Summary: A loose retelling of Cinderella, about a high-school graduate who--after getting grounded for the whole summer--joins a local Quidditch league and finds her footing, perfect for fans of Dumplin', Fangirl, and everyone who's read and adored Harry Potter.
17-year-old vegan feminist Ellen Lopez-Rourke has one muggy Houston summer left before college. She plans to spend every last moment with her two best friends before they go off to the opposite ends of Texas for school. But when Ellen is grounded for the entire summer by her (sometimes) evil stepmother, all her plans are thrown out the window.
Determined to do something with her time, Ellen (with the help of BFF Melissa) convinces her parents to let her join the local muggle Quidditch team. An all-gender, full-contact game, Quidditch isn't quite what Ellen expects. There's no flying, no magic, just a bunch of scrappy players holding PVC pipe between their legs and throwing dodgeballs. Suddenly Ellen is thrown into the very different world of sports: her life is all practices, training, and running with a group of Harry Potter fans.
Even as Melissa pulls away to pursue new relationships and their other BFF Xiumiao seems more interested in moving on from high school (and from Ellen), Ellen is steadily finding a place among her teammates. Maybe Quidditch is where she belongs.
But with her home life and friend troubles quickly spinning out of control--Ellen must fight for the future that she wants, now she's playing for keeps.
Filled with heart and humor, Anna Meriano's YA debut is perfect for fans of Dumplin' and Hot Dog Girl.
My Thoughts: This is a book about a girl who plays quidditch but it's about so much more.
I just loved how the main character really and truly cares about the world and fights for what she believes in because I feel like I barely find any characters like that anymore. The representation in this book is very good as well.
Plotwise, this is mostly about her "evil" stepmother who grounds her and makes her do chores. But it's also about friend drama and moving on to college. On one side there's Xiumiao, Ellen's close friend who decides that she wants space this summer. And by "space" I mean she basically stops hanging out with Ellen and is only shown a few times after that. Meanwhile, Ellen hangs out with Melissa at Quidditch and they have some secrets they're keeping as well.
If there was one thing that bothered me at times is that it's a bit unorganized. There's was a lot of stuff happening, and sometimes it was all over the place.
I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but the ending just didn't leave me satisfied. There was just too many things that I felt were unresolved.
Even though there were some things I didn't like, the overall message was great!
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