This Queer Enemies to Lovers Novel is The Perfect YA Read
By Rogue Herm
“When all you’re used to hearing when playing is yelling, critiques, and the stressful echoes of parental disappointment, you learn how to shoot under pressure.”
Recommended reading age: 16 and up
High School Junior Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green has made playing soccer her number-one focus in life. It’s all her mind revolves around! Especially with emotional pressure from her overbearing father to perform at the top of her game, in honor of her deceased mother. Vale is certain that her college career is completely dependent on her hard work and success on the field. But after she starts a fight with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, during a crucial playoff game and gets thrown out, her hard work seems to count for nothing.
Feeling ashamed, Vale wants to avoid spending the summer ruminating over her failure as well as avoid being under the same roof as her antagonistic father. Her two teammates/best friends convince her to enroll with them at their old youth soccer camp for the summer. She plans to redeem herself by honing her soccer skills outside of external pressure. However, during her first day at camp, Vale is surprised to discover that the stakes are much higher than she originally thought. Not only is her rival returning to the camp as well, Vale will have to co-captain a team with Leticia, and have a chance to play in front of college scouts.
With these changes, the summer is no longer turning out how she planned it to be and Vale can feel her chance at redemption slipping through her fingers. The pressure begins to pile up on Vale, and it suddenly feels like too much! Unexpectedly, Vale finds herself turning to Leticia more frequently than her best friends for advice, and their tentative alliance begins to deepen into something more.
Author Racquel Marie
You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie is an entertaining YA novel full of heart. This novel explores how grief affects family dynamics, legacy and culture, alongside a sweet and funny rivals to lovers, “will they, won’t they” type romance subplot between Vale and Leticia. I appreciate a cute, awkwardly flirty, slow-burn romance and You Don’t Have a Shot certainly delivers on that aspect! The banter between Valentina and Leticia is absolutely delicious. While Vale’s is going through a lot of pressure while at soccer camp, she’s also coming to terms with what it means to her to be queer/sapphic and asexual.
I am not that a soccer fan myself, and there is a ton of soccer in this book — obviously — but I actually really enjoyed reading all of the descriptions of gameplay and techniques. I may not have understood some of it, but Vale’s adoration for the game is so real and her rediscovery of the core reasons of why she plays is inspiring to read!
On a more personal note, I was not expecting to get emotional over a book about soccer, but at times I found myself empathizing so much with Vale and her relationship with her father. Vale struggles with her self-critical nature and her inner voice, something that I have been working on in therapy. I was raised in a household with abusive guardians, that indirectly taught me nothing but harsh self-criticism, with mean thoughts about myself being second nature.
Whenever I made a mistake, that mistake was held against me as proof that I was a failure as a person, instead of being a learning opportunity. Eventually, in my late 20s, I found myself inadvertently projecting those nasty bitter thoughts outward, alienating the people around me in the process. But I felt like I was stuck and was fated to become exactly like the mean, abusive people who raised me. Yet, there is always a choice; you don’t have to resign yourself to living in the shadow of an abusive parent/guardian, no matter what age. If I had a character to refer to like Vale as a when I was in high school, I think I would have been able to realize a few things about myself sooner and make a change sooner (but better late than never).
You Don’t Have a Shot is a testament to the wonders of found family and the unexpected places that we find love and support after missing it for so long. Racquel Marie’s inspiring writing feels like a warm embrace after a weary day. This novel is an absolute score for contemporary YA!
About the Author
Rogue Herm is a 30 something Denver local. She enjoys a good potato-based dish, scary movies and glitter.
