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brokenbodybitch's review against another edition
4.5
Their quarterback dies in a car accident and is replaced by the new kid Jack Walsh, Jack happens to be short for Jacklyn and having a girl replace their fav QB is a huge task. Jack's team and the cheerleaders are mad and try to take her down at all costs, Amber, a cheerleader aiming for captain next year tries to calm tension, her team mates make it clear that she will lose cheer captain if she helps jack.....the problem with that Jack and Amber are falling in love.
I WISH I HAD THIS IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!! this was the sapphic cheerleader and QB romance I was dying for when I was younger and I was genuinely sad for this book to end; Natalie Naudus and Lori Prince did a fantastic job with the chemistry between the two characters and I thoroughly enjoyed how they brought them to life (I loved Natalie already). I didn't really get into any of the sports/cheer/popular kid scene in high school because of ✨bullying✨ so I was that kid who read all the books about the popular and cool kids to see what the 'ideal' high school experience is like and this was my fav trope so when I saw this on NetGalley i knew i NEEDED it. It defiantly lived up to the hype! It was fantastic writing and an adorable story.
Amber identifies as polysexual which I absolutely loved seeing a micro-label talked about, I generally really enjoyed the queer rep in this book; a line in particular I loved is when Jack talks about how amazing it was to hear Ambers mom mentioning being queer so casually. Ambers mom says something about having a bi bob and I know its a small thing but i totally would've picked up on that too, especially when i was younger seeing adults be queer casually was such a big thing and i loved that it was added in. the dynamics between Amber, Jack, and Miguel and them with their teams/other cheerleaders was also done well, although I do wish there was a bit more from the storyline between Amber and Cara(?I don't know spelling it was the audiobook), I think I would have enjoyed them discussing how Cara played into the bullying and hate the three of them faced a bit more, but it also isn't enough of a complaint for me to even think of lowering the rating.
This was such a beautiful story of queer love with the popular cheerleader and football QB trope done perfectly, and I cant recommend it more. Especially the audio book Natalie Naudus and Lori Prince crushed this!
*I received this as an audiobook arc from NetGalley, but these are my un-influenced thoughts*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Classism, and Outing
Mentions of skipping meals, blackmail
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