(The Field Party #1)
Publication
Date: August 25, 2015
Hardcover, 336 pages, Simon Pulse
Genres:
YA, Contemporary
To everyone who knows him, West
Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular,
way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state
championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the
inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die
of cancer.
Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s
life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the
police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the
move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet,
keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.
As West’s pain becomes too much to
handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark
shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t
tell anyone else.
West expected that talking about
his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t
control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain
even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he
couldn’t ever let her go…
My Review
Okay, so I really enjoyed this book, but it annoyed me at
the same time.
Reasons I enjoyed it:
West is a fully-functioning character. He’s not just a love-interest
for the main female character. However, I did have a few issues with his
character that I’ll explain later, but for the most part, I loved how
interactive he is with his friends and I wish we could have seen more football and
friend scenes, but the book is too short for that. I would have been fine if it
was 500 pages instead of just 300, though.
I also really like that West has family problems. A lot of
the time the guy character in a YA or NA romance has no background that we can
really read about as it’s happening, but West did. And I cried. So much. Abbi
Glines did a great job of conveying how much family means to people and how
when bad things happen, we just don’t know what to do with ourselves.
Another enjoyable factor is how Maggie knew when to set
limits in the relationship. Granted she didn’t set them for as long as I would
have liked, but she did lay her foot down. You go, girl!
Now on to the reasons the book annoyed me:
I DESPISE the mean-girl/slut trope. There is no girl out
there whose life is just about making one girl’s existence miserable. And that
girl shouldn’t be portrayed as a slut, just for having dated/slept with the
main male character. (I also didn’t like how all the football players were
considered man-whores and that was okay with everyone. This is one of my big
problems with West and his attitude.) I could go on all day about this problem
in YA and NA literature, but I’m going to step back and take a few breaths.
My second reason for being annoyed revolved around Maggie’s
issues. Hers just weren’t as realistic as West’s, so I didn’t appreciate her
chapters as much as I did his. Plus, Maggie choosing not to talk seems
far-fetched to me. (I’m sure this does happen, but it wasn’t very believable
the way Glines wrote it.) And how everyone treated her because she chose not to
talk was absolutely revolting!
My last reason is short, but it has to do with West’s mom. I
didn’t find what she did realistic at all. I won’t say anything else so I don’t
spoil it for you.
Although I’m complaining about this book, I still really
liked it. The parts I mentioned liking were fantastic and the book was a very
quick, thoughtful read. I’m sure I’ll pick up the sequel at some point, just in
case there’s more of the deep stuff hidden somewhere in this fluffy
contemporary romance book.
*Note: I borrowed
a copy of this book from my local library. This in no way affected my
opinion/review.
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