Hooked by Liz Fichera

Goodreads
368 pages, YA Contemporary Romance
Hooked #1
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

When Native American Fredricka ‘Fred’ Oday is invited to become the only girl on the school’s golf team, she can’t say no. This is an opportunity to shine, win a scholarship and go to university, something no one in her family has done. 

But Fred’s presence on the team isn’t exactly welcome — especially not to rich golden boy Ryan Berenger, whose best friend was kicked off the team to make a spot for Fred.

But there’s no denying that things are happening between the girl with the killer swing and the boy with the killer smile...

GET HOOKED ON A GIRL NAMED FRED.

My 2 cents

This book was very different from most contemporaries I've read, just because most of the story centered around golf.  I'm not a huge golf fan, but I do know how to play a little, and all the terminology  so it was kind of fun!   If you don't know any of the golf lingo, there is a "Golf Tips" section in the back of the book.  The story is told from a dual POV, between Fred and Ryan.

So Fred lives a fairly horrible life.  She lives on the reservation, and like most families, they don't have much money. She plays with a horrible old red plaid bag, and doesn't have the proper golf shoes.  Her mother is an alcoholic, and makes home in their double wide trailer very stressful.  Her older brother is awesome, but he isn't home much, and her father is clearly the best person in her life.  But he is worn down my long working hours and life, although he does everything he can for his daughter.

Ryan seems to have a perfect life.  His family is rich and he's pretty spoiled.  He has lots of friends and a very cute popular girlfriend named Gwyneth.  But his home life isn't any better than Fred's.  His dad cheats, and his mom puts up with it and is almost never home.  His girlfriend is a horrible snob, and his best friend, Seth, is one of the biggest jerks I've met in book world!

Seth is actually the one who wants revenge on Fred for taking his spot.  At first, all of the other boys on the team, including Ryan, make things pretty hard for her.  Then she starts to help them actually win their tournaments, and Ryan's attitude starts to change.  Unfortunately for him, everyone else things he should stay away from the "Indian girl."

There are a lot of racist comments in this book.  Obviously the rich white kids don't understand the dozen or so Rez kids that attend their school.  Ryan is one of the few who doesn't say any comments, but at the same time, he doesn't try real hard to get others to stop, either.  Seth is definitely the worst, and I couldn't understand why Ryan put up with him for so long.  I really though Ryan was an arse for a lot of the book.  He would try to play nice with Fred, and then get sucked right back into his white world.  He was not good against peer pressure.

I really loved Fred.   Her chapters were definitely the most fun to read.  The story mostly felt like it was her journey.  I think the author did the dual POV just so we could see Ryan's side, and not hate him too much.  The story felt very real to me, and I enjoyed the romance.  The golf tournaments were the best scenes in the book.  That's were Ryan and Fred were truly themselves.   This was a fresh new contemporary read!