Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

About the book

Stealing Parker is a young adult novel by Miranda Kenneally and part of the Hundred Oaks series. The book was published by Sourcebooks Fire on 25^th October and it is 256 pages long.

Synopsis

Parker Shelton once had a perfect life. She was well on her way to becoming valedictorian, played on the softball team and was pretty popular. But then her mother’s scandal ruins everything, including Parker’s name.

Parker reinvents herself by losing weight, quitting softball and making sure everyone in school knows that she’s into boys even if it means kissing quite a few. Only it’s not just boys that she’s interested in. The new coach of the boy’s football team draws her attention and while she knows it’s wrong, Parker can’t help herself.

Parker keeps on changing from the girl she used to be but will she take it too far?

What I thought

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Catching Jordan and really wanted more from this author. This book can be read as a stand-alone as well as in sequence with the series.

Unlike the protagonist in Catching Jordan, I found Parker not nearly as easy to like. It is clear from the beginning of the book that she’s had a bit of a rough time at home and school due to things that her mother did. The way in which the community reacted to Parker was absolutely disgusting so no wonder she wanted to change who she was. Parker lives in quite a religious community and goes to church herself but they aren’t one who accept lesbians and Parker’s mother ran away to be with another woman. I felt for Parker because of her situation but she really didn’t make the best decisions at times.

Although Parker gives up playing for the softball team herself, she ends up helping out with the boys’ team due to, well, all of the boys. It’s the new coach that catches her eye though and eventually, the two become quite good friends who talk all the time out of school hours. One thing leads to another and Parker and Brian (the coach) become more than just friends even though it could end Brian’s career. I honestly hated Brian. He took full advantage of Parker and treated her like dirt pretty much.

There are also two other boys to add into the mix. Drew is Parker’s best friend and an absolute sweetheart and Will (Corndog) is a newish friend to Parker. I really enjoyed reading about these two characters because both has such special qualities about them. Drew was there to cheer Parker up and to watch Harry Potter with her and Corndog was hilarious. He never does what people expect of him and he is exactly the kind of person that Parker should be around.

While Parker annoyed me at times because she couldn’t see how stupid she was being, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were fantastic I just wish that the plot had been a little better.