Sunday, April 10, 2022

Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock

 D.J. is 15-year-old girl who does most of the work on her family's dairy farm.  Her dad has had problems with his hip and her older brothers are both away at college on football scholarships.  Her younger brother, Curtis, helps when he isn't off playing little league football, carrying on their older brothers' proud legacy. So D.J. gets up at 6:00 every morning to milk the cows, then cleans out the barn before going out to do haying.  She misses her older brothers, not only because they did a lot of the work before they left, but also because she used to enjoy helping them as they trainined for football. Maybe because she missed them, she agrees to help train Brain Nelson, the JV quarterback of the rival high school, who has a good arm, but is pretty lazy and entitled. They clash at first, but after a while they start to really enjoy working together.  As the summer progresses, D.J. starts to reevaluate her life, and hatch a crazy idea that with be either the best, or worst thing she has ever done.

I can't remember why I put this on my holds shelf, but I am glad I did.  It is a cute, and amazingly clean, teen romance.  It was refreshing to read a teen romance without steamy makout scenes, though, maybe those happen later in the series. Both D.J. and Brian are likeable and authenic teenagers.  They both have endearing faults and the reader has the fun of watching them learn to see past the other's shortcomings. I also, as the daughter of someone who grew up milking cows, enjoyed seeing into the life of a modern dairy farmer.  I don't know if I will read more in the series, but maybe. (2007, 274 p)

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