Information:
- Author: Kelly Quindlen
- Genre: Romance, Contemperary
- Page Count: 291
- Year published: 2021
Read This If You Like:
- Queer representation
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Fake dating
- Teen movie vibes
- General high school drama
- Sports romance (specifically basketball/cheerleading)
- 80s movie references
- Fender-bender incidents
- Interesting town names
Spoiler-Free Summary:
Scottie has just lost her first game of the season playing for Grandma Earl’s (yes, that’s the actual town name) girls basketball team, and it doesn’t help that she was playing against her ex. And to make things worse, Scottie then crashes into the car of her current nemesis, cheerleader Irene Abraham. Now forced to carpool with Irene, things couldn’t get worse between the two- until Scottie starts gaining unexpected attention from the student body for being with Irene. This launches a fake-dating scheme between Irene and Scottie that will allow Scottie to both get revenge on her ex and be noticed. That is, if true feelings and sudden scandals don’t start to emerge.
Review/Opinions:
This was a fun, romantic queer high school romance. It’s definitely one for the teen movie fans- it had many general things that you would expect in a high school movie- romantic shenanigans, extreme sports rivalries, and a social ladder that is tough to navigate. Plus, there are quite a bit of 80s references, including popular songs and movies (Scottie admits multiple times throughout the book that watching 80s movies is one of her favorite hobbies.)
Scottie and Irene had a very well developed relationship that perfectly combines enemies-to-lovers and fake dating. They started off as very bitter rivals, all due to a toxic action done by Irene at a party. But then as they are unexpectedly thrown into each other’s path, they discover that they actually might have feelings for each other, despite their relationship being fake at first. (I love fake dating tropes, but 90% of the time they are so predictable.) It was also nice to see how they were able to open up to each other about their families and personal life. Of course, Scottie’s ex still is not out of the picture, which results in a complicated string of rumors that makes for a very confusing last 50 pages, but at least it all has a happy ending.
This is also a sports romance, so of course there is some epic portrayal of the athletes at Scottie’s high school. Scottie plays for her school’s girls basketball team (which is largely ignored by the student body and teachers to the point of which the “coach” normally lets Scottie’s friend conduct practices), while Irene is a cheerleader. The girls basketball team in Grandma Earl is in a fierce rivalry with the team from neighboring town Candlehawk, which is more personal to Scottie since her ex is on that team. The games between the two rivals were very exciting to read, although I wish the game scenes were a bit longer, they felt like they were finished very quickly. There are also some plotlines about the life of a student athlete outside games. For example, Irene’s mom disapproves of her being a cheerleader, and Irene also wants to win a Student Athlete of the Year award, which the other students think is impossible for her since the award is always given to a football or soccer player. These moments really helped to bring some more development to the characters.
Overall, this is a fun and lighthearted romance for fans of sports romances and queer romances. The sports-focused moments were super fun, and the romance dynamics were beautifully developed.
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