You Don't Have a Shot
$18.99 USD
hardcover
A queer YA romance about rival soccer stars who must co-captain a team or kiss their dreams of playing college soccer goodbye.
Vale Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear.
Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp . . . only to find out that she and Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But unless they can get their rookie team’s act together, this second chance—and any hope of playing college soccer—will slip through Vale’s fingers. What starts off as a shaky alliance of necessity begins to blossom into something more through a shared love of soccer . . . and maybe each other.
Racquel Marie grew up in Southern California where her passion for storytelling of all kinds was encouraged by her friends and big family. She received a B.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in gender and sexuality studies from the University of California, Irvine. Racquel primarily writes YA contemporaries starring queer Latine characters like herself. When not writing or reading, she loves practicing beauty and special effects makeup, watching and producing YouTube videos, and teaching herself to play ukulele in spite of her extremely long nails.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
★"Via Vale’s witty and acerbic first-person narration and her palpable passion for soccer, Marie delivers a textured sapphic romp that spins an earned enemies–to–lovers romance amid empathetic depictions of one teenager coming to terms with the effects of her treatment of others, as well as her treatment of herself." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"You Don't Have a Shot has every ingredient that makes rivals-to-lovers such a great trope, but it's also so much more. It's a story of grief and loss, of legacy, of culture, of holding the things and people that bring us joy close. I don't think anyone will be surprised when I say that Racquel Marie has done it again: this is truly young adult contemporary at its best." —Jonny Garza Villa, author of the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun
"A refreshing, queer coming-of-age story . . . The lively banter and fun cast of broadly diverse characters support a story in which soccer forms the backdrop of a sweet romance and a teen figures out what’s truly important to her. Uplifting." —Kirkus
“A fearless and fiery winner. A captivating story of growth, redemption, and the unexpectedly beautiful places we find hope with a romance readers will unanimously cheer for.” —Julian Winters, award-winning author of Running With Lions
"Swoony, funny, and full of heart. Racquel Marie did an amazing job showing the magic of the beautiful game, and the place it can have in a teen’s life and that of their family and culture. . .The exploration of grief and how it plays in the family’s dynamics was expertly done." —Yamille Saied Méndez, Pura Belpré Award-winning author of Furia
"Full of heart, You Don’t Have a Shot perfectly captures the warmth of chosen family alongside the thrill of a will-they-won’t-they rival romance. This is contemporary YA at its finest." —Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times-best selling author of These Violent Delights
“With a fun rivals-to-lovers romance and touching moments of found family, You Don't Have a Shot feels a lot like a warm hug in the very best of ways. . .this book is for everyone who’s ever needed a light nudge in the right direction, and managed to find themselves in the process.” —Tashie Bhuiyan, author of Counting Down With You
"A fast-paced novel with a unique protagonist who discovers first love, truths about herself, and takes back the love for soccer she had left behind." —School Library Journal
ISBN: 9781250836298
384 pages
8.7 in H | 5.9 in W | 1.2 in T | 1 lb Wt
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