I loved the characters and the storyline development of this book. It was absolutely one of my favorites so far and I can't wait to delve in to the next one that this author writes. The storyline was simple, enjoyable, and entertaining.

I really enjoyed this book and found it very interesting with this take on this romance. I enjoyed the description of the romance interests and the different point of views . Overall I enjoyed this book and loved the cover. I can't to read other books by this author.

When I first read the summary of this book, I thought it sounded interesting. I wasn't too sure about it and for good reason. The writing just wasn't there and the plot wasn't done the way it should have been. It had potential but it fell short.

A good book for middle grade readers. A bit young for high school.

Found this book to be kind of generic and boring. Didn't really keep my attention for any way.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title. Unfortunately, I have lost interest in the title, partly due to trusted reviews, and will not be reviewing the title. I have, however, promoed the title through my weekly recap with links to Amazon. Thank you again, and I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

A story about a young woman trying to navigate her way through a friendship that could be more while trying to decide between two sports she loves. And once she makes the decision to pursue the one she loves more (football), how will that affect her relationship with her parents and best friends who just don't get why she would love that more than running. Great book all around but one that will be especially popular with the students who love to read sports novels and looking for ones where a girl is the protagonist in a sport we don't often see them in. An excellent addition to the sports collection at our school!

Great concept and especially great for girl power, but the book fell a little flat for me. I did buy a copy for my collection as I am always looking for YA books with strong female characters.

With a missed catch for a winning touchdown on her flag football team's championship game, Tessa decides she needs a win. Hey, she's pretty good at football too—and the attention she's getting in the local newspaper feels good. By announcing her intentions to attend the local football camp, Tessa manages to upstage her mayoral candidate mom and get great press. But is football really what Tessa wants? Will it ruin her new and nebulous relationship with her boyfriend, Caleb?

I'm just not sure how to feel about this book. On the one hand, Tessa stands up for her independence and choice and girl power everywhere, but on the other hand...she just seems to be doing it all for the attention and because her boy Caleb told her she was pretty good at flag football (turns out, she's got some natural talent).

There are themes here I wished had been explored a little further. Ritual hazing. Bullying. Sexism. The He-Man Machismo. Feminism. Growing up. Friendship that doesn't just involve running. And the entire book felt both misplaced in age (Tessa is 14 but she never feels 14) with rising freshmen who act a whole lot older. It just felt really shallow, which wouldn't be a problem (I love me some fluffy chick lit) but it had parts where it seemed like it wanted to go a whole lot deeper and then didn't.

When reading about girls playing football, Dairy Queen is a whole lot better.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I received an eARC through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This review contains heavy spoilers.

Well, well, well. Where do I start? For me, this was a smothering pile of disappointment. I was truly hoping that this book would focus more about a girl playing a sport she loved and overcoming the stereotype that we have all forced down our throats (at least in this country): that “football is for boys.” Personally, I LOVE football. I grew up watching it, going to games, playing it. What I was looking for in this book was for more about her love of the sport. Instead she kept hoping for her boyfriend’s approval on whether or not she played well and if he agreed that she should go to football camp. Which defeats the point of this book IMHO. Why on earth do you need a boy’s opinion? This is your life. Live it. Make your dreams come true. This book is called The Football GIRL, not The Football Girl and Her Boyfriend’s ManPain at Her FauxDesire to Play Football. OH! Another thing: by the end, she decided that she wasn’t as in love with football as she had thought…AND QUIT. Which…AGAIN….why did I read this if she was just going to quit?! Defeat the odds! Beat the stereotype. Good grief.

Another complaint: the unnecessary dual narrators. WHY?!

AND ANOTHER! When I read the description, I didn't quite realize how young these people were supposed to be. The girl on the cover looks like a high schooler...NOT an 8th grader. The writing came off very immature.

Really I don’t have a lot to say, except that this had the potential to be great. Instead, we were left with…whatever this cluster-mess was.

Review
Tessa is a 14-year-old average girl who enjoys team sports, she has just won a race with her best friends who are hoping to join the high school team. She does everything to get attention from parents who are focused on her mother's political career.

Caleb is also a normal 14-year-old boy who likes to follow family traditions. His father played football, his older brother Charles plays and he is following in their footsteps. He has his brother as a great counselor and example and in teaching Tessa to play flag football he never imagined that he would be encouraging her friend to follow in his footsteps and provoke a real revolution. Football is a tough sport only for boys, is not it?

Big mistake .....

Narrated in the first person alternating Tessa and Caleb, the writer presents the doubts proper to adolescence, the need for recognition and self-affirmation and the discovery of love. With simple, straightforward language with short chapters, he weaves the plot on prejudice and pattern release in a light and pleasant way with a sweet backdrop storyline until it all comes to a very interesting and motivating ending.

The first thing that attracted me to the book was the cover that in my view conveys this atmosphere of feminine challenge and struggle , because the challenge of Tessa is to prove that football can be a sport for girls.

I don't favorite it because I do not understand anything about football and in some chapters I was a bit lost in the details presented about the game, leaving the reading a little slower.

Recommend.
4/5 stars

Kisses, Myl

If you are looking for a book that will encourage you to do something that you are unsure about or scared to try then The Football Girl by Thatcher Heldring is the book for you. I really enjoyed reading this book about a girl named Tessa Dooley who loves football more than cross country. She decides to try out for her high school football team along side her boyfriend, Caleb McCleary. Caleb is not surprised by this because they play flag football together outside of school and he thinks she is a really good player. While Tessa is an outstanding cross country runner, there is something about football that she loves more. This book shows the challenges that many people face when they decide to face their fears and go for their dreams. I really like how Heldring creates a plot line and setting that is so real you can almost smell the fresh cut grass of the football field. The ending of this book is a complete surprise, you will have to read it to find out why. This book is a really great read if you need some encouragement.

DNF at 38%.

The writing is very simple and straightforward, which is honestly making it a little boring. It didn't hit me how young the characters were and I realized this just isn't the story I was expecting or wanting. I love football and badass girls who fight gender norms, but this book lacked the punch and passion I wanted? I just don't care to continue for now. I don't think it would be fair to keep reading and give the book a bad review just because I think I'm too old for the title. YA is my favorite and I'll always love it, but this book feels to young for 14 year old main characters and the writing makes it feel even more juvenile.

This is a book about the importance of making your own decisions and being able to see them through. It's also a book about friendship, romance, and family obligations. Tessa is a young girl with a lot on her plate. She has a mom who's suddenly decided to run for mayor, an old-friend-turned-new-boyfriend, and a passion for football in a town and a time that doesn't quite believe girls should play football.

This is an important book for young readers, especially girls who need to be empowered to be able to feel comfortable enough to make decisions for themselves, especially when what they want is something others wouldn't choose for them.

Full review will be published on site.

I wanted to like this one so much, but it just fell flat.

Thatcher Heldring has written a book with a strong female lead who shows that when you really want something and are willing to work hard for it then gender boundaries begin to dissipate.

Don’t let it fool you. Although this is the perfect junk food book, as in one to read to just to pass the time and not expect life changing mantras from, there is still a good bit to glean from it.

It’s not a bad book but I can see this being for a very niche audience. There’s a lot of play by play football scenes so if you’re not into football or not into reading about football you’re probably going to get bored easily. But if you’re into women exploding across gender boundaries and succeeding at it, even if you don’t like football, then you’ll be able to find something worthy about using your time to check this book out.

There is more than football though. There’s the obligatory romance since it is after all a YA novel. There’s also the prototypical parents who don’t seem to care about anything other than themselves. As an adult reading this, although I didn’t care about the romance aspect, seeing the parent-child relationship was eye opening because I think as adults you do get too wrapped up in your own life and forget how that can appear to your kid particularly if it seems your child has become more of a tool to further your image than a human being in need of your love.

It’s a very short book, with very short chapters and is written with a quick pace so you have no excuse to not check it out unless of course you’re anti-football.

A very inspiriting book.

Maybe a lot people will expect more than what it is, but I say give this book a chance. If you read the description the book is exactly that. A girl with so much will power to do what others fear to do because of what others may think or what the may lose. Why I gave this book a 4 stars because I love how determined she was, how no one can stop her from achieve something she wanted. I admire Female characters like Tessa.

Tessa was an amazing cross country runner. Just being a eight grader, she had a High School coach approach her and her two best friends to tell them to try out for cross country when they started their freshman year. Her and her two friends were a perfect team on the track, working together to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, But for Tessa it wasn't enough, on the side she played football. When it was all fun and games the guys from the team mostly eight graders like her thought it was cool a girl could keep up with them. But when things got serious they started to turn their backs, belittling her. But than didn't stop Tessa.

A lot of things happen during that summer. Caleb was a friend than turn boyfriend. Her friends were hurt that Tessa wanted to turn away from cross country to pursue Football. Her mom wanted run for mayor. With all this things going on Tessa still didn't back down.

I just loved the story, I would of given it 5 stars but it was too short and I wish that Tessa actually went thru with what she started. But besides that It was a great read.

This just doesn't quite work.

I love the concept of this book. A teenage girl wants the right to play football. However, we have this romance going on and her mother running for mayor thrown in plus the second storyline told from her boyfriend's point of view.

And mostly his point of view is he is against it.

If you don't care about football and could care less about a blow by blow of someone playing it there are whole chapters you should avoid.

This is a quick read and not badly written so it at least earned the third star on what otherwise would be a two star review. Not sure who this would appeal to unless it is they like hearing about football with a light romance thrown in.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review