Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

How You Get The Girl by Anita Kelly

3 reviews

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

“But that when it came to identity, when it came to queerness, the whole point was that there were no tryouts. If you were even thinking about it, you were already on the team. That labels weren't meant to confine, only to bring comfort to those for whom they were useful. 
That Julie didn't need to ascribe to any of them if she didn't want to. 
Elle wanted to say that, label or no label, hearing Julie just describe relationships and sexuality in sports metaphors was the gayest thing that had ever happened to her. And she had spent half her life dedicated to women's basketball.”

Lemme tell you what I normally like my romance fairly kink/smut forward with enough plot to sort of hold the thing together but this Tennessee set story of two folks navigating care (personal and systemic) and queerness and BASKETBALL done gone and challenged that notion for real. 
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imstephtacular's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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addiesbookshelf_'s review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 “But that when it came to identity, when it came to queerness, the whole point was that there were no tryouts. If you were even thinking about it, you were already on the team.” 
 
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing an advanced reader copy of this book! 
 
Summary: Julie Parker never expected her former idol to show up in the gym of the high school basketball team that she coaches, but that’s exactly what happens one day when a new girl joins the team and her aunt/new foster parent come to pick her up. Elle Cochrane, meanwhile, never thought that he reintroduction to basketball after eight years would be assistant coaching a high school basketball team and thinking that the head coach was too cute for words. And when Julie admits to Elle that she’s never been in a relationship and just wishes that she could have some practice, it only makes sense that Elle would be the one to help her out, right? 
 
What I liked: As always, Anita Kelly blew me away with how fun, cute, and earnest this book was. I absolutely fell in love with both Julie and Elle from the beginning, and I had such a good time watching their story unfold. In particular, I thought that Julie was the sweetest and I really identified with her journey of figuring out her identity and feeling sure of it all for a long time. I also really loved just how down bad Elle was for Julie from the beginning. 
 
Another real highlight of this book were all of the side characters. I loved not only getting to spend more time with London, Dahlia, Ben, and Alexei from the first two books in the series, but I became instantly obsessed with Vanessa (Elle’s foster kid) and the entire basketball team. In particular, when Vanessa said that “If you and coach don’t get married by the end of the season the entire team is going to be disappointed,” I absolutely cracked up laughing. 
 
What I didn’t like: If had to choose one thing I didn’t like about this book, it was the fact that, after they started practice dating and it became pretty clear that it *wasn’t* practice for either of them, the road to actually dating for real was really long and kind of wonky. It just left the vibes in the last portion of the book feeling a little weird. But all in all, I still really enjoyed this and highly recommend, like I always will with an Anita Kelly book! 
 
Read this if you love: 
 
💕 Sapphics playing sports 
💕 Sapphics simping for each other 
💕 Earnest love stories 
💕 Sassy and on-the-nose teenagers 
 
Genre/Type: Contemporary Romance 
Format: Physical 📖 
Length: 384 pages 
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
Spice: 🌶️ 
Series or standalone: Series 
Tropes or themes: Fake dating/practice dating, sports romance, queer awakening (kind of) 
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