Review: Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Release Date: October 1^st, 2012

Number of Pages: 245

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Source: ARC from Raincoast Books

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

This is the kind of review I dread writing. Not because the book was horrible, that I can manage, no problem. Stealing Parker was a novel I had so much hope for, since everyone seem to love it. Yet, I couldn’t help being disappointed with it. Maybe it was because everyone and loved it and I hoped to loved it too? Maybe it just wasn’t the right book for me. There just was something that really me stopped me from loving it.

I think there were many factors that stopped me from really getting into the novel, and some of them I think I could have predicted. Baseball (or softball) isn’t really something that interest me (I’m more of a hockey fan.) Then there’s the Christian aspect that isn’t usually something that I really enjoy. Those two things separately, I usually can enjoy just fine in a book. Both of them together didn’t help me get into the story.

Now, those weren’t the only things that left me a little disappointed. I just didn’t like Parker. For the first half, she either bored me, or made me want to rip my hair off in annoyance. In the end, I liked her a little more, since she did seem to learn from her mistake. Then, there’s Brian that I just wanted to punch, since he seriously annoyed the bleep out of me. That’s the thing: most characters ended up annoying me at least once, and seriously annoying me! The only one I liked from his first appearance to his last was Will. He was the only one I thought was interesting, the only one I really found interesting.

I have to say that Stealing Parked just wasn’t for me. I had high hope for this book, since everyone had been raving about this book. Some will like it, and if you’re looking for a positive review, you won’t have to look really far since most bloggers loved it.