Game Plan
Family LifeAdded on January 14, 2026
Description
"Poignant, well-paced and compassionate, Game Plan is an achingly real look at how two families cope when life doesn't go as planned." — Tish Cohen, bestselling author of The Truth About Delilah Blue and Inside Out Girl.
Just because the play goes wrong, doesn't mean you quit the game.
Ella Parker seems to have everything: great friends, an awesome family and a star position on her high school basketball team. The only thing missing from her life is a boyfriend. That changes once she catches the eye of Sam Cleveland. With Sam by her side Ella has it all. When a drunken night results in an unwanted pregnancy, her perfect life is turned upside down and she’s faced with an impossible decision.
Katherine Frayne has always wanted to be a mother. But with the last results of her in vitro fertilization pointing to no chance of a baby, her hopes are dashed. Then her husband Danny suggests they adopt. At first Kat is resistant, but she soon warms to the idea.
Ella and Katherine must navigate their lives amidst tough decisions, the consequences of which not only affect them but those they love the most.
Reader Reviews
Teenage pregnancies and adoption at times may be considered controversial but in Natalie Corbett Sampson handles them beautifully in her debut novel, Game Plan.Seventeen year old Ella Parker has a plan – to get a basketball scholarship to college. And she’s on track to get there too. There are scouts coming to her games and she’s never been in better form. But then she meets Sam Cleveland. He’s gorgeous and the first boy to ever take an interest in her. Will one drunken accident change every pla
Also posted on Rally the Readers.* A copy was provided for review for a blog tour.If you’ve happened to read reviews for some of my less than successful attempts at reading realistic fiction, you might recall that the contemporary genre has to work rather hard to command my reading attention. Game Plan caught my eye because of the opportunity to view its narrative from two perspectives—that of Ella, a pregnant teenager, and Katherine and Danny, a childless couple hoping to adopt. I thought it wo
I loved this story. If you wish to be immediately transported back to high school, including all of the angst, emotion, uncertainty, and joy that goes along with being a seventeen year old girl, then this book is an excellent choice for you. If you have wished for the chance to fulfill your destiny and become a parent, give all that you can to a brand new living being who needs all the love and support you can give to him or her, then this book is also for you. Within the initial chapters of the
