Throw Like A Girl – Sarah Henning – Poppy – Published 7 January 2020

♥♥♥♥♥

 

Synopsis

When softball star Liv Rodinsky throws one ill-advised punch during the most important game of the year, she loses her scholarship to her fancy private school, her boyfriend, and her teammates all in one fell swoop. With no other options, Liv is forced to transfer to the nearest public school, Northland, where she’ll have to convince its coach she deserves a spot on the softball team, all while facing both her ex and the teammates of the girl she punched… Every. Single. Day.

Enter Grey, the injured star quarterback with amazing hair and a foolproof plan: if Liv joins the football team as his temporary replacement, he’ll make sure she gets a spot on the softball team in the spring. But it will take more than just a flawless spiral for Liv to find acceptance in Northland’s halls, and behind that charismatic smile, Grey may not be so perfect after all.

My thoughts

Throw Like A Girl is such a feel-good, girl power (but taking nothing away from the guys) kind of book. I love sports books because of the suspense, the blood, sweat and tears, the team camaraderie, the hard work they put in and those glorious moments of triumph. Throw Like A Girl delivers all of that alongside such great displays of friendship, lessons about lying and the consequences of not disclosing the full truth and swoon. worthy. romance. Such a great book and everything I wanted it to be.

Liv Rodinsky is one of her softball team’s stars. That is, until she punches an opposing team member in the face for an offensive slur. Cast from the team, her scholarship and her school, Liv has to start again, this time on the team of the girl she punched. The coach asks her to display team skills, so when the school’s football team quarterback recruits Liv, she takes him up on the offer.

Oh my gosh I loved this book. From Liv’s fierceness and excellent sport skills to her burgeoning relationship with Grey. She makes an excellent narrator- great friend, good daughter and just a genuinely nice person. But she doesn’t take any nonsense and is quick to set people straight.

The sport is also excellent in this book, from football and softball to general training. While it might be unrealistic for Liv to be so excellent at football while she is so new to it, her sport background make it just plausible and it’s so awesome I couldn’t care less if it is unrealistic.

Throw Like A Girl is an uplifting, inspiring, just downright fun book with some excellent messages about sportsmanship, relationships and trustworthiness. I can’t wait to add this to our library’s sport collection.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Young adult fiction

Genre: Contemporary, Sport

Themes: Sport, football, softball, teams, romance, friendship, homophobia, family, cancer, sportsmanship.

Reading age guide: Ages 12 and up.

Advisory: References to homophobia. Coarse language, f*** (1), sh** (73), pi** (16), di** (1), as***** (14).

Published: 7 January 2020 by Poppy, Hachette.

Format: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook. 368 pages.

ISBN: 9780316529501

Find it on Goodreads