New adult, slow-burn, self-discovery, growing up fast, dealing with painful exigencies – this book covers a lot of dimensions with panache.
Sloan Rossi is the daughter of a US diplomat posted in London. She’d been in London since she lost her mother at eleven and shares a close, loving relationship with her father. Sloan is a gifted footballer playing forward and was already in the under-18 team in a prestigious team. However, when it comes to further studies and training, she chooses to accept the full soccer scholarship offered by Winterpark, her mom’s alma mater, in the USA. Winterpark’s soccer programme is noteworthy and making headway in the NCAA championships.
Marley Nichols is a junior in Winterpark. Also playing soccer, Marley is a goalie. She is keen on getting scouted and has only two years to catch the eye of the scouts. As luck would have it, Marley injures herself practically in the first training session and is out for the season. Since the team is running low on goalies, Sloan is roped in and proves to be a natural.
Sloan and Marley are on the path of friendship since their first day in dorm and the friendship grows organically. It takes a deeper dimension when Sloan loses her father and Marley is the rock to support her. When Marley faces rejection from her parents because of her sexuality, Sloan is her support. So the relationship is beautifully balanced and equal.
The romantic relationship takes time to emerge but the way the relationship between Sloan and Marley develops and deepens throughout makes it feel organic. Marley is out from the beginning but for Sloan, the attraction towards Marley is a journey of self-discovery. Mercifully there is no angst. Well, okay, there is about half a scene of angst with Marley acting like an unreasonable jerk and her friends telling her to get her head out of her ass asap. But besides that, the relationship between Sloan and Marley is beautifully built.
Sloan is someone we can totally fall for. Everything about her is fall-for-worthy. She’s certainly one of our favourite fictional sportswomen along with Sonja Romanov from Delicate by Sarah Sanders, Callie Mulligan from Fire & Ice by Rachel Spangler and Madison Fletcher from A Shot at Gold from this series.
We really liked the highly-sexed friends, Emily and Alison, and think they deserve a book of their own. At least a novella.
This is a very, very good read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
