Review: Throw Like a Girl by Sarah Henning

Everything changes for Liv Rodinsky when she punches a member of the opposing team during a softball game. It doesn’t matter that the person she punched deserved it because Liv is suspended from her expensive private school. Unfortunately, that also means her scholarship is revoked. With no way to afford tuition (her mom is sick with cancer), Liv’s life changes indefinitely. 

Her family treats her differently after The Incident. She didn’t tell them that the softball player made a homophobic comment toward Liv’s sister Danielle. Now, she has to attend public school— the school the girl she punched attended; the school her ex-boyfriend goes to (he dumped her over text after the punch!) 

Trying to turns thing around, Liv talks to the softball coach at her new school before classes start. She doesn’t believe Liv is a team player and in order for her to reconsider before the spring softball season, she tells Liv that she needs to join a team. 

Liv hasn’t played other sports. But when a cute guy named Grey Worthington approaches her, he has an offer she can’t refuse: Try out to be his back up Quarterback and he’ll make sure the softball coach gives her chance. After all, Grey refers to the softball coach as mom. 

Quickly, Liv is thrown into a world of helmets and padding. Even as a seasoned athlete, she’s not used to being pummeled into the ground every day. Except, Liv is good…better than most of the guys. Plus, having a group of friends can’t hurt, right? 

Being the only girl on the team doesn’t happen without complications. First, her dad is less than supportive. Second, did Grey really fall for her or did he only need her to play a bit until his bench days are over? Liv struggles with family issues, romance and her dreams of playing softball in college disappearing before she can prove herself. 

Lets get this out of the way, Throw Like a Girl is adorable and badass. We love more female representation in male dominated sports. Henning if you’re reading this, can we have a book about a female baseball player (not softball). Liv mentions watching videos of professional QBs to learn. However, no mention of Brady or Rodgers? This saddened us because Christy is a Patriots fan and Claire is a Packers fan. We can forgive Henning though!

The best part of the story came from Liv’s character development. We enjoyed watching her embrace becoming a team player and getting out of her comfort-zone. Plus, she has a great relationship with her mom, sister and brother! 

The romance enhanced the plot. We found ourselves supporting Grey and Liv from the beginning. However, we wish the romance progressed slower. Instant love is not our favorite trope. Even though Grey and Liv had cute chemistry that we could move past it, they needed more time before getting so attached to each other. Still, they made a great couple and we love a guy who isn’t intimated by a strong girlfriend!

If you love sports YA, we recommend picking it up. It’s a great read for fans of Julie Cross and we had a lot of fun going through this journey with Liv. It’s a cute contemporary if you’re on the market for a light read. We look forward to Henning’s future books, especially if they include more badass females. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐