Thank you to Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers / Macmillan for a chance to read an arc this book! 🖤

3⭐️ the beef was real and angsty! | tropes: black fmcs, friends to rivals to lovers, angst,  sports romance | digital

Overall Thoughts 💭:
This book surprised me with the depth and care that went into growing these characters and their connection. Mari and Taylor were childhood best friends from different economic backgrounds dealing with their familial issues, later using track/cross country as a way to deal with those issues. It was easy to feel empathetic towards Mari. She is a parent-fifed child balancing work, school, track, and watching her younger siblings. Though she made mistakes, I understood and loved her character. I understood Taylor, she's dealing with a lot of insecurities and her father's illness, but I struggled to empathize with her character at times because of how she projected and lashed out at others. Her character development in the later half of the book was satisfying and I liked the direction the book went with that. The pacing of this book was frustrating at times. They had a lot of hurdles to jump through and there was a lot of push and pull. The romance aspect was very slow burn and the tone was more angsty than I imagined it being.