West, Kathleen

Though it’s heavy on the sports talk, West’s story is really about the love of the game. This novel explores timely events with heart.

First-world problems abound in this Midwestern family drama, but West makes the most of her material. For readers who enjoyed Bruce Holsinger’s The Gifted School, Lauren Weisberger’s When Life Gives You Lululemons, and Laura Zigman’s Separation Anxiety.

Though the characterizations sometimes come a little too close to caricature, West has expertly captured the high school culture of today in a novel that is at times cringe-worthy and eventually hopeful. Readers of Amy Poeppel’s Small Admissions and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies will want this one.