Title:  The Boyfriend League

Author: Rachel Hawthorne

Genre: YA Romance

Date Published: June 26th, 2007

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:

Dani and her best friend Bird love baseball and the collegiate team in their hometown called the Ragland Rattlers. After she reads an ad in the local paper asking families to house the players for the summer, her and Bird hatch (no pun intended) a plan to have their families volunteer.  Dani’s parents only agree under one condition, she cannot date the boy they take in. Dani finds that this will be no problem because who wants to date the boy who might accidentally see the bra you leave in the bathroom to dry, of course once the Rattler’s pitcher Jason shows up it makes that one rule a little complicated.

What did I think about the book?

This was a CUTE read that was light and quick and perfect for summer. I personally chose it because I love baseball myself and thought that it would be a great story for a lazy afternoon, and I was correct. Dani reminded me a lot of myself in high school and I did find the story entertaining and sometimes funny.

What I liked most was that Dani is a super insecure girl. She does have some moments, like most of us do, but in the end she remains true to herself and doesn’t need to date Jason in order to define who she is. I will say that often times when the main female character is obsessively insecure I can’t usually finish the book because it can plague the entire story. But Dani realistic as a female character. I also liked that even though the ending is predictable you get what you want as the reader in the end, which is a happy ending. And sometimes I like to read books like this because they make me happy unlike the more adult romance novels that can make me feel dirty (note: not in a good way).

My least favorite thing is how cheesy the story line can get in parts but its a young adult romance novel it’s gonna have some cheese in it given the audience its for.  Overall, I can look over it and see that The Boyfriend League was nice read for me.

Who would I recommend this book to?

Teen girls. Obviously this is the intended target audience for these books and not 27 year olds but I think anyone can read it who wants a light read. I’d also recommend it to someone looking for a baseball themed romance as baseball is clearly a large theme in the book.

Who would I not recommend this book to?

If you don’t like cheesy romances, this isn’t for you. Or if you don’t like clean romances because it isn’t of the romance-trashy-variety (I’m not entirely sure that’s a thing). As mentioned in my recommended for section, any one older than 18 may not like it because I do think my 16 year old self would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Happy Reading,

Meghan