All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey

Since her mother’s death five years ago, 17-year-old white-cued Evelyn has worked to follow in her mom’s footsteps and become a field hockey star. As the goalie and captain of her high school’s girls’ field hockey varsity team, Evelyn feels that she has her future laid out for her exactly as her mother wanted it: “Play goalkeeper. Date the quarterback. Get into Duke,” and go pro. Then her coach informs Evelyn that her grades might not be good enough to get into Duke and that her only shot for admittance is to receive a sports scholarship, which Duke will award to one player on the high school nationals-winning team. The pressure multiples when her team loses its homecoming game to its rival, Van Darian, and its Chicana star player, Rosa Alvarez. After Evelyn and Rosa connect off-field, though, they begin trading hockey tips, and something more blooms. But their teams’ rivalry and Evelyn’s tumult navigating revelations about her sexuality and her mother’s dream threaten the girls’ budding romance. Rosewater (the Derby Devils series) treads familiar sports romance ground in this sapphic love story, her YA debut, which interweaves discussions of grief and honoring the dead with heartstring-tugging renderings of themes of self-discovery. Ages 12–up. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Folio Literary. (May.)