Likely settling on 4.5 stars?!?! But this was so much fun, omg!! Once the pacing picked up a bit, I got really invested in the story, the soccer games(which is saying a lot! I hate sports!), and best of all the romance!! Vale and Leticia’s banter was delicious! I think one of my praises for Ophelia After All was the character interactions/dynamics, and…yep, that still carried over to here. Not just in the romance, either! When Vale matured throughout the course of the book, I liked seeing her relationships with her teammates, family, and even some of the camp staff. There was an interesting discussion about grief and family dynamics, which I took note of as a reader who is…also grieving a parent, but one who was more like Vale’s father. (That made the family drama/grief subplot a mindfuck of some capacity. Lol)

Leticia proved herself to be a snarky, endearing love interest and I was truly rooting for her and Vale!

Vale’s a difficult protagonist to get behind at first—but that’s not because of poor writing. She’s an unabashedly flawed character, learning that in her unending mission for perfection she’s pushing everyone down with her. (This results in rudeness towards her teammates, and workaholic behavior.) Her character development surprised me! Seeing someone like her take accountability while also realizing her previous behavior doesn’t make her incapable of being a good person or unworthy of love was a breath of fresh air to read.

One nitpick I have is that I was kind of hoping for Vale’s asexuality to be discussed more in how it relates to her romance with Leticia(disclaimer, though: I’m not ace), but this is now you write a sports romance!! Even outside of the main relationship, the plot was interesting, and there were friendships just as compelling.