I loved that this story addressed disability and also loved the romance! A nice, fresh voice in YA romance :)

This was the perfect YA book. I loved it so much. The MC was so relatable and I really enjoyed reading her story.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book is a quick read about a normal girl looking to get out from under her brother's shadow. In turn, she accidentally falls for the one she should not.

Such a fun and hilarious read with heart. I enjoyed this! Well-paced, with a relatable heroine and a delicious love interest. If you love girl-bosses, sports or simply enjoy a well-written book, this is for you

This is such a cute and fun contemporary novel about coming of age and just taking a leap of faith sometimes. I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this and I absolutely loved both Maddie and Gabriel! I love their interactions and how they grew and become their own person. This is quite character driven but I find myself liking them so much it did not bug me!

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy. I really enjoyed this sports/celebrity YA novel. The first part of the book had perfect pacing, making you fall in love with each character as you read it. I find the world of PR interesting and I really like the Chicago setting (books always seem to be in NYC or LA). The ending seemed rushed and I wasn’t ready for it to end.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Becky’s books more, she goes and does something like this and knocks off my feet (cue the Maddie references!)!!!

I absolutely adored Maddie and Gabe and their slow burn friends to more love! Their relationship was truly special, helping each other grow and be better versions of themselves, each not wanting the other to change any fundamental piece of themselves! I wish we could’ve gotten more closer for several things, and although I think they could’ve made the story even stronger, overall the story was satisfying and beautiful as it is. Becky has quickly become a favorite author of mine and I can’t wait to see what she gives us next!

The story was cute, but I don't think it was fully developed. I really liked Gabe and Maddie, but I felt like I wanted to know more about both of them.

Review by Isabel, The Chef

*Thanks to MTMC tours and Page Street Publishing for the review copy. All thoughts are my own*

Far From Normal is a cute and sweet contemporary read, just what I was expecting / hoping for (and even a little bit more!).

It's a book about a young girl landing an internship in a sports marketing firm and it is hands down my favorite aspect of this book. Maddie's experience in her internship brought back memories of my own time as an intern, from so many relatable moments to the ever constant need to prove yourself worthy. Even though I loved my time as an intern, you do come across impossible co-workers just like Maddie does in Far From Normal.

Another relatable thing? All the second-hand embarrassment!!! Maddie is such a sweet and smart girl, but bad luck seems to follow her around. She always try to make the best of it though so she is very cool that way. I really liked her character.

The we meet Gabriel Fortunato who at first sight might seem like a stuck-up, but in reality he is a really nice guy. I enjoyed the banter between him and Maddie, and I will not forget that scene where they are trying to learn how to make pizza. So entertaining, I loved them! 😂❤️

All in all, I thought it was an amazing read! I had fun reading it and it's a nice window towards the ups and downs of internships 😩😂, not to mention first love and awkward relationships.

Far From Normal by Becky Wallace is a book that combines two of my interests: sports and marketing. The premise is original as the main character assists a soccer player in repairing his public image, and the main characters are both charming. This is a short and sweet read that is a perfect pick-me-up.

This book follows Maddie, who has gotten a summer internship at a sports marketing firm and has been assigned to work with a soccer player to fix his image on social media. As she gets to know him, she comes to see a different side of him and works to showcase the real Gabe through her assignment. I love books about sports, and it is also great to see representation of women in business. There is not as much soccer as I was expecting, but the focus on Maddie’s internship is also entertaining to read about.

❀ RELATABLE MAIN CHARACTER

Maddie is a relatable character who provides a great voice for the book. She is clumsy and awkward, but she knows what she wants and what she needs to do to get it. I loved how she works hard to learn new skills and to achieve her goals despite sabotage, and it is so heartwarming watching her gain confidence in herself and in her work. Gabe is also an interesting character who has been misunderstood, and I loved uncovering his true, authentic self alongside Maddie.

❀ QUICK AND WHOLESOME READ

Far From Normal by Becky Wallace is a light and cute read that sheds light on the sports marketing industry. I loved the premise as well as both the main characters. Soccer fans, and those looking for a quick and wholesome read, will enjoy this one.

OKAY! I CANNOT STOP THINKING about this book! It's one of the best rom-coms I've read in a while and I am absolutely in love. It's one of those books that leave you with a wide grin on your face, long after you've finished it and YES I AM IN THAT PHASE😂

Being a huge sports aficionado, I knew I had to pick up this rom-com because ahem well OPPOSITES ATTRACT, is my jam and MISS WALKING DISASTER meets CELEBRITY HEARTBREAKER, sign me up please😏


And I am quite pleased to say, it did leave up to all my expectations! I am not particularly fond of 'overdone cheesy scenes' and Far From Normal had that subtle tone, that made it realistic and not tacky 😏👀

Far from Normal is about loving someone and staying in love with them despite knowing how vulnerable they are or could be!

A delightful and pleasant read that you can fly through

I really loved Becky Wallace's novel Stealing Home last year and immediately needed to get my hands on Far From Normal when I saw that it was again sports related. Wallace did NOT disappoint and I might have loved Far From Normal even more than Stealing Home. 

We get to follow Maddy who is this sweet. down-to-earth girl with some big city dreams. She scores and internship in Chicago with a PR firm. Her job is to basically smooth over some sticky situations their clients get into with the media. It's through her job that she meets up the Italian soccer (football?) prodigy Gabriel Fortunato. Gabriel is a lot to handle and Maddy definitely has her work cut out for her.

Far From Normal gave me all the rom-com feels and seriously shout-out to all the authors giving us cute romantic stories during these unprecedented times. Maddy was such an innocent soul, willing to work hard to achieve her dreams versus having them be handed to her. I loved her innocence during some of the more difficult assignments she faced. She reminded me a lot of my little sister and I couldn't help but cheer for her to succeed in all aspects of her life.

Gabriel was a LOT. Over-dramatic, rude, total jerk. When we first meet him I wasn't sold on shipping him and Maddy. The more we got to know him and the lack of privacy his lifestyle offers, the more I felt sorry for him. With Gabriel we open up this discussion about what it's like to not have real privacy and the other strings attached with being famous. Did he have some real issues? Yes, but it felt like his life was a series of decision made for him not by him. I could see why he would behave the way he did or have a bad attitude.

It was a quick read that I read in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down. I loved how normal and relatable Maddy was. I saw someone mention in another review that they pictured Maddy's aunt as Lorelei Gilmore and I cannot think of a more perfect comparison. If you're looking for a cute and quirky rom-com do not hesitate to pick this one up!

Far from Normal is a sweet young-adult novel, perfect for younger YA readers. This escapist novel is compulsively readable and full of mouthwatering food scenes. With a soccer-star love interest and a protagonist who interns in sports marketing, this book is a great choice for sports lovers or anyone who enjoys books with a corporate, city vibe. Add an adorable dog, a dash of family secrets and drama, and you get a feel-good reading experience.

I'll admit the reason this book initially caught my eye was learning the character was from Normal, Illinois as I am very familiar with the town. I enjoy reading books in the YA genre so I figured might as well give this one a shot. A decent read but not exactly memorable.

High school student Maddie McPherson is ready to leave her hometown of Normal, Illinois and move on to bigger and better things. She's landed a pretty cool summer internship at a sports marketing firm in Chicago. She is assigned a pretty big project as she will be working with teenage soccer star, Gabriel Fortunato, to develop content for his social media presence. And of course working together so closely, Maddie gets to really know Gabriel. Are they going to maintain a strictly business relationship or could it develop into something more?

By far the thing I loved most about this book was the fact it featured women working in what most people would consider a male-dominated industry. I'm glad the author had most of the plot revolving around sports marketing and working with athletes as I found it fascinating. Might not have been entirely realistic Maddie was given certain responsibilities given her age and inexperience, but I just rolled with it.

Unfortunately, I thought the romance elements of the story were somewhat lackluster. There was nothing significantly wrong with the two characters, it was more I just didn't pick up on a ton of sparks between the two of them. Thankfully there is a nice balance so it's not like the romance dominates the story.

Far From Normal is a sweet and light YA romance about soccer, summer, and social media.  

Maddie McPherson has landed an awesome summer internship working at her aunt’s sports marketing firm. Within ing days of being there, Maddie is presented with the opportunity to create and post the social media content for teen soccer star Gabriel Fortunato. The goal is to repair Gabe’s image, but Maddie has to decide between doing her job well enough to get a glowing recommendation letter for college and falling for the boy who is quickly capturing her heart.

Far From Normal is perfect if you are in the mood for something very light. There are meet-cutes (a bike, a dog and a soccer ball, you do the math), working relationships that cross into romantic territory, a mean-girl work colleague Maddie must contend with, and romantic meals in Italian restaurants.

While Gabe and Maddie do discuss a few things about Gabe’s life in the spotlight, the incidents he has been involved in are never fully discussed and they never have any really deep conversations about this, so the book remains on the fluffy side. Fine, if you like cute and light stories, but I usually enjoy something with a bit more depth, so I didn’t connect that much with the characters.

Despite this being about a soccer star and sports marketing, the sports side of things don’t come into the story at all, so I’ll be shelving this under romance and not sport. 

A quick read, perfect if you are looking for a fun and light YA romance. 

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

This book was great, however it felt like the whole story was missing a big piece, plot was great characters were amazing but that’s about it. It didn’t dive deeper into the story, and was just kind of bland, however as I said the story is good

I really enjoyed what this book contained. There was so really good plots and stories. The characters were interesting and really worked off each other. It was really well written. Why is it only three stars then? It needed more. Everything felt like it was a base of the story and I really wanted to delve into the characters more. If it had been longer this would have been a book I loved instead of just really liked.

I finished Far From Normal in a day, which means it's a compelling read, but I can't help but feeling that it needed a little more time in the oven. I wish I had about a hundred more pages of this book to work out some kinks and that's not something I usually say about contemporary YA books....

Maddie is a classic middle sibling. She's always getting compared to her naturally gifted older brother which can get really tiresome. I really related to Maddie - she had to work hard to be good at things and that's the case with most of us. To prove her parents wrong and get into her dream school UNC, she takes an internship at the sports marketing firm where her aunt works. This is her golden opportunity and she doesn't want to waste it. After an embarrassing run-in with a tall, accented stranger, Maddie is shaken up (in a good way) and even more shaken up when she finds out he's soccer superstar Gabe Fortunado. When her aunt finds out about their meet-cute, she assigns Maddie to help turn around his party-boy image. Maddie sees this as her way to stand out in a crowd of nameless interns and it doesn't hurt that she gets to spend time with a hot Italian soccer player. She just has to keep her wits about her and not get sucked in by his flirty banter and hard to look away from face...

This plot leaves a lot of room for fun moments and character development, but at the end of the day, it just fell a little short for me. Gabe received the most development out of everyone in the book, which is a bit odd considering Maddie is supposed to be our main character. Beyond that, the pacing of the story felt off. Maddie and Gabe definitely have a bit of insta-love going on considering the book takes place over a few weeks (as far as I can tell?). The ending felt very rushed and some of the events mentioned in the epilogue could have easily been part of the book and added a lot more to the character development.

It's also a little frustrating that by the end of the book, only Maddie gets redeemed, for lack of a better way to put it. Her aunt and mother still don't seem to believe in her, her nemesis at work gets a promotion, and Gabe might be off to another country. Not much is wrapped up in the bow that readers like to see in a YA book, but there aren't any loose ends for a sequel. 

All in all, this is a cute, quick read. I liked the characters, I just wanted to get to know them a little more.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cute, easy read. I liked the peek it gives the reader into the world of sports adminstration and how sports stars/celebs have their lives curated by publicists.

How adorable is this book?! I loved how *normal* Maddie is and I fell in love with Gabe. He is a perfect mixture of vulnerable with hard edges. A perfect romcom for those that like a little soccer (futbol) in their lives.