[Review] Home Field Advantage - Dahlia Adler

Summary: Amber 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.

The 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.

Just 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. (Pub Date: Jun 07 2022)

 

Amber wants to be cheer captain and for that she plays the perfect cheerleader character, including having a boyfriend on the team, despite really liking women. The team is shaken when the quarterback dies—instantly becoming something close to a saint notwithstanding his actual history—, and the arrival of the new quarterback Jack, a woman, shakes Amber even more. The cheerleaders and the team and maybe the whole school wants to freeze Jack out, but Amber is falling in love with who was supposed to be the enemy.

3+

 This is a cozy romance. I like the trope, I like the characters, I like the side characters too. It's a story that made me smile through it and with a good conclusion. However, it dragged more than just a little. I did like the idea, Amber's struggle to get what she wants in spite of who she really is was very easy to relate to, even if her actions weren't at times, but this only made her even more interesting. Jack's was obviously easier to understand but wow, she's incredibly strong. I have no idea how that school didn't fall immediately in love with the fire she has. 

So it's a story worth reading, but as you go on, and as it drags, it becomes less unique (or maybe that's why it drags). I would have preferred it shorter so the impact of the unusual setting for what was supposed to be the most common couple in the history of high school stories lasted to the end.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.