By: Beck Dorey-Stein
Mia and Cricket are sisters who have not always had anyone else to rely on growing. Their single mother is a bit flaky and was disowned by her family when she fell pregnant as a teen with Mia. While she did her best, her death while Mia is a student at Yale causes a shift in their relationship.
Mia must give up all her plans to come home and be a mother to Cricket, who is coming in to her own as a soccer phenom. Then Mia comes to Cricket with her own life changing request. She needs Cricket to give her a kidney, therefore ending her soccer career, or she will need dialysis every day and most likely die.
While the sister dynamic here is an interesting story line and all of the characters are likable despite some poor decision making, the story just seems a bit much the whole time. Lots of very dramatic story lines are going on all at once and there is SO MUCH SOCCER! As someone who spend my career working in professional and college sports, I can appreciate the impact highly competitive sports can have on a life, but this was too much for a novel. Outside of soccer, there were really only the two romances, and they both seemed forced and overly dramatic.
It was a fun read, especially if you really, really like soccer, but not a must read.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for this honest review.
