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anya_doesntmatter's review against another edition
4.0
He kissed a boy and he liked it... even though at the time he thought the boy was a pretty girl. Boy didn't that one action turn Doug's world upside down! Poor Doug is left feeling confused and questioning his sexuality. He always considered himself straight but now because of that darn kiss he can't get Sam out of his mind.
Our boy in a dress Sam, has had a very tough life. I don't want to give anything away but lets just say that his situation at home has forced him to deny that he's gay and he does everything including dating girls to please his family.
Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.
Wade came out swinging hard in this installment. Using Doug as a vehicle, Wade exemplifies how difficult the journey can be when one tackles the question of “Who am I?”. Not everyone can say with certainty that they are straight, gay or bi. Add in the censorship of society, the pressure of having to identify with a group and it's easy to understand why some shy away or reject labels all together especially if a label doesn’t quite fit. Doug was fortunate to have his BF Chris and his Dad help guide him. Sam, was not as fortunate. It'll take a lot of hard knocks but eventually Sam finds his way and trust me, his journey is hard to read and heart wrenching towards the end.
Jock 3, has been a wonderful ride. There were moments that I felt Kelly, kind of pulled of her punches in an effort to be politically correct or to not offend anyone and I completely get that ( She uses the offending F word but she doesn’t use the offending N word, which I think is something the bully from the opposing soccer team would have said). The downside to doing so however caused some things to come across as way too immature for someone who’s in college. The scene lost its desired impact which is sad. On the upside, I love how through Rob, she incorporates some of the Bible without being preachy. Kudos on a job well done in that regard.
Sam and Doug was a great addition to the series and I absolutely cannot wait to read Rob’s story. He deserves his happy ending!
Our boy in a dress Sam, has had a very tough life. I don't want to give anything away but lets just say that his situation at home has forced him to deny that he's gay and he does everything including dating girls to please his family.
Talk about a disaster waiting to happen.
Wade came out swinging hard in this installment. Using Doug as a vehicle, Wade exemplifies how difficult the journey can be when one tackles the question of “Who am I?”. Not everyone can say with certainty that they are straight, gay or bi. Add in the censorship of society, the pressure of having to identify with a group and it's easy to understand why some shy away or reject labels all together especially if a label doesn’t quite fit. Doug was fortunate to have his BF Chris and his Dad help guide him. Sam, was not as fortunate. It'll take a lot of hard knocks but eventually Sam finds his way and trust me, his journey is hard to read and heart wrenching towards the end.
Jock 3, has been a wonderful ride. There were moments that I felt Kelly, kind of pulled of her punches in an effort to be politically correct or to not offend anyone and I completely get that ( She uses the offending F word but she doesn’t use the offending N word, which I think is something the bully from the opposing soccer team would have said). The downside to doing so however caused some things to come across as way too immature for someone who’s in college. The scene lost its desired impact which is sad. On the upside, I love how through Rob, she incorporates some of the Bible without being preachy. Kudos on a job well done in that regard.
Sam and Doug was a great addition to the series and I absolutely cannot wait to read Rob’s story. He deserves his happy ending!
chadjames312's review against another edition
5.0
Another awesome entry into the amazingly written JOCK series! Loved Doug and Sam's journey it was a roller coaster ride of fun, adventures and emotions!
ctsquirrel's review against another edition
I may come back to this one as I've enjoyed the rest of the series so far. I think I'm really just waiting for Rob's story.
suze_1624's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't really gel with this one. YA can be tricky for me and I felt these were portrayed very young.
I liked that the story mirrored the football team's progress in the competition.
Wasn't convinced by Doug and at times felt Chris was a bit preachy.
Sam's situation in having to fit to others expectations was interesting and whilst his father's escalation was expected, it wasn't nice to read.
Fot me, somewhere between 2.5/3*
I liked that the story mirrored the football team's progress in the competition.
Wasn't convinced by Doug and at times felt Chris was a bit preachy.
Sam's situation in having to fit to others expectations was interesting and whilst his father's escalation was expected, it wasn't nice to read.
Fot me, somewhere between 2.5/3*
teenykins's review against another edition
3.0
So I didn't find a review that might have expressed my feelings for this book so here goes me trying to articulate them.
First of all I think the cover is wrong. Sam from the descriptions is red-haired and a Bieber lookalike but nowhere did it said that he was ripped like that. Unlike Doug that he is apparently a very fit guy and a brunette. So the cover is distracting 'cos I think I see Doug when it's supposedly Sam.
Secondly there were so many editing errors it's not even a joke. I don't know what's up with Dreamspinner but this isn't the first book in the last 20-30 I read from them that make me think that their quality is slipping on that point.
Now let's talk plot. I haven't read any other books from Kelly apart from her Jock series and Bankers' Hours so I'm not very familiar with her writing style but here throughout the book I had the feeling that something just wasn't clicking correctly while reading. I even considered DNFing it at 75%.
Anyways I stuck with it 'cos it flowed easily but what I came to realize was that when the characters talked to themselves it felt awkward, like Kelly wasn't sure how to make that come across. Also there was some weird phrasing sometimes like Sam's uncle saying "Aunt Deanna left ten minutes..." why not say "Your aunt left..."?
But the main thing that felt wrong to me was that the actions of the characters spoke true of their ages but their thoughts and their voices didn't ring true to me.
For example Doug is always saying how young is Sam is, when he himself ISN'T even of legal age to drink so that makes their age difference that of 2 years and not 12 like it seems when reading sometimes. Yes 2 years of college have probably afforded Doug more experience than Sam might have as a high school graduate that was home schooled, did online courses and was maybe quite sheltered ('cos except his father's abuse and some of the reasons for it we don't really know much about Sam's everyday life before we went to McDaniel College) but it's not like Doug got those experiences without his security blankets (his friends are in the same college as him, he goes to college in the town he grew up in and his family is there too)!!!
That for me was the main issue. I just couldn't believe that the words and thoughts I'd read belonged to 20 year old guys. Frankly I can hardly believe that 24yo Ellis is a coach in a college.
First of all I think the cover is wrong. Sam from the descriptions is red-haired and a Bieber lookalike but nowhere did it said that he was ripped like that. Unlike Doug that he is apparently a very fit guy and a brunette. So the cover is distracting 'cos I think I see Doug when it's supposedly Sam.
Secondly there were so many editing errors it's not even a joke. I don't know what's up with Dreamspinner but this isn't the first book in the last 20-30 I read from them that make me think that their quality is slipping on that point.
Now let's talk plot. I haven't read any other books from Kelly apart from her Jock series and Bankers' Hours so I'm not very familiar with her writing style but here throughout the book I had the feeling that something just wasn't clicking correctly while reading. I even considered DNFing it at 75%.
Anyways I stuck with it 'cos it flowed easily but what I came to realize was that when the characters talked to themselves it felt awkward, like Kelly wasn't sure how to make that come across. Also there was some weird phrasing sometimes like Sam's uncle saying "Aunt Deanna left ten minutes..." why not say "Your aunt left..."?
But the main thing that felt wrong to me was that the actions of the characters spoke true of their ages but their thoughts and their voices didn't ring true to me.
For example Doug is always saying how young is Sam is, when he himself ISN'T even of legal age to drink so that makes their age difference that of 2 years and not 12 like it seems when reading sometimes. Yes 2 years of college have probably afforded Doug more experience than Sam might have as a high school graduate that was home schooled, did online courses and was maybe quite sheltered ('cos except his father's abuse and some of the reasons for it we don't really know much about Sam's everyday life before we went to McDaniel College) but it's not like Doug got those experiences without his security blankets (his friends are in the same college as him, he goes to college in the town he grew up in and his family is there too)!!!
That for me was the main issue. I just couldn't believe that the words and thoughts I'd read belonged to 20 year old guys. Frankly I can hardly believe that 24yo Ellis is a coach in a college.
bakarena's review
4.0
I hope there will be a follow-up about Rob and Russel. I've been waiting for so long already N_N
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