A review by mischief_in_the_library
The Whole of My World by Nicole Hayes

2.0

I loved the cover, I will say that. But it just wasn't believable, for me. Maybe, as well, I'm not mad about AFL and stats and so was put off by a lot of the technical talk, as well as at least 70% of the book being directly involved with footy. As a backdrop, I would've enjoyed it, but it just became a bit much. I also didn't feel like the relationship between Shelley and Mick was believable at all - I would've liked slightly more build up, and maybe some more insight into the thought process of Shelley. They were 'friends' very suddenly, before they had actually interacted more than a couple of times.

But the biggest thing I didn't like was what seemed to me a bit of slut-shaming. Girls who were implied to have slept with the players copped judgement from Shelley and her group, without much thought to the boys. Particularly when

Spoiler

Tara catches Shelley kissing Mick and it's 'You're a slut, he's married' without a second of thought towards the lecherous married man who is not only kissing an underaged girl, but cheating on his wife as well.

Finally, the sudden relationship between Josh and Shelley at the end was a bit out of left field. I get that they were super close before the accident, and I get that she had a bit of a crush on him since, but they hardly saw each other towards the end and it didn't seem particularly believable that they'd get together at that point in time. To me, anyway.