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Fair Catch

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 14 ratings · 5 reviews

When Blake Thompson meets Alex Ayers, his rival on the football field, the attraction is instant. For one tumultuous high school season, their teams clash as they fall in love. Playing for the Mustangs, Blake works to carve out a place for himself in the always-frustrating role of backup quarterback. He tries to put out of his mind how unlikely it is that someone like him...more

ebook, 408 pages

Published June 2012 by Torquere Press

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Jul 31, 2012 Elisa Ramblings added it

Fair Catch is about a love story that started in an easy way and developed in complexity, like it’s probably realistic to be.

Blake and Alex meet in high school, Alex is at his last year while instead Blake is an year younger. Both of them play football, but not for the same team, they are in different high school. They are also from a different family environment, Alex from a single parent family, his dad the only one to maintain 3 sons to college, while instead Blake is from a tight family, fat...more Fair Catch is about a love story that started in an easy way and developed in complexity, like it’s probably realistic to be.

Blake and Alex meet in high school, Alex is at his last year while instead Blake is an year younger. Both of them play football, but not for the same team, they are in different high school. They are also from a different family environment, Alex from a single parent family, his dad the only one to maintain 3 sons to college, while instead Blake is from a tight family, father and mother working together to raise two sons towards a brilliant future. Alex is guarded, not easy to trust, and instead Blake is open and friendly. Apparently Blake is the easy one, the unselfish, the one who will always be supportive to Alex and his dreams. Blake is also the one who makes to first move, and easy like that, they move from having just met to being boyfriends. They don’t have a “coming out”, they don’t flaunt their love like a rainbow flag in the wind, but their family know and accept, not without worries but still with love for their children, their tighter friends are supportive and even from the schools they are able to find acceptance and good advices. Problem is that one of these advices is for Alex to not be out in college if he wants to play football and have a scholarship, and that is the starting point of their trouble.

First Alex has to move far from Blake to go to college, second they are not able to be together even if long distance and last but not least, Blake is a little bit jealous of Alex’s scholarship for football, when Blake will not be able to have it. Blake being jealous instead of making him bad to my eyes, had him nicer. Blake is more real like that, he is not the perfect next door boy; Blake has really no reason to be upset for not having a full scholarship, his parents can afford to send him to college wherever he likes, and plus being his father a college professor, he can even attend his home college for free. But like a teenager with a passion for sports, Blake cannot let it go without having bad feelings that his boyfriend managed something he was not able to.

On the other side, Alex is totally unprepared to be in a relationship; if he can do something wrong, you can be sure he will do it. He is not able to read the messages Blake is sending him, he is not able to reassure him, and he always, always let them be separate each other with bad words and harsh feelings. I don’t think Alex is egoistic, I think he is simply a young adult who has still a lot to learn.

In the end, Fair Catch was a little more sexy then expected (I would say more the upper side of teenagers if you are targeting YA readers) and also more sweet, it was really a romance, with young hearts in love.

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Oct 17, 2012 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Review posted at Joyfully Jay and Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words:

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Rating: 4.5 stars

It was Friday night lights and the score of the football game on the field was close. Blake Thompson of the Mustangs watched and waited to see if the new Patriots field goal kicker was as good as they had heard. Then out came a slim figure, even in his football pads, brown hair caught under the lights and AYERS36 on the back of his jersey. It wa...more Review posted at Joyfully Jay and Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words:

Read more of my reviews at http://scatteredthoughtsandroguewords...

Rating: 4.5 stars

It was Friday night lights and the score of the football game on the field was close. Blake Thompson of the Mustangs watched and waited to see if the new Patriots field goal kicker was as good as they had heard. Then out came a slim figure, even in his football pads, brown hair caught under the lights and AYERS36 on the back of his jersey. It was the first glimpse Blake would get of the boy he would play against and fall for. Blake knows that he has to fight to play because of his height but he loves football, and his team. And then he meets Alex Ayers at Rory’s Roadhouse, a local hangout after the game, a place the two teams mix, relieve stress and have fun. That night turn’s into one of life’s game changers for them both.

Alex Ayers headed towards the sidelines after nailing his kick on the field. It’s not hard to notice THOMPSON12 when not only is the Mustangs backup Quarterback doing a great job moving his team down the field but that he’s the same size as you are, a rarity among the humongous QBs around the league. Alex is tired of moving from high school to high school as his dad follows jobs in the construction field. He likes this high school, his team and wants to stay. When the two teams hang out at the same place after the games, Alex meets and connects with Blake Thompson, the boy he saw on the field. First there is a connection between the two boys, followed by attraction that they act on, becoming friends and lovers. As the school year continues, two things are obvious. Alex is already getting scouted by college teams for his kicking ability and as Blake is one year younger, he is the one who will be left behind. The boys are experiencing so many firsts in their lives, including a first love. Alex has never made a commitment before, his rootless upbringing making that impossible. Can he now make one to Blake, the boy he leaves behind? And how will Blake handle the loss of his football dream and the jealously he feels as Alex becomes a star player?

Fair Catch and Del Darcy deliver an insider look at what it means to be a gay teenager, and a gay teenager who plays football at that. This is a long book at 403 pages but Darcy uses every bit of it to bring two very different young men to life in their struggle to come to grips with not only their sexuality but the restructuring of their high school dreams to include life’s reality. I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate it that Del Darcy did not try to fit this journey into a smaller length book. Blake and Alex’s story spans a three year time period in their lives from high school to early college. And as with real life, this journey from high school aspirations and teenage emotions to a older, more mature understanding of themselves is fraught with exuberant highs and depressive lows and everything in between. Things are both deceptively easy in high school and hard as packed dirt to get through. It is through the characters of Alex Ayers and Blake Thompson and their circle of friends we once again experience what it means to be so young where high school was everything real, and life outside that framework was so huge as to feel alien.

Del Darcy an incredible job with the characters here. They are everything that teenagers really seem to be. They are full of themselves, and they are scared, they are sullen and timorous. They are filled with joy, and lust, and yet filled with the need to accomplish big things, do big things, become the “big thing” for their families and themselves. The dialog snaps with vivacity, rhythm and authenticity of youth as it flows out of the characters mouths. I can think of no other time in life than the teenage years when emotions and sexuality coincide with a person’s path to maturity with all the wildness and predicability of a roller coaster ride. You know there will be heights to climb and dips to swing through but you are never prepared for the real thing, the real ride once you are on it. Darcy makes all the characters here go through life’s challenges, the pain, the hurt feelings and makes us feel them too. There is not one single character I did not come to care for and indeed, with Dakota, I ended up going through boxes of tissues right up to the end of the book. These people burst through the pages of this story full of life, laughing, crying, arguing, and loving. They smoke, swear, and on occasion show cowardice because they don’t know any better or because to do otherwise is even more frightening.

Think of the issues here. What does it mean to be gay in high school? Should you come out to friends, and family? What will happen if you do? Darcy gives us all parts of the coming out spectrum here. From Blake’s family’s acceptance to the heartbreaking experience that Dakota comes through, trust me that boy will send you sobbing for hours. People are bullied for so for being slight of form or too quiet or too smart in high school, then add in a difference in sexuality. It is no wonder that the high school years are such formative ones, carrying such weight with them into the adult years.Can you play football in high school or college and be out as a gay male? Can you expect to be given scholarships or a fair look by scouts, especially in certain geographical areas, if you are known to be gay. I think we all know the answer to that is no. But here in Fair Catch we watch how that plays out in a teenage relationship and the consequences that decision carries with it.

And what happens when one half of a new relationship achieves the dream of the other person? Jealously is a tough issues no matter the age, and when a teenager has to face the idea that physically he does not mesh up with his dreams of college football? But the boy he loves does? Then it becomes even harder. Issue after issue is brought up and addressed, but don’t expect to find easy answers here than you do in real life. Darcy respects that fact and gives us real boys trying to get through life in realistic ways.

So why not five stars? My only quibble here is that perhaps too much time is spent on football. Yes, it is an integral part of the story but I think most people in the United States know their football basics. But a little less facts still would have left the foundation in good stead and the story a little tighter. Fair Catch is a wonderful coming of age, coming out story. It is intense, joyous and downright heartbreaking. Pick it up, and remember what it felt like to be a teenager once more. Just don’t forget the tissues.

Interesting cover design by Alessia Brio. Love the pigskin background and the football equipment front and center.
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Jul 12, 2012 Cole Riann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: armchair-reviews, m-m, m-m-contemporary, m-m-college, m-m-sports, m-m-ya-or-coming-of-age-tale

Review posted at The Armchair Reader.

Whew! Okay, am I done reading? I can't tell, I'm still stuck in the book. Actually, my body is. My blood pressure is up, I feel feverish, my hands are shaking. Because of the smut? No, no smut, it was because I was white-knuckling through the angst. I had to cheer myself through this book. Just read another 10% and then you can have a soda! Now, I've read angstier books than this one, way more. It is just that I'm not a big fan of it and avoid angst at all co...more Review posted at The Armchair Reader.

Whew! Okay, am I done reading? I can't tell, I'm still stuck in the book. Actually, my body is. My blood pressure is up, I feel feverish, my hands are shaking. Because of the smut? No, no smut, it was because I was white-knuckling through the angst. I had to cheer myself through this book. Just read another 10% and then you can have a soda! Now, I've read angstier books than this one, way more. It is just that I'm not a big fan of it and avoid angst at all costs. This is what happens when you haven't read any reviews! Still, I really enjoyed the book and not all of it was so intense, just portions. In all, I think this is a really wonderfully written novel with so many things done right.

Spanning almost 3 years, Fair Catch tells the story of Blake and Alex and their relationship amid high school football and later life pulling them in opposite directions. Told in a dual point of view with brief scenes told by other secondary characters, both Blake and Alex have to balance their present and future possible football careers while keeping a solid grip on their relationship. Drawn together like wildfire while Blake is a Sophomore and backup quarterback for the Mustangs and Alex is a Junior and starting kicker for the town's rival high school, the Patriots, they somehow bridge the teams rivalries easily, starting a sweet and intense relationship right off. As time progresses, though, different factions lean heavily on them and their relationship seems doomed to fail. College recruiters are vying for Alex, who has placed state records while Blake is still languishing as backup and not getting attention. Also, the machismo of college football means that they have to be very careful about being out, and may have to go back in the closet altogether.

Perfect setup for a failure of their relationship, right? While I can't deny that I might have not read this book if I knew how emotional it might be, I'm really glad that I did. I think I have a hard time with angst because it often seems needless. To me, I don't always need to see men in their 20s, 30s and above wallowing like teenagers, even though it might be more reasonable in real life. Here though, Alex and Blake are teenagers, so I gave them a lot more leeway. They never wallowed in their emotions more than I expected of them, and in fact, both tended to ignore their emotions -- thus, the nature of the conflict.

The same stands for older characters. I usually can't quite connect with older characters who make simple mistakes like miscommunication, simply because those are things you learn from when you're younger. If the author makes me believe that they have a particular reason for acting the way they do, then I'll allow it, but here it is almost their nature as such young men to make these mistakes, and I simply couldn't fault them for that. In the end, it's all about the fact that at least they learn and try to make themselves and their relationship better.

That leads me to what I found most engaging about the writing of Del Darcy. The characters are young, and they act young. Still, however, they have that invincibility and freedom from the fear of mortality that comes from such a young age. Things hurt more, there are more possibilities, every experience seems heightened because it is new. These characters don't act like an adult pandering to children -- they smoke, drink, have sex (mostly fade to black). Both Alex and Blake have varying real interactions with their families, staying out all night and getting grounded, driving drunk. I appreciated that the author seemed to understand that honesty is really the best policy. This made the book all the more real to me, and was the main reason that I felt so immersed in the story from the first page, making it more difficult to remove myself later when things get tough.

There are lots of little details here that I loved. The cultural references left me in doubt as to what time this story actually occurs. I went from thinking late 90s to mid 00s, but I couldn't ever be totally sure. The high volume of detail about football was remarkable and as only a minor fan I was happy that I could follow along. It isn't distracting to someone who might not know football (only a few scenes are actually about plays and games), but the wealth of detail about college sports was wonderful and kept me right in there with the story. There's a part about NYC later in the novel that was really wonderful and written well to show Blake's maturity that I just loved -- the city was written so well.

In the end, I'd classify this story has an HFN, simply because while I feel like this couple could make it forever, they have such a tough road ahead of them. I was pleased with all the choices this author made to stay in the story and tell the real bits, no matter how hard they were to read for me. I'm sure there must be pressure from all different sides to make different ones, but I was happy that the characters stayed true to themselves.

Very well done! I'll be looking out for this author in the future.(less)

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Sep 23, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this story a lot, I would probably like it even more if I knew a little about football.

To me, there was a little too much football. In reality, it's a pretty good balance, as it's a driving force in the lives of the characters. They wouldn't be who they are, they wouldn't have this story, without it.

This book does a great job in showing the emotion, the conflict, and the jealousy that all can take place in a new relationship. When you add the need for secrecy, and the problems that come...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Jamie Deacon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I’ve rarely come across two people more perfect for each other than the heroes in this powerful debut novel. Though Blake Thompson and Alex Ayers play football for opposing high school teams, their instant attraction and mutual passion for the sport transcends any rivalry. And yet, the bond that connects them runs far deeper than their love for the game. From the moment their eyes meet on the field, they share a chemistry that is impossible to ignore, and which kept me entranced from start to fi...more I’ve rarely come across two people more perfect for each other than the heroes in this powerful debut novel. Though Blake Thompson and Alex Ayers play football for opposing high school teams, their instant attraction and mutual passion for the sport transcends any rivalry. And yet, the bond that connects them runs far deeper than their love for the game. From the moment their eyes meet on the field, they share a chemistry that is impossible to ignore, and which kept me entranced from start to finish.

His final year of high school is set to be an exciting one for Alex. Not only is he at the peak of his game, with his placekicking record beginning to attract the attention of college scouts, he meets Blake and is at once swept up in a whirlwind affair. Blake is in his junior year, desperate to prove himself as backup quarterback. If he sometimes envies Alex’s talent and the bright future it offers, for the most part he keeps these feelings from getting in the way of their romance. However, when Alex wins a scholarship to play for a renowned college, Blake’s jealousy clashes with Alex’s ambition, driving a wedge between them.

And suddenly Alex is gone. He and Blake are miles apart and no longer speaking. Though it’s obvious to everyone around them how much they miss one another, both are too proud to admit they might be in the wrong. They do their best to move on, attempting to find solace in other relationships and to ignore the gaping hole losing the other has left in their life. Months pass with no sign of a reconciliation, until it feels increasingly unlikely they will ever recapture the love that meant so much to them.

This is a poignant story about two young men falling in love, growing up, and discovering what’s truly important. I adored the blatant sensuality of Blake and Alex’s relationship, but also the fact that their compatibility is every bit as emotional as it is physical. It was one of those occasions where I cared so much for the characters that it became almost painful to read at times, and when everything falls apart, I was forced to stay up half the night in order to find out whether they got the happy ending they so deserved.

For anyone seeking a mature young adult romance that will alternately tug at your heart and break it into tiny pieces, I can highly recommend this book.

NOTE: This book was provided by Prizm Books for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews and the Boys on the Brink Blog (less)

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