Genre: YA Contemporary
Published: October 1, 2012 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Series: #2 (Hundred Oaks)
Length: 256 pages
Source: bought (at Barnes & Noble)
“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?”
“She just got thrown a major curveball.” Uhh, yes she did.
Stealing Parker is the companion novel to Catching Jordan. When I finished reading the first 2 chapters, I thought it was totally like Catching Jordan except the MC in this book plays softball and the MC in Catching Jordan plays football. But after I read about 100 pages, it was completely different. The story is a lot deeper and serious compared to Catching Jordan, which made me like Catching Jordan MORE than this book. I enjoyed Stealing Parker though, but if I had to choose between Stealing Parker and Catching Jordan, it would have to be CJ.
This book is about the main character, Parker, a 17 year old trying to get through all the nasty & cruel stuff people say about her & her family just because her mother is a lesbian. There is religion (Christianity to be exact) revolved in this book, and the people in the church are not okay with Parker’s family because of her mother’s change in sex. I wasn’t bothered at all with the religious things sprinkled in the book because I’m a Catholic and that also made Parker’s character more relatable for me besides her playing softball (because I used to play too).
Like Catching Jordan, this book has sports involved, family problems (2 thumbs up for this series not having those parents taking “vacations” as an excuse for the MC to go wherever she wanted) friendship, and romance. There was also a twist in the romance, but it was slightly predictable (I kind of knew it was coming). I really like how some of the characters from Catching Jordan showed up & this book takes place in the same setting as Catching Jordan.
Parker struggles getting judged by her schoolmates, especially her softball team which is why she decided to quit playing. Ugh. I could totally relate to that. I remember I decided to quit something because other people didn’t approve of what I was doing (which is a hobby like softball). I regret it and that’s the message that I got out from this book: IGNORE THE PEEPS, AND CONTINUE THE DREAM. Not only that, Parker felt like she has to flirt & hang out with guys because the girls from her school and her used-to-be best friend, Laura, spreads rumors about her being lesbian just like her mother. Parker was embarrassed and that’s what lead her into doing crazy stuff that you get to read in the book.
The only thing I didn’t like it was that the characters weren’t as witty as the characters in Catching Jordan (I know, I keep comparing it to the other book. I just thought this one would be better) and that Brian’s character (one of Parker’s love interest) was sort of flat.
There’s definitely more to the story & that’s only a vague summary of it. Overall I think ya contemporary fans or those who likes to read books with forbidden romance will totally enjoy this book. It’s really fast paced and I stayed up till 3 in the morning reading it. You’ll get out something from the book for sure and I can’t wait to read the next book, Things I Can’t Forget.
