Summary: From rising star Jessica Goodman, author of They Wish They Were Us, comes a new fast-paced thriller about two sisters vying for the top spot on their cross-country team--the only way out of their stifling small town. But their dreams are suddenly thrown into peril when a new girl threatens to take away everything they've worked for... until she disappears.
Stella and Ellie Steckler are only a year apart, but their different personalities make their relationship complicated. Stella is single-minded, driven, and she keeps to herself. Cross-country running is her life and she won't let anything get in the way of being the best. Her sister Ellie is a talented runner too, but she also lets herself have fun. She has friends. She goes to parties. She has a life off the course.
The sisters do have one thing in common, though: the new girl, Mila Keene. Both Stecklers' lives are upended when Mila comes to town. Mila was the top runner on her team back home and at first, Ellie and Stella view her as a threat. But soon Ellie can't help but be drawn to her warm, charming personality. After her best friend moved away and her first boyfriend betrayed her, Ellie's been looking for a friend. In a moment of weakness, she even shares her darkest secret with Mila. For her part, Stella finds herself noticing the ways she and Mila are similar. Mila is smart and strong--she's someone Stella can finally connect with. As the two get closer, Stella becomes something she vowed she'd never be: distracted.
With regionals approaching and college scouts taking notice, the pressure is on. Each girl has their future on the line and they won't let friendships get in their way. But then, suddenly, Mila goes out on a training run and never returns. No one knows what happened, but all eyes are on the Steckler sisters.
~Thank you Penguin Publishing and Edelweiss for sending me the ARC in exchange for an honest review!~
My rating: 3.5 (rounded up to 4)
What I liked:
The writing style
I liked Jessica Goodman's writing style for how it flowed nicely but was also powerful. It was really well done and made the book a lot better. My only problem with the style though, was sometimes how the flashbacks were set up. I liked the flashbacks, but I felt like they were abrupt at times and could have blended a bit better with the present moment.
The sister relationship between Stella and Ellie
The characters on their own were complex and life-like, but I especially liked reading about Stella and Ellie together. How they fought when they were kids and still fight now but they're still there for each other. I don't have a sister myself, but it seemed very realistic and very real to me.
The themes discussed throughout
The themes of teamwork and friendship were really awesome but what really stood out to me was the theme of feminism in it and how even without saying the word feminist the book still had those themes.
"'You girl are all the same.'
I kept my mouth shut but I knew what he meant. 'You girls'. The obsessive ones. The focused one. The ones who have enough grit and determination to break things and crush people and rip worlds apart. The one who call bullshit when things aren't fair. The ones who speak up and demand better. The ones who don't fit into neat little boxes."
"I learned that young in kindergarten, when the other kids called Stella a show-off for raising her hand during class, or when the boys in first grade said I was bossy for leading a reading circle. When Stella and I would overhear the other moms at the Elite Youth Runners Club: 'The Steckler sisters are just a little much'. That's how we were described while the boys were sprinting around the playground kicking and screaming, breaking and biting. The world doesn't celebrate girls who take up space, who demand to be heard, who are 'just a little much'"
There were other quotes too, but if I included those this review would be wayy too long.
The Character Change
I liked how both Stella and Ellie changed in their own ways because it was so clearly there, without them explicitly saying it. I could see how they started one way but had slowly changed and it just made me enjoy this book so much more.
I also really liked how we didn't know exactly what happened with Stella before the start of the book, and how it left me feeling really curious.
My main problem with it was that there wasn't much focus on the mystery aspect of this book and since this was described as a "fast-paced" thriller, I expected a lot more of that in this book. This is why I couldn't give it a higher rating, but otherwise it was really enjoyable and I can't wait for this book to officially come out!
You can find my review on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3982907555
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