Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross Published by Entangled: Teen
Published: October 7th 2014
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Life loves a good curveball…Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri (too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she should be doing is falling in love.But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…
100% frustrated. That was my feeling reading almost all of Whatever Life Throws at You. I was really excited about this book. It is so my kind of thing. Sexual attraction, forbidden love, sports. I am basically the best kind of romance book you could give me. Sadly I was unimpressed. I didn’t hate the book. I actually found really great parts in it. But for the most part I was frustrated and annoyed.
Whatever Life Throws at You is the story of Annie, the daughter of the newest pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Annie wants to be a track star and make her father proud. It’s really all she has ever wanted since she doesn’t seem to trust relationships. That is until Jason Brody enters the picture. He’s a 19 year old rookie pitching sensation for the Royals. Jason, or Brody more accurately, is a bad boy. He has a revolving door of women that come and go and an arrogant attitude. But Annie is attracted to him and that’s all there is to it. As the season progresses Brody and Annie fight what may or may not be brewing between them. As the fight tooth and nail for what they want they both realize love may be worth fighting for.
I wish I could say this book was a total swoon fest. I really wish I could. It started out like that. I mean at 6% in I was all swoon over the chemistry. It had so much potential and then the plot progressed and I had such a hard time with it. First I had an issue with baseball facts. The timeline was wrong, the terminology was off and the team dynamic felt wrong. I’m a huge baseball fan in real life so these things got under my skin. I mean I understand that not all teams mesh and that there is media coverage, but all that took place in this book just didn’t seem logical. And then there was the annoying mention of the age difference between Brody and Annie. Brody was 19 with Annie being 17. Yet everyone was shocked that Brody was hanging around a high school girl like she was under aged jail bait. It just didn’t make sense for that to be the conflict. The issue should have been more about Annie being the coach’s daughter yet that wasn’t really even an issue. It almost felt like Brody was originally written as being older and I almost wish me had been.
But with all that said, I really did love the progress of Annie and Brody’s relationship. They had a great friendship that they built which added to the attraction. They we sweet together and a great support for one another. I also loved Annie’s relationship with her dad. You don’t get great parents in books all the time so this was a nice change of pace. They had their ups and downs like any parent and child do, but they were there for each other and worked out what needed to be done. I wish the book focused more on these two aspects than random conflicts, but I did love what was shown.
Basically Whatever Life Throws at You became just an okay book when everything was all said and done. The good cancelled the bad and that frustrated me the lost as I wanted to fall in love. But this book was loved by many so it could very well be loved by you. Take the chance and pick it up and see what you think for yourself.
I’m sorry this one didn’t work for you! 🙁 I almost didn’t pick it up, but I really loved it. Brody is just – sawwooon. But I understand when certain things frustrate you – that can really drag the whole book down.
And yes, I agree, the age difference was NOT a big deal. Though I guess it’s because he’s a professional and she’s still in school? But really they should have just come clean a lot sooner.