Review: Catching Jordan

Title: Catching Jordan

Author: Miranda Kenneally

Publication Date: December 1st 2011

Length: 281 pages (Paperback)

Series: Hundred Oaks #1

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

Review:

Yes, it is true. I have now read Catching Jordan. Catching Jordan. Catching…Jordan. Am I the only one who didn’t get the catching-part? Yes? Okay.

Moving on :)

This book has been haunting me almost my whole Goodreads-life. Wherever I looked, there it was, popping up in the most mysterious of places. Sometimes the raving reviews compelled me to add it to my to-read shelf, only to be removed later. After a month or two I would find it on my shelf again and the process repeated itself over and over.

It has been one of those books I have meant to read…but actually not, you know?

But as you can see, I did decide to give it a chance. Why? Well, a friend of mine has been encouraging me to borrow it from her and read it basically since I befriended her last autumn, even though she didn’t like it much herself. Since it frustrates me to no end when my friends ignore my kind book recommendation (one of my friends actually started listening to me after she read and loved Divergent. She complained that I hadn’t been more persistent about her reading it…I had only been nagging about it for like three months), I decided to pick it up. Sadly, I must say that my opinion on it was a little bit, but not much, better than hers.

On the plus side, we have the fact that it was a very summery book, which was exactly what I was looking for and needed. It was cute, had its fun parts and was pretty easy and fast to get through. I liked that the main character was a “tom-boy”, and her relationship with the other guys on the team was probably the best thing about the whole book. A certain detail in the plot was so obvious they might as well have written it in the synopsis, and while I didn’t exactly like the turn the book took (I don’t want to spoil too much, but lets just say she gets herself one admirer too many), I did enjoy the fact that the story played out, and ended, very differently from what I expected when I first began reading.

I also think that the message of the book is very good and current to today. Whether you’re a boy or a girl shouldn’t matter in any situation, and it sure as hell shouldn’t be the thing to decide whether you have people’s respect or not. What actually do matter is skill and dedication, and everyone deserves to be taken seriously in order to prove themselves.

I also think that both Jordan and the reader gets a lesson in not judging people too fast. All Jordan saw when she looked at the cheerleaders, was basically stupid sluts that had nothing between their ears (this is one reason why I didn’t entirely like her character), but later on she realised that her first impression might have been incorrect. There’s always a lot more to people than what you first see, and that can only be discovered by spending time with them and giving them a chance, which is kind of what Jordan wanted everyone else to do for her. There lives a hypocrite in all of us…

Now to the things that bothered me to a point where I almost wanted to give up a couple of times….

First of all, I wasn’t very fond of Jordan’s voice. It felt like the author tried too hard to make her sound like a teenager and I didn’t buy it. Some of the dialogue just felt weird, and to be honest, a bit cringe-worthy. There were lots of “like”, “yo” and stuff like that, which I didn’t really enjoy, but got used to (almost).

Secondly, at more than one point, I simply stared at the book, shocked about how completely unreal some characters behaved. I don’t know what is and what’s not normal in America, but I don’t know any young girl who would ask someone they’ve known for basically two seconds if they could borrow their dress. Also, this is basically how one scene went down:

– Young man, whom I’ve just met, you seem like an outstanding person who deserve all the happiness in the world. Here, take my money and go to college because I believe in you!

Yeah…NO! That’s not how freaking normal human beings operate, or have I missed something?!? Please let me in on this secret if you know the answer, it’s killing me here.

Now….about our leading lady, miss Jordan Woods. Here’s the thing; when I read a book and the story progresses, I like when you get to know the characters more and more, and in the process, also grows more fond of them. Well…

That was not the case with Jordan. She started out as this cool, tough character who just loved to play ball and didn’t let anyone mess with her. Sure, she had her flaws and traits that I didn’t like, but if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have felt very real, would she? About halfway through, though, I was so frustrated with her that I almost had to take a break. She was, safe to say, one of the most whiny, childish and annoying characters I have ever encountered. Bohoo, why doesn’t everyone love me? Why won’t he kiss me? I’m sooo aloneee!

Okay, I might be exagerating a little bit, but I seriously wanted to punch the wall at more than one point, and would have if I wasn’t afraid to hurt myself (I’m a reader, not a boxer for god’s sake).

Luckily, she did pick up again towards the end (a little bit), but for a while she comletely changed personality and became a different person who cried a lot and ran to hide whenever things got tough.

*Big exasperated sigh*

Felt good to let it out of my system :).

Still, I know that the negative things often stand out the most in reviews, and I need to assure you that it wasn’t as bad as it may seem from what I’ve told you. It truly was an entertaining read and I did finish it in about a day, which I usually can’t do unless the book has a somewhat nice flow and interesting story. While I wasn’t dazzled, or will ever recommend it to one of my friends, it was still a cute story, perfect to read during the summer :).

3/5 Moustaches

Time For Le Quotes:

“Love hurts worse than getting slammed by a 250-pound linebacker.”

“Henry?’ JJ asks.
‘Asleep in my bed.’
‘What?’ Ty exclaims.”

Advertisement