You Don’t Have A Shot by Racquel Marie follows a high school girl, Vale, and her passion for soccer. Vale goes to her childhood soccer camp but is upset when her nemesis, Leticia, is co-captaining her team. The stakes are high as college scouts will be attending the game, which could determine Vale’s future as a soccer player. Vale is forced to rely on Leticia to join forces to coach a successful soccer team but it ends up blossoming to something more than a shared love of soccer.
“This book has it all. . . There are so many reasons to read Marie’s books. Consider this your sign to pick one up next!”
Racquel Marie has become an auto-buy author for me because she captures such important perspectives in her novels. Her books are alway five stars reads! I absolutely loved Ophelia After All and thought it was going to be a tough book to beat. However, I loved You Don’t have a Shot just as much, but for different reasons. This book not only represents such an important component of latinx culture, fútbol, but also blends the perspective of being a latinx daughter with high hopes for college, while exploring their sexuality.
Vale is a flawed character but I love that Marie depicted her in this way. As insufferable as she was in the beginning, Marie uses this as a foundation to create a compelling character development arc. Vale makes mistakes by selfishly focusing on her future but Leticia perfectly compliments her and encourages her to zoom out her perspective to help others succeed. It was heartwarming seeing Vale and Leticia come together to empower a group of women to work together to win soccer games.
In addition, I also highly respected and sympathized with Marie’s inclusion of losing a mother, based on her own experiences. This was delivered in such a personal and vulnerable way that made it extremely touching to experience.
This book has it all: enemies to lovers trope, latinx representation, LGBTQIA+ representation, character development, underdog trope, and so much more! There are so many reasons to read Marie’s books. Consider this your sign to pick one up next!
Content warnings: off-page maternal death by breast cancer, maternal grief, mentions of underage drinking, depictions of paternal emotional abuse, depictions of anxiety/panic attacks, discussions and depictions of sports-related injuries (primarily a sprained wrist), condemned homophobia, condemned xenophobia, off-page teenage cancer patient, and condemned mention of exclusionary transphobia in sports
Racquel Marie grew up in Southern California, where her passion for storytelling of all kinds was encouraged by her friends and big family. She received a BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in gender and sexuality studies from the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Ophelia After All, You Don't Have a Shot, and many unfinished first drafts.
Mariana Felix-Kim (she/her) lives in Washington, D.C. with her lovely cat, Leo. When she is not working in the environmental science field, Mariana is constantly reading. Her favorite genres include non-fiction, thrillers, and contemporary romances. Mariana is half Mexican and half Korean. You can find her on Instagram: @mariana.reads.books
