Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?
I read
the first two books of the Perfect Chemistry series and I thoroughly enjoyed
them, but I wasn’t excited about those books the way I was excited about Wild Cards. Football was a big deal in
my high school, so my fall Fridays were spent at games home and away – it didn’t
matter how far we had to road trip after school – we were there. I never played
football – that would have been a disaster – but I just fully appreciate
stories that focus on what a role the sport plays in high schools like mine. Football players are kind of awesome, but I
think they generally get a bad rep in YA lit. They’re usually portrayed as dumb
jocks, bullies, or just mean humans – I can only think of a couple books at the
moment that have good, strong football playing characters (maybe I’m reading
the wrong books??). Anyways, I love Ashtyn and her team who support her through
some crazy times. There’s a lot to be said for a group of dudes who respect a
girl enough to choose her as captain and then defend her no matter what.
Ashtyn
was a great leading lady. One of my favorite contemporaries is Catching Jordan, and Jordan takes up all
the room in my heart designated for girl football players. But Ashtyn was surprisingly sweet and
vulnerable under her layers of strength and attitude. She’s also very much a
high school girl who makes decisions like a high school girl would and I
appreciate that.
Derek
was hard not to love. He has the same attitude on the outside and the same vulnerability
underneath that Ashtyn has - which just made you wonder who was going to be the
first to let down their walls. Derek was actually just fun. He pulled awesome pranks,
almost everything that came out of his mouth made me smirk, but you just melt
when he takes care of his little step brother or cuddles with Ashtyn’s dog.
I had a
couple minor issues, with things like how close to being related Derek and
Ashtyn were. They don’t actually share bloodlines, but their families are
pretty closely related and that skeeved me out at times. Also, Derek has some
definite issues trying to get past his mother’s death and we know that Ashtyn’s
mom left her – but that doesn’t seem to be a big issue until it’s pointed out
as a big issue at the end. That, and a few other parts of the story I would
have liked to be developed more. And Derek’s grandmother? What was happening
there?
This
book is very much about the developing relationship between Derek and Ashtyn
and football is the circumstance which pushes them along. This book was very
enjoyable and I read it in a day (this is a good book to see silver-lining in
bad subway days – I got stuck on the subway both to and from work, which turned
out okay because I didn’t want to put this book down). I think it’s going to be great for fans of
the Perfect Chemistry series, because
it has the same kind of romance, just with football instead of gangs. It’s a
story that completely sucks you in, makes you totally melty, and lets you get
lost in someone else’s life for a few hours. And sometimes that’s all you
really need in a book.
