Home Field Advantage

About the Author\nDahlia Adler is an editor of mathematics by day, the overlord of LGBTQReads by night, and a Young Adult author at every spare moment in between. She is the editor of several anthologies and the author of many novels, including Cool for the Summer and Home Field Advantage. She lives in New York with her family and an obscene number of books.\n"Home Field Advantage has it all. A swoony romance, characters you will be cheering for from start to finish, and a plot that sucks you in from the very first page. An instant favorite, perfectly capturing the power in being true to yourself and fighting for what is right." - Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl\nAmber McCloud’s dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it’s an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose.\nThe players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the changes to their traditions, and the fact that Robbie’s been not only replaced but outshined by a QB who wears a sports bra has more than a few Atherton Alligators in a rage. Amber tries for some semblance of unity, but it quickly becomes clear that she's only got a future on the squad and with her friends if she helps them take Jack down.\nJust one problem: Amber and Jack are falling for each other, and if Amber can't stand up for Jack and figure out how to get everyone to fall in line, her dream may come at the cost of her heart.\nDahlia Adler's Home Field Advantage is a sparkling romance about fighting for what - or who - you truly want.\nFrom School Library Journal\nGr 10 Up-Nothing can stand in Amber McCloud's way as she works toward becoming cheer captain; nothing, that is, except for an intriguing new quarterback named Jack Walsh. And when Jack turns out to be short for Jaclyn, things are even more complicated for the queer but closeted Amber, who finds herself attracted to Jack. Jack is struggling to find acceptance with her new teammates, who seem determined to hate her for replacing their previous quarterback. Jack and Amber must work together to unify everyone while facing bigotry and defining their romantic interest in one another. This is a well-written story with solid pacing, believable characters, and relatable issues. Discussion of LGBTQIA+ identity is realistic and appropriately handled, as is how the characters deal with and confront homophobia and misogyny. The evolution of lifelong friendships is sensitively explored, as is the expression of identity in a repressed setting. Lead characters are white, with some secondary characters who are Black and Latinx. There is proliferate use of curse words throughout, including gender- and sexual-based name-calling; while the use of profanity is realistic for the teen experience, the constant usage distracts from the plot. Also present is appropriate representation of and discussion of teen experiences relating to sexuality, including abortion. VERDICT A recommended purchase for all school or public libraries catering to older teens.-Christine Caseα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.