With hockey, girls besting boys, and a touch of romance — what more could you want from a YA novel? Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper is perfection in this reader’s eyes.
Related: Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper: Alice gets sassy on the ice in this exclusive excerpt
About ‘Just One of the Boys’ by Leah and Kate Rooper:
Alice Bell has one goal: to play for the elite junior hockey team the Chicago Falcons. But when she’s passed over at tryouts for being a girl, she’ll do anything to make her dream a reality…even disguising herself as her twin brother. With her amazing skills on the ice, Alice is sure she’ll fit in easily. That is, until she starts falling for one of her teammates…
Hayden Tremblay, star of the Falcons, can’t keep himself out of the penalty box. Constantly living in the shadow of his older brother, Hayden’s losing his passion for hockey. But when he gets shown up on the ice by the Falcons’ new rookie, Hayden’s determined to teach the kid a thing or two. Little does he guess that “Al’s” surprises on the ice are just the beginning…
‘Just One of the Boys’ by Leah and Kate Rooper book review:
This is my first time picking up a book by Leah and Kate Rooper and I’m glad that it caught my eye. From the start of the novel, I was hooked on the story and loved following along with Alice as she chased her dream to play hockey in the junior league, the only problem is that she knows that there will be prejudice stacked against her. An issue that her male twin, who also plays hockey, doesn’t face.
“I know an NHL scout will never look at me – due to having the wrong parts and all – but that doesn’t mean I can’t play here.”
Even though Alice knows what she’s up against, she isn’t prepared for what ends up happening. The coaches do end up adding her to the team, until they realize that she’s a girl, and then swiftly try to cover it up and say that they meant her brother could join — and not her. Readers will be feeling the injustice along with Alice at this point.
The difference between Alice and Alexander is that she loves hockey and is amazing at it, and her brother lacks the passion and skills that she does. Alice tries to deal with the crushing blow and deal with the fact that her dreams are ruined thanks to pure sexism.
She even tries to join a women’s league but isn’t allowed in because she’s so used to playing with boys. “I may have accidentally given the captain a bloody nose,” Alice tells her brother.
A second chance comes for Alice in the form of an injury to her brother who has to sit out the rest of the season. Rather than tell the coach what happened, Alice and Xander come up with the crazy idea of her to take his place. All she has to do is act like a boy, not let anyone catch her changing, and try to play it cool.
While Alice has no problem keeping up with the rest of the team (she quickly becomes one of the best players actually). She does run into many other issues in the upcoming months. Pretending to be her brother while keeping up with her own schedule is exhausting, tensions with her brother start to arise, and she starts to get her identity confused.
“I look in the mirror and see Al. I thought I’d feel a little better. A little more certain. But now, I’m even more lost.”
Most confusing of all, Alice starts to have feelings for her teammate / best friend Hayden. He’s dealing with his own issues and starts to confide in Alice as she pretends to be her brother. They have a great connection, which gets all the more confusing when Hayden starts to crush on Alice when he sees her as herself.
Alice has to decide what’s most important to her in life before she can muddle through all of the problems that have arisen around her. I loved reading every page of the book and think it’s a great novel about following your dreams, growing up, facing sexism, and facing adversity.
Plus Just One of the Boys is an especially perfect read for female hockey fans.
Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper will be released on October 2! Pre-order now from Amazon, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble. And don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads!
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