Reviews with content warning for Grief - Home Field Advantage

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

21 reviews

mel_muses's review

4.5

What an absolute slay.

I thoroughly enjoyed this! I am definitely going to have to read more from Dahlia Adler, and most certainly will be picking up my ARC of Going Bicoastal, her 2023 release, as soon as I can!

Home Field Advantage is a wonderfully done YA love story. It follows a dual POV - Amber, a high school cheerleader, and Jack, the butch lesbian of every sapphic's dreams. Jack is the new quarterback for their high school, after the previous quarterback died after driving drunk.

This book wonderfully tackled the subjects of misogyny, toxic masculinity, coming out, and coming of age. I was boiling in rage for the majority of this book, seeing Jack get mistreated and Amber come to terms with what type of leader she wanted to be, but at the same time it felt so true to a high school experience. Not to say everything in this book was wholly believable (it is fiction lol), but I think the feelings and emotions that were expressed were true to their core.

This book was such a joy to read, from start to end. I loved the nuances in each character, and everyone's messiness all around. HIP HIP HO-GAY!

*I cannot be held accountable for what I write at the end of reviews :D

Content Warnings: misogyny, homophobia, threatened outing, alcohol consumption, mentioned miscarriage (side character), depictions of grief and loss, death of a teenager, car accident, bullying

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teaskate's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

First of i like the cover and the premise sounds very interesting. But the execution was lacking for me. I just could not fully vibe with the book. First of all the pacing was kind of weird I often felt like nothing is processing, but also everything was going to fast. First you never want to do a thing and then one page later you do everything against what you just said. Like at least tell us your thoughts etc. Than the main characters were both at some point very unlikeable, which is not something particularly bad for a book. It shows that the characters have depth and they are not perfect. However in this case it just felt so weird. There was a lot of misogyny in the book, which was obviously the whole point and a big part of the story. Nevertheless the dialogues and monologues of the main characters often also just had misogyny or other weird stuff in it. Which didn’t really fit in the story or help it proceed. It just made me very uncomfortable. The relationship was rushed and kind of toxic, which okay this is not some super long novel. But still so much potential. Also Cheerleading was often sexualised, which made reading the book really not enjoyable and undermines the message the book wants to deliver. I do want to say that the discussion and the points the book wants to make are important and partly good executed. Also there were a few very sweet paragraphs in the book. Even so I felt like this book did not give what it was supposed to give. I still think there are people that would enjoy this book. So I would give it a go and see for yourself.

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the_true_monroe's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense 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

Oh my goodness, this was beautiful. Definitely a rom-com but in a way that allowed for it to touch on some very important and raw subjects too that are often left out of young adult novels and I felt it also portrayed some queer narratives that I don’t often see in books or on the screen such as where youth are out to supportive parents and able to be themselves at home and around each other, but not at school/ in public.

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trussell12's review

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was so cute! It had some darker storylines than I expected, but the overall story was really sweet and inspiring.

I wish Amber had had to confront her shitty behavior a bit more throughout. Though I completely understand her reservations about coming out, she was not a very good friend to Miguel or Jack at times and acted pretty selfishly. However, the small-town high school romance vibes were on point and the conflict did make sense to the story.

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dwoht's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted tense medium-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

the misogyny and sexism experienced by the characters are really bad. i feel so bad and disgusted even if it's fictional. the love story of the main characters are cute tho but also like it's very fast. i also feel like the ending didn't answer the questions that i have throughout the story. but if you want a happy ending 🤷‍♀️ then here you go.

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wonderlandbooks's review

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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theoceanrose's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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hippiequeen's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book! Amber and Jack have a nice dynamic, their relationship is not toxic - mainly they fight out of fear coming out, which, you know, it happens - as it may be in other YA lesbian romances so that’s a yay! I have read it in literally 6 hours, could not put it down! Would definitely recommend it as something lighthearted, inclusive and cute.

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danileah07's review

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emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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