Home Field Advantage By Dahlia Adler

Lex Kent

A cute YA romance in a book that was a little heavier than expected. This was my second read by Adler, and I’m happy to say that I liked it much more than her other,
Cool for the Summer. While I enjoyed the feel of Alder’s previous writing, I just didn’t enjoy many of her story choices and I ran into some personal pet peeves. Luckily, this book didn’t have any of those issues so it was a much better match for me. It was a tad heavier, maybe sadder, at times than I expected but the cute romance, good main characters, and an enjoyable ending pushed the book into 4 stars territory for me.

While this is technically a “sports” romance it’s the high school cheerleaders and football feel. There are only a few football scenes and all of them are either exciting or add something important to the story. You don’t have to have any football knowledge to enjoy this one and you won’t get lost because Alder crafts very clear word pictures to follow along with.

I used words like heavier than expected and sad to describe this book. While it might not have one or two huge triggers, it has a whole bunch of little ones in the way of being homophobic and extremely misogynistic. It is almost like death by a thousand paper cuts and I was surprised how much it started to wear me down. You have two main characters, two or three secondary teenage characters, and a cool mom (with some rare bisexual mom rep), and this was about it for nice characters. Everyone else was pretty horrible and it was hard watching the main characters totally alone at times. I think it ended up being a little too much and the book has this downer feeling that stopped me from liking it enough to call it a 5 star read. I think you can make your points about misogyny and homophobia without making every character an asshole.

Alder did a really nice job on the two main characters, and a main secondary character. Sometimes when you read YA, you know it was written by an adult trying to imitate a teenager’s voice. With Alder it doesn’t feel like that. It feels like you are put into the mind of these young adults, dealing with these issues and just trying to make it through high school. The main characters were relatable and while flawed, they still showed growth and you could not help but totally ship them as an adorable couple. Parts of this book were clearly a downer, but the romance was sweet and just what you hope for in a good YA book. And while I will not give anything away, I enjoyed the whole last quarter of the book. It made me feel like I was watching the ending of a teenage rom-com and it put a smile on my face.

TLDR: This was a well done YA romance with a sports twist. If you like the whole setting of high school football and cheerleaders, and like the idea of a young queer woman breaking boundaries, I would recommend this book. It does have homophobia and a lot of misogyny, so it may be triggering to some. I think the book was a little heavier than I expected, but the romance between likeable characters helped to balance some of those parts out and I did end the book with a smile on my face. I look forward to reading Alder again.

An ARC was given to me for a review.

theresa

Home Field Advantage was a fun and sweet sapphic romance. It’s an easy read that perfectly balances discussions of misogyny and homophobia with teen angst, friendship and passion for sport.

I went into this book expecting a lighthearted and readable romance and that's exactly what I got. I flew through the majority of Home Field Advantage in one sitting and had a great time with it. Adler managed to keep an overall lighthearted tone, even as she explored the misogyny and homophobia rife in small towns and their high schools. I loved the classic feel, as Adler put a queer, feminist spin on the well loved cheerleader / quarterback romance trope.

I really enjoyed reading from both girls’ perspectives. They each had a unique voice and personality so I never forgot whose perspective I was reading from. However, I will admit that to begin with I struggled to connect with them as their voices were so in your face and, at times, unlikable. But once we settled into the story and the narration I began to enjoy the book. I enjoyed the romance, too, as well as the exploration of different friendships and relationships in the book.

What I usually love most about sports romances is the team dynamics; I love the friendship and joy a team can bring. As such, Home Field Advantage was an interesting read as it followed two characters who felt outcast by their teams. I really enjoyed how the novel explored this in the two girls’ different situations. I feel that Amber’s journey in particular will be very relatable, as she struggled with keeping her friends and place on the team despite not agreeing with their beliefs and actions.

Home Field Advantage is a fun, lighthearted story that’s perfect to lose yourself in for a few hours. It takes the classic quarterback / cheerleader pairing and puts its own spin on it, turning the book into a sapphic, feminist story dealing with women’s place in sport and what it takes to get what – and who – you want.

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*eARC received in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley*

Dahlia

Eep, HFA is now up for request on Edelweiss! CWs for misogyny, homophobia, and a car accident death, as you can see from the blurb, and one more that I'll put under a spoiler tag because it is in fact a bit of a spoiler: . If you read, I hope you enjoy!

Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?]

A female quarterback and a cheerleader secretly dating? Count me in!
Bonus: there’s also fake dating your gay best friend involved ❤️‍🔥

I want to see a movie like this! Badly!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 🏳️‍🌈 💕 🌈 💕

Kelsi

This was the most freakin adorable book that I’ve read all year! It’s a sapphic story about a quarterback and cheerleader (honestly is there a better high school romance trope?), both discovering who they are in their own way. There’s a decent amount of homophobic slurs and derogatory remarks, so just be aware if that’s triggering to you.

Honestly, this book gave me ALL of the warm and fuzzies! Jack and Amber foreverrrrrrrr.

Della B

The age old love story of the high school quarterback and the cheerleader is given a wonderful twist in Home Field Advantage. Jack (Jaclyn) Walsh is recruited to move to Atherton, Florida to fill the void left by their star quarterback’s untimely death. Cheerleader Amber McCloud is driven by her desire to become captain of the cheer squad next year. She desperately needs this promotion to boost her college application so she can leave her small town to live her true queer life. Unfortunately, Atherton is not ready for their quarterback to be replaced especially by a girl. A talented, big, strong butch girl.

Adler creates a splendid YA story filled with youthful angst as her characters discover what is important to themselves in the face of peer pressure and the status quo. The book takes you for a fun yet intense ride until the very end. It is told by both Jack and Amber’s points of view to push the narrative.

I had a whole lot of fun reading Home Field Advantage. It reminds me of the female pioneers in sports. Women pushing to break ridiculously low ceilings that exist in our so called enlightened and modern age. We need more Jacks and Ambers.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Ashley Blake

An absolute delight. Funny, tender, and just all around badass.

roma

2.5ish stars
I've been reading a lot of sports romance and this was quite enjoyable, if you've seen the movie dating amber, this book has a similar feel to it. the romance has a nice buildup, enjoyable enough. I also loved that amber had a bi mom, it's so nice to see older queer people and we actually use the word lesbian! Despite a lot of queerphobia from their teamates, there is a lot of joy too and I liked the bowling scene too and it actually feels like a romcom

There was this weird line where amber says she's likes trans guys but not cis guys like how would you even know? like far be it for me to say you have to be comfortable with dating cis men but the way it's said is othering and it's irrelevant to the plot since there are no trans people either way. Also can we stop writing introductions where only the skin color of poc is mentioned, like here the group and the black girl. the side characters also just blend in, there's only so many homophobic jocks i can tolerate

It's not done maliciously but they are small things(that happen too often) that dampen my enjoyment of an otherwise fun book and I hope other readers can enjoy this more than I did!

content warnings: use of lesbophobic slur, butchphobia and homophobia and queerphobia, misogyny, abortion/miscarriage

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion in any way.

h o l l i s

Welp, this wasn’t quite the “sweet and funny” romance I expected it to be. Clearly.

I’ll admit I requested this with the hope that all of what I liked about Adler’s previously queer YA, COOL FOR THE SUMMER, would be magnified and even more fun in this other queer YA, particularly with the cheerleader/female quarterback angle, but.. it was not. It didn’t even measure up.

Look, it’s expected to navigate hard hitting topics these days, because they are timely, they are important, and they are realities faced by everyone but particularly marginalized peoples. However.. if you promise me sweet and funny, I want sweet and funny. And instead this was relentlessly misogynistic, homophobic, with bullying, and generally an overwhelming vibe of nothing fun or nice. However, Jack, our transplanted-from-another-school quarterback? She deserved to be rooted for. She did deserve her own cheerleader. I just wish she’d gotten a better one. Because Amber only occasionally had her good moments. But that didn’t make her unique. Pretty much right across the board, almost every single character sucked. And those who didn’t were like Amber; with only occasional good or redeeming moments.

So, yeah, maybe you aren’t like me and won’t feel offended or disappointed by all the frustrations in here — or the insta-love, which somehow continued to feel paper thin despite the passing of months — and you’ll appreciate the conflicts and the more or less happily ever after, but.. I’m not. I’m bummed. I’m also trying not to stare at this gorgeously colourful cover and feel like it hasn’t personally victimized and betrayed me.

You might like this; in theory there’s a lot to love. I just didn’t love or like it. As a result, I’m not sure I’ll risk picking up another book by this author.

---

This review can also be found at
A Take From Two Cities.

Elle

I will…….…read a romance. 🫠

Kelly Quindlen

I'm obsessed.

Jamie

I've read several books by Dahlia Adler at this point and they are always enjoyable and I have a good time with them. She writes fun characters you want to root for, and this comes up again in her new book Home Field Advantage.

This is the second football based YA wlw novel that I have read, the other being
Like Other Girls by Britta Lundin, which I also enjoyed. And naturally both books have similar overlaps in experiencing misogyny in a male dominated sport and overcoming that- and while Like Other Girls is more of a book about one person's mental health and personal growth with some romance in it, Home Field Advantage does lean more into the romance novel aspect, which I enjoyed as well.

Home Field Advantage follows Amber McCloud and Jaclyn (Jack) Walsh. Amber is a cheerleader for her high school, and unfortunately that high school just lost their starting quarterback in an accident. But when word spreads in their town about a new QB coming to play for them, they get excited- before finding out their new QB is a girl. So both the team and the cheerleaders try to rebel against her, which puts Amber in a bind as she wants to be head cheerleader- but also finds Jack very compelling. Jack moved to the small town of Atherton to finally get her shot at playing QB for a school after being denied everywhere else for being a girl. And this is made worse when even though she gets to start, she isn't accepted at all. Except maybe by the one Cheerleader...

I did enjoy this book, it was fun. Jack was a fun character to root for, and you could really empathize with being rejected for who she is at every turn. And her and Amber are really cute together.

This book captured being torn in several directions and having conflicting motivations really well- and that's a part of everyone's life but especially teenagers today with the rife world around them. You could tell a lot of characters in this book had a lot of decisions to make and I was into the story quite a bit.

One thing I actually found missing in this book that might actually appeal more to other wlw readers was a lack of actual football action in this book. Besides the first game and the climax, that was really the only on field time we see. As a football fan, I might have liked a little more gametime, but readers who aren't as sportball based might appreciate more pages to other topics. (I just want both!)

I think this is my favorite Dahlia Adler book I've read so far. 4/5

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

kaz.brekkers.future.wife

FOUR STARS
THIS WAS CUTE AND SAD AT THE SAME TIME
Review to come

Ashley

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC! It hasn't affected the content of my review.

I was slightly skeptical of this book going in, as I always am with YA these days, but I couldn't resist the premise. I'm really glad I gave in to my impulse on this one, because this book was really cute, and surprisingly emotionally harrowing at the same time. The premise here is that Atherton's star quarterback died in a drunk driving accident over the summer, and the coach has found his replacement in Jack Walsh, who is to everyone's shock, a girl. She's extremely talented, and she just wants the chance to play football and be part of a team. That no one accepts her, and in some cases actively plot against her, is not a great feeling.

The only person who is even somewhat nice to her is Amber, a cheerleader who is gunning hard for Captain next year (they are both juniors) and who is a closeted queer girl in a fake relationship with her also queer friend Miguel, another player on the football team. Amber has spent all of high school trying her hardest not to rock the boat, especially since so many of her classmates are homophobic, including her best friend Cara, whose family is uber-religious but stepped in to be a sort of second family for Amber when her single mom needed the help. Just a soup of conflict up inside Amber. Of course, the two are drawn together and quickly fall for each other, in a very cute way. (Amber calls Jack's glasses cute, and can't resist flirting with her, then straight up telling her she was flirting, promptly and accidentally outing herself.)

I was mostly surprised by how intense the homophobia and misogyny is towards Jack, and surrounding Amber. All the queer characters are out to their families, but none want to take the step to come out to the community as a whole, lest they end up friendless and ostracized like Jack. Haunting the whole thing is the ghost of Robbie, the dead quarterback, who was an asshole (he was blackmailing Miguel about being gay, among other charming behaviors), but who is now being sanctified by his teammates, the cheerleaders, and the other students. They refuse to give Jack credit when they start winning games, and the fact that she's a girl has everything to do with it. And even Amber and Miguel don't feel like they can stand up for her, because of the perceived consequences.

I was a bit worried that the conflict Adler created was too much to be resolved in the book, but she made it work, with only a little bit of handwaving. Most of it was just well-constructed plot, and you end the book knowing that Amber and Jack have their Happily-For-Now.

I hadn't read anything by Dahlia Adler before this, but I would definitely consider reading more from her in the future, even though none of her previously published books are calling to me at the moment.

Leah

“Home Field Advantage” by Dahlia Adler was not exactly what I was expecting when I opened my kindle. Going by the blurb and cover I thought this was going to be a cute and lighthearted sports rom-com. I was wrong. While there are definitely some cute and lighthearted scenes, this is a lot heavier for the most part.

Jack Walsh has just been recruited as the starting quarterback for a new high school. Unluckily for her, the former quarterback was killed in a drunk driving accident and was well loved so she’s not exactly welcomed with open arms. The team and student body is even more upset when Jack turns out to be short for Jaclyn and is in fact female.

Amber McCloud is a cheerleader that is hoping to be voted captain for her senior year. She knows she needs to show her leadership skills to the squad but finds it difficult when the squad comes together to try and get rid of Jack. Amber has also been hiding the fact that she’s bisexual and finds it harder to do what’s expected of her when she meets Jack.

I liked both Jack and Amber and how flawed they were. They made for interesting characters and I thought a lot of their romance was really sweet and cute. They’re both dealing with homophobia and misogyny and it was realistic how they each reacted in such different ways to those things. I was also a big fan of the sports side because there’s not a whole lot of the actual sport. Hah! I can be a bit leery of reading sport romances because I’m not a big fan of sports but it wasn’t a problem for me at all this time.

Speaking of homophobia and misogyny, this book is filled with it. And it is the reason I said this book is lot heavier than I was expecting. Almost every page has some form of one or the other or both if you’re lucky. It becomes a lot and I actually had to take a break from it while reading. It’s still a good read but it does become overwhelming (at least for me) in some parts.

While I mostly enjoyed this and do recommend it, beware that there’s a lot of misogyny and homophobia you’ll be dealing with.

I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Marsden

This was a good YA story about a sapphic spin on a cheerleader/quarterback romance. I'm not American and know precisely nothing about American football, but I still enjoyed this, even if I did skim the sport parts.

Both Amber and Jack were good, well rounded characters with unique voices and personalities. I enjoyed reading both POV. I also liked how the book didn't shy away from the misogyny and homophobia that would likely happen in that scenario in real life too, even if it went a little too over the top sometimes (I have trouble believing the entire school hated Jack).

I did get a little frustrated with Amber, even though I totally understand her reasons. Her friendship with Cara being the number one annoyance. Yeah they've been friends for a long time, but come on. She was a shitty homophobe. Amber was my favourite character despite clinging to her awful friends.

The romance was sweet, a little fast perhaps, but I liked that it was low on angst. I'm normally not bothered about the grand romantic gestures in romance books but I actually really liked the ones in this.

Shout out to Jack cutting her hair and finally feeling like herself. That happened to me too!

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian

A page-turning YA book that has a nice balance between a sweet f/f cheerleader and football player romance and a parallel plot about misogyny and homophobia in a small conservative Florida high school. Jaclyn aka Jack is Atherton's newest quarterback, there to replace their previous one who died in a car accident. She is immediately met with outright malice from her teammates and obliviousness from the coach. Amber is gunning for head cheerleader next year and it's one of the reasons she's in the closet. When Amber and Jack meet, its instant sparks. But they've got a lot of obstacles!

Some of the scenes where Jack is facing down intense misogynist pushback from her teammates and when Amber's religious friend spouts off homophobia were hard to read. FYI, the book isn't as uniformly light as the sunny cover might suggest.

This book actually had me interested in a football game for a whole chapter so I have to give it points for that. And I loved how frank it was about teen sexuality (including masturbation!). And there is some cute queer solidarity and a bisexual mom!! (Lol I'm old I identify with the moms in YA now).

I wasn't too interested in the villains being as (halfway) redeemed as they were though and I wished there had been more buildup to Amber and Jack getting together. I felt a bit let down when they were kissing so early...but that's a personal preference.

All in all a fun book!

Anaïs (Taylor's Version)

dec 2022 : finally I'm giving this book 5 stars because 9 months after I'm still smiling thinking about it

april 2022 : I really enjoyed this novel, the romance was super cute and I especially got attached to Amber's character, who I directly missed when I finished reading. The atmosphere of the story was also very enjoyable. I also find that the topics of homophobia and misogyny in the sports world are not often addressed in young adult, so I liked that they were discussed in this book

*eARC received in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley*

Danika at The Lesbrary

This was such a readable, engrossing book. The pacing is great, and I kept thinking, “Just one more chapter.” I actually stayed up late to finish this, which I almost never do. But every chapter ending made me more curious about what happened next, and there was plenty of drama to keep me invested.

One of the minor aspects of the book I really liked was that Amber’s mom is bisexual. It made me realize that although I’ve read books with same-sex parents, I don’t think I’ve read another book that had a single bisexual parent. It was nice that Amber could be out and comfortable at home, even if she didn’t feel safe talking about that at school. And her mom’s casual bisexual jokes made me happy. It probably doesn’t hurt that I’m closer to the mom’s age than Amber’s age now.

I also liked Amber’s exploration of the labels she feels comfortable with. She’s not attracted to cis men, but she is attracted to other genders, so she’s not sure how to label herself. She seems to be settling on polysexual and queer, but she’s not completely sure even by the end of the book. (Jack uses the terms gay and lesbian to refer to herself.)

Also, this book did make me invested in a fictional football game, which is a very impressive thing to pull off.

Dahlia Adler continues to be a queer YA author you just can’t miss. (Plus, if you’re not following LGBTQ Reads, you need to.)

Full review at
the Lesbrary.

Trio

I loved the idea of a female quarterback romancing the head cheerleader! Dahlia Adler clearly has a great bit of fun with this theme in Home Field Advantage.

The opportunity to play quarterback doesn't come along very often, especially for a girl, so Jack has to make some big compromises to make it happen. For Amber and her friends, welcoming the new QB is harder than you'd think. It's way more than just a matter of "new kid in town".

There are only a couple of sports scenes, but they're exciting and well written. And considering I'm not a fan of American football, that's high praise indeed *wink*.

The audio version is nicely performed by dual narrators, Natalie Naudus and Lori Prince.

thank you to OrangeSky Audio via NetGalley for providing an audiobook ARC of Home Field Advantage for the purpose of my honest review, all opinions are my own

Roz

4 ⭐️

Awww this was so cute!!

Jacob Proffitt

I'm having a hard time coming up with anything definitive to say about this story. It's a serviceable YA with LGBT characters in the forefront. And Adler does a reasonable job giving us their concerns and interactions and with enough layers to be interesting. And with lead protagonists that were engaging.

And there's a flatness to that description that is probably justified but I still want to do the book justice because I enjoyed it and never felt like putting it down or moving on. The thing is, it probably shouldn't have been as engaging as it was. The romance is a bit surface with Jack and Amber pretty much falling for each other immediately with the equivalent of an "I'm into you, are you into me?" discussion that was kind of fun in the moment. And I liked seeing Amber take the chance in a moment of bravery I wanted to see more of.

There are two main sources of conflict in the story but neither one felt as enduring as it needed to be to hold up that long. The main one is everybody remaining in the closet at school out of fear of their peers' reactions. They're all out to their families and each other, and have love and support within that group. But they fear the football player/cheerleader/popular kid response should they be exposed (or, you know, honest) and that fear seemed increasingly weak as the story progressed. This isn't helped by the second big issue of the unreasoning veneration of the now-dead "hero" quarterback that our inner circle knows was a homophobic snotrag. Everyone giving Jack a hard time for stepping on his "legacy" (that seems to have consisted of a lot of failure and partying) got old fast.

So I was impatient with all that drama and this made it hard to engage with Amber's fear of exposure that drives almost all of the relationship angst. And I worry about the veneration of the closet as a thing. Look, I know outing someone not ready to own who they are is a horrible act of betrayal. It should totally be their choice and making it for them is a major violation. But there's something to be said for honesty and being yourself that can come into conflict with that principle and that needs to have some nuance I feel we're suppressing. Okay, I can feel the need to be specific. I don't consider this a spoiler as all of the elements are there early because we learn that Amber and Miquel's relationship is a cover for them both being gay. So what do you do when one of them wants to come out and the other is all like "but then they'd suspect me". And that's totally true. So you have them locked in a death spiral of maintaining a painful sham because one is ready to be out and the other isn't. And discussions are completely shut down because the closet is sacrosanct. And maybe it should be, I dunno. I never bothered being in and didn't see the point, for myself, but that's me as a secure adult surrounded by people I knew loved me. But it felt to me reading this book like there was a lot of nuance in this conflict that couldn't be explored because of the sacred closet roadblock. Trapping one person in a misery they're ready to shed needs to have some weight, too.

And I feel like I've done nothing but complain about a book I enjoyed. And I still haven't gotten to the bi-erasure with Amber who starts off with saying she's bisexual only to find that she isn't sure of her sexuality, after all. She contemplates her labels at one point and I'm sure a wikisexuality (I made this up, though it seems like something that should exist) article exists somewhere containing her eventual diagnosis. But then why start with the bisexual claim? I dunno, am I being oversensitive much? Probably.

So I feel like I've bagged on this and yet, I enjoyed it thoroughly. A lot of that is Jack, who I liked unabashedly from start to finish. She's completely herself and nothing but herself and unapologetically owns it one hundred percent. She has some huge hurdles to overcome with her new team and sometimes things look pretty grim. I totally sympathized with those times she felt like just giving up. And I was thrilled with her finding the strength to push through. She won my heart early and kept it all the way.

I'm going to say this is 3½ stars that I'm rounding up because I loved Jack so much. Even that seems a little low because, like I've said, I never hesitated in continuing the book for all some elements felt fairly flat. So it probably deserves the flat-out four stars if I'm being completely honest. Only then I remember the and maybe I'll stick with 3½ after all.

A note about Chaste: We get a lot of references to making out. And there's a scene at the end where clothing comes off and more is on the way. But we don't get any details and there's a lack of heat that allows me to characterize this as chaste. But it's a close call so if you're at all sensitive this one likely crosses the line.

Gaby LezReviewBooks

I’m normally not a big fan of Young Adult books but I’ve heard great things about this book and as I’m a fan of both narrators, I’ve decided to give it a go. I’m happy that I did as I’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Amber McCloud wants to be cheerleader captain next year but it’s hard to keep the spirits up when the team quarterback has died in a car accident and the new replacement is a girl. Even if the girl in question is a hot one. Jaclyn “Jack” Walsh has always dreamed of playing football and now her wish has come true, if only her teammates would accept her and the cheerleaders wouldn’t be so stuck to their traditions. Only Amber seems to be friendly and as an attraction between them grows they might need to choose between their hearts or their dreams…

This is an enemies to lovers romance with a huge amount of teenage drama and a small side of sports (American Football). You don’t need to be a fan or even understand the sport to enjoy the few, but very relevant, football scenes. The sports scenes are very exciting to read/listen to and they add a component of action to the plot.

Set in a high school in Florida, the story focuses a lot on the homophobic and misogynist reactions towards the “simple” fact that the new quarterback is female. While I agree with other reviews that the author might have emphasized too much the negative reactions towards a female trailblazer, to be honest, after the state of Florida ‘Don’t Say LGBTQ’ law and the US Supreme Court’s latest rulings which erase basic human rights, I think this book couldn’t be more current and even necessary. Is the ingrained homophobia and misogyny hard to read? Yes. Is it unrealistic? Hell, no.

Apart from the bit depressing outlook on gay and female rights, the romance itself is very sweet and both characters are lovely to root for. The main characters sound realistic as teenagers, sometimes immature or full of themselves, but that’s what makes them feel real. Amber’s bisexual mother is a breath of fresh air among all the secondary characters’ aggravating attitudes.

The book is written in first person from the point of view of both main characters. The audiobook version is read by two narrators, Natalie Naudus, who performs the chapters from Amber’s point of view and Lori Prince who performs from Jack’s. I’m getting more used to audiobooks with two narrators and these two are absolute stars who always bring stories to life in an outstanding way. Both narrators did justice to the story and made me enjoy the book even more. If you can put up with teenage drama and a lot of homophobia and misogyny, I’d recommend this one a lot. 5 stars.

Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins

Andy

Thank you to Wednesday Books & Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5

This one was so good!!

Home Field Advantage is a dual POV YA contemporary about Amber McCloud, cheerleader who has eyes on the captain spot for senior year, and Jack Walsh, quarterback extraordinaire and oh yeah Jack is a girl. Jack is replacing Robbie who died in a car accident. The players were already stressed with this replacement, but to find out she's a girl has everyone riled up. When both the players and the cheerleaders decide to try and get rid of Jack, Amber doesn't know how to soothe the tensions, it doesn't help that the girls can't help but fall into each others orbit.

This was so damn cute. I also loved that this book really discusses and interrogates internalized misogyny and how the patriarchy affects everyone. There is a lot of BS thrown Jack's way because she's a girl in a male dominated sport. I really liked that there was a lot of pushback on how the team and specific cheerleaders were treating Jack. It was hard to see her bullied just because of her gender.

I loved seeing Amber and Jack's relationship develop. They were so cute with each other. There are several more serious and hard conversations they have throughout the book. I really love seeing YA books where the couple talk out the issues their facing rather than just kiss and bury their feelings. I'm also glad that Jack calls Amber out on some of her bullshit, because she does some stupid things.

Rep: white polysexual-questioning female MC, white gender non-conforming (butch) female lesbian MC, Latine questioning-achillean male side character, Black female side character, white nonbinary side character, various BIPOC side characters (ethnicity/race not indicated).

CWs: General queerphobia/queermisia, bullying, misogyny/toxic masculinity, threatened outing of side character/blackmailing, religious bigotry, sexism. Moderate: discussions of abortion, pregnancy and miscarriage, alcohol consumption, fatal car accident from DUI, child death, death, grief, violence.

laurel [the suspected bibliophile]

This was really cute!

Lots of queer rep (bi mom, yes!), and a solid storyline. There is a LOT of sexism and homophobia, fair warning, as Jack navigates being the only girl on the football team in the panhandle of Florida--when the last quarterback died in a car crash after driving drunk and was turned from a bro jerk into a martyr. How do you step up after that? How do you step in after that? And then what happens when you arrive and the losing team literally starts winning and people can't see that because you're a girl?

Ugh. Anywho, I did wish I got to see more of Amber doing actual cheerleading stuff, because I kinda wanted to know what it's like being a base and throwing people into the air.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

Chelsea

I'm kind of tired of reading books disguised as "cute high-school romance" when all it's really about is unchecked bigotry. If most of the football and cheerleading team are so misogynistic and homophobic, how did a girl get to be the quarterback, when everyone knows she's going to be bullied and they do nothing about it.

ash ✩‧₊˚

than you netgalley for the arc !!

*3.75 stars* rtc.

abi ♡

such a cute and short read. i love the characters sm 🫶

MissBecka Gee

This was awesome! A sapphic love story between a cheerleader and a quarterback?
Yes please!
Amber & Jack are so stinking cute, and Jack is now one of my favourite fictional characters!
There is a lot of garbage dealt with in this book.
Felt like I was reliving high school in the 90's with all the derogatory bits thrown around.
As much as I loved the romance portion of this (& want to be best friends with Jack), I think Cara was my favourite portion of the book.
Her emotional growth is kind of amazing, and gives me hope for the rest of the world.
Much love to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for my ARC.

Sarah Perchikoff

THIS IS THE CUTEST SHIT EVER!!!!!!!!

i love Amber and Jack!!!

Amber McCloud has one goal. Become the cheer captain. It is her one and only dream and she will not stop until she gets it. She doesn’t expect it to be that difficult.

That is until Jack Walsh shows up at school.

When the cheer squad and the football team discover their new quarterback is a girl…most of them act like a bunch of assholes. Yes, even the other girl cheerleaders. All of them except Amber.

Amber doesn’t like Jack because she was kind of mean to her when they first met, but she can’t understand why the hell everyone is making such a big deal out of Jack being the new quarterback. Like yeah, it was surprising, but after that wore off…who cares??

But she thinks once the season starts and they see Jack play, everything will be fine. Jack thinks the same thing. Unfortunately, they could not be more wrong.

There is one saving grace though. Amber, in her effort to try to unify the football and the cheerleaders around their new quarterback, spends more and more time with Jack and they form a connection. At first, that connection is based on the fact that Amber is kind of the only one who will talk to Jack, but it then turns into something more.

But Amber is not out at school and she thinks that if she comes out, she won’t have a chance of getting the cheer captain spot. But will she let that get in the way of her new relationship with Jack? And is Jack okay with being a secret?

I loooooved this book! I like how it was light and fun in some parts but also dealt with some for-real serious issues like sexism and homophobia in others parts. It achieves a perfect balance.

I also LOVED both Amber and Jack and how much we got to learn about their lives and their struggles. The choice for this book to have two POVs was perfection. They are such a cute/fun couple and I would totally read about them just sitting in a park together lol.

I also loved the inclusion of their parents. Amber’s mom is amazing and I enjoyed how complicated Jack’s family life is. She and her mom moved to this new place so she could have a chance to be on a football team and that puts a divide in the family. It gave a little bit more depth to the story.

(I also wanted to kick multiple characters’ asses for being mean to Jack but I digress)

I am giving Home Field Advantage 4 out of 5 stars! If you love contemporary YA romances, you NEED this book!

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler is available now!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Title	:	Home Field Advantage
Author	:	Dahlia Adler
Rating	:
ISBN	:	1250765846
ISBN-10	:	9781250765840
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Hardcover
Number of Pages	:	304
Publication	:	First published June 7, 2022

Home Field Advantage Reviews

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