REVIEW #17 - Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

 

TITLE: Catching Jordan
AUTHOR: Miranda Kenneally
GENRE: contemporary
PUBLICATION DATE: Dec 1st 2011

SYNOPSIS:

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.

I have a confession to make.

I'm European and yet I love American football. I'm not crazy about it and I know next to nothing about it, but I love movies and tv shows about it. Yes, I am a Friday Night Lights fan, how did you guess? You can't blame me for loving Garrett Hedlund in the movie and Taylor Kitsch in the tv show though.

That was the reason I've always wanted to read Catching Jordan, even if the synopsis didn't appeal to me all that much. I read it and I don't regret it. All the rave reviews the book is getting - totally deserved!

What I loved the most in this book were the characters and their relationships. Jordan is a great main character - very unique in her aspirations and tomboy attitude. Many books these days display a female main character that is supposed to a) be a tomboy b) go through a metamorphosis. While Jordan is definitely a), there's no b) and I loved it so much. And her being a tomboy is totally different than girls in the other YA books, where the girl wears sneakers and old jeans and doesn't wear make up and suddenly she's such a tomboy. You can tell this annoys me a lot. But Jordan is a tomboy with her whole being. She hangs out with guys, she thinks a lot of things that girls do are weird/disgusting/silly. Of course, deep down, she just needs a girlfriend to talk to, but it's like her hidden identity. 

Other characters were just as lovely - I don't think anyone could hate Sam Henry, even if he had some flaws. I liked Jordan's family, her friends (especially Carter, but JJ was awesome too). As for the romance - I didn't expect that. I really didn't, which proves I'm as dense as Jordan. ;) For a while I hated what was happening in the book BUT after some time I realized it's more like real life than anything. Small complications that lead to a bigger thing. And that not always we're supposed to stay with the same person, because he or she is not right for us. I liked it.

What I didn't like was that Jordan was very quick to judge. I know the cheerleader stereotype is alive and well in the US (and as a consequence, all over the world), but does that mean that every cheerleader is bitchy and/or stupid? Come on. I'm glad there were characters like Marie and Carrie, who dulled my disgust a bit, showing that cheerleaders can be fun characters as well.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind reading a book about cheerleaders. Their practices, contests, joys and hard times. It could be quite a good book!

This book is hilarious, it's witty, it's fun. I usually read on the bus, so passengers were a little shocked to witness my snickering and giggling when I did so.

Overall, it's a fun, quick read that a lot of you will enjoy. It's not necessarily deep nor makes you think, but it's good to read something light and funny from time to time, right?

Overall rating:

4 out of 5 stars.