Stealing Parker Review

TITLE Stealing Parker
AUTHOR Miranda Kenneally
PUBLICATION October 1st 2012 by Sourcebooks Fire
READ September 18, 2012
SOURCE Gifted from a friend

Red-hot author Miranda Kenneally hits one out of the park in this return to Catching Jordan's Hundred Oaks High.

After a scandal rocks their conservative small town, 17-year-old Parker Shelton goes overboard trying to prove that she won't turn out like her mother: a lesbian. The all-star third-baseman quits the softball team, drops 20 pounds and starts making out with guys--a lot. But hitting on the hot new assistant baseball coach might be taking it a step too far...especially when he starts flirting back.

Miranda Kenneally. Where have you been all my life? Your novels bring me so much joy and you get me so tangled up in your story that I feel as if I am Parker.. or Jordan. I read Catching Jordan a few months back and I can remember sitting down and cracking the first page and being so engrossed in the story that before I knew it I was reading the final page in the very same sitting. The exact same thing happened with Stealing Parker. I curled up in bed at about 8 PM and turned the last page before I went to sleep at midnight. This is such a fun contemporary story with a really good plot and even better characters.

Just like in Catching Jordan we meet a slew of easily likeable characters who are all part of a tight knit group of friends. Through their constant teasing and hilarious inside jokes (I am so going to be using "snorggle" in my vocabulary from now on) you find yourself lost in their friendship and connecting with them on an emotional level. I was quick to like Parker because she was by no means a Mary-Sue. She was a tomboy who could give all the boys a taste of their own medicine when the time called for it. One complaint I did have about her though, is that she could have used a little modesty. Numerous times throughout the story she mentioned how beautiful she was and how she knew all the guys wanted her. I mean it's one thing to know that you're pretty, but c'mon! Her friends were the stars of the show for me Corndog and Drew were hilarious together stuffing their faces and joking around. What was really exciting was that Sam Henry (from Catching Jordan) is on the baseball team (and just as funny as ever I must add) and we even get to see Jordan at a few instances throughout the novel.

Parker made a lot of choices that I didn't agree with, but it made for a really good story. I didn't know that this story dealt with a student/teacher romantic relationship so that took me by surprise (see it's fun to not read blurbs!) Brian was such a selfish guy, and even though it took a while, once Parker realized that, I was really happy with the way that she dealt with it and was happy that she stood her ground. She also deals with a lot of issues at home and church. This books touches on drug abuse, bullying, questioning ones sexuality and all those issues are handled very well.

Now that I have read two of Miranda's novels and had a fantastic experience with both I can safely say that she is one of my favourite authors and I will be reading everything that she puts out!