Playing Hurt

April 1, 2011

Gr 10 Up-During her senior year, star basketball player Chelsea Keyes suffers a hip fracture that ends her hopes for a college athletic scholarship. Gabe, her nice-guy boyfriend, supports her through her recovery. The two plan to attend college together once the Keyes family returns from a summer vacation at a Minnesota resort. There, Chelsea's father hires an employee to be his daughter's personal trainer. Clint has his own painful history. After his girlfriend died in a car crash, he gave up on both hockey and love instead of trying to "play hurt." Chelsea and Clint spark right away. They challenge each other to various sports, push each other's buttons, and try to keep their hands off each other. After Chelsea helps Clint survive an ATV accident, they indulge in a summer fling. When the family vacation ends, they both try to return to their old lives. The closing staccato chapters play out like the final minutes of a close game as Clint dates another townie who immediately sees through his act, and Chelsea tells Gabe that she's been unfaithful. Throughout the novel, chapters alternate between Chelsea's and Clint's voices, giving it some boy appeal. Some of the passages lack refining, but the main characters' chemistry keeps the pages turning. Supporting characters, especially Chelsea's bass-playing younger brother, are all well drawn. With its rural setting and flirty competitive training scenes, this sexy summer romance will appeal to fans of Catherine Gilbert Murdock's "Dairy Queen" series (Houghton Harcourt).-Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
Grades 10-1 Our kiss is lightning . . . . His touch is gentle. But I feel hes just lit my skin on fire. In this steamy romance, two high-school seniors are haunted by past trauma. Chelsea, a Missouri basketball star, was sure of a college scholarship until a severe injury ended her dream. On a family trip to a Minnesota lake resort, she meets Clint, a wilderness guide, and they fall for each other. Clint, though, is still grieving the loss of another love, who died in a car accident. Told from the teens alternating, first-person viewpoints, the story moves slowly, but readers will enjoy every detail of their bonding, their tension (Why does he keep pushing her away?), their family lives, and, especially, the buildup to their passionate (and protected) lovemaking, when Chelsea loses her virginity. But what about Chelseas kind boyfriend back home who keeps texting her? With no slick, happily-ever-after ending, this novel will capture teens with the characters guilt, anger, and, especially, the intensity of the young peoples connection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)