This was a cute, fun read. I would've given it 4 stars, but about halfway through, it started to lose me. It was actually 5 stars for me until the second half. That was when I started feeling weird towards Amber...I felt disconnected from her at the halfway point. I could understand why she was so desperate to keep her life the same as it was easier that way, but it was difficult to find her likable after some of her decisions (in particular to how she treated Miguel and Jack at times). I really liked Miguel a ton. He was cool and his character development was nice. He started off as an indifferent guy to how the team treated Jack until finally being able to stand up for what was right. In the end, Amber did as well, but her way there didn't feel as complete as his.

Overall, that was my biggest issue with this book: a lot of the issues brought up just sort of resolved without really feeling like they'd earned the resolution? Jack had some pretty big challenges in her life (her family, her friends, the team, etc.) yet, at the end, it just sort of ended and everything was fine (not perfect, but suddenly everyone became better? Amber did what was right in the end, yes, but it also seemed like she sort of just changed her mind one day to get there. That said, there was a lot I loved about this book that I have to point out: Miguel and Amber's friendship was beautiful, Amber was really great in the first half and then again in the last 3 chapters, Jack's POV was always fun to be in, and the entire story's concept drew me in immediately. The writing was fun, though I could've gone without so many pop culture references and some of the slang used felt dated. But I did enjoy this as a fun read with a lot going for it. Though it lacked some things for me, I'd definitely recommend this!

I really do wish words could explain how much I adore this book. As an avid reader of fan fiction, there is no higher praise that I can dole out than this: it gave me just as much heart-fluttery feelings as fanfic does. This story put fresh twists on a classic trope in ways that I didn’t expect, but was very pleasantly surprised by, while keeping the high school cheerleader/quarterback vibes we all know. Amber and Jack are sympathetic and well-matched characters with unique personalities and quirks and struggles, their friends and relationships are unique (I felt particularly seen by Jack’s friend, Morgan, an asexual nonbinary person!), and the conflict is driven by compelling politics of their situations rather than any animosity between Amber and Jack.

Something I was concerned about going into it was how the coming out process of the characters would be handled. Given the book takes place in northwestern Florida and on a backdrop of sports culture, I was worried about storylines of getting outed or being forced to come out. Luckily, this book handles these issues beautifully! I loved the dynamic between Miguel, Amber, and Jack, and how that relationship developed as they all got closer.

I would recommend this particularly highly for those who are fans of “But I’m A Cheerleader”, ever felt alone in high school, or, really, who just really enjoy a compelling f/f romance. I can’t wait for this to hit shelves so I can get my grubby gay little hands on it for real!

3.5 rounded down

tws: death of a teen, car accident, mention of driving while intoxicated (leading to said car accident), mention of blackmail, mention of threatened outing, underage drinking, alcohol consumption, mention of abortion, miscarriage, homophobia

I love a good lesbian sports romance, sign me up.

I've come to realize I <i>hate</i> when books mention current-day celebrities or songs or other pop culture references (such as Hamilton, Camila Cabello and Hayley Kiyoko, in this book), as it shows that it is very much a product of its times. There's usually no reason to name-drop celebrities and it just feels slightly cringe-y and millennial to me.

I think Jack deserves the entire world (and tbh, she deserves better than Amber). The romance felt a little insta-love to me and just was slightly unrealistic. I also found myself aggravated with Amber and the decisions she was making.

Also, certain storylines <spoiler>(like Cara's entire plotline)</spoiler> just weren't wrapped up to me. It felt a little unfinished and I would have liked to see more from certain areas.

Dahlia Adler writes very middle-of-the-road books for me. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this book to friends, but I also wouldn't tell them to not read this book, if that makes sense. This book and I can exist at the same time but in separate spaces, and that's fine.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an
honest review. ARC provided by St. Martin's Press and
Wednesday Books.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022.
I did like it but I do feel like it fell short in some aspects- as a football fan of course I wanted more football but the love story between the leads felt to lack a bit as well which was the real bummer.

Overall I’d give it a 3.5. It was a quick fun read but maybe my hopes were too high. None the less I still enjoyed it and would recommend it!

I’ve never been one for sports…unless it comes to female athletes who are making waves. Then it becomes, “Where do I find a jersey and some of that face paint?” as I attempt to get on the Jumbotron.

So, here, the description for this book captured my attention right of the bat: Football player, Jack, gets recruited to be quarterback and meets hopeful cheer-captain Amber. But wait—Jack is really Jaclyn??? And, it’s not really a book about sportball after all? That’s an automatic W!

This was a book I was so charmed by. In typical Dahlia Adler-fashion, we have two characters you root for from the jump. In this case, we have two girls with, shall we say, conflicts of interest. Told from a dual POV, both ambitious girls feel torn and face their issues head-on through ACTUAL COMMUNICATION!

There are a few CW I won’t share because I don’t want to offer spoilers. But, I couldn’t put this one down.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eARC! I loooooved it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Home field advantage had me up at 4am and I am now writing a sleep deprived review. This was so cute. A football QB and a cheerleader but they’re both girls? Yes please. It did not disappoint. I love Jack it was so easy to root for her and I felt so anxious reading through her games just wanting her to win. Amber frustrated me for the first half of the book but at least she was trying more then Miguel(loved when Jack called him out and he was also really funny at the end). Besides those three character and Amber’s mom I hated mostly everyone else. Pretty much all the cheerleaders and football players are homophobic. They were so unwelcoming and cruel. This book was a fast read, I think there's potential for a lot more story lines or a sequel, but it was also refreshing to see sort of a sports romance book where no one gets an injury.

I've reading a lot of sports romance and this was quite enjoyable, if you've seen the movie dating amber, this book has a similar feel to it. the romance has a nice buildup, enjoyable enough. I also loved that amber had a bi mom, it's so nice to see older queer people and we actually use the word lesbian! Despite a lot of queerphobia from their teamates, there is a lot of joy too and I liked the bowling scene too and it actually feels like a romcom

There was this weird line where amber says she's likes trans guys but not cis guys like how would you even know? like far be it for me to say you have to be comfortable with dating cis men but the way it's said is othering and it's irrelevant to the plot since there are no trans people either way. Also can we stop writing introductions where only the skin color of poc is mentioned, like here the group and the black girl. the side characters also just blend in, there's only so many homophobic jocks i can tolerate

It's not done maliciously but they are small things(that happen too often) that dampen my enjoyment of an otherwise fun book and I hope other readers can enjoy this more than I did!

I absolutely loved Cool for the Summer and jumped at the chance to read Adler’s newest release. Adler delivers another amazing inclusive read about the hardships young teens go through while figuring out their sexuality. This time the author takes it a step forward and adds in the difficulty of the sports world and how masculine it is. While this story is comforting, educational and just a big hug to those who need to feel seen; all while making this a funny and easy read! I will recommend this one for time to come!

Dahlia Adler does it again, delivering a fast-paced, engaging romance with lots of swoony and fluffy moments! I'm usually indifferent to sports romance, but the setup of this is so good! Classic cheerleader and quarterback romance, but the quarterback is a girl and they're both super queer! I will caution that this romance isn't as light as some of the author's others, because there's lots of homophobia and misogyny on the page. But like any good romance, the ending is as cozy as a hug, so it's well worth it!

The classic quarterback and cheerleader story with a twist. This is a book about fighting for what you want but also learning to be comfortable with who you are. I thought the book was a great YA read.

Dahlia Adler once again SERVING!!!
I'll simp for about any sapphic book because we just don't get enough. But Adler is slaying the game. Now I hate football, but she really yassified it and for that we stan. This book is loaded with loveable queer characters and it represents a lot of identities and stories that are different, which I really really appreciate. Sexual fluidity is hard to capture a lot of the time, but Dahlia really does just such an amazing job of it in both this book and Cool for the Summer. This was such a cute rom-com and coming-of-age story. READ IT NOW.

Thank you to Wednesday Books & NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Let me just start by saying that I respect the hell out of a cheerleading squad. They're fierce, loyal, physically tough, and dauntless, all qualities we see in both our main characters Amber, a junior cheerleader, and Jack, the new star quarterback of the football team.

Amber McCloud is a junior cheerleader gunning for captain her senior year, her get-out-of-her-small-town free card. She goes hard for her squad, but what her squad doesn't know: she's also queer, and keeping her identity under wraps in a consensual fake-dating scenario with a football player at her conservative high school is all a part of her grand scheme to cheer on her team, get captain, get noticed, and get out.

One problem: the squad, football team, and entire town are in collective mourning after their "star" quarterback Robbie died in a drunk driving accident over the summer. His replacement? None other than Jack, who is—surprise!—not only replacing precious Robbie, but a girl to boot. All hell breaks loose when Jack moves to town to join the team and unsurprisingly, faces harsh bullying and harassment from both her fellow teammates and the cheerleading squad. The players and the cheerleaders struggle to accept not only that Robbie had to be replaced by an outsider, but also that it's by girl—a really, really talented one at that—who they feel has come to erase the largely-mythologized legacy of Robbie in their school.

When Amber reaches out to Jack (not at all because she's hot and has great arms, nope!) to try to make her life easier, she realizes that Jack might be someone she wants more from than just helping to fit in.

Delia Adler's characterization of both Amber and Jack is flirty, fun, and fast-paced. Her writing style is a huge reason why I was able to consume this tasty little novel in about a day and a half. The alternating first-person POV helped to characterize our two girls quickly—and good thing, too. Without the narrative style, I don't think we would have come to feel for Amber and Jack quite as much because the book goes so quickly.

One of my major issues with the story, however, is the attraction between Jack and Amber seemed to happen way too quickly. I would have loved to see the attraction grow and breathe a little more instead of their lips meeting as quickly as they did. I also felt the ending was incredibly rushed, to the point where I actually said, "Wait, that's it?" out loud once I finished.

My other—and I'm saying this as a person that does not even watch football—is that this is a sports book! Show the squad at practice doing their kick-ass routine! Give us the play-by-play of Jack on the field! The times that Adler did this (maybe only once for each character) were fantastic parts of the story. Considering how important each sport is to our respective main characters, I felt this was a huge oversight in the writing.

Despite these little quibbles, as an LGBTQ+ educator I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to my students, especially those who identify as LGBTQ+ or have been impacted by homophobia and misogyny in sports. The issues around coming out as an athlete are still very real and present for both teenagers and adults, and this book is realistic about the obstacles LGBTQ+ athletes face both on and off the playing field.

I just finished reading this in one sitting and…wow. I know I can always rely on Dahlia Adler novels for warm voice, compelling characters, and the kind of heart and growth I love to see in YA, but HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE took this to a brand new level.

Amber and Jack are both fantastic characters with charming chemistry that makes reading a joy, and they both feel so fresh and real. It’s clear what each wants and what fears, but also why they work so well together/for each other—and also which parts of them cause the obstacles they have to brush up against, which only makes me root for them all the more.

Not to mix sports metaphors, but this is one home run of a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time and that I can’t wait to read again.

being a big lover of sports romance books, i knew from the moment i saw this book i needed to read it. a sapphic quarterback/cheerleader romance? what’s not to love? home field advantage follows jack, a young teenager who has recently moved to a new city and school to play as the school’s quarterback. upon arrival, she meets amber, a cheerleader trying to secure her position as head cheerleader for the next school year. as jack struggles to find her home among a football team that does not accept her, amber similarly struggles as her unaccepting peers try to bring jack down. jack and amber start spending more and more time together, and what blossoms is something quite wholesome.

as i said above, i am a sucker for any sports romance books. i really enjoyed reading this one; seeing queer representation in a story like this meant a lot to me, and it was really cute from start to finish. with this being said, there were certain moments of the book which seemed rushed, and i would have liked to see more time spent on them. some plot points were left unresolved, which left me wanting more. there were also some rather cringe parts/phrases. however, despite all of this, i found that i could not put the book down. make sure to check the tws before reading this book. 3/5 stars!

thank you so much to netgalley and st. martin's press for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love the premise of this book. Jack and Amber are both extremely human and fully fleshed out characters. While I’ve seen some reviews warn for misogyny and homophobia, I just want to note that the misogyny and homophobia are both well handled and appropriate to the setting/situations in the book.

Dahlia Adler's Home Field Advantage is a fantastic, emotional read. Amber, varsity cheerleader and shoo-in for captain, knows exactly who she is and exactly how to get to where she wants to go--which is college, far away from her hometown. And she knows to get there, she needs a cheer scholarship. Unfortunately, she also knows that this means staying in the closet and maintaining a fake relationship with her also closeted gay best friend. And she's okay with this because it's going to get her to a college where she can be herself...until Jack shows up as the new quarterback. Jack is a fantastic player but is filling the shoes of beloved Robbie--the previous quarterback who died in an accident. The team is hesitant to welcome Jack, especially because Jack is a girl. And now things are suddenly complicated in Amber's life in the closet and three lives are on the line with whatever decision is made. Adler's writing rings true to the complicated lives of closeted queer teens in a less than open-minded town. The characters are genuine and flawed and Adler's writing elicits real emotional responses from readers.

This was an enjoyable YA romance with a fab queer twist on the cheerleader and the quarterback. I also really appreciated Jack's on page use of the term lesbian for herself, and Amber's exploration of several terms such as pansexual and polysexual. I even enjoyed the football references despite having no clue about the game!

3.5

Overall, I think this book was really cute! I would've appreciated a bit of a longer build up into the relationship, but I still enjoyed it. I tend to prefer a slow burn romance, which wasn't the case with this, but I think a lot of people will still enjoy it. I also loved the friendships formed in this book and the bonds that already existed with the Amber and her best friend/fake boyfriend.

I didn't have too many issues with the book, however, the beginning was a bit too much info-dumping for me. Also the ending just felt a little too good to be true? There were some consistent elements within some characters throughout the whole book that did a complete 180 at the end. And lastly, although this could just be a personal preference, but there were just way too many pop culture references and it took me out of the story. I was not expecting Jack to start rapping Guns and Ships from Hamilton at any point within this book, and yet it happened.

This book had a lot of drama.

For one, there’s all the stuff in the synopsis. The cheerleaders and football players are angry that the new quarterback is a girl. There’s a lot of misogyny, slutshaming, homophobia, and talk about religion. There’s also talk about miscarriages later on in the story, but I won’t talk about that for spoilers reasons.

I was also really surprised to find that this book was a little spicy. These high school girls are Horny, and while the book doesn’t explicitly describe any scene, it doesn’t shy away from letting you know it happens before a fade to black.

Trust me when I say I was screaming throughout this book.

This is one of those books where one of the main characters is kind of an asshole but is loved anyway, which anyone who has been following my reviews for some time knows I absolutely love. I also loved the character development from everyone–not just the main characters–and how they changed from the beginning of the book to the end of the book.

I don’t often annotate ebooks, but I felt the need to as I was reading this book. There’s a lot of pink in there (which is my annotation for parts that I love), but also a bit of orange (for anger). And some parts shocked me so much that I couldn’t even choose a color, stuck between blue (sad), orange, and trying to figure out a new color for shock because my emotions were just so strong.

If there’s one thing I didn’t like about this book, however, it was the motivations behind the “villains” of the story and how the “good guys” prevailed. I can’t tell you why everything ended up okay for the characters and what sort of development leads to the happy ending, as if they just let it go so the book could end on a high note.

However, I was highly anticipating this book for a while before getting the ARC, and I am happy with my experience reading it.

This was a super cute sapphic romance that made my swoon! I love the cheerleader/football player trope, and the sapphic version was even better! It broke all the gender norms and expectations and I love that. If you like funny, somewhat predictable, and undeniably romantic YA books, this one is for you!