Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

Title: Playing Hurt
Author: Holly Schindler
Published: March 8, 2011 by Flux
Pages: 312/Paperback
Source: bought


Summary: Star basketball player Chelsea "Nitro" Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college—and everyone's admiration back home. Then she took a horrible fall during senior year. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.

That summer, Chelsea's dad hires Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player and "boot camp" trainer, to work with her at a northern Minnesota lake resort. As they grow close, Chelsea finds that Clint's haunted by his own tragedy. Will their romance end up hurting them all over again—or finally heal their heartbreak?

Review: Wow. Prior to reading Playing Hurt I had heard amazing things about Holly's first novel A Blue So Dark but hadn't read it. At the moment I'm not quite sure why such a travesty like that has taken place. My goal right now is to get my hands on a copy of it, because after reading Playing Hurt I realized that Holly Schindler is one heck of an author.

I loved everything about Playing Hurt. The story, the characters, everything. I always love it when guys narrate books, so I was super happy to see that every chapter went back and forth. One chapter was narrated by Chelsea and the next was narrated by Clint. The narrating (or possibly just the awesomeness of the writing and story) gave me that connection with the characters that I'm always looking for. 

The fact that there was a strong family aspect was also nice. I loved watching Chelsea with her family and finding out what broke them apart and put them back together. Brandon was especially entertaining.

I loved loved loved the ending. It was perfect. It was ambiguous enough that you can imagine where it'll go, but at the same time it has enough direction that you can tell where it's going. 

I honestly don't have anything bad to say about Playing Hurt. I realize I didn't go into a lot of detail with my review, but this is really one of those books that's hard to describe it's awesomeness. I guess you just have to trust when I say it's amazing, because it really is. 


More Books by Holly Schindler
A Blue So Dark