The third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Field Party series–a southern soap opera with football, cute boys, and pick-up trucks–from USA TODAY bestselling author Abbi Glines. Two years ago, Riley Young fled from Lawton, Alabama. After accusing the oldest Lawton son, Rhett, of rape, everyone called her a liar and she had no option but to leave. Now she’s back, but she’s not at Lawton … back, but she’s not at Lawton High finishing up her senior year. She’s at home raising the little girl that no one believed was Rhett’s.
Rhett is off at college living the life he was afraid he’d lose with Riley’s accusation, so Riley agrees to move back to Lawton so she and her parents could take care of her grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. But the town still hasn’t forgotten their hate for her, and she hasn’t forgotten the way they turned on her when she needed them most.
When town golden boy Brady Higgens finds Riley and her daughter, Bryony, stranded on the side of the road in a storm, he pulls over and gives them a ride. Not because he cares about Riley, of course, but because of the kid.
But after the simple car ride, he begins to question everything he thought he knew. Could Brady believe Riley and risk losing everything?more
2.5
Spanish & English Opinion
Me fue difícil calificar el libro. Hubo cosas que me gustaron, como Brady por fin encontrando el amor, la dinámica de la heroína y su bebé y seguir teniendo updates de West y Maggie.
Sin embargo, me molestó mucho que una violación quedara cómo algo equis. O sea, nadie le creyó, pero dos años después alguien muestra indicios de dudar la versión anterior y ella debe agradecerlo y no dejar de atesorar la situación. WHAT?
Gunner llega en algún punto “amigablemente” con la ex que fue lastimada por el hermano… y se le agradece? Aún cuando a todas luces su hermano es culpable? No solo es deprimente sino absurdo.
I struggled with the book ranking. There were things I enjoyed, like Brady finally having his story and finding an epic love. The amazing relationship that Bryony and her mom (the heroine) had, and keep getting updates from West and Maggie.
However, how the rose subject us managed pissed me off. So everyone just let it go? And then when someone started “believing” the girl, she was supposed to be thankful for that like her parents were promoting. She at least had sense of not caring anymore…
And how about Gunner approaching her (since she’s her ex) and she was suppose to thank him because even though his brother raped her, she was receiving “a courtesy” of friendly behavior?
Rhett was guilty. It was obvious. But by never took responsibility and the book makes it sound like that’s the way things are. BS!
YA and high school stories are not my thing and weren’t for me when I was in high school so I am not sure how I ended up with this one. I was amazed at how accurately Glines nailed the two separate sad stories. I didn’t really enjoy it, but I couldn’t put it down.
One plot line is the town scorning Riley since she accused one of the star football players of rape. He’s gone, but she’s back with the baby conceived from the rape and no one likes her. Given the bullying and harrassment of the real life Steubenville rape case a few years ago, this rings true. The only problem I had is we don’t see any of the hassling other than a few snotty mean girls. In reality, this kind of bullying can hit on a multi-level scale from targeted social media to out and out physical harassment to death threats for daring to damage the sanctity of the high school sports reputation or its players. Not that I wanted to see that, but if you’re going to address the issue then tackle it head on.
Riley is a cooler customer than I could be in the circumstances, and dismisses the town and their gullibility in believing a boy because it’s more convenient.
Enter Brady, the current star of the football team. Initially his biggest problem was figuring out if being friends with Riley was worth the trouble of upsetting his team and their chances of winning the season. He solves it by hiding his developing relationship with her. Yep, not a great hero at this point.
The other plot line drops and Brady catches his father having sex with a woman at his office and his life is thrown into chaos. Suddenly the life learning curve that Riley has endured hits him in the face, and all bets are off. Rage and disappointment free him from caring about something as small as other people’s opinion. He contemplates ruining his own football chances to spite his father but realizes it will only hurt himself and his team. She’s been through hell and is there to offer support.
Not a perfect book, but the emotional responses to some pretty serious family and social trauma rang pretty true which is rare when so many YA/Contemporary romances wallow in a sea of screaming angst. Both scenarios are pretty believable and well done. Again, my only issue is that the bullying and rape was handled a little too lightly.
On to some fluff now.
GREAT BOOK!!! I can’t stress enough how wonderfully gifted Abbi Glines is! Hands down my favorite author!
I wish there was an epilogue with 6 or 7 years in the future so I could see how these first three turned out. That’s really the only thing I can complain about. It seems like the family of Brady’s was perfect, but nothing is ever as it seems.
I kind of feels like the end of an era with Gunner, West, and now Brady gone off to college though. Great characters. Great series.
“You just have to find it deep inside. It’s there. The strength. We all have it, but it lies dormant until we need it. Then we just have to look for it. And use it.”
Brady Higgens is Lawton’s beloved quarterback and town good guy. Football has always been his passion and he wants to make a future of it. Brady hates to stir the pot. When he comes in contact with Riley, the town pariah, and starts questioning things, he’s torn between what’s right and what’s easy.
Riley Young used to be friends with Brady and the gang, until she was assaulted by someone close to them. No one believed her and their hate ran her out of town. Now, she’s back in Lawton with her daughter, Bryony. She’s given up on trying to get people to listen. She’s focused on providing the best life for her daughter.
Brady is determined to be a friend to Riley. He regrets turning his back on her and really admires the woman and mother she is. Riley resists trusting Brady, but it isn’t long before she sees how trustworthy he is. I really liked the romance between Brady and Riley. These two were such good people and they made each other better. I could tell they loved each other just by listening to the way they thought or talked about one another. Riley’s had a tough life and has responsibilities that Brady can’t understand, but it doesn’t stop him from trying.
The audiobook was narrated by Jason Carpenter and Charlotte Penfield. Both narrators did a wonderful job of portraying Brady and Riley. The light southern accents added to the southern, small-town feel present in the book. Also, their voices are pleasing to listen to.
Overall, this was a great book. There was more growth of Brady’s character than I was expecting. I would read more about this couple. Glines does a great job telling their stories, emotions, and learned wisdom.
loved every second of it
Brady is a great 17-year-old boy who is always doing the right thing or is always expected to do the right thing. He is the only one from his close friends who haven’t dealt with any real life issues like his friends West and Gunner and his cousin Maggie have encountered at their young age. Brady is one of the best football players on the football team and the entire town of Lawton is looking to him to keep the team together and win the championship. However, his life takes a complete left turn when he catches his father cheating on his mother. Brady becomes angry and a different person than the one everyone knows. Because he had never dealt with any real life difficulties, Brady doesn’t know how to handle his father’s affair. His perfect world came tumbling down on him. Brady finds comfort and support from Riley. Riley is a 17-year-old single mother whose life changed when she was raped two years prior to returning to Lawton. The entire town turned on her and didn’t believe her. Riley was very fortunate to have the love and support of her parents who never turned their back on her and helped her every step of the way. Riley has experienced tragedy and loss of innocence, betrayal and hurt and she is a strong young lady who stands up for what she believes. She helps Brady cope with his father’s affair and ultimately the divorce of his parents.
This book explored some serious topics; rape, betrayal, teen pregnancy, infidelity, and divorce. Just like the other books in this series, it addresses real life issues that result in difficult situations and consequences. I read a couple of reviews wherein the reader felt that the issue of rape should have been explored more deeply and that when Rhett appeared in the story he should have faced consequences but I feel that this story was more about Riley’s survival and her courage in coming back to the town that judged her. Riley needed the confrontation in order to close that chapter of her life. She ultimately was a forgiving person and her life was now about her daughter.
Also, although I feel bad for Brady’s life turning upside down I am glad that Abbi decided to shatter his perfect life. Brady had to learn how to be strong on his own and how to survive and overcome life’s challenges. The characters in this series became more relatable as they encountered and ultimately survived their issues.
I would say, however, that I feel that Riley and Brady’s story isn’t complete. I need more. It reminds me in a way of Abbi’s While it Lasts and Sometimes it Lasts books. Cage and Eva had to deal with living apart while Cage played college ball and Eva had to deal with the death of her father. I feel we need another Brady and Riley book. How will they deal with living apart while Brady pursues his college football career?
Maybe Abbi can expand the Field Party Series and give us the Field Party College Series as we continue to follow the characters through their adulthood.
All in all this is one of my favorite young adult series.
4.5/5 Stars
Warning: This review contains SPOILERS.
This was very nearly a five star read for me. Other than a few minor things, it was perfect! This book pulled at my heartstrings more than the previous two books ever did.
I love series that are built like this one. This book builds onto the first two books in the series. The characters from each book are incorporated into each book of the series, but each individual book concentrates on a specific couple and those characters’ personal journeys. The couples from the first two books are in this book and it gives a good background for the world these characters are living in and it lays a great foundation. Out of all the books in the series so far, I like Brady and Riley’s story the most by far.
The characters and their personal journeys really make this story stand out. I loved getting to know Brady better and getting to know Riley. I honestly didn’t have such a great love for Brady when reading the first book of the series. He didn’t really make an impression on me then, but he definitely did in this book. I adore Brady! He is total book boyfriend material. His entire personality is heart melting. He does the right thing even in the face of opposition from those that he cares about, he puts the feelings of others above his own, he is kind, and he follows his dreams with a fierce determination. I fell right in love with this amazing boy right alongside Riley. And Riley’s character is just as impressive. I absolutely loved this brave girl. Her struggle was heartbreaking but the way that she handles it is inspiring. This girl has been raped and had to deal with the entire town turning on her, not believing her when she tells them that the town golden boy raped her, and being ostracized by the entire town. She and her family leave town and she has a beautiful baby. She comes back to town when her grandmother needs caring for because of Alzheimer’s. She is caring for both her daughter and her grandmother all while homeschooling to get her high school degree. She has overcome so much and she decides that she won’t let the opinions of the people in her hometown phase her. She has a daughter to care for and she won’t let anyone get in the way of that. And then along comes Brady.
Brady sees all the things in Riley that I saw. Her strength, determination, love for her daughter, and her drive to make things better. After all hell broke loose in the Lawton household in the last book and Rhett’s true nature was revealed, Brady starts to second guess everything that took place two years ago when Riley accused Rhett of rape and no one stood by her apart from her parents. Brady finds himself drawn to Riley and he believes her. He sees that she needs a friend and he wants to be one, but he also has his football dreams to consider. He doesn’t want to come between his friends on the team and cause any damage that would jeopardize their big wins when they are so close to a championship in their senior year. But he still can’t stay away from Riley and after spending time with her he realizes that what he feels may be more than friendship. Riley has been harboring the same feelings.
And then Brady’s life starts to fall apart like it never has before. Something happens that crushes his soul and makes him question everything he thought that the knew. Riley is there to support him and in this he understands that he loves Riley.
The romance in this book was more emotional than physical. I normally like a little more physical display of love in my books, but I found that I didn’t mind not having as much in this one. Sure, there is some kissing but it isn’t hot and heavy. It is sweet and heartfelt. It really works in this story though. Brady and Riley are precious together and I ship them all day long.
I won’t give anything away, but I both liked and didn’t like the ending. I enjoyed seeing Riley and her daughter spending time with Brady and his mother. It was darling. What Brady and Riley decided on in the end was kind of bittersweet. I only wish that we could have seen them further down the timeline to see how things turn out for them. All the books in this series seem to end too abruptly for me without any real conclusion, which I am not really a fan of. I would rather have a set in stone ending then have it trailed off and open to interpretation.
Overall, this book is an emotional ride that I enjoyed from start to finish. I can’t recommend this book enough. This is by far the best book in this series so far. I don’t know if Glines will be able to outdo herself with the next book, but I suppose we shall see.
OH man- this group of friends has been through it all! Riley and Brady seem like the most unlikely couple, but somehow they just fit. Brady appears to have the perfect family and the perfect life. Riley on the other hand was run out of town after accusing one of the towns “royalty” of an unthinkable crime. She has returned to Lawton to take care of her ailing grandmother. When their paths cross, Brady’s eyes are opened to the possibility that himself along with the rest of the town were wrong about her. I thoroughly enjoyed ATG, but I did expect there to be more of a resolution to her accusations (and the situation) other than the few paragraphs it got. I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Lawton crew.
“I could tell him that what he’d done had almost ruined me. I had lived in so much pain and anger that I had to see counseling. But none of that mattered now. It was a part of my story. It was a part of me.”
WARNING: THIS BOOK DEALS WITH RAPE AND CHEATING!
OMG! This book has me in my feels. I almost cried. And let me tell you when I say that NO book ever makes me cry or even close. I loved the fact that this book has little to do with romance. Romance is just a thing that happens in this book just like the previous books in this series. This book deals with things teenagers and everyone, in general, goes through in their life and how they cope and deal with these things are what makes us a person. And because of that, this book has A LOT of character development and I want to personally think Abbi Glines for that. If there wasn’t any character development in the story it would have been 1 or a 2-star book.
This is truly my favorite of the series so far and I don’t see how Abbi Glines can top that. This means that I have two favorite characters now. Riley, who struggles to deal with being raped and having to be a mother at 15 and raise a child of her own (not a spoiler) and Bryony, Riley’s daughter is truly the brightest little star I have ever met. She honestly makes me want to have one of my own.
After reading this book, Abbi Glines is one of my favorite authors now and I CAN NOT wait to read more from her! <3 (Recommend this to anyone who wants to read a very sweet, but heavy sports romance)
This book should come with a trigger warning. Gline’s casual take on rape and it’s aftermath turned my stomach. I love so many of her books. I love characters from this series but I cringed my way through this one.
It was a really sweet book. The author really made you feel for the characters and wish for the happy ending. Each character had been through something that was changing their lives and making them reevaluate what was important to them and what made them happy. I hadn’t read the other books but I feel like if I had I would have gotten more of a backstory for this couple?? Maybe not. Still a great read and a happy ending. An epilogue would have been nice however.
Loved this one. The first two in the series are great to
I listened to this one on my road trip to meet my family for our annual trip to Branson on Memorial Day weekend. While it does tie in to the other books in the series, all of these do really work well as standalones. But because I had read/listened to the other two in the series, I knew Brady. And I have to say that I was sad he was so mean to Riley. But, like the good guy that Brady is, he soon figured out that maybe what he thought he knew was wrong, and that maybe Riley had been given a raw deal by their small town, even including his own rudeness to her. This story was a tear-jerker for reasons other than just Riley’s dealing with what had happened to her that led to her being a single mom, as well as taking care of her grandmother with Alzheimer’s. Brady is at a point where he has always known or thought that he knew that football would be his life. And sometimes things happen during your senior year that make you question what you thought you knew. That happens to Brady. Enough that I was crying for him. I hated how hard it hit him, but for someone who had grown up with basically the perfect life and family, I guess it makes sense he’d have that hard of a time with it. Then, after having listened to the 2nd book, I had a feeling that Gunner’s thoughts on Riley might not be the same as everyone assumed they would be. Brady’s cousin Maggie, was the perfect friend for Riley, and I kept waiting for that to happen, and when it did, I was thrilled. Another great book in this series, and I don’t know if there will be more, but there were more guys on that football team I’d like to follow. Maybe into a college age/new adult series?
Wull look for other books in this series
Abbi Glines books are really guilty pleasures books for me, and this was no diffrient. I can usually get into an Abbi Glines knowing that I will love it. The characters are always lovable, easy to read, and are just fun. This is an author that I get excited to read her books and this was no exception. Great for contemporary fans and a favorite.
I absolutely love this series. Abbi Glines is an amazing author I love all of her work.
Love this entire series! Can’t wait until the next book drops.