Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
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?
MY OPINION: ***
This book was so cute! It was one of those short, adorable, great summer reads and even though it's not summer, quarantine has made me feel like it's summer since I'm not going to school everyday.
I read one of the books in this series a few years back in 2017 called
Breathe, Annie, Breathe. I remember absolutely loving it and then realizing that there were indeed other books in the series. I believe this one is the first one and I am only now reading it after I remembered how badly I wanted to read it years ago.
It was adorable! I had a lot of notes and highlights throughout it as I was reading via Kindle and most of them were me screaming at Jordan for being so oblivious to her dear friend Sam Henry. I was Team Henry the entire way through as is evident by my notes.
Jordan is a high school senior female quarterback whose dream is to play for Alabama, the best football team in the country for college. She's respected by her team but throughout the book, she feels as though she has to fight more and more for the respect by the guys. Personally, I never saw that slipping but to her, it was an insecurity that never left her truly.
She's never had a boyfriend or a first kiss and when she meets Ty, another high school pro quarterback, she finds herself feeling ways she never had before.
Normally, I don't read books about sports but considering my history with the series, I decided to get through it and I'm glad I did. DISCLAIMER: You really don't need to know that much about football to understand this book because it does a good job of explaining what's happening. It also doesn't focus solely on boring recounts of football games and instead goes into more of what it means to Jordan and the team.
I loved Jordan and Henry's relationship. They have been best friends for ten years and met when they were seven. They know everything there is to know about each other and there's a passage where Jordan explains the differences in her relationship with Ty compared to her relationship with Henry. She knows the important things about Henry, the little things like his favorite color or favorite band, while she doesn't know any of that about Ty. I wish I had a friendship like hers with Henry because it was so close and unbreakable until feelings got in the way.
Henry. Henry himself was such a pro. He was so adorable! Yes, he became a bit of a manwhore while trying to fight his feelings for Jordan, but I will not blame him for that. I don't support his actions but he was hurting and I understand why he did what he did. He was such a great friend to Jordan when they were still acting civil towards each other and one of my favorite scenes was when they were partnered to play parents to a metal baby together.
Jordan. A big problem I had with her was she cried for absolutely no reason. If you know me in real life, you know I tend to cry a lot (I'm a very emotional person). However, I always cry for a reason. Jordan was often crying and I had to read back to see what I had missed that made her cry. A bunch of my notes consist along the lines of "why is she crying again what" and this was a common reoccurrence. Jordan also writes a lot of poetry which to me felt kind of random but props to her for finding another interest and outlet besides football. I loved some of her poems because they were really good despite the rocky beginning she had.
"Henry: I love the way his curls flop around and hang across his forehead. I love how he never just lets me win. I have to earn it. I love how he touches me just because. I love his loyalty. I love how when we sleep head-to-toe, he always finds a reason to sleep head-to-head instead. I love his unconditional support. I love his spontaneity and crazy sense of humor. I love his stupid dances. I love…him."
This was such a cute line and I just thought I should share it. Jordan has been in love with Henry all along and doesn't realize it until she already has a boyfriend.
Speaking of which, here we have to introduce Tyler Green (AKA Ty). He's just moved from some championship-winning high school and is also a quarterback. Jordan isn't worried that he'll steal her position since the coach knows how hard she's worked for it but the team promises to protect her. I loved their loyalty.
Anyways. I hated Ty. I'm sorry but I just could not deal with him from the moment he was first mentioned. When reading the blurb, I did not do a careful job and somehow managed to skip the whole paragraph about Henry. I thought this was going to be a love story between Jordan and Ty and I was so tempted to just DNF it right then and there. His personality was so annoying. I felt bad for what happened to him but it made him a complete possessive, overprotective, annoying control freak over Jordan. She isn't a piece of property. Another thing about him: he cried a lot too! He was more justified than Jordan but there was a scene where he cried because she didn't call him back one night. He claimed he thought she was dead. Um. What? I think he was dealing with too much trauma about his dad and mom and needed to go to therapy or something because he was letting irrational fears take over.
Another thing: Jordan gave her virginity away to Ty and I was screaming NOOOO the entire time. WHYYY. Why him? What did she see in him? JFJKSDJF. I feel like he didn't even make it special like Henry would have. It was just awful. Also it all happened so fast and we got about one paragraph that explained how she felt about it. I mean, it should have been this monumental moment that she shared with someone she loved and instead it was nothing and was basically never talked about again. And then later on throughout the book, especially at Jordan's first dance, all Ty seems to care about is having sex. Like NO. She's said she's never been to a dance and she wanted it to be special and all you said to her was "I wanna rip that dress of you". BLECH
"When unrequited love is the most expensive thing on the menu, sometimes you settle for the daily special."
If you think of your man as a daily special, there's a problem.
Final quote: "We kiss. Finally."
When I tell you I screamed.
The quotes in this book were so cute! I highlighted most of my favorites! They were definitely the best part about the book.
Overall, this book was interesting but there were parts about it that I didn't love. I would definitely consider reading the rest of the series but I'm not a hundred percent sure about it yet. Maybe if I'm bored and have nothing else to read (currently have four books waiting to be read on my Kindle). I would recommend this book to readers looking for a cute, fluffy summer read about sports and first love.
Main Character: Jordan
Sidekick(s): Henry, Ty?, JJ, Carter, etc
Villain(s): Sexism, fake love, unrequited love, obliviousness, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was real to life.
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