Throwing Like A Girl -- Weezie Kerr Mackey

From Throwing Like A Girl:

You think turning fifteen will be the best.  You'll take driver's ed.  You'll stop being a freshman, finally.  And maybe, with the help of your three best friends, you'll learn to talk to boys better.  So you spend practically the whole year happy, hopeful even, setting little goals for yourself--until your father tells you he got a promotion.  Then everything changes.  Then you're moving to Texas.

So.  Ella unhappily leaves Chicago for Dallas.  At the end of her first week at Spring Valley Day School, her gym teacher tells the softball coach (also new to to the school) that Ella is a natural athlete.  Though Ella has never had any real interest in sports, she decides to show up at tryouts.

A few days later, she's officially a Lady Peacock*.

Though her natural athletic ability gives her an advantage over some, she still has a lot to learn.  The rules, strategy, how to throw...  Luckily, she develops a friendship with Rocky, a former softball superstar who, due to other responsibilities, is no longer on the team.  (Cue amusing musical montage here.)

She also, through a class project, develops a friendship with senior hottie BMOC -- and all-around nice-guy -- Nate.  Slight problem there, though -- Nate's sister, Sally, is also a Lady Peacock.  And she's a beast.  A jealous, unfriendly, popular beast.

And there you have it.  The story played out pretty much the way I thought it would.  It was pretty solid, but it didn't blow me away.  I liked the construction worker cheerleaders (because they were just cute), that the team made do with the crappy field allotted to them by the school (highlighting the all-the-money-goes-to-football issue without getting preachy about it) and I thought Ella's relationship with her parents (especially her mother) was well done.  Other than that, eh.  The secondary characters never felt like real people to me (including her coach, Ella's new buddies and Nate) and, possibly because of that, it felt quite a bit longer than 271 pages.

Minor note:  Language-wise, this one was clean.  Cleanity-clean-clean clean.  I don't remember even seeing a 'damn' or a 'hell'.  Obvs, I might have missed one, but overall, quite clean.

Other minor note:  I appreciated the cover art's almost terrifying color combo -- the Lady Peacocks have hideous purple and green uniforms, so it's fitting to have the cover reflect that.  If you take the book jacket off, actually, the book itself is green and purple.  Nice details, if a little eyeball-spinning.

*Don't worry -- one of the girls on the team does mention that they should really be called the Peahens.