Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bookanistas: Playing Some HEAD GAMES

Happy Bookanista Thursday! I've read so many great books lately that it will take us MONTHS to get caught up. I guess that's what happens when you finish a draft of a book. You finally get kinda caught up on your reading list. I think I should finish books more often.

Anyway. Bookanistas. Don't know about us? We're authors who recommend books once a week--you guessed it--ON THURSDAYS. Read anything fabulous lately? I wants to know about it.

This week, I'm giving a little love to HEAD GAMES by my friend (even though she spells her name wrong), Keri Mikulski. Here's the dealio:

Taylor Thomas is a total all-star on the court. Off-court, not so much. She may be model-tall, gorgeous and quite a catch, but try telling her that. With a showcase game and playoffs fast approaching, Taylor’s basketball career is totally on the line. She doesn’t know which way to turn first when her BFF ropes her into a fashion show and she finds herself torn between Zach, the super-tall, super-off limits basketball star and Matt, the super-sweet guy from her English class. Can Taylor stop her head from spinning long enough to strike a pose, land the boy of her dreams, and win the game?

Confession time. I am not sporty. If it has a team and a point system and does not involve little pieces that you move around on a board, I automatically suck at it. So I don't usually read sports books. Gimme something with a marching band in it, or theater geeks. Those sports people are in a different world than me.

Yeah, I can be an idiot sometimes.

So when MY FRIEND asked me to read her sporty book, I said, "Of course!" and was secretly frightened. Sure, I realize that I don't have to be a serial killer to read about serial killers, but somehow this felt like a genre I was going to have a tough time liking. I was wrong.

Not only is Taylor a normal girl with normal problems who happened to play basketball, but I enjoyed getting a peek into a world that I know so little about. Sure, I had to look up "full court press," but even without knowing the meaning of the phrase, I understood the tension and the pressure to succeed. Taylor learns to deal with that during the course of the book, although we sometimes want to smack her along the way.

I read a lot of books about monsters gone amok and things like that. For a change, it was nice to read about some people I could have known in high school. I enjoyed the glimpse into the locker room, and I'll be coming back for more!

WHEW. What a relief.

Have you read this? I'd love to hear what you think.

And check out these other great Bookanista recommendations:

11 comments:

abby mumford said...

another great sports series for the "not sporty" types is by catherine murdock. the first one is DAIRY QUEEN. you know, if you ever have another spare moment in your day when you're not fighting zombies.

Aurora Smith said...

Oh this sounds pretty cool. And thanks for the other blogs.

Keri Mikulski said...

Thanks bunches, Carrie (even though you misspell your name)!! :)

Right back at you.. Just replace sports with zombies and monsters.

xoxo

Mariah Irvin said...

I'm not very sporty either, but you've convinced me to give it a shot!

And by "it", I mean the book, not sports... *shudders*

ali cross said...

I'm like you, Carrie, and I wouldn't normally pick this up. So thanks for the review!

lora96 said...

I'm a sportsophobic reader, too!
I almost gave up on Megan McCafferty's awesome Jess Darling series because she is a track star and talks about cc a lot!

I have no idea why I thought that required an exclamation mark. Ugh. I'm not really that hyper. In fact my morning sickness is pretty bad.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I'm not sporty at all. AT ALL. For a while I ran, but it got cold and I happily gave it up. Running is exhausting, you know.

Anyway, I bet this is a book a lot of teens would really get into. I don't think you have to know sports to like a book with a sporty character. when I was younger I used to love Sweet Valley High books, but oh man, I was NOTHING like those girls. I loved them, though. Great review, Carrie. I love discovering books I hadn't heard of.

Kelly H-Y said...

Love Keri Mikulski and her sporty books!! Great review!

Bethany Wiggins said...

Your review had me laughing! I'm not sporty either, but my daughter is amazing on any court or field, so I've grown accustomed to it. The book sounds great!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, all I can think of is Foreigner.

Kelly Polark said...

I love when female hs athletes are portrayed as normal girls who happen to play a sport (and fabulously). Cute book and I was satisfied by the ending (her bf).
I was a sporty girl too. Now I'm an almost forty girl. ;)