Release Date: October 13 2015
Pages: 250
Age Range: Young Adult
Received from publisher for review
Kevin is a teen who is popular and is succesfull at the high school hockey team, and is on the point of winning a college hockey scholarship. But then something unexpected happens. His coach wants to talk to him. He failed an assignment but most of all, his coach suspects Kevin is eating a little bit too healthy with his sport shakes. His coach has a plan and Kevin is signed up for domestic tech at school, which is now mandatory for him to do, or he can say goodbye to the hockey team and his upcoming college scholarship. At the domestic tech class, he is paired up with Claire. Claire is the daughter of a restaurant chef and introduces Kevin to the world of cooking, which he enjoys more and more, especially because he lives alone with his mother who can't cook because she is always working, and mostly eats canned food. And he starts to like the class more and more because of Claire, because she is funny, smart, beautiful and knows everything about healthy cooking and food, and because of her help, the class is a succes for Kevin. But his hockey friends aren't so happy that Kevin starts dating Claire, because she isn't a cheerleader, so somehow he has to make a choice between the pressure of the hockey team and Claire.
I saw this book on Edelweiss and was interested because I missed the two previous Epic Reads Impulse books there, and just had to read this one, without reading the synopsis first. And I'm glad I didn't read the synopsis first because now this book could totally surprise and wow me! The first point that surprised me, that this wasn't a book from the girl protagonist point of view, but completely from Kevin's POV. No alternating chapters with him and Claire, just him. Which gives the reader an intense view into Kevin's life and thoughs and actions, but somehow also about Claire's. She wasn't portrayed less then him somehow, which I though was great and amazingly done by the author, haven't seen this that much in any book I've read so far! Kevin was a great guy, he eats to healthy and get's too thin which his hockey coach notices. He also was worried about the unhealthy food choices of his mother, she totally gave up cooking when his father was gone. But Kevin get's her back in to healthy eating and cooking in the end, which was so cute! He feels embarrased when he goes to the supermarket by himself to buy food for class and home, but then Claire is at the store too and helps him out.
The romance between Kevin and Claire was soo cute, especially because it circles around cooking which is quite uncommon in YA books, so it was very original and refreshing to read! I had domestic tech too at my high school for years, and it reminded me a lot of that time, Domestic tech might sound dorky, but I found out it it was worth having it at school because it learned me the basic cooking techniques wich is always useful later on in life!
Anyhow, The Jock and The Fat Chick (hmm..I have some thought too on the title as ''fat chick'' sound quite negative) is a book from the new Epic Reads Impulse imprint that I highly recommend, loved reading this entertaining book!
