Kirkus
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Nate Dravus has lived in his older sister Amelia’s shadow, but now he’s trying to find his own path. Soccer is an obsession in Nate’s Seattle home, but he’s a mediocre player who doesn’t enjoy the game. Meanwhile, Amelia garners a full-ride scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley. When Nate summons the courage to tell his parents he’d rather play basketball, they agree to let him switch but refuse to pay for the club he wants to join. Nate is crushed—his parents don’t encourage him the way they do Amelia, and worse, he overhears them making cruel remarks about his soccer abilities. But Nate is disciplined and driven—and soon he’s playing regularly with new neighbor Lucas Cawley, who’s a beast on the court. The two of them become unstoppable. Lucas stands out for other reasons—his family is poor, his parents are often absent, and he’s a devoted caregiver to his twin sister, Megan, who has unspecified special needs. Bullies call him Creepy Crawley. When tragedy strikes, Nate is unprepared to deal with his intense feelings. This fast-paced story takes place over the course of Nate’s high school years. Deuker’s prose, which evokes the excitement of sports announcers, will keep readers spellbound, and the short chapters make this an accessible work for reluctant readers. Unfortunately, Megan feels more like a plot device than a fully fleshed-out individual. The main characters are white. A page-turning sports story that delves into a boy’s emotional growth.(Fiction. 13-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.