Whatever Life Throws at You
by Julie Cross
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: July 10th 2014
Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)
Rate: Enjoyed it (4 stars)
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas is too young to remember her dad’s glory days as a pitcher for the Yankees. So when her father is offered a coaching position with the Kansas City Royals, Annie is intrigued to see the baseball side of her dad. Of course, knowing he’ll be a mentor to hot young rookie pitcher, Jason Brody, certainly makes it more enticing.
After an awkward first meeting with "Brody" involving very little clothing and a much-too-personal locker room interview, Annie’s convinced she knows Brody’s type: arrogant, self-involved, bossy. As her dad grows closer to the pitching phenom, the friction between Brody and Annie increases. But when opening day arrives and it looks like both her dad and Brody may lose their dream jobs, Annie steps up and offers support. She and Brody call a truce that grows into friendship—and beyond. Falling for a rising star who’s quickly reaching a level that involves rabid female fans is not what Annie would call smart, except suddenly she’s getting hints that maybe this crush isn’t one-sided after all. Could someone like Brody actually fall for a girl like her?
Julie Cross keeps impressing me and fascinating me with her writing and her stories. It doesn't matter the genre, she keeps getting better and better every time she writes a new book. This time is such a romantic, sweet and lovable story.
The story is from Annie's point of view. She's a teenage girl with a father who ends up coaching the Kansas City Royals. Their life's not an easy one: Annie's mother returns and leaves from their lives as she pleases and she's afraid of the diagnostic her father might get after going to the doctor to check on his leg once diagnosed with bone cancer.
But when given the opportunity to start in a new city, trying to re-do all the things in their lives that are messed up, they take the advantage and that's when Annie meets the pitcher from the new team her father's going to coach, Brody and her world changes forever.
Annie's a character very likable. You like reading from her point of view because you sense her strength, her intelligence and how mature she is for her age. She's been forced to grow up fast due to her family's situation, but she's not whiny about it. She sees it as a fact and deals with it and that is one of the things that make her such a great character and were all her personality derives.
Brody's a great male fictional boyfriend. He's one of those guys who's had a bad life, made some bad choices and has had a second chance in live with sports. For once in his life he wants to do what's right and being attracted to his coach's daughter is not one of them.
Julie Cross did an excellent job building the relationship between these two characters and creating their own personality. Their story is unique and it's a progressive one which makes it more real to the reader. Annie and Brody start with a funny encounter that leads them to end up been friends. With time, this friendship grows and develops to something more: attraction and then love. Ms. Cross brought a humanistic touch to this relationship along with a sweet and beautiful touch.
However, Ms. Cross didn't stop at a good love story. She submerges into some other topics as important and Annie and Brody's relationship.
I had a great time reading their story, all the time with a smile on my face. And not only because it's a sweet and romantic story, but because Annie and Brody's interactions are beyond funny.
I loved this story about first love, family and friendship I highly recommend it to all YA reads.
Julie Cross lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She’s a former gymnast and longtime gymnastics fan, coach, and former gymnastics program director with the YMCA. She’s a lover of books, devouring several novels a week, especially in the young adult and new adult genres. Outside of her reading and writing credentials, Julie is a committed—but not talented—long-distance runner, creator of imaginary beach vacations, Midwest bipolar-weather survivor, and expired CPR certification card holder, as well as a ponytail and gym-shoe addict.
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