Review: Catching Jordan

Catching Jordan, by Miranda Kenneally. The GoodReads 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 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 now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starting position... suddenly she's hoping he'll see her as more than just a teammate.

Contemporary YA is my favorite, but I haven’t been reading much of it lately and the ones I have read I haven’t had much luck with. So I was a little wary going into this one, especially since it had been getting such rave reviews--we all know how dangerous the hype monster can be. But while I’m not saying this is my new favorite book or anything, I will say it’s the best contemporary I’ve read recently.

The thing that got me from the very first page is Jordan’s narrative voice. She’s so down-to-earth and blunt and funny--she just sounded like a real person. And I loved her personality too. She’s a total tomboy and completely “one of the guys,” but she’s also compassionate and kind and a great leader. She’s a confident and kick-A quarterback, but she has her own set of insecurities and worries that keep her easy to relate to.

One of the things I liked most, besides Jordan, was her friendship with her fellow members of the football team. I only have one brother and not that many guy friends, so seeing Jordan’s easy friendship with her teammates was like getting insight into a whole new world for me. Plus, the guys, while still being, you know, pervy high school guys, are such solid friends--they’re there for Jordan when she needs them and aren’t the sexist jerks football players are so often portrayed as in YA.

There’s kind of a love triangle, but not really. I don’t really know how to explain it, but if you’re the type to avoid books based on love triangles, you don’t need to worry about it bugging you in this book. Neither Ty or Henry really won me over completely--they both had a few too many characteristics that annoyed me--but I’m happy who Jordan ends up with.

Overall, this was a great contemporary YA. If you’ve been in a bit of a reading slump recently, I’d definitely recommend this one. And don’t worry if you’re not a football fan--I’m not, and I still had a perfectly lovely time with this book.