Quick Stats
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 4.75 stars
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.

You Don’t Have a Shot has solidified Racquel Marie as one of the best writers in the YA Contemporary sphere, in my opinion. Her debut, Ophelia After All was one of my top reads of 2022, and while this didn’t quite reach the level that OAA did, it was still an absolutely phenomenal book.
The only thing keeping me from giving this book five stars right now is Vale. I could not stand her in the first 30% of the book. I know she was supposed to be unlikeable and grow on the reader as she grew as a person—and she did—but she was driving me up the wall to the point where I almost didn’t want to keep reading. If the other characters and the plot and writing hadn’t been as incredible as they were, I might have DNFed. Vale did become a better person, and I did grow to love her. By the 40% mark, I was rooting for her, and by the 60% mark, I was fully invested in her as a character.
Unlike OAA, this is a contemporary romance, and I’m glad because I love Leticia and I love her and Vale together. It’s the perfect rivals-to-friends-to-lovers, with all the angst and banter. Leticia’s banter was INCREDIBLE. Vale’s barbs were fun, but Leticia’s retorts were always next level. I adore her. But Leticia wasn’t the only lovable character in the cast. The entire team was so well developed, so easy to love. One of Racquel Marie’s skills is definitely the writing of a cast. There are few books that I find to have a cast that is as well developed as hers. I do wish we’d seen a little more of Ovie, Dina, and Vale interacting, because I think that got a little lost during the 60-90% mark, but for the most part, I think the story was really well balanced despite having such a large cast of important supporting characters.
While this book was fun and light and even a bit swoony, it also dealt with hard topics, such as cancer (off page), parent death, grief, and an emotional abusive father. These aspects were handled with such care and compassion, and added a necessary depth to the story, and to Vale’s character. I don’t have any experience with these topics, but they felt well written to me.
All in all, this is one of the best books I’ve read this year. I cannot recommend it more, and I cannot wait to see what Racquel Marie does next. She is definitely one of my favorite new authors.