Miranda Kenneally

"Whoever said football and girls don't mix hasn't read Catching Jordan. I couldn't put it down!" — Simone Elkeles, New York Times bestselling author of the Perfect Chemistry series 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? "A beautiful novel with a real and captivating depiction of high school relationships, Catching Jordan shows the same reverence for the human heart that it does for the game of football." —Karsten Knight, author of Wildefire

Catching Jordan

I'm gonna go through this slowly, and do my best not to rant.

1. Strong women are great, really. Playing sports, independence, I'm all for that. What I didn't appreciate was the author trying too hard to emphasize Jordan's "strength" and ended up leaving out all her feminine qualities. ALL her feminine qualities. It sounded forced and unnatural to me.

2. However, the author abandons all these established characteristics as soon as Ty Green comes into the picture. And seriously, having been surrounded by hot football players all her life, the first time she lay's eyes on him is the one and only time she's ever felt attracted to a member of the opposite sex? Puh-lease. And one day she's pushing away his advances, but the next he's totally getting it. What.


3. The boys. I love her friendships with them because I can totally relate to that, but they all seem one-dimensional to me. Henry and Jordan are cute sometimes, but otherwise, I find him shallow and conceited. I get how the author wants to emphasize how cool she is towards the guys, but the way they talk to her just came off as really insulting and disrespectful. 

4. Very unrealistic approach to sex. I can't believe this. All the relationships were just based entirely on the appeal of having sex together, ruining the romance appeal. 

All in all this book wasnt terrible, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.

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?

Ana Matti

Adorable quick read. Brings back my Jordan and Henry feels.

Amy Grieve

I think I am in love!! I KNOW I'm in love!!

Ever since I saw this book a couple of months ago I have been lusting over it, waiting eagerly for it's release. Then there was that agonizing wait to actually get it. This weekend I should have been studying for a really important exam but I just couldn't help myself. 

I am English so I'm not really up to date on the whole 'American football' thing but I know the basics so once I stared this book it was easy for me to grasp to football plays and everything football. That was the only thing that could possibly let this book down. If someone didn't understand the game. 

Jordan is one of those characters who is just plainly inspiring. She made me feel like I was reading about a realistic person who had faults and insecurities, not a totally whiny girl who was full of herself and needed rescuing constantly by some guy. Jordan knows what she wants from the very beginning till the very end and she won't let anyone tell her otherwise. What I really do like about Jordan is that she is essentially the same girl she was at the start of the book and the end, all that has changed is her understanding of things around her.

Now, Sam Henry. OH how does a person talk about Sam Henry? Well to start off he's HOT!! Another thing, he's hysterical!!! If I went back through this book I would find it hard for me to find NOT find a page where Henry DIDN'T make me laugh. He cares for Jordan and only wants to see her get the best. He's so sweet and had to be the best character of the whole book. 

I'll not really mention Ty because the fact is, I didn't like him much. He irritated me and I found him controlling of Jordan. 

So, this book made me laugh, gasp and smile. Really, that's what I wanted. This book reminded me a bit of Kody Keplinger books. If you enjoy her work (like me!) I would suggest that you read this ASTOUNDING Novel!!!

Cindy Lee

More of my reviews at Secrets of Lost Words.

Rating: B

Catching Jordan is a contemporary novel that I really enjoyed. I read Stealing Parker (the second book) before I read this one since they were completely different stories. This book was just awesome and had me excited (or sad) throughout the whole entire book.

One of the things that I was getting into was football! (Yeah, never thought I'd ever say that, man). I seriously HATE football and groan every time football season comes because the coach expects you to pitch the ball across the field like a pro (which I'm not). Surprisingly, the element of football is very well-written in this book and got me so excited! Have no fear about hating this just because of the sport. I assure you that you will love how the sport is integrated into the story.

And have I told you that the characters are hilarious? They are like real people.. Like the conversations were actual real-life teens. I hate it when authors try to sound younger since they're writing a YA novel. But I can definitely tell Kenneally isn't faking anything. It sounds good! The conversation actually works! I cannot tell you how many times I laughed when I was reading this (especially the dirty jokes, lol). 

There were a few things that I didn't like though. The love interest was sort of like Stealing Parker's. It's a friend turned boyfriend relationship. The hurting/problematic period was sooooo long and it got a bit discouraging. The guys on the football team also screwed around with girls everyday (that's not good for teen readers). And I wish the ending could've gone more into Jordan and Henry's relationship.

Overall, I really liked the ending though I wish we had known what school she chose ('cause it seemed like a pretty big deal). There should be a sequel to Henry + Jordan's story because I felt like it worked really well between them. I'll always love Kenneally's contemporaries and Catching Jordan was a really well-written story of self-discovery. Jordan learnt how to make the best of her conditions and get what she wanted in life and I guess all of us teens need to learn how to do that.

Isabella Brouwer

Okay, so I seriously had no idea what was going on when the football games were being played, I have no knowledge of football whatsoever. I do know that this book was really awesome. So cute (:

laura

This book was really good and packed a much bigger punch then i expected. It turned into a different love story then i was expecting but i really enjoyed the main character and her path. I like seeing a girl in football and the impact that had on her life. It was a fast pace read and hope to read more by this author soon.

Anna Agarwal

Amber Laha

Predictable YA sludge. Took something that could be unique and turned it into romance that wasn't all that great. Predictable, predictable. Blech.

Hannah

4.5 Stars 

I read Things I Can't Forget before this book. I adored that book so much. When TICF had Jordan in it, I had to pick this book up. And I'm glad I did.

This book is a book that I have a deep respect for. Jordan, the main character, is the star quaterback for her school's football team. Girl Power! She is witty, and even though she has that tough girl attitude, she has a sweet heart and would do anything for her friends.

Enter "the friends". I found them to be extremely funny and exciting. I never felt the book was dull or slow and it was partly due to them. I laughed with them, (and got some strange looks from my parents)!

Ty Green. Nope. Sorry. Wasn't a fan. I thought he was okay at first but as I kept reading, he kept turning into a shallow and full-of-himself type of guy. And I do not enjoy those type of people. When Jordan couldn't see what was right in front of her and kept wanting Ty, I was literally screaming at her. 

Sam. Oh, Sam. I love you. Kay? Sam is such a great character and I loved that he would do anything for his best friend, Jordan. He was super sweet and nice but still had that "I'm a guy and stuff" attitude. I loved him. 

Now for the overall thoughts. This book is literally for everyone. Even guys. Some may disagree, but I think this could be a book boys would enjoy. You have plenty of sports and guy characters. But the reason I didn't give it five stars is because of Ty. I know. As the book went on, I started disliking him more and more. So when he was gone, I was relieved. Didn't have to deal with this drama anymore! ;)

I think this book is a light, summer read that anyone can enjoy.

-Hannah

Andrea Ayala

** spoiler alert **
           SPOILER ALERT 
This books was good, I didn't love it love it but it was still amazing. There are some things I liked and some thing I disliked. 
What I liked:
-Jordan's friendship with the guys, I mean you can have guy friends without them necessarily being bf material.
-Jordan's a no complications kind of girl, she is not dramatic nor whiny which I really liked.
-I felt connected to her in some parts of the book and she was easy to ffigure out
-Loved the idea of a girl playing on a football team, I mean I love being a girly girl but I also have a small tomboy side and it was great.
-Her friendship with Henry.
-Football gave this book a nice twist and I learned a lot about it, I'm not as clueless about it as I was before I read it.

Things I disliked:
-The fact that like a week after meeting Ty they had sex and it was her first time, I was like uhm well ok don't know the guy or anything.
-Ty's attitude, I mean it annoyed me at times, he seemed great at first but at the end he was just another jock, even though they ended things ok.
-Well that's all I can recall right now

Overall this book was good, it was a light read and I finished it in two sittings.

Jasmin

Sali Nim

This book is such a mess. I've read more than half of it and I still feel like dropping it after every page I'm reading. (edit: I've finished reading it, but it still was no good)

I was actually so excited about it, because I love books about girls excelling in male dominant fields, but this has been nothing but disappointing. I might love the girl being "one of the boys", but I don't like them losing themselves as girls and looking down on other girls for being "girly". Just because you chose for yourself to not be a "stereotypical girl", you don't have to shit on others for not thinking the same. Even though most of the cheerleaders were kinda vicious and no better than Jordan herself. Also if I had to chose one pet peeve, then it would be slut-shaming and there's a lot of that going on in the book.

Then there is the love story that doesn't really feel like one, because there is no feeling whatsoever put into it. Everything happens super fast and I felt like I wasn't given the chance to get involved in any of the relationships. I didn't root for anything or anyone; just waiting for that whole mess to find an end.

It also felt like the book missed a real structure. Like, everything seemed to happen randomly and you where always wondering what the main story actually was. Was it about football or about Jordan's love life? I'm not saying that the book can't be about both those things, but I can't help feeling that it ended up being about neither of them. It's like the author had those ideas and didn't know how to intertwine them and ended up writing this book.

Honestly, if it was possible to give this less than 1 star, I probably would have.

Ella Dewars

This book was hilarious.
And I don't mean that as a compliment.

Jordan was just so... not real. At all. One minute she's all "Oh, I'm too shy and awkward and tomboy-ish to ever be in love or even be attractive to a guy!" and then the next moment she's having sex with not one but two (two!) guys. The same ones she's too shy and awkward and tomboy-ish to ever even be attractive to.

I greatly enjoyed texting my friend every ten minutes with an update on Jordan's current romantic entanglements.

Also, who lets one of their best guy friends sleep in their bed?! I mean, really. Just... no.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


Hey there! While I wasn’t successful in the Re-Read Challenge in 2016, I did find that I loved the recommended format of the reviews so I’ve decided to keep it for my re-read reviews going forward. It looks a little different than my typical reviews, and I’m ok with that. 

WHEN I First Read

January 2012 (Kindle)
First Re-Read: November 2017 (Audiobook)

WHAT I Remember

I have to be honest, I didn't remember a lot of the finer points of the story. Of course, it'd been over five years since I read it so I shouldn't be too terribly surprised. I've read a whole lot of books since then. I remembered the basics though — girl quarterback, love triangle with the new guy and her best friend, angst and feels. And, of course, that I totally loved it. 

WHY I Wanted to Re-Read

I'd thought about rereading Catching Jordan for a long time, but I just never got around to it. Once I finished Defending Taylor, I knew I had to do it sooner rather than later. The epilogue left me with so many Jordan and Sam Henry feels I had to go back to the beginning of their story. Also, I was not entirely ready to give up the Hundred Oaks series. (I'm still not.) 

HOW I Felt After Re-Reading

I loved it just as much the second time around as I did the first. I think it gave me even more feels this time than it did the first, honestly. It was a bit angstier than I remembered, but I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way. I just don't read as many YA books these days, so I tend to forget how angsty they can be. But no matter, it's still one of my top faves in the genre. It felt a little like catching up with old friends. Plus, Christina Delaine did a great job bringing life to Jordan, Sam Henry and the rest of the crew and I enjoyed her performance. 

WOULD You Re-Read Again?

Absolutely! But, before I reread Catching Jordan again, I want to work my way through the rest of the Hundred Oaks series for a second time. It's such a great series with so many fantastic characters. I really was sad to see it end. But at least I know the audiobooks are a good option for when I decide to visit the world again. 

FAVORITE QUOTES

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. 

When unrequited love is the most expensive thing on the menu, sometimes you settle for the daily special.

Jenn

AHHHHH. I’m obsessed with them. Brb while I go read all the books In this series. Bye. SO GOOD. 

I’ll write a better review later when I’m not drowning in the feels.

Bridget Howard

This book was just ok for me.
To see the full review go to Dark Faerie Tales:
http://darkfaerietales.com/review-cat...

Giulia 

3.5/5
Lo so, il solito contemporary senza né arte né parte, con i soliti personaggi e le solite storie ma era quello che mi serviva in questo momento? Oh ci puoi scommettere!
A volte sento il bisogno di una storia del genere, carina e senza troppe pretese. Può anche non essere la storia del secolo, ma ci credete che è la prima volta che leggo di una ragazza che vuole eccellere in uno sport maschile? Insomma di solito cosa vogliono le protagoniste di questi romanzi? Diventare cheerleader o stare col ragazzo più carino della scuola, o credersi cesse quando in realtà sono delle fighe. Beh, qui non abbiamo questo, quindi gli diamo un punto no? In questo libro abbiamo una protagonista che sa quello che vuole e lavora sodo per ottenerlo, senza piangersi addosso e senza fare troppi drammi. Sembra una boccata d'aria fresca in questo senso *-*. Poi sì, è un po' prevedibile, ma un personaggio del genere dovrebbe girare più spesso in questo genere ;)

Catching Jordan

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