Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally
Published: Sourcebooks Fire (October 1st, 2012)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 242 pages
Series: Hundred Oaks, #2
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Red-hot author Miranda Kenneally hits one out of the park in this return to Catching Jordan's Hundred Oaks High.
Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.
Now Parker wants a new life.
So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?
But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?
Review:
I truly adore Miranda Kenneally's books! I also love that they are set in Tennessee. WOO! In this book we meet Parker. Parker is dealing with a lot of family drama, due to circumstances surrounding her mom leaving their family, and now people are treating Parker horribly. Her church and classmates do not see what her mother did as acceptable and somehow it gets taken out on Parker.
I will say that this book does deal with religion. I typically steer away from that topic because books can become really preachy. That wasn't the case with this story. Parker is dealing with her idea of being a good christian and, if anything, this book shows us how judgmental people can be and how you can't set yourself up for failure with certain ideas of religion.
Parker explores things by kissing a few boys, which gets her a bad reputation. But nothing prepares her for her feelings for Brian. The bad part is that Brian just happens to be her softball coach. Brian surprised me. Forbidden romances are nice to read about but Brian held a bit of a surprise. He wasn't always such a nice person. His real character soon comes out.
I really rooted for Parker in this story. I just wanted her to break free from it all and stand up to people. I didn't want her to depend on friends, family, or a guy to make her happy. She needed to get to the point where she could be a stronger person.
Miranda's books are so relatable. Especially since I live in the same state and understand that whole"small town vibe" we see with this series. I love seeing what happens in these stories because it's normally something I've seen in my own high school experiences.
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