Title: Racing Savannah
Author: Miranda Kenneally (Twitter)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publish Date: December 3, 2013
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 304
Source: Publisher

They’re from two different worlds.

He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.

With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…

It's no secret that Miranda Kenneally's stories are a bit more like guilty pleasure reads for me, if only because I know I can expect fun, sweet, light-hearted romance. The beautiful thing about Racing Savannah though, is that while, yes, it is all of the above, it is also so much more. It's funny. It's sarcastic. It's relevant. And, just when I'm certain we're going to get a story that offers more sweet than substance, the novel surprises me and offers true character growth and development. It's something I've come to expect from Ms. Kenneally's books. While on the one hand, we get plenty of sweetness and flirty romance, on the other hand, we also get a surprising amount of depth. Racing Savannah is no exception, and as we truly get to know Savannah and Jack, it's a pleasure to catch glimpses of our former favourite characters who have since grown up and moved on with their lives.

Savannah was, perhaps, the most lovable heroine I've read about in a good while. She's one of the lone women in a man's world of horse jockeying, yet she takes the sidelong glances, the whispers and the snark in stride. She had this infectious personality that brims over and reels us into her story in a way that makes it impossible not to fall in love with her and her big dreams. Jack surprised me, as well. From the premise, I worried that we would fall into the trap in which we're stuck with a "poor little rich boy," but he surprised me with his depth and the amount of complexity within him. He was the perfect counterbalance for Savannah, and watching their two characters meet, mingle and begin to grow in a similar direction was truly fun and, at times, so sweet it hurt.

I think that the true strength of Racing Savannah though, is the painstaking amount of care that the author put into crafting such a story. A lesser author might have rested on the laurels of the age-old "star-crossed lovers from different sides of the track," but Ms. Kenneally gives us far more than that. We're given Savannah, who has far less than Jack, but lives a comfortable, empowered and happy day-to-day life. Then we Jack, who has been given everything - wealth, privilege, responsibility - but he has an earnest inner yearning for more that was actually quite tangible. He'd been given everything he'd ever wanted in life, and this is the first time that he actually had to stand up and fight for something he really wanted, all the while still balancing his responsibilities and desire to please his father.

Overall, Racing Savannah pleasantly surprised me. While yes, at times, the novel is a bit more saccharine than I might hope for, there is also a beautiful, powerful amount of depth to this love story. I can't help it - I'm just in love with these books. I give it a 4.5 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to all fans of YA, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction and sweet romance.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Title: Catching Jordan
Author: Miranda Kenneally (Twitter)
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publish Date: December 1, 2011
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Pages: 281
Source: Publisher

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

Jordan breaks the mold on a daily basis. She's athletic, funny and smart, and she breaks the stereotype that girls can't play football. As the captain and quarterback of her school's football team, she leads with confidence, simply because her life revolves around her sport. Jordan has carefully created a world around her in which she can succeed, but whenTy moves to town and shakes things up, for the first time in a long time, Jordan doesn't know the next play. Will she find her balance again before it's too late?

On the surface, Catching Jordan looks like everything I despise in YA contemps. Judging by the cover alone, I assumed the book was barely more than a petty teenage drama involving first loves, heartache and whittling a strong main character down to a shell of what she once was. I couldn't have been more wrong. Miranda Kenneally has written a sweet, empowering, humourous and altogether endearing tale of a girl simply trying to navigate her way through high school without falling prey to everyday drama like so many others. Realistic and refreshing, Catching Jordan is so true-to-life and honest that it makes you feel as though you've stepped back in time, and you're watching the ups and downs of high school play out before your eyes. 

Jordan was, at first, a character of whom I was extremely dubious. I don't know the first thing about football, and her life revolved solely around the sport, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to fully access her emotions or passion for her sport. However, simmering beneath the surface, we can see that Jordan is just as human as you and I with her quirky personality and charisma that draws others to her. When Ty enters, though we see Jordan's confidence waver just a bit, we manage to access and draw on that vulnerability, finding yet another reason to root for this confident and empowering female character. What I loved most about Catching Jordan is that we're provided excellent characterization in Jordan, never being forced to watch a girl whittled down to a shell of what she once was due to a high school crush. We get to watch as she transforms from someone with a singular focus to someone who learns that she can let someone in and still be as strong as ever - if not stronger. Furthermore, Catching Jordan presents a high school story that is very honest, offering tangible tension, the navigating of first loves and questioning just how far one should go. It's simple, but realistic, and the beauty of the story is that it doesn't just scratch the surface...it gives us so much more.

I was completely and utterly surprised by Catching Jordan, and despite the fact that there was some dialogue and subject matter that was a bit too convenient for my taste, I thought this book excelled. I give it a 4.5 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to fans of YA, especially those who enjoy contemporary fiction.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.