Stealing Parker

by Miranda Kenneally

[Angie]

After the disaster that was Catching Jordan, I was quite hesitant to pick up Stealing Parker. I was worried that Parker would be another incredibly unlikable character, and unfortunately she didn't make a good first impression. I'm all for girls and women hooking up with whoever and exploring their sexuality in a responsible manner, but Parker is just doing it so that her town doesn't think she's a lesbian like her mom. It was apparently this huge scandal and Parker's been ostracized by her church, and had to quit playing softball because the other girls made comments about her being gay too. Now she's managing the boys' team and hoping for a few more hookups, possibly with the hot, young, new coach Brian.

I have several problems with Parker and they all arise in the first handful of chapters. The first I already mentioned: she does random hook ups to avoid looking like a lesbian. Someone thinking that you're gay isn't the end of the world, and it's her judgmental town's problem, not hers. Secondly, she admits that she can't figure out a tampon. And this girl is the valedictorian! Stupid. Third, she's proud to have lost 30 pounds, becoming "skin and bones." She makes several comments about her muffin top made of skin and how she's saving her calories (aka starving herself). But it's worth it because boys find her extremely hot! This is not an okay message to send out to young women! No, no, no! Parker is also a hypocrite: whining about how her church turned their back on her, and yet she's completely cut her mom out of her life.

Stealing Parker was also a whole lot more religious than I was expecting. Parker and her family go to church every Sunday, and Parker goes to youth group. She also writes letters to God and those are included in the book. There's also lots of "Why hast thou forsaken me, Lord" lines which got really annoying. Parker is also quite the hypocrite when it comes to Christianity. Essentially she just follows the parts that suit her and judges everyone else for being bad Christians. Things also start to get a bit preachy when Parker starts contemplating sex and says it's something that's suppose to happens in a long, loving relationship. I did respect her for saying she's not ready, but I could have done without the mini morality lessons.

The one place where Stealing Parker is better than Catching Jordan is in the romance department. I was quite interested to see what would come of Parker's crush on Coach Brian. He's not much older, and she's almost eighteen, so I don't think it's a huge deal. Sure he's technically a teacher at her school, but I was still waiting to see what would come from them chatting outside of school. I do think this plot happened realistically and it's what saved this book from being another disaster.

While I didn't enjoy Stealing Parker for various reasons, I was glad that she at least learned something by the end. She doesn't like getting used by guys or being pushed away by people she cares about, so she shouldn't be doing those things either. I still didn't like her by the end, but I was okay with where she was. I don't know if I want to continue this series, because it seems like the author imagined the most awful girls she could think of and then wrote about them.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.