ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND FIELD HOCKEY

Two rival hockey players in Pennsylvania learn from each other—on and off the field.

Evelyn Feltzer, a white-presenting 17-year-old field hockey captain and goalie at Heathclef Prep, has a plan: Get a sports scholarship to attend Duke University (where she’d be a legacy student) and then go on to play professionally, fulfilling a promise she made to her late mother. There’s one thing standing in the way, though—her academic record isn’t stellar; but she’s eligible for a scholarship if her team wins the high school nationals. The situation intensifies when Heathclef’s rival, the Van Darian girls’ boarding school, brings in a new forward, a professional recruit from New Mexico named Rosa Alvarez. Beautiful, agile Rosa, who’s Chicana, distracts Evelyn so completely that Van Darian wins the homecoming game, putting Heathclef’s position in peril and devastating Evelyn. After Van Darian fans trash Heathclef’s playing field, Evelyn confronts Rosa—but the girls end up practicing together, forming a friendship that leads to romance. Evelyn begins to question whether fulfilling the promise to her mother is her only path forward. The story’s exploration of identity throughout is refreshing and realistic. The girls delve into their budding relationship, helping each other distinguish their true selves from the expectations they face. As Rosa observes, “You don’t have to be anything…Just follow your heart and be open to whatever.”

A sweet romance of introspection and renewal.