A solid, perfect Pride Month read. Dahlia Adler always delivers with a full characters, angst, and a very intersectional read. Home Field Advantage was rough to read at times, because the bullying, homophobia, and ostracism was described with painful accuracy. The weariness that the characters feel at having to battle everyday to be their true selves is visceral. That’s both the hardest and best part of this book. You can’t come out of it without feeling the pain and humiliation and determination that Jack feels.

I loved the sass of Amber, how sarcastic Jack was, and how they fit together. I’m grateful for the work done to make the boom realistic but I could see so much how this kind of behaviour could spiral on kids.

Aside from that, I loved how much credence was given to cheer as a sport, and the interplay of friendship vs loyalty. The grand gesture in this one was so so good.

A very strong read and one I’m particularly glad to have read in June. Pick it up if you’re looking for a 2SLGBTQIA+ book. It’s worth it.

This was a slight letdown for me, mostly because I was so excited for the book because I loved the premise. I did like the plot but the characters seemed to fall flat. The story didn't seem as authentically queer as I was hoping

This was awesome! A sapphic love story between a cheerleader and a quarterback?
Yes please!
Amber & Jack are so stinking cute, and Jack is now one of my favourite fictional characters!
There is a lot of garbage dealt with in this book.
Felt like I was reliving high school in the 90's with all the derogatory bits thrown around.
As much as I loved the romance portion of this (& want to be best friends with Jack), I think Cara was my favourite portion of the book.
Her emotional growth is kind of amazing, and gives me hope for the rest of the world.
Much love to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for my ARC.

I was given an ARC of this book from NetGalley (I must of forgotten to post my review last year).

I love Dahlia Adler's writing. She's one of the auto-buy authors for me.

This book gave me all the feels for being a sports romance. I don't read a lot of sports romances. But this book changed my mind about the Sports Romance sub-genre. Jack and Amber are super cute together. The plot had great laugh out loud moments and also so many sweet moments.

Jack being a newcomer to the school and being the only female on the football team added a layer of complications to the plot but it makes for a great read.

It was a perfect read for pride month as well.

What an adorable book! I am a big Dahlia Adler fan. This was slow going in the beginning, but picked up the pace about 10% in. I really liked the tension between Amber and Jack, though I felt like the romance was a bit rushed. The two POVs really added to the tension, and there were great side characters. I loved that it was about football and cheerleading in a small conservative Florida town, with all the homophobia to go along with that. Overall, it was a fun easy read. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advanced e-copy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

This was a very sweet YA romance book. I really enjoyed the pop culture references in this book which I normally hate. I loved the references to "But I'm a Cheerleader" because the romance between the two characters really reminds me of the movie. This book will definitely become a comfort read and a book I will reread for a nice time. Thank you so much to NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This book sounded so interesting to me and I had such high hopes for it, only problem with it was no matter how many times I tried picking it up, I just couldn't get into it. Not sure if it was the writing, the story line or what, but I just couldn't personally get into it.

I thought this book was a cute take on a "forbidden romance" situation. Teenagers Amber and Jack meet due to the fact that Amber is a cheerleader and Jack is the new team quarterback after the previous one passed away unexpectedly. They are intrigued by each other immediately. The only problem is that Jack is a girl. Jack's teammates don't take kindly to the fact that their friend was replaced by a girl, and some of the cheerleaders agree. They ban together to make Jack's time at her new school and on her new team hell. Meanwhile, Amber and Jack are falling for each other, Amber isn't out at school, and Jack wants and deserves something more than a secret. I liked this book! It maybe wasn't my favorite by Dahlia Adler, but it was still enjoyable! I definitely recommend this.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy!
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I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and I already pitched this book to friends and getting them to read it! lol Would highly recommend to everyone!

High schoolers are vicious. From the dawn of time, hell hath no fury like a high schooler who feels as though there has been an injustice done against their group of friends. Unfortunately for Amber, a cheerleader who wants to lead the squad, this vitriol is being unleashed on the new quarterback of the football team: a girl.

I enjoyed this! I loved Jack because she’s just trying to do the thing she loves, playing football. She’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders and manages to hold her own. Amber dances that line between falling for Jack and trying to maintain her social standing among the cheerleaders and football players who make it their mission to destroy Jack’s place on the team.

This was a lovely read. Very recommended.

4 stars

I love a sports romance and a sapphic sports romance??? Cheerleader and QB of a football team??! Sign me up!!! This book was so Swoony while also addressing the issues that a friend group can have! I definitely wish amber would have figured it out a little sooner but alas when we’re young we don’t always see the full picture. Overall I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down!

This was a bit heavier than I anticipated, but it still offered up romance and classic coming-of-age, identity-focused plot points and character exploration. Our characters had to battle against homophobia, misogyny, and the pain of staying silent when you know the only real choice is to stand up for what's right. The two characters had distinct voices and while not always likable, their struggles were realistic and will be familiar to most teens.

I almost DNF Home Field Advantage. The sexism, homophobia, etc. was just too much for me to handle. However, I continued reading to get a "feel good vibe" and a happy ending.

Jack and Amber's relationship was a rocky one. Jack didn't want to be stereotyped but she had no problem doing the same to Amber. Until, of course, she realizes that not all cheerleaders are the same. Let the happiness commence.

Every character except Jack, Amber, and her mom could very kindly fuck off. Every last one of them. The sexism towards Jack and what a quarterback on a high school football team should be. The fact that everyone was holding onto the old quarterback and that's the other reason they wouldn't give her a chance.

Overall, this was an adorable queer book that will give you a happy ending that's worth reading through the bullshit for!

I think this is a really great book for teens to have that talks about relationships, friendship and sexuality. Unfortunately, this book just didn't really grip me as much as I hoped it would. It was cute and sweet, but left me wanting more, and I don't think that's the fault of the book. I'm just not the target audience for it. I think teen readers would really love this, especially teens that are questioning their sexuality, or are sapphic and want that kind of representation.

This was a fun, lighthearted read that’s easy and quick to read! I don’t read sport romances very often, so it was fun diving back into the world of high school football and cheerleading! Dahlia did a great job putting her own spin on the classic pairing, and I really liked Amber and Jack’s chemistry. ⁣
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Even though it’s pretty lighthearted, this book does explore the misogyny and homophobia that runs rampant in the girls’ small town, and especially among their friends. ⁣
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All in all, a good read for the summer!

This quickly became a highly anticipated book of 2022 for me and it did not disappoint. I loved both of the main characters and seeing the two of them fall for each other. Highly recommend for those who love YA contemporary.

"But then I think of my future, of everything I want, and here's the thing: I really like Jack. But I love me."
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This quote sums up everything I thought was great about this queer YA romcom.

Amber McCloud is a fierce competitor, and poised to take over as varsity cheer captain next year. She loves tumbling, her squad, her best friend Cara, and her friend Miguel--who only *poses* as her boyfriend. Then Jack Walsh comes along as the replacement quarterback for the Atherton Alligators and detonates a bomb in the middle of Amber's carefully laid plans and junior year.

Dahlia Adler hits all the familiar beats of a YA romance, but they are layered in with such smart, clear-eyed considerations: of what it is to be queer in small town/red state America; of what viable exit strategies exist for people who want to forge a life outside those places; of the necessity of balancing what we want with what is possible.

Jack and Amber are both such smart, intense characters; girls who know what they want and are willing to lay nearly everything on the line to get. Whether and how they can have each other as well made for an engaging, sometimes heart-rending ride, one that convinced me I'd get on any ride that was written by Dahlia Adler.

I enjoyed this YA sapphic romance. I thought it was a great take on the quarterback/cheerleader story, and was interesting to see a female quarterback as a main character. There is bullying throughout this story, and I thought it was handled well by the author.

The story is told from both Amber and Jack’s perspectives. I thought the chapters were a bit long and could have been broken up into shorter chapters with each chapter being one POV rather than combining them into one longer chapter. That’s a personal preference for me though.

Overall, I found this an enjoyable story. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.