What it's about (from Goodreads): Star basketball player Chelsea "Nitro" Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college-and everyone's admiration in her hometown. But everything changed senior year, when she took a horrible fall during a game. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.
As a graduation present, Chelsea's dad springs for a three-week summer "boot camp" program at a northern Minnesota lake resort. There, she's immediately drawn to her trainer, Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who's haunted by his own traumatic past. As they grow close, Chelsea is torn between her feelings for Clint and her loyalty to her devoted boyfriend back home. Will an unexpected romance just end up causing Chelsea and Clint more pain-or finally heal their heartbreak?
What I learned: This book has been receiving a little criticism in the blogosphere in regards to Chelsea's cheating. I'm not going to say anything against it - though I definitely think that cheating is wrong - because it's a realistic depiction of high school relationships. There are lots of things that happen in books that I don't agree with, usually teenage drinking, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be in books because that's an accurate portrayal of (some) teenagers' lives. I really felt for Chelsea. I'm not a star athlete of any kind and I was never in any danger of getting an athletic scholarship to college, but I've taken ballet most of my life and I can't imagine being unable to dance. There have been times when I've thought about what I would be like if I broke my leg or had something happen where I couldn't dance anymore. I'd be devastated and much less of my life depends on dancing than Chelsea's on basketball. The author did a great job of making the reader understand how much it hurt Chelsea, both physically and emotionally, to have a career-ending injury.
It's so hard for me to judge Chelsea and Clint's relationship because I've never personally felt an immediate, can't-be-denied attraction to someone like they did. I find it a little hard to believe but just because I haven't experienced it doesn't mean other people haven't. Isn't that kind of the point of books: to experience things we wouldn't otherwise? I mean, this whole blog is based off of the idea that I learn something new from every book I read, so I don't want to have experienced everything I read!
I learned that there is nothing neat and clean about relationships. They are messy, messy things, no matter if they're familial or romantic. I knew this already, of course, but I haven't seen or read a story exactly like Chelsea and Clint's before. There is something between them that rational thought isn't necessarily going to stop from happening. I know Chelsea's dad feels bad for Chelsea but he has a hard time dealing with the loss of a superstar daughter himself. Life is complicated and there is rarely one right answer to all of its problems.
If you've read Playing Hurt, what did you learn from it? What did you think about the cheating issue?
It's so hard for me to judge Chelsea and Clint's relationship because I've never personally felt an immediate, can't-be-denied attraction to someone like they did. I find it a little hard to believe but just because I haven't experienced it doesn't mean other people haven't. Isn't that kind of the point of books: to experience things we wouldn't otherwise? I mean, this whole blog is based off of the idea that I learn something new from every book I read, so I don't want to have experienced everything I read!
I learned that there is nothing neat and clean about relationships. They are messy, messy things, no matter if they're familial or romantic. I knew this already, of course, but I haven't seen or read a story exactly like Chelsea and Clint's before. There is something between them that rational thought isn't necessarily going to stop from happening. I know Chelsea's dad feels bad for Chelsea but he has a hard time dealing with the loss of a superstar daughter himself. Life is complicated and there is rarely one right answer to all of its problems.
If you've read Playing Hurt, what did you learn from it? What did you think about the cheating issue?
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