was so perfect for me. It was exactly what I needed and I didn’t even know it. When I read the first few sentences of the book (the quote above), I knew I would be in love. I spent the majority of the book smiling like an asshole at Jordan’s interactions with her friends and family, the football references, and hearing what was going on in her head. This book was about strong bonds: family, team, and friends. The characters were so well-developed. Jordan never found herself interested in boys or relationships aside from just hanging out with her team, so a lot of the book was spent exploring these new feelings. I will say that the one thing that bugged me were the constant gender norm reinforcements. Jordan and everyone else called people pansies and she blamed her feelings on estrogen. That kind of stuff generally bugs me in books because it paints a picture that all women are like this and all men are like this. Everything else in the book, however, showed that the opposite was true. Jordan was just as good if not better than the other football players and she was a girl. Catching Jordan made its way onto my favorites shelf right away – another five stars for my second Miranda Kenneally experience!football animated GIF

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