Review: Tomboy by Avery Flynn

Over the last several books by Ms Flynn, I have gotten to know (and love) the Hartigan family as we have watched two of the boys and one of the sisters fall in love. Fallon is a character that we’ve seen in each of the previous books and it was a pleasure to get to know her better here. Zach is another character we’ve seen glimpses of before, but didn’t know well. It was fun seeing the gooey center behind his bad boy behavior.

Tomboy is a well written and sweet story. The message here is a bit lighter than the other Hartigan books, but is still impactful. I appreciated the message that being comfortable in your own skin and having a beautiful heart means more than conforming to what others say is attractive. Zach comes to the table with a bit more baggage than Fallon in this series installment. It was entertaining to see her, the Hartigan family, and his hockey teammates wear down his rough edges.

While this is part of a series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone. There are references to characters and stories from other books, but nothing that keeps Fallon and Zach from being fully enjoyed. It was also fun to meet Zach’s hockey teammates who we will be seeing more of soon.