Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

Synopsis: 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 on 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 now there's a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team... and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.

Review: I was skimming through all the positive reviews of this book and kept wondering if I read the same book. I loved the cover, it totally drew me to the book and even though I thought the premise sounded a little silly I wanted to read it.

I think guys should be guys and girls should be girls. I’m all for girl’s being strong, independent, playing sports, etc. But, I think girls should also be feminine, should be respected and treated like ladies.

I wish I could have liked Jordan more, which is one of the reasons I kept reading. Jordan was just such a boy. Not a tomboy, but a boy. She acted like a guy, cussed like a guy, and did just about everything like a guy. Sure, when hot Ty comes around she wants to be a little more girly, and even makes a couple girl friends, but at the end of the day she was still pretty boyish. I was really disappointed that she started sleeping with Ty. Her attitude (and everyone else’s) about sex was WAY too casual. It was kind of gross actually. What I also thought was sad was that no one actually respected Jordan. Yes, they appreciated her football skills and treated her like one of the guys. Which was part of my problem; they treated her like a guy not a girl. They didn’t treat her with respect, course they didn’t treat any girl with respect, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.

In fact, I didn’t care for any of the guys in this book. Her brother’s friend Jake was a creep; there is NO WAY my brothers would EVER let a guy talk to me the way Jake talked to Jordan. Even if he was just kidding. Ty was okay, but I never really felt like I got to know him. Once they hooked up he kind of disappears from the story, even though they were still sleeping together…I mean dating. I know Henry was supposed to be our hero, but I thought he was a creep to. To help sooth his broken heart he sleeps with every girl that looks his way. Are we supposed to feel bad for him in his unrequited love and so it’s okay if he uses girls he has no feelings for? Whatever.

I thought the writing was okay. I liked that there was more conversation than inner dialog, even if the dialog felt unnatural at times. I liked that Jordan had a goal and was doing all she could to achieve it. Leave out all the swearing and sex and I probably would have given this a 4 star rating.

I’m just left wondering what the moral of the story is. Is it to be a strong girl you have to give up all feminine qualities and act like a guy? Is it that it’s okay to sleep around and it’s not a big deal? I’m sure the author meant it to be something about achieving goals or whatever, but at what cost?

Content: LOTS of swearing. Lots of casual sex (although no details).

Bookworm Rating: 1