Catching Jordan

Catching Jordan was such a fun, sporty and hilarious read. i always love it when there is a theme in contemporary novels, such as music, or sports. The book revolves around Jordan, a senior high school student, who is the school star quarterback for the guy's team, and is GOOD at it, and you know what else? Jordan is a girl. I loved how her teammates respected her, and weren't intimidated by a girl being their leader, but at the same time other people and universities treated her like the poster girl for the team, which frustrated her and I; Even her dad was against her playing reason being he doesn't want her to get hurt. Her dad and older brother both play in teams. While this frustrated me, its how reality is. The author didn't draw a pretty picture of it, in truth sexism and discrimination against women exist, even in the most advanced countries. Now back to the story; What was unrealistic is how her guy friend, Henry, who is 17 like her, sleeps over at her house, in her room, and sleeps on the same bed. What family would allow a hormonal teenage boy to sleepover in their daughter's room is beyond me. What was also brought to my attention is the amount of, lets just say, explicit talk going on in the book. Since Jordan always hangs with the "boys" you can guess where the conversations usually end up; so much vulgarity going on, but I guess that's a realistic drawing of how guys are nowadays, unfortunately. The story was cute, fun, and a nice change from how contemporary novels usually are. I loved how strong, confident, and independent Jordan was, but at the same time you get to see her vulnerability, and how hurt she is by her father's rejection to her playing. This book is definitely for older teens; and i hope more books are written with sporty themes, they're just so much fun! Fans of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger should definitely read Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally. 4.5/5 stars

I wanted to read catching Jordan because I really enjoy racing Savannah one of the later ones in the series so I figured I would try and see if I like more of the authors writing style. Jordan's a great character and I liked her right away. she's the female quarterback and coach of her high school football team and she wants to go even further to the college or pro level but her dad is not supportive of her playing even though he was a football player himself. Jordan is a pretty complex character she has a best friend named Henry and I'm beginning to suspect that he has feelings for her but she just sees it is totally platonic because they've been friends for so long. Jordan and Henry I guess that are best friends but it just feels like it goes even further than that because Henry spends the night in Jordan bed a lot and even though nothing happens there it can just give kind of the wrong ideas. Their relationship is kind of a mystery to the guy that Jordan has a crush on by the new guy in town who is also a quarterback and he has also very good. Jordan wants keep Her distance though. she's always kind of shied away from any kind of relationship besides friendship with the team because she doesn't want them to view her as we are too girly or anything else could because she wants to keep their respect because she is there a captain. She faces some pretty hard issues in this one. her Dad not wanting her to play and him never really showing up to any of her games or even talking football with her and that really hurts her pretty deeply. she also gets an offer from a college saying that she'll probably get a full ride but they want me to do this photo shoot and it has her very girly like in a jersey and shorts shorts and she's uncomfortable with it but she also pretty much will do anything to get into that schools and to be able to play ball on that sort of level. Jordan always wears workout clothes and she's very much a tomboy and she's okay with that for the most part. The whole crush thing is pretty new to her too she liked her but she keeps holding back in even though its obvious to other people and even her that they have the chemistry she just doesn't want to give up that part of herself and it's all very new to her she never even really been kissed and all the sudden she's having thoughts about how hot this guy is and it's different because she's been surrounded by boys a lot with the team Bottom Line: Enjoyed Jordan, the friendships and eventual romance.

Jordan Woods is in her senior year at Hundred Oaks High in Franklin, Tennessee. She is unusual not only in that she tops six feet in height, but she is also the captain and quarterback of the champion high school football team. All her good friends, including her best friend, Sam Henry, are her male teammates. Her whole life revolves around football. Her father, Donovan Woods, is the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. Her brother Mike plays for the University of Tennessee. Jordan aspires more than anything to play football for Alabama, and Alabama actually seems interested in recruiting her. Then a new "hot" transfer student shows up, Tyler "Ty" Green. He is a quarterback himself from the previous year's Texas state championship team. Suddenly Jordan starts to fumble, as everything in her world turns upside down. Discussion: The characters are very likable in this book, and I loved the portrayal of the relationships among Jordan and her male teammates. I also loved how the boys were protective of Jordan not as a female so much as a female trying to succeed in a male role. There were some laugh-out-loud moments in the book whenever it focused on what these kids were learning (or not learning, as the case may be) in school. For example, there is a very funny ongoing scenario with Jordan and Sam having to care for a fake baby for home ec class. And when Jordan and her teammate J.J. do crosswords together, they are always stumped: they can't figure out "a four-letter word for a past Russian leader", and as the answer to "a four-letter word for a soothing plant" they guess "weed." Evaluation: This cute book is very predictable in some ways, and I would have called it "tween" instead of "YA" except for the fact that sex does occur. However, it is so UN-described that it is about as innocuous as it could be and still be "sex." This would make a great mother-daughter combo read -plenty of issues arise that are good for discussion about gender roles, treatment of girls, parental expectations, and of course, sex.

Jordan Woods has spent most of her life being seen as "one of the guys" and that's more than fine with her. As the quarterback of her high school's football team, it's almost a necessity, actually. While the other girls might notice the guys for the good looks, Jordan only notices their playing ability. As long as she - and the rest of her team - play well enough to get her into a top notch football university (and on their field), that's all that matters. Until the new guy at school wants a place on the team. And maybe in Jordan's heart. Do you ever go into a book expecting to love, love, love it and then . . . not? Sadly, that was what happened with me and Catching Jordan. I didn't necessarily dislike it, I just didn't love it like all of the amazing reviews I'd seen so many of (and heard from people) said I would. The idea of a girl playing high school football is definitely not unheard of - rare though it may be - but it is unheard of in YA fiction so Catching Jordan immediately grabbed my attention because of that. I really liked that Jordan's football wasn't an "oh yeah, she also plays football" part of the story. It was usually a pretty main part of the story. It was great that she was friends with guys, too. Too rarely (especially in YA books, I think) are female and male characters friends in books - platonic friends. It does happen in life (regardless of what movies will have you believe) so it's nice to see it in a book. I did feel like the romantic aspect of the story was too dramatic - part of that may have been that I always found something 'off' about Ty. Even when things were being hinted at, it seemed odd no one else noticed said things - and later they didn't seem to go anywhere. It made the romance seem to quick and, like I said, dramatic to fit with Jordan. Ty could have been made a flawed character for purposes of the story, but still been sympathetic and someone you could connect to . .. for me he just felt a bit 'off.' [It also seems strange that no one - her mother, a girlfriend of her brother, one of her guy friends, someone - has done anything about her being so judgmental about the girls in her life. It kind of makes sense when the girls/cheerleaders in her social circle are described as ditzy, though, I guess. ] Catching Jordan is predictable but it's fun and if Ty doesn't irk you (I can testify that he doesn't many others), it's a cute, lighthearted read.

I am not a fan of football and by stating that I'm probably committing about seven different kinds of blasphemy. However it's true. So why on earth would I want to read a book about a football player? Well to be honest this was a book I seriously debated about but in the end I dubbed it a 'to read' mostly because it's about a girl that plays football and let's face it, there is not a lot of female football players. So I picked up this book expecting a lot of football jargon, a cute love story and maybe some swoon worthy guys. However this book offered something much more. This book is not merely about a girl playing football. It's a book about a girl's relationship with her father. It's a book about a girl trying to find her place in the world. It's these layers of the story that make this book a compelling read. Jordan Woods is not your average girl with the average interests. Jordan plays football. She's really good. Captain of the football team good. I like her character a lot. Jordan wants to be respected as the football captain so she tries to act a certain way so they don't think she's too soft. Jordan also wants the respect of her father. He's a pro football player and doesn't like the fact that she plays. Their struggle to find common ground is heartbreakingly realistic. The characters in this book are great. The guys on Jordan's team are hilarious. They'd make any girl want to sign up for football. They have her back no matter what. The team really makes this book a joy to read. I also really like Jordan's family. I actually could understand her dad's point of view as well as Jordan's. The only character that I didn't really like was Jordan's love interest, Ty, he was okay but he got on my nerves a bit. Overall I'm glad I read this book. Catching Jordan is not my usually read but I'm so glad I stepped out of my box to read it. I would have missed out on something really good. I'm still not a fan of football but I am a fan of this book.