Falling Hard
(Roller Girls , #1)
By: Megan Sparks
Publisher: Capstone Press
Published: July 1, 2013
Genre: Contemp. Young Adult
Rating:
When Annie moves from London to a small town in the midwest, she struggles to fit in. She gets off to a bad start when she makes an enemy of her school’s queen bee, Kelsey. But she discovers a new passion, the exciting sport of roller derby, and makes friends with the cool and quirky girls on her team, the Liberty Belles. She also meets Jesse, the friendly boy who works at the roller rink, and Tyler, a cute, all-American sports star.
Annie makes the move from London to the America with her father so that she can be with him when he opens a London inspired cafe. She not only has to learn the terminology that the Americans use but also figure out where her niche is with the kids at school. The story follows Annie as she decides whether she wants to be popular and thus gain the attention of the school’s soccer star, Tyler by joining the cheerleading squad or join the roller derby team where the group of girls are more welcoming to her.
This book is great for a younger teen crowd. There isn’t a lot of conflict that takes place. Yeah you have the mean popular cheerleader but that’s about it. The two potential love interests aren’t really love interests, just two cute guys who are in the story. There’s even a potential love interest for her father but again, that’s left with a big question mark. There were just a lot of things that weren’t really concluded by the end of the book. It sort of felt like a feel good book that ran out of pages before the ending.
It was a bit below my reading level but for young teens, I think it would be great. No fighting, illegal activity and very minimal swearing. I liked that it revolved around roller derby which is something that I’ve heard of but am not really familiar with. So the author sort of talks you through the logistics of it as Annie learns the ropes. It was a good story about setting your mind to something and succeeding.
“Annie didn’t know what to say. She thought Americans were supposed to be friendly, like Mrs. Jones. Obviously this girl hadn’t read the American Stereotypes Handbook.”
