Official Review: Playing Hurt by Gerald L Nardella

[Super-LexC]

What an interesting topic for a book, a subject that all adolescents have faced, sex. This review made reading about adolescents, sex, and gender roles sound like a compelling subject.

[otanakome]

I like the book's theme it actually narrates sex and peer pressure among teens. The characters are well presented by the writer. Good work.

[Firewild6+7]

This book is easy for most people to relate to because of football and cheer-leading. Brian shows a lot of leadership skills but is still learning and trying to figure things out. The way he continued playing even while hurt shows a sense of dedication that will be interesting to see if he lets his hurt feeling control him when he sees Dianna again. Dianna shows the way girls feel when thing change and they are not sure about them. She also shows loyalty by refusing to be pulled to to peer pressure by her friend and climbing into an ex boyfriends car. Sometimes the hard choices are what is needed.

[Neha_20]

Thank you for your review. It's not usual for a book featuring teenage characters to deal with a serious subject such as peer pressure.

[cdblack]

The book didn't grab my interest in the beginning, but it started to as I kept reading. It lets you see that even tho we live in a different time, some basic social issues remain the same. I grew up in the 60's, but kids of today have more to deal with than we did. Some things are the same, but this world is different than the one I grew up in. This book will let the reader know that what they are facing today is common throughout the ages, and they are not alone.

[Telo_2018]

Great review! I like the way you entice me to grab a copy of this book. What I like most about what you discussed is the part by which you conveyed the need to understand more the life of teenagers and their views towards sex and relationship.

[Zain A Blade]

Thanks for the really lovely review. Looks like a book that I would love to read, I'm always interested in human behaviour and motivations.

[ea_anthony]

While themes are very important to a story, character development, characterisation and pacing are what really endear me to a story. From the review it seems Playing Hurt has all these (and I hope more), I hope to be able to read the book soon.

[cherryken]

Woooow!!!what a detailed review. This sounds like an awesome novel discussing sensitive topics without getting tired.

[jemgirl202]

This high school drama sounds riveting! I like how the author takes readers back to the 60's and discusses themes like bullying and toxic masculinity! Congrats on book of the day! Great review!

[Dabuddhababe]

The sample I read made me think it was just a book about football. Im happy to find out it's more than just football. Great review, thank you.

[Izesicle]

I love the retro style of the cover. It really captures the coming-of-age style of the book. It's good to know from the review that female characters are well-represented.

[Jesse Nicolas Presgraves]

This book seems like a well written change from the usual approach where it seems one gender is always watered down and stereotypical. I like character driven books and may check this one out

[Chill01]

This is a very interesting review. I'm curious to learn why it's not a happy story and I am going to have to look up toxic masculinity which is not a term I'm familiar with. All in all, it sounds as if it is a coming of age story set around adolescents in the 1960s. It does seem like it packs a lot into such a short narrative to keep you entertained and rate a 4-star review.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Descriptive, Good Review which prevented me from reading the book because I very well understood that this is not much palatable for me. So, I will pass by this one. Anyway, it seems like a good book. Congratulations on being BOTD and thanks for the review.