Sports Books Round Up

I am certainly not an athlete and don't even watch or understand most sports, but I do sometimes fall victim to your usual high school athlete romance. Most recently, I've read Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally, the first book of eight in her Hundred Oaks series. I wasn't sure I would like it but I did. I've also read books lately about swimming, gymnastics, and a few other sports. I'm also going to call ballet a sport here, because it is. 

Catching Jordan was my most recent sports-related read and I found it after reading Coming Up for Air. This one was about a girl playing high school football with dreams of becoming aI didn't know this was a series at first, but once I read the 8th book and enjoyed it, I decided I wanted to see what the other books were all alike. I wasn't sure I would like this one, because I have no interest in actual football, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I even found myself enjoying the book more as it went on. I will say that I preferred the eighth one in the series, but that's to be expected since writers tend to get better with time and you would hope a series would improve as well. Because of the way the series is set up, you can start it at any point, so I would find whichever sport or character intrigues you the most and start there. 

Synopsis: Kayla never really thought of her double Ds as "problem breasts." It made them sound like children who wouldn't behave.

Kayla Callaway has prima ballerina grace and something else that most ballerinas don't have: a full figure. Her heart is set on a future in dance. Unfortunately, her proportions just got her cast as an ugly stepsister in Florida Arts High School's production of Cinderella. Kayla's disappointment makes her a prime suspect when the dance troupe receives a string of threatening messages.

I read this one a bit longer ago, so my thoughts aren't as fresh, but I did really enjoy it. If you want a more diverse look at the ballet world, this book is for you. 

Synopsis: Still mourning the loss of Lucas Nelson, the boy she loved in secret for years, seventeen-year-old Emmy Martin turns to her passion for mountain biking to try to fill the empty void in her life. But just when things start looking up, Emmy discovers her mom has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Confused and angry that her parents didn’t tell her sooner, she throws herself into mountain biking like never before.

I can ride a bike, but only just barely, so reading about a competitive mountain biker was really interesting for me. One of my favorite things was how it dealt with the way women in the same industry are so often pitted against each other.

This is the book that introduced me to Miranda Kenneally and the Hundred Oaks series. This one is about a high school swimmer named Maggie who finds herself falling in love with her lifelong friend and teammate Levi. If you're a big fan of the friends to lovers trope, you'll love this book for sure. 

Lessons in Falling is about Savannah, who gives up on gymnastics after blowing out her knee at a competition, but returns to the sport after almost losing a friend. Her love for gymnastics isn't the same as before, and she tries to keep herself from falling back in love with it, but it's part of her and helps her find herself again. 

Synopsis: 

Charlie Ryland has a secret. She may seem like your average high school sophomore—but she’s just really good at pretending.

Because outside of school Charlie spends all her waking hours training to become one of the best gymnasts in the world. And it’s not easy flying under the radar when you’re aiming for Olympic gold…especially when an irresistible guy comes along and threatens to throw your whole world off balance.

I've always found gymnastics really fascinating, and I picked this one up because I was checking it in at the library. I partially wanted to see if it would be any good and it was. This addresses the technical and Olympic side of gymnastics without being too hard to understand. It was tons of fun to read.