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A review by jackiehorne
Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally
3.0
2.5 Reeling after her mother leaves her father for another woman, senior Parker quits the softball team and goes on a hook-up make-out campaign to prove that she's not a lesbian like her mother. But Kenneally's novel doesn't really depict this, but instead opens after Parker begins to think better of her casual kissing. Yet her next decision—to act on her attraction towards the new assistant baseball coach, and fall into a secret make-out relationship with him—isn't really much better. Things get even more complicated when her best male friend, Drew, comes out of the closet, and the boy who's been her competition for valedictorian begins to show signs that he wants to be friends rather than enemies. But Drew has a crush on Will, and Parker keeps meeting up with Brian...
Rather more heavy-handed and "tell-y" than CATCHING PARKER, and bogged down by a few too many weighty themes. I know what the author was after with her "go for what you want" message at book's end, but a more nuanced approach to the issue would have been appreciated, given that even Parker realizes that such an approach did not stand her in good stead earlier in the story.
It was interesting to read this one right after finishing J. H. Trumble's [b:Where You Are|15806991|Where You Are|J.H. Trumble|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355074165s/15806991.jpg|18009242], also about a romantic/sexual relationship between a teacher and a student. The relationship here, between senior former softball star Parker and new assistant baseball coach Brian, is far different than the one depicted in Trumble's book—lust and nostalgia driving Brian, rather than true caring and attraction to a person as well as to a body, as with Robert and Andrew.
Rather more heavy-handed and "tell-y" than CATCHING PARKER, and bogged down by a few too many weighty themes. I know what the author was after with her "go for what you want" message at book's end, but a more nuanced approach to the issue would have been appreciated, given that even Parker realizes that such an approach did not stand her in good stead earlier in the story.
It was interesting to read this one right after finishing J. H. Trumble's [b:Where You Are|15806991|Where You Are|J.H. Trumble|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355074165s/15806991.jpg|18009242], also about a romantic/sexual relationship between a teacher and a student. The relationship here, between senior former softball star Parker and new assistant baseball coach Brian, is far different than the one depicted in Trumble's book—lust and nostalgia driving Brian, rather than true caring and attraction to a person as well as to a body, as with Robert and Andrew.