Hi! Welcome to my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tour for Home Field Advantage by Dalia Adler. Thank you to TBR & Beyond and Net Galley for the E-ARC of the book. This was a sports romance, but the characters were fantastic, and the story was heartwarming. 

About the Book & Book Purchase links

Genre: Young Adult Romance
Publishing date: June 7th, 2022

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

Rep: Polysexual, Bisexual, Lesbian, Latino (Cuban American)

Synopsis:

In this sweet and funny new f/f romance from the author of Cool for the Summer, a cheerleader and the school’s newest quarterback are playing to win, but might lose their hearts in the process.

Amber McCloud’s dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it’s an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose.

The players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the changes to their traditions, and the fact that Robbie’s been not only replaced but outshined by a QB who wears a sports bra has more than a few Atherton Alligators in a rage. Amber tries for some semblance of unity, but it quickly becomes clear that she’s only got a future on the squad and with her friends if she helps them take Jack down.

Just one problem: Amber and Jack are falling for each other, and if Amber can’t stand up for Jack and figure out how to get everyone to fall in line, her dream may come at the cost of her heart.

Dahlia Adler’s Home Field Advantage is a sparkling romance about fighting for what – or who – you truly want. 

Content warnings: off-page death by car accident, off-page pregnancy loss (including some on-page conversation about abortion), homophobia, misogyny, alcohol use (light), references to racism

Review

Rating- 5 stars

Characters

The characters in this book were fantastic. I loved reading about them because they were all just so sweet, and they all cared about each other. Every character came from a different family situation, but as football players and cheerleaders, some of the characters were found family. I loved how the characters would fight for each other, even if that meant going against what their team wanted. 

Plot

The plot of this story was fantastic and heartwarming. The story followed Jack, a girl who played football, and after the death of the quarterback, she is sent to a new high school to be the new quarterback. Amber is a cheerleader who wants to be cheer captain next year. While this might become the classic story of the football player and cheerleader dating, Jack and Amber read differently. Jack and Amber are both queer girls who are looking for love, but they’re also looking for acceptance both on and off the field. The plot was one of my favorite things about the book, and I was cheering for Jack and Amber with every moment. 

Writing 

Home Field Advantage was written in a way that made you feel for the characters. The lighter scenes had a fun tone, and you could tell that the characters and the author were having fun during these scenes. Home Field Advantage also has some heavy scenes, and these were treated with a serious tone, making you feel for the characters in those moments.     

Romance

The romance in Home Field Advantage was so sweet. While they spent most of the novel with Jack and Amber hanging out in groups, or with their teams, they also had some sweet romance scenes. These were some of my favorite scenes and moments in the novel because you could tell how much they cared about each other.  

Enjoyment/Recommended for

This is one of my favorite books of the year, and I enjoyed it so much. Between the characters, story, and romance, they all worked to tell a story that I didn’t want to end. I recommend this book to anyone who likes stories like this and enjoys a story with queer characters going on a journey, and coming out stronger in the end. 

Playlist

For the cheer team in general- Move On from We Are The Tigers (Musical) 

The cheer team in the musical has had hard times similar to the one the cheer squad in Home Field Advantage has. While listening to this song again, I immediately picked up on the vibes of this song and knew that I needed to put this song on my playlist because the storylines were similar. 

Amber- One Perfect Moment from Bring It On (Musical) 

When I started reading this novel, I had this song in my head for Amber. Amber wants to be a cheer captain, and she knows she will have to work to get to where she needs to be. Campbell during this song is one doing the same thing, meaning the vibes are the same. 

Jack-I’d Rather Be Me from Mean Girls (Musical) 

I’d Rather Be Me is sung by Janis in the musical during the iconic scene when she is on the top of the table in the film. Jack won’t change who she is because other people want her to. She is willing to be different, and she is confident in who she is as a person. Janis in the musical has the same vibes,  as she sings about being her own person, and not being someone who changes because other people don’t like the way she is. 

Jack and Amber- I Just Wanna Dance with You from The Prom

This is a song from a musical about two girls from a conservative town in Indiana that want to go to their high school prom together. Amber and Jack would relate to this because both of them have a crush on each other, and they both just want to be able to go to their homecoming together. The overall vibes on this song reminded me of Amber and Jack in the last half of the book, but especially during the last scene in the book. 

About the Author & Author Links

Dahlia Adler (she/her) is an Editor of mathematics by day, a Buzzfeed blogger and LGBTQReads overlord by night, and a Young Adult and Romance author at every spare moment in between. Her novels include the Radleigh University trilogy, Kids’  Indie Next pick Cool for the Summer, and Home Field Advantage, and she is the editor of the anthologies His Hideous Heart (a Junior Library Guild selection), That Way Madness Lies, At Midnight, and, with Jennifer Iacopelli, Out of Our League (upcoming from Feiwel & Friends). Dahlia lives in New York with her family and an obscene number of books, and can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @MissDahlELama.

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