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I was going to hang on for a bit longer to write and post this review, because technically CJ doesn't come out until next month - but it's begun shipping and loading to Kindles everywhere a few weeks early, so I don't feel guilty about squeeing publicly. I was really, really nervous about reading Catching Jordan. I don't read contemporary YA - before this, I literally cannot remember the last contemporary book I read. It's been years, at the very least. I also know nothing about football, and have never felt particularly inclined to learn. Throw in the fact that Miranda is a dear friend and I was sweating and biting my nails going, 'Oh no! I adore this person... what if I don't like the book?' That anxiety, it is a terrible thing. Well, I needn't have worried. I didn't like Catching Jordan. I loved it. The premise is pretty straight-forward: Jordan Woods is the kid of an NFL all-star. Jordan is captain and quarterback of the high school football team, desperately wants to play D-I college football and - someday - in the NFL. Jordan's dad is less than thrilled about all of this. Why? Because she's a girl. A hot new quarterback named Ty transfers to her school right at the start of the season, and he wants Jordan - and her spot on the team. Catching Jordan navigates Jordan's own struggle to balance football, life, her first attempt at romance, and a cut-throat sport and college admissions process made more competitive by the fact that her ascent to college football, if successful, would be historic. Miranda's characters are both hilarious and heart-achingly real. I loved them all, and wanted to throttle them all at different times. I laughed more while reading this book than I have almost any other in recent memory. And I'm not much to swoon over fictional characters, but every character in this book is hot. Seriously. The humor is sharp; the social commentary is rare but pointed; and the romance is undeniably sexy. You may recall that I've said before I'm not a huge fan of romance or romantic plots in YA novels. I'm starting to think all the ones I've read prior have just been Doing It Wrong. Jordan is a wonderfully three-dimensional protagonist. She is smart and strong-willed, though not particularly emotionally intuitive. She is always sympathetic, but flawed enough to not always be likeable. Her penchant to hold grudges, in particular, is a driving force of her character that adds both a feeling of truth as well as tension to the story. Some people may have difficulty suspending belief of a female high school quarterback; I didn't. The story and the setting were crafted so carefully, and Jordan's bond with the guys she has grown up with and commanded respect from for years rang true to me. Her camaraderie with the guys and her attempts and developing friendships with the other girls took this book from 'good' to 'phenomenal'. I still don't care about football, but I wasn't at all lost trying to follow the story. The plays are detailed enough to follow but fast enough to not bog down the story. And as the YA genre has started to feel a bit stagnant - which is inevitable, I think, with any market that explodes as quickly as YA has - Catching Jordan takes its story in fresh and unexpected directions. It does not end how you might think it would end. I can't say any more than that without spoiling the best parts of the book, but what could have fell like a cop-out or wild deviation in any other author's hands read instead as measured, realistic, and perfect. I was knocked out of the park by the emotional resonance and staying power of this book. Bottom line? This is the book that made me want to read more contemporary. Absolutely five stars out of five, and if you haven't already ordered your copy, you really ought to get on that.

2022-10-21 05:40