As much as I enjoyed Cool for the Summer, Home Field Advantage was on a whole another level! Loved this and finished it in about two sittings. Love all the different representation and all of the high school drama goodness.

I just finished my advance copy of HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE by @MissDahlELama and I absolutely loved it. Underneath a frothy and fun concept is a deep story about identity, queer solidarity, and misogyny. And there are unexpected plot points along the way. Comes out next June!

https://twitter.com/noraneus/status/1465428796488753160?s=20

I've read several book by Dahlia Adler at this point and they are always enjoyable and I have a good time with them. She writes fun characters you want to root for, and this comes up again in her new book Home Field Advantage.

This is the second football based YA wlw novel that I have read, the other being Like Other Girls by Britta Lundin, which I also enjoyed. And naturally both books have similar overlaps in experiencing misogyny in a male dominated sport abnd overcoming that- and while Like Other Girls is more of a book about one person's mental health and personal growth with some romance in it, Home Field Advantage does lean more into the romance novel aspect, which I enjoyed as well.

Home Field Advantage follows Amber McCloud and Jaclyn (Jack) Walsh. Amber is a cheerleader for her high school, and unfortunately that high school just lost their starting quarterback in an accident. But when word spreads in their town about a new QB coming to play for them, they get excited- before finding out their new QB is a girl. So both the team and the cheerleaders try to rebel against her, which puts Amber in a bind as she wants to be head cheerleader- but also finds Jack very compelling. Jack moved to the small town of Atherton to finally get her shot at playing QB for a school after being denied everywhere else for being a girl. And this is made worse when even though she gets to start, she isn't accepted at all. Except maybe by the one Cheerleader...

I did enjoy this book, it was fun. Jack was a fun character to root for, and you could really empathize with being rejected for who she is at every turn. And her and Amber are really cute together.

This book captured being torn in several directions and having conflicting motivations really well- and that's a part of everyone's life but especially teenagers today with the rife world around them. You could tell a lot of characters in this book had a lot of decisions to make and I was into the story quite a bit.

One thing I actually found missing in this book that might actually appeal more to other wlw readers was a lack of actual football action in this book. Besides the first game and the climax, that was really the only on field time we see. As a football fan, I might have liked a little more gametime, but readers who aren't as sportball based might appreciate more pages to other topics. (I just want both!)

I think this is my favorite Dahlia Adler book I've read so far. 4/5

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did but wow is this book amazing. Seeing all of the queer kids in the book be out in their home and their families be accepting was so wonderful to read about. It's hard to put into words what Jack and Ambers relationship means to me but it is so special. I also really loved how detailed the book was about the homecoming football game, most sports romances don't do that.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Home Field Advantage is a joyful contemporary YA romance told from the POV of Amber, a high school cheerleader, Jack, the new QB of the football team she cheers for. Except Jack is actually short for Jaclyn. Oops! Turns out the football team hates playing with a girl, and the cheerleaders don't want to support her, because, you guessed it, she's a girl. Worse yet, Jack is replacing the former QB Robbie, who died in a car accident and is being remembered for the saint he absolutely wasn't (yikes, he actually really sucked). As Amber and Jack start up their romance, Jack has to deal with the pressure of splitting up her whole family so she can join a team that hates her, while Amber has to decide how much she's willing to give up (she is *desperate* to be next year's cheerleading captain) to be herself (queer) and do the right thing (support Jack, even when everyone else is kind of a monster).

Amber is really the main character of this book, and she has to face a LOT of demons, including a homophobic best friend and misogynistic teammates. Her concerns felt exceptionally real. At the same time, I never felt deeply down in the dumps or anything like that, which is pretty impressive considering how intense some of this subject matter is.

Adler does a phenomenal job of working through the nuances of loving your friends while also understanding that they're acting terribly, and that it might be time to let them go. While the romance plot is obviously the main hook for Home Field Advantage, as a teenager, I would have really benefitted from reading about Amber standing up to her friends and realizing that they've grown apart, so I'm incredibly glad this book exists. As an adult, this was easily my favorite part of the story.

My only real critique is a rushed plot line related to Amber and her best friend. The midpoint plot reveal heavily centered around this subplot, and because this was the most meaningful part of the book for me, I would've really loved to see it end in a more expansive way.

If you're a girl or woman who's existed in a space dominated by men, you will know Jack's rage as the boys on her team are awful to her, and it will feel REALLY GOOD to see how she deals with all of it. Double that if you're a woman in sports. In addition, Amber's mom is a particularly great side character; it's really nice to read about a queer kid with a supportive, queer adult in her life.

Home Field Advantage is wonderful and will be a meaningful read for teenagers when it's released in 2022. Adult readers will also relate to the themes about friendship and learning how to accept yourself. I'm so excited for everyone to be able to buy it!

This book was recommended on TikTok by one of my favorite booktokers, and of course I'm always down for a sapphic romance, so I was super pleased when NetGalley accepted my request. It came to me at a great time too, because I've been needing something light and cheesy to get a break from some of the long/dense/heavier material I've been reading lately. I was not disappointed.

This book is a fun, lighthearted YA sapphic romance between the new quarterback and a preppy cheerleader. Even though I'm not that into sports, I really liked the idea and I thought it was executed pretty well. I really loved the characters, and thought their relationships were written really well.

The places where this book lacked for me really just came down to personal preference. Jack and Amber's romance wasn't necessarily insta-love level, but it still felt like they got together pretty fast, without knowing each other that long. There are some people who might appreciate that and it did keep the plot moving along, but it's just not a thing I usually like in my romances (this is coming from someone who's super into friends-to-lovers fyi). There were also short periods where the drama either got 1.) Too repetitive (especially on Jack's end) or 2.) Slightly annoying (more on Amber's end - I understood her circumstances but I wanted her to be more honest with her friends).

Even so, I still really enjoyed this book. I read it in two sittings, and it would've only been one sitting if I didn't have other responsibilities. Definitely check this one out!

Thank you, NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

we love a queer cheerleader/quarter back romance, but oh boy the teenage angst. you better be prepared. I thought it would never end. I’m so happy I’m no longer in high school!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be perfectly honest here: I am not a big fan of sports in general, or football in particular. Years of being dragged to my brother’s football games and sitting in the cold are to blame for that. But! Give me a book about a FEMALE football player AND make it gay? Sign me up!

This book was very fun, even for a non-sports lover like me, because the sports isn’t the focus here, the relationships are. And what excellent relationships they are! Amber and Jack, obviously are wonderful. Amber and Miguel’s friendship, and Jack and Miguel’s blossoming friendship were also so excellent.

Was it a tad predictable at times? Sure. But most romance stories are, and we all still love them, right?

After hearing this book was based on *that picture* I knew I had to get my hands on it! I really love that this book takes the cheerleader/quarterback tope we all know well and puts a Sapphic twist on the story while also covering hard topics along the way. As a librarian I'm always looking for books about teen athletes as well as LGBTQ titles, and I'm thrilled this fits both boxes.

I really liked this one! I was in the mood for something to escape into when I picked this up, and it was the perfect choice. It was the perfect mix of fluff and drama and after flipping the last page, I wasn't ready to give it up.

My favorite thing about this was definitely the romance between Amber and Jack. They had their issues, and they were serious issues, but I loved how realistically they handled them. They talked them over. They fought, but they always communicated in the way they knew best. It made me fall in love with them, and I connected to their romance so much more because they actually communicated.

I also really loved the side characters. Miguel and Malcomb were the two we saw the most, but some of the other footballers we meet at the end were also loveable. I loved that this didn't only give depth to Amber and Jack, it really tried to develop an entire cast of characters.

Although this one isn't something I would normally read, I really enjoyed it! I may have to pick up Cool For the Summer, I enjoyed this one that much.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I received a free copy of this in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to read this after hearing about the title. I loved the concept.

The descriptions and setting were my favorite part of the book. Those really pulled me in. I could picture the Florida setting and conservative school environment very clearly.

The plot made use of a lot of tropes that are hot right now, like fake dating. Basically, there's a queer cheerleader and lesbian football player, and they're attracted to one another but the cheerleader doesn't want to come out or risk losing her shot at captain if the team thinks she likes the football player. So they're hooking up in secret while she has a faux boyfriend.

A lot of the plot is driven by the will-they-won't-they hook up/come out drama, so the book was more of a coming out novel than I was expecting it to be with the central drama being whether they would be open about their relationship and if the football player would feel like the cheerleader had her back out of the bedroom so to speak. The book was quieter than I was expecting as well, but a teen audience will really understand the world and the problems of the main characters.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t totally sure how I would feel about this book, especially after reading (and adoring) Brittany Lundgren’s “Like Other Girls” early this year. I generally love a well-written sports story, especially one with strong female characters and LGBTQ+ rep, but it can be hard to endure the inevitable toxicity inherent in the “plucky girl joins an unwelcoming boys team” narrative.

Thankfully, while that trope was obviously a key part of this story, it didn’t feel as harsh or toxic as it has in other books (like “A Season of Daring Greatly”). It also wasn’t the only main storyline, what with our other MC, a cheerleader, who has to grow and choose between what she’s always thought she wanted and who she really is. I was also really pleased with how everything wraps up in this story, and that the characters each had to grow a little to get there.

One thing I enjoyed about this story was that all our queer characters are already out to their parents from the beginning of the story. It was great to read a story where I knew that no matter what happened at school, each of these characters still had a loving and supporting family to go home to. I know that this sadly still isn’t the case for all queer teens, but for many teens home is a safe-haven and school is the hard place. I think that’s an important story, too.

Maturity: There are some blatant suggestions that offscreen hooking up is happening at various points, as well as references to teen pregnancy, abortion, death via underage drunk driving, and ultra-conservative religious folks. AKA, nothing completely out of place for your typical small Florida town. (Opinions of my home state are my own, not the author’s. 😉) I would keep this one a high school recommendation, though I’ll likely put it in my classroom library for my 8th graders’ independent reading.

I got this from NetGalley, these opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book! Amber is a cheerleader with the goal of becoming captain of the cheer squad, Jack is the new quarterback, this wouldn’t be a problem but Jack’s a girl. Of course the cheer team and football team can’t have a female quarterback. Amber has to decide whether to join them in trying to oust Jack or give up the possible captaincy, It’s complicated though because Amber has secrets and maybe Jack would understand them. I liked the way that this book showcased how difficult it would be for a girl trying to be on a sport that is “traditionally” for boys. Personally I think it’s rubbish, if your good at a sport gender shouldn’t matter! But Jack handles it all like the badass she is! I had my frustrations with Amber but her actions are totally understandable! And I loved Miguel! It’s probably really hard to be queer and in sports and I’m sure there are places where it’s even harder because of the culture of the area. I liked that Jack went for her dream even though she felt it would be a long shot for that to amount to anything beyond high school! The book is also full of relationship cuteness! Dahlia Adler wrote a beautiful book! I can’t wait to read this again!

A sapphic YA romance between a cheerleader and the new quarterback who happens to be a girl? Yes please! This was a fun twist on the typical cheerleader/football player romance. While there are a lot of cute moments between Amber and Jack, there are also some more serious issues they have to tackle together. Such as the misogyny from the guys who don’t want a girl on the football team and the other cheerleaders who don’t want to cheer on a girl. It also deals with the struggles of coming out in an unsupportive environment.

This is a dual POV story that switches between Jack and Amber. They’re both unique people with different characteristics, so it was surprising that sometimes I’d get confused about who the POV character was when they were in scenes together. There probably could've been some more differentiation between their voices in the writing. My other complaint is that the scene that it felt like the whole book was building to ended up feeling a little anticlimactic. It was just over so quickly before moving onto the next scene.

But overall this was a fun YA romance that had some great commentary along with the cute moments. Definitely check this one out for a different take on a sports romance.

I have been waiting for this book since the pictures that inspired it came out. My hopes for this book were sky high and in the hands of Dahlia Adler I expectations were just as high and goodness this book DELIVERED. I loved Amber and Jack and their cast of supporting characters. I loved that these two queer girls were hot for each other. They were allowed to be (undercover, because their school is full of jerks and homophobes) hot for each other. So many times books underplay the sexuality of teen girls, especially queer ones. But Adler never does.

This book is layered and funny and the romance at its center isn't easy or uncomplicated. It's so very, very real.

Loved this book.

Home Field Advantage follows Amber, a closeted cheerleader, in her private friendship and relationship with Jack, the only female athlete on the football team, taking over in the position of a deceased homophobe. Although this premise definitely had me hooked, I'll admit I don't usually like queer books where the source of conflict is one character not being out. It always ends with them coming out because their partner pushed them to rather than because they felt comfortable. To my surprise, this book dealt with coming out quite well. Home Field advantage has a variety of feminist and queer activist messages that were all very well researched and delivered. One quote that really jumped out at me was "There's a difference between being visibly but quietly queer and putting it all out there. You'd be amazed at how much people can ignore if they want to." I also really enjoyed the romance in this. It has the classic cheerleader x quarterback pairing, but the main characters also just had a really obvious connection. From essentially their first scene together they had a good repertoire going and I really enjoyed the banter. So overall, I really liked this as a romance and was impressed by some of it's more serious themes.

This was one of the top 5 on my 2022 wishlist, ever since Dahlia said on a Twitter thread that her next book was based on a photo of a cheerleader doing the hair of a female football player.Dahlia did NOT disappoint. I think I loved it even more than Cool For The Summer! There's so much queer rep, none of them are clichés, all of them feel so different and it gave me so many feels. It's a clean romance but the chemistry was FIRE.
My one particular beef is that I wish the cover was a little more photo-realistic.
5 STARS.
OUT 6/7/22 [yay pride releases!]
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

**For those curious about the real photo, Erin DiMeglio is the football player. She became the first female QB in Florida high school history, playing for South Plantation High School in 2012. She also went on to win Homecoming Queen, and grew up to be a firefighter and EMT. How's that for a gender role smashing badass? Queen!

Wednesday Books,
Thank You for the chance to read another amazing story by the best Dahlia!

Cool For The Summer was fantastic!
I knew Home Field Advantage was bound to be just as great!
Now I have to read His Hideous Heart

Mini Review:
The premise for this book is fascinating and lovely.
A sparkling romance about fighting for what or who, you truly want.
I thought it was witty, relatable and cute
The author does a wonderful job portraying this struggle and messiness without making the book angsty.
Also this book made me actually think about our high school kids now.... About diversity, fitting in and making your mark in this crazy world!
Amber and Jack are lovely, wonderful, kind characters who are trying to make their way through the world. And two characters who I instantly fell in love with.
Dahlia Adler’s writing bounces off the page with spirit and heart.
Home Field Advantage will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it goes so much deeper than that.
And nobody does it better than Dahila Adler!
One of my favorite YA stories and I can't wait to see this book out there.... June 2022!

I absolutely loved this ! So much so, in fact, that I stayed up until 3 am just to finish it. Next time, Dahlia, please do me a favour and write less good books.

Actual review to come

ARC provided by netgalley

Run, don't walk to preorder your copy of this delightful sapphic, YA sports romance. Despite being way older than the age of the intended audience, I couldn't put it down! I really loved the queer spin on old tropes, and all the characters were fleshed out and (with the exception of the antagonists) lovable.

My one problem with the book is that for 90% of the story there remains a central conflict (**light spoiler: that Amber needs to be cheer captain to win a scholarship) then in the very end of the book just... decides it wouldn't work out so forget it? It was a little weird for her to go on and on about it for the entire book and for it to rule her entire life for years just for her to cast it aside. It would have been one thing if she had made a choice and decided to forget it, but she didn't and it didn't make a lot of sense. On the other hand, that's probably what a teenager *would* do, so I guess... whatever? Just strange from a story perspective.