CW: misogyny, blackmail, homophobia, mentions of abortion, car accident

I'm struggling with how to rate this. I was ready for a light, f/f romcom but that's not what was delivered. There were a number of heavy topics woven in, which ultimately forced the romance into the backseat.

Is it a me problem? Or was the pitch misleading?

It took me longer to read this than I would have liked because nothing good~ was happening to the characters. Jack deserved to be rooted for and Amber deserved a best friend she could be honest with.

Overall, I just feel "meh" and slightly frustrated with how the story turned out. I didn't hate it but I certainly won't remember much about it.

CW: misogyny, homophobia and discussion of outing, mentions of abortion/miscarriage

Home Field Advantage is a super cute f/f ya sports romance following a cheerleader and a football player!

Although the tone is more serious and deals with some characters not being publicly out, this is still one of those books where you can't help but feel joy for the characters. And the serious moments are so important and I love seeing them being the topic in books, specifically overcoming misogyny and learning how to navigate the world as a queer person while being surrounded by homophobic people.

I loved the sports aspect of this book and how much the main characters cared about it! I also loved how supportive their parents were about them pursuing their chosen sport!

I do wish that some things at the end had gotten resolved more, or were at least talked about some more, but overall I had a great time with this story and I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for an adorable but still hard-hitting ya contemporary romance!

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler; Wednesday Books, 299 pages ($19.99) Age 13 and up.

A cheerleader falls for the new female quarterback amid the homophobia of a small town Florida high school in this charming romance from Dahlia Adler, a perfect summer read.

Amber McCloud has her heart set on being cheer captain and won't let anything derail her plans, faking a romance with football player Miguel Santiago to deflect any would-be suitors. The team quarterback – who was blackmailing Miguel and threatening to out him – was recently killed in a drunk driving crash. So the coach informally recruits Jaclyn "Jack" Walsh, a standout at football camp, to join the Atherton Alligators. Jack arrives to encounter hostility and sabotage both from her male teammates and the cheer squad who are loyal to the dead quarterback.

Adler alternates the narrative voice between Amber and Jack, offering a poignant exploration of what it's like to feel like you have to hide who you really are. There's plenty of humor ("August is like living in a sweaty gym sock," "the girl has the patience of a mosquito"), football action, a slow-burn romance and the sweet and surprising revelation that unlikely allies may emerge when you need them most.

Dahlia Adler has written a beautiful book about a cheerleader and football player. I loved that it wasn't the traditional take on a coming out story. The character diversity and development made me enthralled from the beginning. I will happily recommend this book to students and will be purchasing a physical copy for my classroom library.

COME ON, another fantastic sapphic novel by the incredible Dahlia Adler, author of COOL FOR THE SUMMER? Proprietor of THE book blog, LGBTQReads.com? EDITOR OF A BUNCH OF FANTASTIC SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGIES?Look, pal, I don’t know what to tell you. I loved this book more than I loved COOL FOR THE SUMMER, and I wrote a whole paper on that book. The characters are complex but solid in their own identities, it’s enemies to lovers in the cutest high-school based way, lots of Angst. Content warnings do include a lot of homophobia, which I think is dealt with although there isn’t any on-page condemnation of it. Anyhow I’d die for Dahlia Adler. Five stars. Pick it up.

This was a great take on the QB/cheerleader romance trope. This book was fun and sweet but also had some tough situations both main characters had to go through; specifically misogyny in football and homophobia. I liked the snarky banter between the two characters and the great cast of side characters. My only complaint is that I love to read books at certain times of the year and I wish I would have read this during football season.

🥰really liked
🤟cheerleader + jock, dual POV, heartwarming
📚Throw Like a Girl
🎶I Need Your Love by Calvin Harris + Ellie Goulding

A gorgeous and heartfelt coming of age romance. Reminds me so much of this one pinterest picture! Both characters were so lovable and different and made the story so fun. I really appreicated just seeing queer students in a high school setting and the enemies to lovers trope was chef's kiss. 4.5 stars

Dahlia Adler can do NO wrong.

As someone who is a huge sports romance reader, I was skeptical about this one. The subject of females in predominately male sports is something that I am hugely passionate about, and I was afraid this piece wouldn't do it justice, and I made a fool of myself.

Jack & Amber are the embodiment of so many coming out stories these days. Living in the south, having the best friend that is the preachers daughter, etc. It is a HARD subject. But Adler does it all so well.

10/10 would recommend to everyone

I didn't like this book as much as I was hoping to. In fact, it was a lot heavier than the cute YA romance I was promised. YA is always kind of hit or miss for me.

I found Amber to be overall unlikeable, which if I'm honest wasn't unlike any of the other characters. This book was a little bit heavier than I was expecting for a YA romance, the bigotry was really heavy to the point where it felt like it was on every page. I would have liked the book more had the author let up at least a little on the homophobia and misogyny. I liked Jack, she was actually the only character I liked at all and while I did connect with Amber somewhat, I felt like Jack deserved better. For me amber's good moments never outweighed her bad.

I think this book had a lot of potential and while I feel like objectively the writing is okay, the authors choices regarding the characters and plot is enough to turn me away from picking up another book by her unfortunately.

Home Field Advantage put me through the emotional wringer. This sports romance book tackles homophobia, but also knowing when it's time to speak up. We can become so immersed in our lives, in the internalized homophobia, and our ideas of what our dreams are, that we can fail to speak up. To make mistakes that end up hurting people we love, and ourselves. I loved how flawed, complex, and messy both Jack and Amber are.

The best characters are ones that make us feel. And both of them do that. They make us feel rage at the treatment and comments they have to endure. At the same time, they make us feel disappointment when they don't speak up. When they let the people we love get hurt. And finally, they make us feel hope and love because they have to struggle, to figure out their own limitations, until they decide when they want to make a stand.

I really enjoy Dahlia Adler's books and this sapphic romance didn't disappoint. What I particularly liked was the fact that it wasn't a slow burn, or a will they won't they get together type book. Jack and Amber knew who they were to themselves and to each other. What made the story compelling was the issues surrounding their relationship and the friendships both found and lost along the way. It was a hard read, but an excellent read nonetheless and I need more books like this in my future.

There is nothing more that I love in this world than a sports romance and girl-as-quarterback-on-the-boys-team is top tier in that genre in my humble opinion. This hit all the right marks. I really liked how Adler explored the difficulties of being openly queer in sports in three completely separate ways in both her leads and Miguel’s character to show the different nuance and complexity that goes into being queer in sports. The side characters were really strong, the romance was super sweet, and overall it was a super enjoyable book!

This book is one of my most anticipated this year, and it's highly recommended by some of my faves here! And now I can confirm, the rumors are true 😆 This book is SO GOOD!

It's funny, fast-paced, but it also highlights a few issues still rooted in society. The romance is exquisite (please Amber and Jack are so cute) and the characters are compelling (it was so nice to see those character arcs, and yes there will be characters who will just annoy you I swear). Plus the way this book tackled misogyny and homophobia is just incredible. Also, the queer rep is just too good here?? Polysexual rep, lesbian rep, nonbinary side character, gay side characters, a bi mom. It was wonderful to see! 🥺 This book is definitely going to my Top Reads of 2022.

This book was sent to me from Books Foward in exchange for an honest review. These words are my own and are not influenced by the publisher, the author or the Books Forward team.

This is a spoiler free review.

From sports to high school romance, this is a book that will without a doubt pull on your heart strings. Even from the first pages the reader is thrown into a small town High School where the football team, still recovering from the loss of their former quarterback, received a new transfer, a quarterback who the coach believes has the skill and talent to bring home some wins. There’s just one catch, the quarterback is a female.

This tale follows Jack, the school’s first female quarterback, and Amber, the cheerleader who dreams of being the cheer captain, through their junior year that just became a bit more complicated.

What stood out to me most in this book was not only the writing style the author used, but how she wrote the character. The internal monologues and dialogs flew off the pages making the characters come to life.

There were moments when I laughed, and moments where I wished I could read faster because I needed to know what happened as soon as possible.

Between the writing style, dialog, and character arcs I no doubt recommend this book to anyone who loves High School romance books, sports romance books, or romance books in general.

This one had such potential but the blatant homophobia that isn't corrected ruined it for me. The fact that not one of the damn teachers stepped in at any point made me so angry I was nauseated.

This just wasn't for me.

Cool for the Summer was a top read for me in 2021, so I was thrilled to read this new novel!
What I liked best that was true for both of these novels is that Dahlia Adler writes her characters well enough that you root for them and she also provides great representation for bisexuality in her stories. She puts a nice spin on common troupes and makes them relatable. This book managed to be both endearing and also address important issues people in the LGBTQIA community faces. YA is so hit or miss for me because I am at an age where sometimes it reads young and therefore in unrelatable. Cool for the Summer struck a perfect balance and didn't ever really feel too young for me. Though I enjoyed Home Field Advantage enough to be interested in continuing to take the journey, I did struggle a bit to connect the way I did in Cool for the Summer. Because of this the scenario felt a bit unrealistic. It could just be that I am far removed from high school, but I also think maybe it was that they fell for each other so quickly that there was less of a build. Maybe being young that could happen quickly, but I think for me I prefer a slower build to the relationship. Overall I would recommend to those who like a sports romance with a twist to it! Rated this book at a 3.5. Looking forward to seeing what Dahlia puts out next!

This book was really cute. I liked have the duel perspectives from both girls. I also liked that one of the characters played football and was dealing with an unsupportive team and community. I think that a lot of girls will be able to see themselves in this book. The world can use more girls in sports fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book!

I liked this, but didn't love it. The premise is awesome-- a sapphic take on the cheerleader/quarterback trope. As a Floridian, I did love the subtle Florida nods and more specifically knew precisely the environment that Amber and Jack were existing in. There are some fun side characters and some good representation, and I am so glad that a book like this exists for young teens these days. This book definitely takes on some heavier themes that I think are important given the current climate (especially in Florida).

That said, something didn't quite jive right with me in this book. I think it maybe skewed a little too YA for my liking, and there was a lot of internal turmoil and angst in the two main characters. The conflicts got to be a bit repetitive, and there were points where I didn't really like Amber. I do think she had a good character arc throughout and again, me being not the target demographic could be affecting my perception of her as a character. I also wish we had gotten a bit more resolution at the end about the characters' future.

Overall, a cute YA book that I think this generation will really enjoy!

The classic cheerleader and football quarterback love story but make it sapphic!
Yes please!

I loved Dahlia Adler’s Cool For the Summer so I was really excited she I got an eARC for this one. I also listened to the audiobook on Audible and I really enjoyed it. The narrators were fantastic!

Home Field Advantage was a fun book that dealt with some hard topics. Our MCs had to deal with so much homophobia and my heart broke for them. Those topics can be very triggering he for some so keep that in mind.

I loved the side characters also and im obsessed with Amber’s mom. I saw myself im her so she’s an instant favorite.

Overall this was a great story, I just wish we had more! I would love to see a book for Miguel.

Loved the dual POV of the story and love the queer twist on the QB and cheerleader romance! It was bubbly and fun but still dealt with serious issues. The secondary characters were great too.