kassimesserly's review against another edition
1.0
DNF
I gave it my best effort..... Made it to 74 pages before I couldn't do it anymore.
I had many issues with this book almost immediately. The idea of this book really intrigued me and had great potential. But it was a huge flop.... First the pacing. It was almost impossible to keep all of the characters straight. They all had the same monologue personalities and showed no slight differences. Their perspectives dragged on, not adding much to the plot line.
The worst part for me was the CONSTANT sports banter. It was so over the top, I was physically cringing. As a coach, I can respect the love of the game and the closeness that athletes share being apart of a winning team. But some of the things talked about felt forced and were just flat out ridiculous... Also being a high school athlete... we nevvvver were to this point of seriousness with our sport and I don't think anyone really is. That every second of thought is devoted to the sport, thinking about movements in plays, every interaction on the field..... it was just way too much. It was basically field hockey or die.
Overall, I was very disappointed and wish I could have finished it. It was just way to over the top for me and had too many perspectives.
I gave it my best effort..... Made it to 74 pages before I couldn't do it anymore.
I had many issues with this book almost immediately. The idea of this book really intrigued me and had great potential. But it was a huge flop.... First the pacing. It was almost impossible to keep all of the characters straight. They all had the same monologue personalities and showed no slight differences. Their perspectives dragged on, not adding much to the plot line.
The worst part for me was the CONSTANT sports banter. It was so over the top, I was physically cringing. As a coach, I can respect the love of the game and the closeness that athletes share being apart of a winning team. But some of the things talked about felt forced and were just flat out ridiculous... Also being a high school athlete... we nevvvver were to this point of seriousness with our sport and I don't think anyone really is. That every second of thought is devoted to the sport, thinking about movements in plays, every interaction on the field..... it was just way too much. It was basically field hockey or die.
Overall, I was very disappointed and wish I could have finished it. It was just way to over the top for me and had too many perspectives.
imdunn's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really good! I liked the team aspect, as well as the gradual reveal of how terrible their coach was. I thought that the whole situation was very well done. While I would have liked to see a bit more after the end of the story, I thought that everything wrapped up nicely.
henvika's review against another edition
3.0
SPOILERS
the first hundred pages of this book were so boring. it was them telling their parents they got into varsity and then going to the team dinner, and then eating dinner. the first hundred and fifty pages of this 350 page book were so useless other than to introduce characters i barely remembered.
the background to this book is that there is a group of field hockey players who lost their last championship, and feels the need to prove they are wildcats (their mascot).
coach
he's pretty much referred to as coach in this book, though his name is damon (not the vampire, sadly) and he is toxic. just right off the bat or should i say hockey stick, he's sooo toxic.
luci cappuro
the youngest player to make the team this year. coach showers her with compliments about her potential.
melanie gringich
captain of the varsity team this year, and has their weird "i am in love with coach and he is in love with me but that's illegal so we don't talk about it" kind of vibe with coach. she idolizes coach, and lets him dictate her life basically.
phoebe ... something
mel's best friend. that's it. she tore her acl last season and kearson, a girl on JV, had to sub in, but she was so bad that phoebe came back for the state championship and tore her acl again.
kearson i don't know their last names after this
JV kid. basically what i said above, but she hates her mom. we don't know why till the end, but she just really hates her mom.
grace just make them up idk
a sophomore, she's just there to symbolize the toxicity of coach because her hair is dyed blue and coach just hates her for it idk that's the whole plot line
ali ur mom
goalie of the wildcats i think she got hate crimed last season and coach was like "honestly just let it go bro why you being so judgey" RED FLAG GUYS
that's everyone. if not idc.
so, after the first 150 pages of exposition, they explain that there's a secret tradition for the team to go onto the hockey field after the team dinner. coach knows but doesn't really know, so he tells luci to spy on them by telling them to do something crazy.
luci says yes because she trusts coach (why idk) and the team decides to steal the oak knolls bull dog mascot (a real dog). oak knolls beat them last year at states and they go against them the day after the team dinner for context.
there's a bunch of stuff before that but there's no point in talking about it because nothing happened.
that’s important. NOTHING HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK. keep that in mind.
i would like to highlight this text conversation between mel (team suck-up) and coach (toxic bf that isn't your bf and is actually your coach which makes it weirder)
Mel: I know you had an amazing coach at Truman, but this lady is a weirdo.
Mel: It got me thinking Truman might not be the best fit.
...
Coach: Are you kidding me with this ----?
Coach: First off, I'm in Barcelona right now.
Coach: It's five in the morning.
Coach: There's some kind of loud as ---- festival thing happening on the street outside my hotel window.
Coach: We ave a tournament game in a few hours.
Mel: Oh my god, I am so sorry.
Coach: I called in A LOT of favors to get you this opportunity.
Coach: I don't care if the coach asks you to ballet dance for her.
Coach: Do't -------- embarrass me.
Mel: No....of course I wouldn't. I'm just saying....
Coach: DON'T TEXT ME AGAIN.
wooooooooooow. a moment of silence to anyone and everyone who has ever had to breathe in coach's direction. i am so sorry.
basically, everything explodes in their faces at once (which i would've preferred a slow, raw realization, but to the readers, it was like BOOM 50 PAGES IN SEE THE RED FLAGS YET and to the characters it was like noooooo coach is a great person. that yells at me and hates me and throws stuff at me.)
anyway, they realize that
- he disregared the issue with an opponent making asian eyes at ali
- he threw a water bottle at kearson and bruised her.
- he yelled at all of them. all the time.
- he lied to phoebe to get her to play for the states even though she was injured and then told scouts not to come scout for phoebe.
- he said he wouldn't have made grace a part of the team if he knew she'd dye her hair blue.
- OH AND HE WAS REPEATEDLY JEALOUS AND PUT DOWN MEL FOR HAVING A BOYFRIEND
so all in all, toxic asf glad they realized.
i definitely see how this is important to touch on - a lot of coaches are extremely manipulating and exhibit behavior that would never be okay for a teacher to do while excusing it with “motivation” and “pushing kids as hard as possible.” however, the book dragged on and showed a lot of naivety with the characters that made it extremely hard to believe.
and the surrounding plot line around them realizing the toxicity of coach was so bare and slow i barely remember what actually even happened.
there’s a huge focus on mel which isn’t bad but they definitely frame it like they’re all equally important. i think having it in third person pov would’ve helped a lot.
also the relationship coach has with the players SPECIFICALLY MEL is disgusting and needed to be brought more into light. that was definitely one of the worst issues and the fact that it wasn’t talked about between the girls like “hey that’s not normal” was weird.
3.2ish stars
the first hundred pages of this book were so boring. it was them telling their parents they got into varsity and then going to the team dinner, and then eating dinner. the first hundred and fifty pages of this 350 page book were so useless other than to introduce characters i barely remembered.
the background to this book is that there is a group of field hockey players who lost their last championship, and feels the need to prove they are wildcats (their mascot).
coach
he's pretty much referred to as coach in this book, though his name is damon (not the vampire, sadly) and he is toxic. just right off the bat or should i say hockey stick, he's sooo toxic.
luci cappuro
the youngest player to make the team this year. coach showers her with compliments about her potential.
melanie gringich
captain of the varsity team this year, and has their weird "i am in love with coach and he is in love with me but that's illegal so we don't talk about it" kind of vibe with coach. she idolizes coach, and lets him dictate her life basically.
phoebe ... something
mel's best friend. that's it. she tore her acl last season and kearson, a girl on JV, had to sub in, but she was so bad that phoebe came back for the state championship and tore her acl again.
kearson i don't know their last names after this
JV kid. basically what i said above, but she hates her mom. we don't know why till the end, but she just really hates her mom.
grace just make them up idk
a sophomore, she's just there to symbolize the toxicity of coach because her hair is dyed blue and coach just hates her for it idk that's the whole plot line
ali ur mom
goalie of the wildcats i think she got hate crimed last season and coach was like "honestly just let it go bro why you being so judgey" RED FLAG GUYS
that's everyone. if not idc.
so, after the first 150 pages of exposition, they explain that there's a secret tradition for the team to go onto the hockey field after the team dinner. coach knows but doesn't really know, so he tells luci to spy on them by telling them to do something crazy.
luci says yes because she trusts coach (why idk) and the team decides to steal the oak knolls bull dog mascot (a real dog). oak knolls beat them last year at states and they go against them the day after the team dinner for context.
there's a bunch of stuff before that but there's no point in talking about it because nothing happened.
that’s important. NOTHING HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK. keep that in mind.
i would like to highlight this text conversation between mel (team suck-up) and coach (toxic bf that isn't your bf and is actually your coach which makes it weirder)
Mel: I know you had an amazing coach at Truman, but this lady is a weirdo.
Mel: It got me thinking Truman might not be the best fit.
...
Coach: Are you kidding me with this ----?
Coach: First off, I'm in Barcelona right now.
Coach: It's five in the morning.
Coach: There's some kind of loud as ---- festival thing happening on the street outside my hotel window.
Coach: We ave a tournament game in a few hours.
Mel: Oh my god, I am so sorry.
Coach: I called in A LOT of favors to get you this opportunity.
Coach: I don't care if the coach asks you to ballet dance for her.
Coach: Do't -------- embarrass me.
Mel: No....of course I wouldn't. I'm just saying....
Coach: DON'T TEXT ME AGAIN.
wooooooooooow. a moment of silence to anyone and everyone who has ever had to breathe in coach's direction. i am so sorry.
basically, everything explodes in their faces at once (which i would've preferred a slow, raw realization, but to the readers, it was like BOOM 50 PAGES IN SEE THE RED FLAGS YET and to the characters it was like noooooo coach is a great person. that yells at me and hates me and throws stuff at me.)
anyway, they realize that
- he disregared the issue with an opponent making asian eyes at ali
- he threw a water bottle at kearson and bruised her.
- he yelled at all of them. all the time.
- he lied to phoebe to get her to play for the states even though she was injured and then told scouts not to come scout for phoebe.
- he said he wouldn't have made grace a part of the team if he knew she'd dye her hair blue.
- OH AND HE WAS REPEATEDLY JEALOUS AND PUT DOWN MEL FOR HAVING A BOYFRIEND
so all in all, toxic asf glad they realized.
i definitely see how this is important to touch on - a lot of coaches are extremely manipulating and exhibit behavior that would never be okay for a teacher to do while excusing it with “motivation” and “pushing kids as hard as possible.” however, the book dragged on and showed a lot of naivety with the characters that made it extremely hard to believe.
and the surrounding plot line around them realizing the toxicity of coach was so bare and slow i barely remember what actually even happened.
there’s a huge focus on mel which isn’t bad but they definitely frame it like they’re all equally important. i think having it in third person pov would’ve helped a lot.
also the relationship coach has with the players SPECIFICALLY MEL is disgusting and needed to be brought more into light. that was definitely one of the worst issues and the fact that it wasn’t talked about between the girls like “hey that’s not normal” was weird.
3.2ish stars
abbiemens's review
3.0
DNF @ 59 pages// Not a bad beginning, but wasn't into it. Especially the plot that their coach tries to turn them against each other or sabotage them or something. Idk, didn't care enough to continue.
pauline31's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
itsreb's review against another edition
I was reading this book for my YA Lit class in grad school and I didn't finish it and now the class is over. I may come back to it someday, but I suspect not. There is nothing wrong with it, I just wasn't n the mood.
alifromkc1907's review against another edition
4.0
Gut Instinct Rating: 2
Characters: 3.75
Believability: 3
Uniqueness: 5
Writing Style: 4
Excitement Factor: 3
Story Line: 3.75
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 5
Audiobook Narration: 4
Overall: 3.85
Characters: 3.75
Believability: 3
Uniqueness: 5
Writing Style: 4
Excitement Factor: 3
Story Line: 3.75
Title Relevance: 5
Artwork Relevance: 5
Audiobook Narration: 4
Overall: 3.85