YA book review: The Hard Count by Ginger Scott

The Hard Count by Ginger Scott

Cornwall is a big-time prep school with a big-time football program. The team is expected to win every game, and that has put a lot of pressure on the coach. That pressure has trickled down to his kids-- his son Noah is the starting quarterback, and his daughter Reagan is filming the season to make a documentary about the team as a way to get into the college of her dreams.

But when Noah gets hurt early in the season, Reagan goes out on a limb and suggests Nico Medina step in, even though he’s not on the team.

Nico lives in the West End, a tough neighborhood that is eleven miles and a world away from the elite prep school he attends on scholarship.  

Because he’s not from a wealthy family and lives in a neighborhood most people are afraid to drive through at night, Nico isn’t someone many people trust.

But with his job on the line, the coach gives Nico a chance. Reagan quickly realizes there is a lot more to Nico than he lets on; he’s got a niece he’s practically raising as a sister after his brother went away.

The Hard Count is partly about football, but more than anything this is a novel about not judging someone based on your perceptions of where they live -- and that sometimes it’s the people you know most who value money and titles that you should fear rather than the people who are simply different than you.