Home Field Advantage - by Dahlia Adler (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Amber McCloud's dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but after the football team's quarterback dies in an accident and is replaced by a girl, Amber knows she should work against this unliked Jaclyn to keep her cheer status but the two fall for each other"--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

"Home Field Advantage has it all. A swoony romance, characters you will be cheering for from start to finish, and a plot that sucks you in from the very first page. An instant favorite, perfectly capturing the power in being true to yourself and fighting for what is right." - Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl

Amber McCloud's dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it's an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose.

The players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the changes to their traditions, and the fact that Robbie's been not only replaced but outshined by a QB who wears a sports bra has more than a few Atherton Alligators in a rage. Amber tries for some semblance of unity, but it quickly becomes clear that she's only got a future on the squad and with her friends if she helps them take Jack down.

Just one problem: Amber and Jack are falling for each other, and if Amber can't stand up for Jack and figure out how to get everyone to fall in line, her dream may come at the cost of her heart.

Dahlia Adler's Home Field Advantage is a sparkling romance about fighting for what - or who - you truly want.

Review Quotes

Praise for Home Field Advantage:

A Summer 2022 Kids' Indie Next Pick
A Rainbow Book List Pick
A Junior Library Guild Selection
One of YALSA's 2023 Best Fiction for Young Adults
One of Buzzfeed's Best Young Adult Books of 2022
Bank Street Best Book of the Year

Book Riot, " 22 Great New Books To Read in 2022", "Heartwarming Queer YA Books Like Netflix's Heartstopper", "40 of the Best Summer Reads for 2022", and "3 Heartwarming Queer YA Releases to Read During Pride"

Bookish, "June's Most-Anticipated Books"

Bookstr, "13 LGBTQIA+ Romance Coming Out This June"

Buzzfeed, "40 More Highly Anticipated YA Books Coming Out In 2022"

Epic Reads, "The 21 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in June"

Frolic, "Our Top 10 YA Reads for June"

Geek Girl Authority, "17 New LGBTQIA+ Books You Should Read for Pride"

Goodreads, "The 68 Most Anticipated YA Novels of 2022", "The Can't-Hardly-Wait Young Adult Books of June", "Dive Into Summer's Biggest Young Adult Romance Novels"

GO Magazine, "Slide Into Spring And Summer With These Fabulously Gay Reads"

Nerd Daily, "Must-Have 2022 Queer Book Releases"

NBC News, " 20 best kids and young adult books by LGBTQ+ authors in 2022"

The Honey POP, "Sweet Reads: June Reads for Summer Vacation"

Business Insider, "20 of the most anticipated young adult books coming out this spring"

Autostraddle, "Eight Romance Books Featuring Butches, Studs, and Masc of Center Characters"

United By Pop, "Exciting New YA Reads For June 2022"

"Adler's magnificent new romance is a glorious touchdown of a book." - Buzzfeed, "44 New LGBTQA+ YA Novels You Need This Spring"

"This YA contemporary romance has not only a sweet sapphic love story but juicy narratives about football and cheerleading." - Autostraddle

"Bubbly cheerleader Amber McCloud falls for star quarterback Jaclyn "Jack" Walsh in Adler's winning queer take on the classic meet-cute." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A swoonworthy romance about breaking the glass ceiling and being true to yourself, Adler's Home Field Advantage is a fun, queer twist on the quarterback/cheerleader trope that will suck you in from the very first page." - The Nerd Daily

"Readers hungry for more sapphic love stories will give this fully fleshed sports-centric romance full marks." - Booklist

"Adler keeps the pages turning with well-mapped tension and compelling characters, using clichés to her advantage as she builds an appealing and heartfelt romance...Bubbly but not naïve: a worthy rendition of a classic high school story." - Kirkus Reviews

"Adler's full-hearted latest shines as bright as stadium lights on a Friday night." - Electric Literature, "The Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books for Summer 2022"

"A combination of sizzling chemistry and heartfelt vulnerability makes the star-crossed romance between Amber and Jack irresistible. Home Field Advantage insists that women belong on the field--as cheerleaders whose athleticism should receive the recognition it deserves and as players granted the same opportunities as their male peers. Teen readers will applaud Amber and Jack's fight to be their authentic selves." - Shelf Awareness

"Adler's sapphic YA romance is an absolute delight. It's a heartfelt story layered with the thoughtful complexity of embracing your sexual identity and will have you rooting for both of these ambitious teens." - Buzzfeed, "The Best Young Adult Books of 2022"

"I adored Amber and Jack and I loved their perfect high school romance." - The Southern Bookseller Review

"A perfect summer read." - The Buffalo News

"This was such a readable, engrossing book...Dahlia Adler continues to be a queer YA author you just can't miss." - The Lesbrary

"A bubbly LGBTQ romance that puts a fresh new twist on the age-old relationship trope of the high school football quarterback and the team cheer captain." - Paste Magazine, "The Best New YA Books of June 2022"

"J-A-C-K, I'm Team Jack all the way! Seriously though, Dahlia Adler's newest book, Home Field Advantage, is going to be an instant favorite. It's like your favorite pair of well-worn jeans, the biggest bowl of mac-n-cheese, or the snuggliest sweater on a warm night. It's the book you're going to read again and again when you desperately need a dose of big queer butterflies in the stomach. It's pure romantic gold with perfect girl loves girl attraction. Read it. Repeatedly." - Jaye Robin Brown, author of The Key to You and Me

"My expectations were high, and Dahlia still managed to exceed them. She completely captures the struggle of finding out who you are during those chaotic teen years with heart and humor. I was cheering for Amber and Jack for every single page!" - Chelsea Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Next Door

"Home Field Advantage has it all. A swoony romance, characters you will be cheering for from start to finish, and a plot that sucks you in from the very first page. An instant favorite, perfectly capturing the power in being true to yourself and fighting for what is right." - Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl

"Cinematic, swoonworthy, and full of queer solidarity that will have you cheering. Amber and Jack's chemistry leaps off the page. Adler has long been one of the key players in YA LGBTQ, but she has truly outdone herself here." - Kelly Quindlen, bestselling author of She Drives Me Crazy

"Dahlia Adler's Home Field Advantage will break your heart and then bind it back together with turf tape. Both the swooniest of romances and a heartfelt story navigating the things we're passionate about and the people we're passionate about - and how sometimes what seem like hard choices between the two end up not being a choice at all. This book will make you cheer." - Lev Rosen, author of Camp

"Dahlia Adler should be a household name. With a fairy tale ending for girls who like girls, Home Field Advantage is a swoony sapphic version of the teenage romcoms I grew up on. This book is an instant-classic." - Meryl Wilsner, author of Something to Talk About and Mistakes Were Made

"A well-written story with solid pacing, believable characters, and relatable issues." - School Library Journal

Praise for Cool for the Summer:

"A delightful, lighthearted romantic comedy." - The Seattle Times

"Witty, wise, and disarmingly tender. I am hopelessly devoted to this summer dream of a book." - Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

"Adler's heartfelt contemporary romance is as bright and sweet as its cover and poignantly explores queer identity and self-discovery." - Buzzfeed

"[S]trung through with humor, warmth, and sensuality, this romance will speak to any reader who has ever struggled to know their own heart." - Booklist (starred review)

"Readers who enjoy romance will be delightfully surprised with this book that will take them a bit deeper on the road of self-discovery through high school crushes." - School Library Journal

"The thoughtful representation of a questioning teen's struggle to understand herself...is sorely needed. A welcome addition to the small but growing canon of questioning queer fiction." - Kirkus

"Writ-ten in a clear, acces-si-ble style, this book tells the com-pelling and sweet sto-ry of one girl's jour-ney of self-discovery." - Jewish Book Council

"There are so many more reasons to pick up this YA romance... Cool for the Summer is the perfect addition to your LGBTQ+ YA reading list." - Shondaland

About the Author

DAHLIA ADLER is an editor by day, a freelance writer by night, and a Young Adult author at every spare moment in between. She is the founder of LGBTQReads, editor of several anthologies, and author of many novels, including the Kids' Indie Next picks Cool for the Summer, Home Field Advantage, and Going Bicoastal. She lives in New York with her family and an obscene number of books.