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biancahartley's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It gets a bit dark in parts but it's overall a fairly fluffy YA read. The writing, however, didn't work with what the story was trying to be, and it barely delivers on the fantasy/wish fulfillment of a QB/cheerleader romance.
The character development was flat. Jack's character fared better in that regard but only just. There's a fair bit of misogyny and queerphobia but it's one dimensional, we never get to see the nuances and intricacies of it.
Amber's character became somewhat unlikeable, which would have been fine if it was explored more, but it's clear that it was only in service of the third act conflict. It sort of came out of nowhere. Also, I'm glad the conflict wasn't that one character wanted to come out and the other didn't but it still kind of FEELS like that was the conflict. And the resolution was... underwhelming.
All in all, it was fine. The middle flowed better than the beginning and end. Nothing is really explored in any depth. There were a bunch of weird moments and comments. The handling of race was... iffy. (Particularly didn't like the insinuation that the black cheer captain only faced minor pushback for being the first black captain and that it was less important/not comparable to the misogyny/queerphobia that the two white MCs face. There also seems to be several black/brown-coded characters that seem only to be set dressing, and they make up the majority of the characters being nasty to the two leads.) The character of Robbie was also very strange and not handled well, in my opinion.
The character development was flat. Jack's character fared better in that regard but only just. There's a fair bit of misogyny and queerphobia but it's one dimensional, we never get to see the nuances and intricacies of it.
Amber's character became somewhat unlikeable, which would have been fine if it was explored more, but it's clear that it was only in service of the third act conflict. It sort of came out of nowhere. Also, I'm glad the conflict wasn't that one character wanted to come out and the other didn't but it still kind of FEELS like that was the conflict. And the resolution was... underwhelming.
All in all, it was fine. The middle flowed better than the beginning and end. Nothing is really explored in any depth. There were a bunch of weird moments and comments. The handling of race was... iffy. (Particularly didn't like the insinuation that the black cheer captain only faced minor pushback for being the first black captain and that it was less important/not comparable to the misogyny/queerphobia that the two white MCs face. There also seems to be several black/brown-coded characters that seem only to be set dressing, and they make up the majority of the characters being nasty to the two leads.) The character of Robbie was also very strange and not handled well, in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Misogyny, and Homophobia
Minor: Car accident and Miscarriage
kaseybereading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Minor: Abortion and Car accident
beffynicole's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley, Dahlia Adler & Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
I got home from Pride, sunburnt and fully expecting to pass out when I decided to pick up this book to read before bed. Cue me reading the entire book in one sitting, not even moving, and staying up way too late before work!
Despite that, I probably would have rated this book lower if it wasn’t about being queer. There were some parts that hit me really hard as a queer person who has struggled with religious trauma and that relatability definitely brought the score up.
I highly suggest that readers view the trigger warnings before reading this book because it definitely wasn’t a bundle of queer joy.
I got home from Pride, sunburnt and fully expecting to pass out when I decided to pick up this book to read before bed. Cue me reading the entire book in one sitting, not even moving, and staying up way too late before work!
Despite that, I probably would have rated this book lower if it wasn’t about being queer. There were some parts that hit me really hard as a queer person who has struggled with religious trauma and that relatability definitely brought the score up.
I highly suggest that readers view the trigger warnings before reading this book because it definitely wasn’t a bundle of queer joy.
Home Field Advantage follows Amber, a high school cheerleader from a small-town vying to become captain, but she’s also got a secret – she’s polysexual. She’s been fine not having crushes on any of the Atherton High School kids, waiting until college until she can be out and free. That is, until the new quarterback, Jack, shows up.
After the fatal car crash involving Robbie, Atherton’s former quarterback, Jack Walsh becomes the high school’s first female football player – which already would make waves but on top of that, Jack is very obviously a lesbian, and the team feels like she is “taking” the quarterback position away from the guys on the team while trampling over Robbie’s legacy.
Amber and Jack navigate their attraction, social relationships, at times conflicting motivations, and small-town bigotry.
All in all, I did enjoy this book, but I do think there were a lot of issues that would have led me to rate this lower if it wasn’t queer and tugging at parts of my heart.
PROS:
I think the details on other queer characters not wanting to out other queer characters were perfect. A lot of times the media will portray a queer person as being upset that another queer person doesn’t want to come out. To me, this is completely the opposite because we all know that coming out can be hard and dangerous. Many of us wouldn’t hold it against someone, even if we decide that’s not a life we can personally choose for ourselves.
Adler does a great job of using Amber not wanting to come out as a great plot point, while also making it clear that her friends would have been okay with that if she had just been honest about it instead of lying to both of them.
The queer representation wasn’t limited to the two main characters. Obviously Amber and Jack are sapphic, but Amber has an openly bisexual mom, and a best guy friend, Miguel, who is gay and has a boyfriend. Miguel gets A LOT of page time for a side character. On top of that, Jack has a friend who is asexual (and aromantic maybe?) and another who uses they/them pronouns.
The conversation on not making someone out to be a saint just because they died was decently done. I think this is a hard topic to talk about and not one that everyone agrees with, but I still commend the author for addressing it. I don’t think it was perfect, but this is something that a lot of queer (and other marginalized) people can understand. There are people who have hurt us or continued to support our oppression and we don’t always feel like commemorating their deaths. In fact, some might celebrate.
There are also times that someone is being praised or glorified, dead or alive, who have hurt us, and we can’t say anything about it. This was something that especially rang true to me. We are not always safe to speak up about who caused us pain and it’s always a slap in the face to see people praising them.
Adler does a great job of using Amber not wanting to come out as a great plot point, while also making it clear that her friends would have been okay with that if she had just been honest about it instead of lying to both of them.
The queer representation wasn’t limited to the two main characters. Obviously Amber and Jack are sapphic, but Amber has an openly bisexual mom, and a best guy friend, Miguel, who is gay and has a boyfriend. Miguel gets A LOT of page time for a side character. On top of that, Jack has a friend who is asexual (and aromantic maybe?) and another who uses they/them pronouns.
The conversation on not making someone out to be a saint just because they died was decently done. I think this is a hard topic to talk about and not one that everyone agrees with, but I still commend the author for addressing it. I don’t think it was perfect, but this is something that a lot of queer (and other marginalized) people can understand. There are people who have hurt us or continued to support our oppression and we don’t always feel like commemorating their deaths. In fact, some might celebrate.
There are also times that someone is being praised or glorified, dead or alive, who have hurt us, and we can’t say anything about it. This was something that especially rang true to me. We are not always safe to speak up about who caused us pain and it’s always a slap in the face to see people praising them.
CONS:
Atherton felt like a movie version of a small town. You know the kind, where the person hasn’t actually lived in a small town and this is what they expect the high school and bigotry to be like. I grew up in a homophobic small town riddled with religious bigotry and misogyny. Two actually. There were several times I had to force myself to suspend belief because the characterization just wasn’t fully realistic. A lot of the words and language from the bigots felt more like shock value than what would actually be said.
It can be bad and dangerous; it just presents itself differently.
There were more points that just weren’t believable. A lot of times I just had to force myself to go “it’s a story, it’s already fake so what’s a little more.” I don’t want to have to argue with myself to continue reading the book. One specific example was the football coach not realizing the boys were throwing the game. I mean, come on, if they aren’t good at keeping it a secret from Jack, I doubt they’re good at being sneaky. Especially if they aren’t good at football, they’re not going to be good at faking losing subtly. That does take skill – to know how to fail subtly.
And yeah, adults aren’t always great, but you’re seriously telling me that Amber never went to her mom? Who would absolutely advocate for her especially because she’s bi and would have fought for Jack to be respected as a queer person? No one tried talking to the cheer coach or football coach…At all? Not even give the coach a heads up that they wanted to throw the game BEFORE the game so he could keep an eye on it?
For all the author’s commentary on misogyny, I think she unintentionally writes misogynistic characterizations of women. Every girl in this book except Amber and Jack are written to be completely misogynistic stereotypes of the mean girl airheaded cheerleaders. I think there were better ways to use them as bullies without writing them as completely one-dimensional and almost putting down the fact that they decided to participate in traditional femininity.
The way Jack talks about the cheerleaders, even Amber, is misogynistic too. I don’t think this was fully resolved on Jack’s end just because she ended up with Amber.
This book is heavy. Not physically – no, it’s actually a short read. But I was not prepared for how many topics were going to be touched on this. I honestly thought from the description that this was going to be way more lighthearted than it was. I fully expected misogyny and fear of homophobia to be a theme but this was... a lot. I think if I hadn’t just come back from my own local Pride and celebrated myself, this would have put me in a rut for a couple of days.
This is just as much a romance as it is a political commentary and a story on queer trauma, misogyny, and religious bigotry. I don’t think addressing these things are bad, but there was just one thing after another, and I really felt unprepared for the level of bigotry when I thought it would be romance-focused.
Really EVERYONE at Atherton but Amber, Jack, and Miguel were assholes? This book was lonely. I really wish the author had written a little bit more about some of the characters who started warming up towards the end, like Nia.
Some of the writing felt juvenile to me. I read Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler a week or so ago and while the topics in that book weren’t as heavy, the writing felt more advanced and those characters had more depth. I think an attempt was made to give Jack, Amber, and even Miguel depth, but I think this book was too short to do that properly. I knew their motivations, but mostly because it was written in plain print. It was stated not shown.
And the amount of verbiage used to describe Amber and Jack’s physical attributes and… nothing else was a bit much. With a book this short, these sentences are valuable and could have been used in more productive ways, like expanding on Jack and Amber’s relationship instead of it going from 0, to 10, to 100? There also were a lot of repeated phrases.
It can be bad and dangerous; it just presents itself differently.
There were more points that just weren’t believable. A lot of times I just had to force myself to go “it’s a story, it’s already fake so what’s a little more.” I don’t want to have to argue with myself to continue reading the book. One specific example was the football coach not realizing the boys were throwing the game. I mean, come on, if they aren’t good at keeping it a secret from Jack, I doubt they’re good at being sneaky. Especially if they aren’t good at football, they’re not going to be good at faking losing subtly. That does take skill – to know how to fail subtly.
And yeah, adults aren’t always great, but you’re seriously telling me that Amber never went to her mom? Who would absolutely advocate for her especially because she’s bi and would have fought for Jack to be respected as a queer person? No one tried talking to the cheer coach or football coach…At all? Not even give the coach a heads up that they wanted to throw the game BEFORE the game so he could keep an eye on it?
For all the author’s commentary on misogyny, I think she unintentionally writes misogynistic characterizations of women. Every girl in this book except Amber and Jack are written to be completely misogynistic stereotypes of the mean girl airheaded cheerleaders. I think there were better ways to use them as bullies without writing them as completely one-dimensional and almost putting down the fact that they decided to participate in traditional femininity.
The way Jack talks about the cheerleaders, even Amber, is misogynistic too. I don’t think this was fully resolved on Jack’s end just because she ended up with Amber.
This book is heavy. Not physically – no, it’s actually a short read. But I was not prepared for how many topics were going to be touched on this. I honestly thought from the description that this was going to be way more lighthearted than it was. I fully expected misogyny and fear of homophobia to be a theme but this was... a lot. I think if I hadn’t just come back from my own local Pride and celebrated myself, this would have put me in a rut for a couple of days.
This is just as much a romance as it is a political commentary and a story on queer trauma, misogyny, and religious bigotry. I don’t think addressing these things are bad, but there was just one thing after another, and I really felt unprepared for the level of bigotry when I thought it would be romance-focused.
Really EVERYONE at Atherton but Amber, Jack, and Miguel were assholes? This book was lonely. I really wish the author had written a little bit more about some of the characters who started warming up towards the end, like Nia.
Some of the writing felt juvenile to me. I read Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler a week or so ago and while the topics in that book weren’t as heavy, the writing felt more advanced and those characters had more depth. I think an attempt was made to give Jack, Amber, and even Miguel depth, but I think this book was too short to do that properly. I knew their motivations, but mostly because it was written in plain print. It was stated not shown.
And the amount of verbiage used to describe Amber and Jack’s physical attributes and… nothing else was a bit much. With a book this short, these sentences are valuable and could have been used in more productive ways, like expanding on Jack and Amber’s relationship instead of it going from 0, to 10, to 100? There also were a lot of repeated phrases.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Bullying, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, and Outing
Minor: Abortion and Racism
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, blackmailbrokenbodybitch's review
fast-paced
5.0
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
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: Bullying, Car accident, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Biphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Outing
mentions of skipping mealscaseythereader's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? No
3.0
Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE is another entry in the growing collection of YA books about embracing your queerness and your found family in red states hostile to queerness.
- I loved that both Jack and Amber were comfortable with their sexualities, if not both out and proud yet. I am also glad to see some butch representation with Jack, and also that this book is quite open about the characters' sex lives and urges: a lot of gay media in the past few decades has introduced gay characters but kept them quite chaste on screen, and that is not the case here.
- My one quibble with this book is that I just didn't feel like the characters talked like teenagers. They sounded much older, often using overly descriptive language in a way no real person does.
- HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE is another entry in the growing collection of YA books about embracing your queerness and your found family in red states hostile to queerness.
- I loved that both Jack and Amber were comfortable with their sexualities, if not both out and proud yet. I am also glad to see some butch representation with Jack, and also that this book is quite open about the characters' sex lives and urges: a lot of gay media in the past few decades has introduced gay characters but kept them quite chaste on screen, and that is not the case here.
- My one quibble with this book is that I just didn't feel like the characters talked like teenagers. They sounded much older, often using overly descriptive language in a way no real person does.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Misogyny, Bullying, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia
shybookstagramer's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Home Field Advantage is both a cute romance book and a serious topic book. I thought it was able to mix discussions of misogyny, the patriarchy, and homophobia with a cute romance between two amazingly strong women very well. Since the story is told from the dual POVs of Jack and Amber, it was fun to see how Amber and Jack felt about their relationship with each other and how they dealt with the issues at hand. I did get frustrated a bit here and there because of how certain characters handled certain situations, but because of this these characters felt more real and in the end I was happy with how things turned out. It was a roller coaster of a ride.
This book might not be for everyone but I think it's worth giving it a shot because it has a good story to tell.
Home Field Advantage is both a cute romance book and a serious topic book. I thought it was able to mix discussions of misogyny, the patriarchy, and homophobia with a cute romance between two amazingly strong women very well. Since the story is told from the dual POVs of Jack and Amber, it was fun to see how Amber and Jack felt about their relationship with each other and how they dealt with the issues at hand. I did get frustrated a bit here and there because of how certain characters handled certain situations, but because of this these characters felt more real and in the end I was happy with how things turned out. It was a roller coaster of a ride.
This book might not be for everyone but I think it's worth giving it a shot because it has a good story to tell.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Bullying, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Miscarriage, Car accident, and Animal death
foreverinastory's review
emotional
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
4.5
Thank you to Wednesday Books & Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
4.5/5
This one was so good!!
Rep: white polysexual-questioning female MC, white gender non-conforming (butch) female lesbian MC, Latine questioning-achillean male side character, Black female side character, white nonbinary side character, various BIPOC side characters (ethnicity/race not indicated).
CWs: General queerphobia/queermisia, bullying, misogyny/toxic masculinity, threatened outing of side character/blackmailing, religious bigotry, sexism. Moderate: discussions of abortion, pregnancy and miscarriage, alcohol consumption, fatal car accident from DUI, child death, death, grief, violence.
4.5/5
This one was so good!!
Rep: white polysexual-questioning female MC, white gender non-conforming (butch) female lesbian MC, Latine questioning-achillean male side character, Black female side character, white nonbinary side character, various BIPOC side characters (ethnicity/race not indicated).
CWs: General queerphobia/queermisia, bullying, misogyny/toxic masculinity, threatened outing of side character/blackmailing, religious bigotry, sexism. Moderate: discussions of abortion, pregnancy and miscarriage, alcohol consumption, fatal car accident from DUI, child death, death, grief, violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Child death, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Violence
booksmellers's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
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
4.0
This book was recommended on TikTok by one of my favorite booktokers, and of course I'm always down for a sapphic romance, so I was super pleased when NetGalley accepted my request. It came to me at a great time too, because I've been needing something light and cheesy to get a break from some of the long/dense/heavier material I've been reading lately. I was not disappointed.
This book is a fun, lighthearted YA sapphic romance between the new quarterback and a preppy cheerleader. Even though I'm not that into sports, I really liked the idea and I thought it was executed pretty well. I really loved the characters, and thought their relationships were written really well.
The places where this book lacked for me really just came down to personal preference. Jack and Amber's romance wasn't necessarily insta-love level, but it still felt like they got together pretty fast, without knowing each other that long. There are some people who might appreciate that and it did keep the plot moving along, but it's just not a thing I usually like in my romances (this is coming from someone who's super into friends-to-lovers fyi). There were also short periods where the drama either got 1.) Too repetitive (especially on Jack's end) or 2.) Slightly annoying (more on Amber's end - I understood her circumstances but I wanted her to be more honest with her friends).
Even so, I still really enjoyed this book. I read it in two sittings, and it would've only been one sitting if I didn't have other responsibilities. Definitely check this one out!
Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Biphobia, Death, and Car accident
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