Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica

I just finished Mike Lupica's Million Dollar Throw. 

Here's the description from B&N.com: What would you do with a million dollars, if you were 13? Nate Brodie is nicknamed “Brady” not only for his arm, but also because he’s the biggest Tom Brady fan. He’s even saved up to buy an autographed football. And when he does, he wins the chance for something he’s never dreamed of—to throw a pass through a target at a Patriots game for one million dollars. Nate should be excited. But things have been tough lately. His dad lost his job and his family is losing their home. It’s no secret that a million dollars would go a long way. So all Nate feels is pressure, and just when he needs it most, his golden arm begins to fail him. Even worse, his best friend Abby is going blind, slowly losing her ability to do the one thing she loves most—paint. Yet Abby never complains, and she is Nate’s inspiration. He knows she’ll be there when he makes the throw of a lifetime. Mike Lupica’s latest sports novel is also his most heartwarming.

Sounds goooood, right?  Well, it took me over a month to read it.  Mostly because it took Lupica over 200 pages to get to the throw.  I understand there'd be no book if he just wrote about the throw, but the story didn't keep me interested enough throughout to want to pick it up whenever I had a free block of time.  In fact, I finished two other books (1 YA, and 1 adult book) between the time I started MDT back in June and now.  I think that Lupica's style of play-by-playing the games is what takes me out of it a little bit, and I know about football!  When I read his Travel Team, I had little to no visualization going on because I didn't know the terminology as well. 

Now with the positives.  The storyline about his friend going blind was very heartwarming and definitely would get girls into it.  And the climax did get me teary-eyed when Tom Brady came out and gave him a pep talk and what he ends up doing with the money.  Like the description said, the end is heartwarming, but I sure wish I could have gotten more into it in the first 200 pages.  I think boys and girls would enjoy this, but Lupica needs to not try so hard at trying to please teens with so many pop culture references.