Not As Much Football As I Thought...

Until Friday Night (The Field Party #1)

by Abbi Glines

Hardcover, 336 pages

Published August 25th 2015 by Simon Pulse

ISBN: 9781481438858

Library

ABOUT:

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…  (Goodreads)

RATING: 4 Stars

REVIEW:

First thing, this is so not a “clean” teen read. These kids are drinking and having sex right and left. It’s the one big thing that annoyed me. Maybe I’m wrong or live in the wrong part of the country, but I really don’t remember kids in High School doing that constantly. There were parties sure, and I know drinking and sex took place, but it just seemed so over done in this book. Maybe I’m just old and things have changed. 

Anyway, the book is actually about West who is a jock with a major secret. His Father is dying. Then there’s Maggie who’s new to town and doesn’t talk due to what she saw happen. Of course when you have a secret, the person you can rely on to not tell it is the girl who doesn’t talk, so wa la a romance is formed. The two form a bond and while Maggie helps West with his Father’s death, West helps Maggie find her voice. Aw ! How sweet!  And yes with all the Father/Son moments in this book I did cry a bit. If you don’t you have no soul! (Just kidding about the no soul, but it is really sad and touching in parts.)

This book is a really quick read with a ton of characters who end up having continuation books of their own. Because it switches back and forth from West’s point of view to Maggie’s you really get to learn more about the characters and form deeper bonds with them. I think if it was all in Maggie’s point of view I would have hated West and thought he was a complete jerk. But because I got to see what he was going through with his dad through his eyes, feelings, and thoughts it made me understand him so much better. 

Overall, if you’d like to cry pick up this book. If you want a decent misunderstood teen romance story also pick up this book. Be warned though that it’s not for young teens. Even High Schoolers might not be ready for everything yet.