"The boys had expected me to fail--wanted me to fail. I'd sensed it. And I wasn't about to give any of them an ounce of satisfaction."This novel is about a strong young Native American girl (Fred) who loves to play golf. She's good, so good that the high school team coach practically begs her to be on the team...but the boys don't like it.
HUGE class difference. She lives on a reservation. Her mother works in a restaurant. Her father tends the very grounds her teammate's fathers pay to play on. She's the only girl on the team. She replaced a loser kid named Seth... There's a lot of animosity aimed her way, but this girl lifts her chin...well, she does stare at the ground a lot and I wanted to tell her stop it, but I also understood...and plays a damn good game, even when her arm is about to fall off due to a little sabotage incident.
I expected more struggling to be accepted in a male dominated industry than romance, but I got more romance. I don't mind a good teen romance at all, but I really don't care for the love interest in this.
This guy, Ryan, is a wuss. He just sits there and lets his friends bully Fred, talk smack about her, call her names, make fun of her, and he doesn't have the balls to do anything. He sits there and smiles. I don't care if it's a half smile, if you just sit there and let your friends be nasty, you are no better than them. And yet Fred likes this guy? I get he has a rough home life, but so does 75% of the country. It doesn't give you a free pass to be a jackass.
Not until 82% does this guy show any promise and even then, he refuses to snitch on his evil best friend bugged the heck out of me. If he had said something the first time, his friend wouldn't have a second chance to go after Fred...or a third. Even as the book ended, I questioned just where this guy's loyalties lay. I felt he should have told the truth to prevent what happened next.
That's my only complaint besides I would have liked the mother's issues explained. She's hateful, mean, bitter, and I wasn't sure why. Felt I was missing something there. I did not like Ryan and to enjoy a romance, you sorta need to like the hero. But the golfing, the reservation, and the heroine herself I really liked. I also felt the switching back and forth in narrative was well done, not jarring as it could have been. Fizchera knows how to write. Though I didn't LOVE this one as I did her other two, I did like it. She's still on my watch and read list. I must commend her for for tackling all the different issues and story lines she does.
There were other characters in this novel I liked. Trueblood, Hank, Sam. I'd like to read more about Sam. Something really drew me to him. Matter of fact, I was honestly hoping Fred would choose him, not Ryan. LOL
Three bikes. Very entertaining YA read. I received this from Netgalley.
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