Making a Play
Series: Field Party, #5
Author: Abbi Glines
Narrators: Ali Andre Ali, Caitlin Davies
Publication Date: August 20, 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Sports
Rating: ★ ★ ★
Synopsis:
Ryker Lee is finally enjoying his senior year—he has great friends, hangs out with hot girls, and is on track to get a football scholarship that will set him up for college. Despite this, a small part of him wonders if there’s more to life than parties and meaningless hookups—and if football even means as much to him as it does to his fellow teammates. And when he meets the new girl at school, his world totally changes…
Aurora McClay is new to Lawton. She’s grateful that her twin brother, Hunter, is star of the football team and can help her adjust to her new school, but she’s not grateful at how overprotective he is over every person she meets. Just because she is deaf does not mean people have to treat her differently. When she meets Ryker Lee, the two of them spark an instant and intense chemistry, one that proves to be controversial not only because of Ryker’s reputation as a player, but also because of Aurora and Hunter’s father’s bigoted views about who Aurora can and can’t date.
Aurora and Ryker know in their hearts that they are meant for each other. But can their relationship endure the turmoil of rumors and prejudice?
There’s something about the Field Party series that keeps bringing me back to it despite the fact that each book isn’t as good as the one before it. It’s the small town, Friday Night Lights vibe of it and wanting to know what happens to the characters I love from the previous books. Making a Play is my least favorite book in the series so far. I didn’t completely dislike it, but I had a few issues with it that kept it from being great.
Let’s talk about the things I loved first.
- The narrators did a great job bringing this book to life. It was a quick listen and I was instantly pulled in.
- Aurora was deaf and I enjoyed reading about how she lived her life to compensate for not being able to hear. I loved how her confidence grew in this book relating to that.
- Aurora and Hunter had a great twin relationship. I loved the dynamics of it in their family.
- I didn’t think I would like Ryker as much as I did. He has definitely grown up some. I loved how he treated Aurora and the things he did for her and their relationship.
- Nash and Tallulah were adorable.
- Aurora is white and Ryker is black. Aurora’s dad did not want his daughter dating a black boy. I was impressed that Abbi Glines tacked racism in this book.
All of that was great, but…
- Most of the stuff happens within a matter of a couple of weeks. Weeks. It just wasn’t believable. I loved how Ryker fell for Aurora, but I wish it had been over months rather than weeks. It was insta-love and not the good kind.
- Remember how I liked that racism was tackled? Well, it wasn’t done as well as it should have been. Aurora’s dad got over his prejudices a little too quickly in my opinion. Again, if this book had taken place over months rather than weeks maybe changes in his beliefs would have been believable. It just wasn’t.
Even though Making a Play wasn’t my favorite book in this series, I still enjoyed listening to it. It brought me back to a town and group of characters I love. Anyone who has read and loved the previous books in the Field Party series will want to read it. I’m curious whether there will be more books in this series because I would like to read a book about Hunter.