I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I appreciated what this book was trying to do, especially having a female protagonist with a passion for a sport but I really felt like I've read this same story many times before. Nothing very original happened it in and the whole book was just trying to play on your emotions in order to make you angry about the main characters situation.

There is nothing Michigan loves more in the world than hockey and in my opinion there has never been a female character as strong as Michigan in any other book in the world!

This is BearTown for YA . It has the same heart and the same way with words.

Michigan's school has lost funding for the girls hockey team, so she joins the boys. Which goes pretty much as one would think. However, this book really gets to the heart of the matter and how innocent teasing, isn't always so innocent. The boys hate her being on their team. Insecure boys who all feel threatened by Michigan and a coach who just turns a blind eye.

There is a love story between Michigan and Jack (a swimmer) and it is a love that is so pure and true and just adorable and her friends are huge forces in her life. This book was put together in such a way that you can tell Carrie S Allen fell in love with her characters. This book has it all, heart, heartache, love, friendship, cruelty and all. Such a wonderful read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

First thing i need to say is that Michigan is a character that you are unable to not cheer for. From the very start to the very end, she knew what she wanted and she made damn sure she was going to get it. She truly is a badass and I am in awe of her strength, resilience, and feistiness.

This book is not an easy read. There were times I was so angry that I had to put the book down to calm down. But the reason it made me feel so intensely is because it was real. This book doesn’t shy away from the harsh reality of sexism, discrimination, assault, or the hatred of women “invading” spaces that men occupy.

I loved the characters, the plot, the pacing, and the ending. This book is a masterpiece and as hard as it is to read, I’m sure I’ll end up coming back to this book and reading it again.

KCP Loft and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Michigan vs. the Boys. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Michigan Manning lives for hockey, but budget cuts at her local high school has drastic implications for the young woman's future. With no other options than to play for the boys team, will Michigan be able to navigate the hazing and bad feelings to keep her future secure?

Michigan vs. the Boys is realistic fiction, but echoes the truths that have been exposed throughout this country and the larger world. Hazing and harassment should have no place in high school sports, but it is an unfortunate byproduct of the age in which we live. There are lessons to be learned here from both the male and the female perspective. Some of the novel was not necessarily realistic, especially given the widespread nature of the hazing. I did like how Michigan finds her voice and the support that she is given should be a lesson to those who are suffering a similar fate. Overall, Michigan vs. the Boys is a novel that is relatable and could serve as a conversation point between parents and their teenagers.

I loved this book with my entire heart. It takes you on a roller coaster of emotions, and it is amazing. I loved the main character. She was strong, and thoughtful, and courageous. The friendships were written so well. An incredible theme of female empowerment and overall paving the way for young girls. It was amazing. The passion Michigan had for hockey was wonderful to read and feel. This book is worth the read, and I commend the author. Such a job well done.

Michigan Vs The Boys is a story about a girl who wants to play hockey, but to do so must join the boys team. This book left me feeling so angry, not at the book itself, but at the reality that this is what happens. The boys on the team were so awful to Michigan and all I wanted for her was to speak up and put an end to the torment. I respect any girl who plays a male dominant sport as it requires a great deal of strength. This is definitely a new favorite and I’m so looking forward to reading more from this author.

Clearly YA contemporary sports novels are my thing.

Michigan has just been appointed assistant captain of her girl’s hockey team when the team is cruelly cut due to funds at her high school. The only solution if she still wants to play is to try out for the boy’s team. But a girl has never played with the boys, and these boys don’t want Michigan on their team - especially captain Daniel. And Daniel always gets what he wants, by whatever means possible.

I really, really enjoyed this. Michigan is faced with so much prejudice and misogyny, despite being the best player on the team, from her teammates and coach. Right from the start she’s described as ‘the girl’ and is subjected to some really hard hitting (quite literally) bullying from her supposed team mates. Her determination to play despite this resulted in a character I grew to love and empathise deeply for. She’s got an inner strength to go for what she wants despite the obstacles, determined to be a role model for the younger girl’s she sees. However, the struggle to take all of this bullying without speaking out, while trying to maintain this demeanour of a powerful female is hard. We see Michigan start to fade away, starting from someone who can give as good as she gets to getting jumpy and anxious and loosing a bit of herself as the bullying steps up. I felt such anger at her treatment and the behaviour of the boys, and was fully invested in hopefully seeing their comeuppance.

I also really liked Michigan’s relationship with her former female team members who have remained at the school. There’s a strong bond between them, and a kindness that is never seen with her new team mates. As the bully descends into violence and hatred on an extreme level, Michigan begins to see these women as an anchor, a light, and it gives her the strength to carry on. The same can be said for the romantic romance, which I found fitted in well with the story without overpowering it. This is firmly a story about Michigan, and the secondary characters are there to support and cherish her or revile her.

I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed the actual hockey elements to this. They added to the fast pace of the story, injecting some excitement, and were really well written. It helped to propel this above a typical YA novel that tends to put romance at the forefront, instead focusing on friendship and individual strength of character.

This wasn’t a five star for me for a couple of reasons. One is Michigan’s sometimes complicated relationship with best friend Brie. She’s often derogatory towards her, calling her out in front of other teammates, which lessened the message of female friendship. I also personally found Brie really irritating and unnecessary as a character. Mich finds more love in her other former teammates than Brie, who is extremely self centred. I also found a couple of Michigan’s decisions a bit suspect. There’s an incident about 60% of the way through the book that I thought was a little out of character and sensible, highly anxious Michigan wouldn’t have done it - regardless of her need for these boys to accept her.

That said, this was great. YA without a heavy romantic focus that’s emotive and fast paced with a heavy sport element is my jam. Highly recommend.

This is a sports book in the same way that Friday Night Lights was a sports tv show. Hockey is the backdrop to the protagonists life.

All Michigan wants to do is play the sport she loves and she will stop at nothing to continue playing. The plot is fairly formulaic however the characters are written so well it doesn’t matter. Well worth the read.

Absolutely loved this one! Great read to start off my year. It’s powerful, eye opening, and is a page turner! The story is great and I really love the characters, especially Jack. Michigan may not make the best choices but she sure is strong and dedicated. I think this is something everyone in high school/college should read. It definitely hits on some current issues we are facing in our world and it can give great confidence to young girls trying to make their way in this world. I recommend this book to everyone no matter if you like hockey or not. If you do like hockey that’s just an added bonus!

Michigan's hockey team has been cut. She no longer has a girls team to play on and when the rest of her team moves on she finds the only thing she can the boys team. She tries out and makes it! But to say the boys team is less than thrilled to have a girl on the team. But is it hazing or something more? And when it becomes too much should she say something an possibly lose her spot on the team and the chance to impress scouts and collages?

Carrie S. Allen writes a powerful story that flow through in just one day. I couldn't get enough. He characters were well developed and powerful in drawing out emotions from the reader. I wanted to know more and find out the ending. It wasn't just Michigan who got to my emotions either, though the story is told primarily from her point of view. Side characters were just as well developed and pulled emotions from me. While the subject matter could certainly be dark there was certainly warm moments of friendship that made this book even better.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a darker contemporary or realistic fiction. It is a young adult but certainly any adult could certainly enjoy it as well.

Trigger Warnings:
Hazing, Drugging, Attempted Sexual Assault, Bulling, Underage Drinking, Physical Assault

Michigan VS The Boys

This novel has a whole bunch of things that I have been looking for in a book for a long time... to the point that I had even started the attempt at writing my own.

This story is about a girl who plays hockey; something that doesn't get a highlight very often if ever... but the thing that made this a must read for me is the fact that she's NOT playing Goalie; which I don't know if you realize but in a lot of media Goalie seems to be the designated girl position for some reason. So already this book has done something to set it self apart from its competitors.

While it isn't very much it still matters... and it shows that girls and wemon do play hockey without the idea becoming the butt of a joke. That's it... the whole book's plot spelled out in a short sentence and I am living for it. I wish that there was more hockey media for girls and women... that focused on actual HOCKEY and not romance.

Recomendations are always welcome.

Our main character is a young girl whose name is Michigan Manning (I would hate being named after a State). She and her friends are left without a female hockey team because their school cut the funding. All of the girls deal with this issue in different ways; some even going as far as to give up the sport entirely.

What I enjoyed the most about this novel is how grounded in reality it is. Deep briusing and other issues (both from the sport and team-mate harrasment is a serious thing) and Mitch (mc girl) acts as such.

By the end of the novel Mitch is a valuable member of the team. But unlike a lot of sports movies sue still has her fair share of enemies and people who just plain don't like her, which I feel should be represented in fiction more often. I reccomend this this novel to anyone looking for a realistic sports novel with a female protagonist.

Thank you Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read such a wonderful book.

I was lucky to receive a copy of Carrie S Allen's book Michigan VS The Boys through Netgalley to review. I must admit I was a bit skeptical when I realised that the story had a backdrop in Ice Hockey which I don't really follow. Come to think of I don't really watch any sport so I thought that I may not enjoy the book and I am pleased to say that this was not the case. The main character is Michigan who loves to play Ice Hockey for her School but due to finanical cuts her girls team is cut and the only way she can play if she joins the boys Ice Hockey team. This book totally made me cry and made me feel shocked about what happened to Michigan but since I am not giving away any spoilers what I would say it is worth a read and that's why I am giving it 4 Stars

4.5 stars

I knew this book was going to make me angry but I didn’t think I was going to cry. No one warned me I would need tissues. Actually, on second thought, no one could have because no one is really reading this book, so here I am telling you to FREAKING PICK IT UP. Because it’s FREAKING AMAZING.

This book reminded me of why I love hard-hitting ya contemporaries. And made me interested in hockey, which is a very weird thing since I’ve never watched it and I know very little about it. I guess I like sports books now? That’s new.

I didn’t think I would be this obsessed with this book when I started it, but the first three or four pages already made me want to know more about Michigan. She’s such an amazing main character and I was rooting for her since the very beginning. I love how strong she is, how good she is, how she values hockey, her brother and good friendships over anything else. Hell, she constantly thinks about how her actions would reflect on people, especially girls, who are going to come after her. And she never backs down. I just love her so so much, okay???

I couldn’t put this book down, and it wasn’t only because of Michigan. It was because of the superb and quick writing style, and because of the great pacing. I cared a lot about all the characters, and things kept happening, so I could never catch a break. I was glued to the pages, trying to brace for when the story was going to take that awful turn dark contemporaries often take. I wanted Michigan to succeed and play better hockey than the guys (who, btw, need to burn, all of them + Coach).

I am so in love with Jack, I swear. It took nothing, just one dialogue and I was down. Sweet love interests are always going to be my weakness. The dialogue he had with Michigan was one of the best things of this book, I was smiling and laughing every time they talked. The fact that Michigan gets part of her strength from him, because he is so supportive and understands her love for hockey, made me instantly melt.

What made me cry was the way the female friendship was handled. I’m just so in love with what Michigan’s friends did for her. There was this phone call that literally killed me in the best possible way (if you read this book, you know which one I mean). I wasn’t a big fan of Brie, however. She annoyed me to no end and it’s not like the ending of the book redeemed her for me.
Another relationship I loved was the one between Michigan and her brother. They’re so supportive of each other and care so much about each other. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen such a cute sister-brother relationship and now I want more.

I only ducked 0.5 points stars because I found that the ending wrapped up a bit too nicely. Something more realistic would have packed a better punch, in my opinion. Not that I’m complaining, though. At least it gave me a little bit of joy.
Another thing was that I was very confused at the hockey talk. I would have liked a bit of an explanation for the different terms, being this the first time I’ve stumbled upon this sport.

The rest was just amazing. I’ll bring this book with me for years to come, I know it already. My obsession with it didn’t die a single bit while I was reading, and it won’t die for a long long time. Can’t wait to read more from this author, because if this is her debut... wow. I’m so going to hurt next time too.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

Ummm, I’m not a hockey fan. At all. I know doodly-squat about the sport, nor have I ever cared to learn.

But I <i>loved</i> this book. And no, it does not shy away from actual hockey play. There’s plenty of action on the ice, though that isn’t the point of this novel: the point is a strong, empowering theme of feminism and overcoming adversity despite all odds (I promise, this book isn’t as cliche as I’m making it sound).

What really makes the story work is Michigan herself, a wholly likable and relatable girl. She makes mistakes, and sometimes she’s irrational (she is sixteen, after all), but that’s makes her all the more appealing. She is what I, and most readers I’d bet, want to be. Courageous. Fierce. Fearless.

I must comment on the brutality of this book. This is YA, so it isn’t <i>too</i> explicit, but there are certainly some hard-hitting scenes. The author isn’t afraid to go there, to explore the dangers of groupthink and hazing and tradition.

<i>Michigan vs the Boys</i> made me feel bigger than myself. And it made me want to fight for progress, for change, whenever and however I can. Highly recommended!

I absolutely loved this book. Quick recommendation, don't read this on public transport. I made that mistake and I ended up crying in public. The true enemy of all readers! I really liked Michigan and her friends. They were all so strong and pretty badass. Of course, Michigan is the head of that group and I loved how she developed throughout the stories. I also really liked her family and her relationship with them. Her relationship with her dad, her mom and her brother are all very different and that was refreshing to see. I feel like in general a main character's relation to their family is quiet the same, except if they live in an abusive household, which Michigan isn't. I also liked how complex those family relationships were. Another thing I really loved was the romance. It didn't take over the story at all but so incredibly cute and her boyfriend is amazing and just super supportive. Gosh, I love him! Now, to the actual hard hitting parts. I don't know much about the sport world and normally am not a fan of sport focussed books but I really liked this one. I learned a lot. Especially, because ice hockey isn't really a popular sport where I live. I learned a lot about the sport and eventually also about the culture around the sport, which is the most interesting part about sport books though. When it comes to the hazing I think the author did an amazing job at tackling it, in my opinion. She showed the exact reason why so many people are affraid to speak about and handled it in such a respectful way. I also liked the way it was resolved in the end. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of this book and I would definetly recommend it to everyone interested.

When Michigan's high school gets rid of the girl's hockey team, she's devastated about not being able to play. Her best friend transfers to an expensive boarding school, and some of her other teammates play for a neighboring high school girl's team. Michigan is sure she's out of options, until a classmate convinces her to try out for the boy's team. She makes the team, but can she survive the hatred and hazing of her teammates?

Michigan vs. the Boys was a predictable story of a girl being harassed for excelling in a predominantly male sport. While I found the plot elements to everything I expected, I did love Michigan's character. I especially liked the added element of Michigan's struggle with being a female role model for younger girls. I don't know how many will flock to this story about girls and hockey, but it's definitely a solid read.

I totally loved this book! Strong female character? Check. Teenager problems that need solved? Check. Cute romance that’s appropriate for reading in school? Yup. I think that this is probably one of my favorite current reads. It shows girls that they can fight back, and win, when being faced with some major issues. I love the resolution at the end but wish it included Jack more. I will be on the lookout for other books by this author. Great book!

This book gave me all of the feels! Michigan loves hockey, but when there need to be budget cuts to the school the girl's hockey program is one of the two teams to get cut. Michigan finds her team going their separate ways. Her best friend going to some snooty boarding school to play, other teammates traveling over an hour just to get to practice at the next closest school to take them (her mom said no), and others join the swim team. Michigan gets asked to help coach her little brother's team. SHe gets some inspiration and decided to go to the boy's hockey team tryouts. She definitely showed herself out there because she gets added to the team. The Coach tells her no drinking, no drugs, and no relations with the boys or she will be off the team. On the first day of practice, they don't have a locker room for her so she has to change in the broom closet, and continues to get hit when she hears the word bounty thrown around during a break she decides to go and make a hit on the captain the rest of the season only gets worse. Follow Michigan through her trials of balancing boys hockey, coaching hockey, homework, and life with her new cute swimmer boyfriend. This book I could not put down.

This was a fantastic, although frustrating, book. I become so incensed reading stories where young women are treated this way, and I don’t want to believe these things happen, although I know they do. Michigan’s story gives me hope, though, - that growth can happen, that it does happen, that it will happen.