Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: October 2, 2018Published by: Blink
Read from: October 17-18,2018Stand-AloneSource: LibraryTW: *Spoiler* Death by Police Brutality
For fans of: Diverse Characters, Verse/ Poetry, Romance, Sports, Realistic Fiction, Sparkly Covers, Contemporary, Own Voices, YAThings usually do not go as planned for seventeen-year-old Noah. He and his best friend Walt (aka Swing) have been cut from the high school baseball team for the third year in a row, and it looks like Noah’s love interest since third grade, Sam, will never take it past the “best friend” zone. Noah would love to retire his bat and accept the status quo, but Walt has big plans for them both, which include making the best baseball comeback ever, getting the girl, and finally finding cool.
To go from lovelorn to ladies’ men, Walt introduces Noah to a relationship guru—his Dairy Queen-employed cousin, Floyd—and the always informative Woohoo Woman Podcast. Noah is reluctant, but decides fate may be intervening when he discovers more than just his mom’s birthday gift at the thrift shop. Inside the vintage Keepall is a gold mine of love letters from the 1960s. Walt is sure these letters and the podcasts are just what Noah needs to communicate his true feelings to Sam. To Noah, the letters are more: an initiation to the curious rhythms of love and jazz, as well as a way for him and Walt to embrace their own kind of cool. While Walt is hitting balls out of the park and catching the eye of the baseball coach, Noah composes anonymous love letters to Sam in an attempt to write his way into her heart. But as things are looking up for Noah and Walt, a chain of events alters everything Noah knows to be true about love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate.
In Swing, bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo) present a free-verse poetic story that will speak to anyone who’s struggled to find their voice and take a swing at life.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I read this because I thought it was a companion to their other novel together, Solo, but Swing is actually its own story. It was an interesting read, but unfortunately, not something I can see myself reading more than once. Although this was okay, I’m not a huge fan of novels in verse and this got in the way of me loving this one.
“If we’re gonna learn how women think, we have to listen to women.“pg. 21
Noah doesn’t always have the best of luck. Him and his best friend have been cut from the baseball team more than once, he’s had a crush on his other best friend for years, but she won’t look at him as anything but a brother. Noah begins to get advice from Swing’s cousin, who turns out not to know what he’s talking about. Noah decides to give up, and keeping swinging in life until he strikes out.
“I WAS DRIVING/ A SCHOOL BUS/ AT YOUR AGE./ YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH/ TO TAKE CARE/ OF YOURSELF.“pg. 136
The main thing I didn’t care for about this book was the writing style. I’m not sure if it was my struggle with verse novels or the fact that this story just didn’t work in this style, but I was not a fan. It felt extremely choppy and like way too much was missing. It felt like plot twists kept coming out of nowhere when no other part of the story was about that.
“there should be/ a statute/ of limitations/ on unrequited love..“pg. 158
And I never connected with most of the characters. The one I did connect with was Noah. But everyone else never really made sense or they were so extra it seemed as if they didn’t fit the story. And the love interest really ticked me off at one point. She couldn’t talk to him after they’d been friends for so long? It just seemed unrealistic to me. I get she didn’t want to mess up her friendship, I’ve been in that situation before, but to do what she did could have really hurt him.
What’s the part in winning her heart if she can’t hold yours in it?“pg. 239
Although the synopsis really tells the story, this one is still full of surprises. It’s not my cup of tea, but it might still be someone else’s. There’s alot of teens at my branch who love poetry and love Kwame Alexander, so I’ll display this one at the branch, but it still wasn’t my favorite. I think I’ll stick to recommending Crossover, Rebound, and Solo.
Overall, I give this
Real rating 2.5