Rocks and Stars by Sam LedelMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
*I received this book from Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley for an honest review*
I start off noting what this book is, and, later, something that it isn’t. What this book is: a young adult coming of age story told through one person’s eyes over a period of two years. What it is not is a romance with a capital R. There are several relationships on display in this book, and many different characters, and personalities to tangle with, but capital R Romance? No.
I had no real idea what I was getting into when I decided to request this book. I mean, yes, I read the description. I knew the book was about a young woman who is, or very recently had come to the realization that she had particular feelings that mean that she might or might not be a lesbian. And that the book would ‘deal with that’. In the sense that that means this is a coming of age story, yes, that’s what this book is about. In the sense of ‘dealing with being a lesbian’? Well . . . yes, but I worded that wrong since that isn’t what I said before. What it isn’t is a struggle to determine if the main point of view character might or might not be a lesbian. No, despite how the book description is worded, she knows at the start of the book that she’s a lesbian. She admits it to herself. In the prologue. This occurs two months before the start of the book and consists of her playing with herself. Hehe, I worded that sentence that way on purpose – she was ‘playing with herself’ in that she was playing soccer. While thinking about the various people she’s lusted after. Mainly Beth, a fellow soccer player, but also other women.
Then chapter one rolls around – starts I mean, and it’s a high school graduation party. So – that’s another thing that may or may be different than what I thought the book would be about – since I do not recall if I thought more time would be spent in high school. No, looking at the book description, I ‘knew’ the book would be focused on college.
So, I mentioned some of the things the book is not, and some of the genres the book does fall into. But what exactly is the book? Well, as I said, a coming of age story about a young woman – specifically one who plays soccer at the college level (has a full scholarship to college by way of her soccer talents) who struggles less about the fact that she is a lesbian, and more with acting on the fact she’s a lesbian. And the book unfolds from there – watching her descend into madness for two years before attempting a recovery. Okay, not that, but . . . that.
There are three people of major importance in this book who are not named Kyle Lindsay (Kyle being the main character and only POV). There’s Emily, Kyle’s best friend since forever, and the same person who talked her own college coach to watch Kyle play high school soccer (Emily is a year older), thereby helping Kyle get that scholarship. Emily is also the only person, in the beginning, Kyle has told about her ‘situation’. Then there’s Jax – a soccer teammate who flusters Kyle immediately, and who she wants to hump. Jax is also a year older than Kyle. Then there’s Joey, a fellow freshman, who is one of the goalies on the soccer team. Kyle has . . . weird disjointed thoughts about Joey.
There’s massive amounts of drinking in this book. I do not know what it is about soccer books, but the last one I read, that one involving professional soccer/football players in Scotland, did something this book really dove into with a lot of enthusiasm – weirdly inappropriate hazing of new teammates, and including lots and lots of alcohol drinking. I recall a comment about that other book – that they didn’t know how the main character was able to do what they did – being as old as she was, and drinking so much. Well, that’s one thing here, eh? How’d they be able to drink so much and still walk? They didn’t. But when they did, it was because they were kids. Or something like that – able to overcome their self-created attempts at destroying their own talents.
Sorry, dwelt a little long on that. There really was a ton of drinking in this book. A ton. I don’t want to play with spoilers, but will say – I know some people, who would read this, would point towards Jax for Kyle’s drinking, but the first bits were inspired by Emily – she was the team captain, after all, who lead the hazing/initiation drinking thingie.
Right, sorry. Moving on.
What else to say. The book was interesting in the beginning, and I was really gulping it down as I went along. Until I came to the words ‘Part Two’. And started into that section. And, before I even read a page, I had to stop reading for 4 to 6 hours. I just . . . I couldn’t . . .. Disappointment overwhelmed me. This is where we get to ‘this is a coming of age story, not a Romance’. You know what you get in coming of age stories, in growing up? Massive mistakes. Well, the vast majority of this book shows Kyle make mistake after mistake. Then ends (view spoiler)
Readable book. I look forward to more work by this author. I believe this is the author’s first published work, though the copyright page gave me pause in that thought.
Rating: 3.23
ETA: Of note (maybe): I read, reviewed, and rated this book before I realized that someone had beaten me to first rating/review.
March 14 2018
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