Review: Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This review contains spoilers for those who have not read Dairy Queen and The Off Season.

Description: After dropping out of the football team in order to save her shoulder for basketball, DJ Swenk is ready to see her profile drop a little as well. However, it seems as if a life of anonymity is not in the cards for DJ just yet. The pressure to win an exclusive college scholarship means all eyes are following her yet again. And, even though DJ hasn't quite recovered from the Brian fiasco, a new chance for romance won't wait.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed the second book of this series, The Off Season, so I came into this book with very high expectations. Expectations that unfortunately were not quite met.

It seemed like DJ had reached a bit of an epiphany in the last two books, so I was hoping book three would see her grow up a bit, and maybe reach some of her potential. But Front and Center finds her still painfully shy, avoiding any and all confrontation, and feeling listless and indecisive about her future. It felt like covering old ground. That said, I do love DJ as a protagonist. I just wish I could have seen a bit more of her promised accomplishment.

Lots of good stuff does happen in Front and Center, don't get me wrong. DJ's family issues continue to evolve. An old friend suddenly lets DJ know he would like to be more. I also learned way more about the sports scholarship process in the US than I ever hoped to know.

Overall, this was a nice wrap-up to the series, but I would have liked to see the characters develop just a little more.