I wanted to love this, I really, really did. Unfortunately, it just was not for me. DNF 56%.

I think this was more of a "it's not you, it's me" thing.

I was expecting something akin to Moxie. I was expecting something a bit more queer. The book was okay, but I was underwhelmed.

“We hold more power than anyone told us we could.”

DANGEROUS PLAY is a compelling young adult novel about a high school girls’ field hockey team who take revenge into their own hands. The story follows Zoe, the team captain, who is sexually assaulted at a party. Frustrated by the prevalence of sexual violence, she and the rest of the team become vigilantes, meting out justice and working to keep other girls safe.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It’s a novel about the effects of individual experiences of sexual assault and rape culture more broadly, about how the systems meant to protect survivors so often fail at doing so, and about the complexities of figuring out how to fight back. I generally love the feminist revenge vibe. I like that we see some of how Zoe grapples with having a relationship with a guy after her assault. I wish we had more about what that was like for her and how she processes and heals from the trauma she experienced. The novel goes into “not all men” territory by using language like “good ones” and “bad ones” (which is a problem since it plays into the idea that only people who can cause this kind of harm are evil and in some obvious way) and by generally focusing on individual boys and men and not rape culture and its accomplices.

A few more thoughts: There’s enough sports to pump you up and keep your attention (including a surprising amount of parkour) but not so much sports that it drags. I liked the strong sense of community that develops within the team, especially as they take risks and learn and grow together. We get a few side sapphic characters. While it seems like the author makes a solid attempt at keeping an intersectional perspective, a few parts felt more white savior-ish, and the overall focus is on the white main character’s growth and increasing her awareness of racism, classism, and other forms of oppression she doesn’t personally experience. Also, some of the dialogue feels a bit cheesy - but then again, it is YA.

I’ve avoided writing this because I dislike having mixed feelings about a book, especially since I was excited about the premise and have loved similar books. Sometimes I feel like I’m too harsh a judge on books written about issues I’m particularly involved in, so I guess take this with a grain of salt. Thanks to Macmillan for the eARC and OrangeSky Audio for the ALC!

Content warnings: attempted & actual sexual assault/rape (one described in depth), sexual harassment, injury

I rarely write a review on goodreads, but this one got one and a 5 star rating. I was so impressed that Kress was able to handle writing a whole teamful of characters in such a deft way. As well as tackling very heavy (and real) topics, there were plenty of times of lightheartedness and sisterhood that counteracted what could have become a very dark story. Augh, just thinking about it while writing this makes me excite about it. Amazing book.

I had a really hard time getting into this one. It just wasn’t for me. I’m not sure why I just couldnt get into it.

3.5 stars

This book had a lot of good things. The exploration of the aftermath of something so tragic as an SA was very hard to read but it was done very tactfully albeit not too deeply. I just wish that would've been the main focus of the story, the actual emotional ramification of that. Heck, I would've love if the girls had gotten full vigilante plot! But what we got was a pretty lukewarm story.
I feel part of the issue was that there were too many things or subplots that in the end none of them developed fully.
It's a shame because the potential for an amazing book was there.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to listen this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

One of my favorite tropes in YA is teenage girls who are involved in athletics fighting back against some type of injustice, and this book delivers on that in so many ways. It is a book full of pain and rage and a whole mishmash of emotions that I think will appeal to YA readers of all ages.

In fact, this book does not shy away from the harsh realities of what young women have to deal with on a daily basis. Instead, it dons the mantle of female rage, sees how far that rage can be pushed, and the consequences of actions. It is just a phenomenal YA book, though I felt there were a few unresolved storylines.

Narrator Rachel Jacobs gives an excellent performance, especially with the number of characters she has to handle.

Unfortunately this book did not work for me. I think a big part of this had to do with the narrator of the book, but I also thought the premise was not executed as well as I had hoped. I thought some of the writing was very immature even though the subject matter was a very mature topic which ultimately hindered my overall enjoyment. I think some of the actions the characters took were unrealistic and questionable. Zoe’s account of her sexual abuse was one of the better parts of the books and the emotions the narrator put into that scene was also very harrowing. Besides that though I thought Zoe’s character was whiny and she didn’t make the best decisions. When almost her entire team and her best friend told her a decision she was making was going to have negative consequences, she didn’t even attempt to take a step back and think that maybe she was not making the best decision. I did really enjoy the team aspect because I have never read a book with an emphasis on sports. I still encourage everyone to read this book because I know there have been many people who really enjoy it, but unfortunately I was not one of those people!

Dangerous Play by Emma Kress was one of those books that kept popping up in my timeline in social media. I was interested in the blurb. Female sport related young adult contemporary. There were also some triggering topics like sexual assault & violence.

Things I liked:
Female friendship.
Girls standing up for their safety against sexual assault.
Rachel Jacob's narration.

Overall it was an interesting read.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for honest review.

Dangerous Play follows protagonist Zoe, the co-captain of her school hockey team as she tries to lead her team to the State Championships. This will not only be the first time the school’s women’s hockey team has made it to the State Championships, but it will also help to secure her a college scholarship.

After being sexually assaulted at a party and seeing all the derogatory comments and gestures made towards the girls at her school she decides to take action. Banding together with her ‘stick chicks’, they become masked vigilantes, vowing to protect all the girls in towns from the unwanted advances of the highschool boys. Driven by the goal to make sure no girl ever feels unsafe again, she and the others will stop at nothing. Until one night, they go too far, which might cost Zoe and the team everything.

I was excited to listen to this one after reading the synopsis. I could see some similarities between the themes of this book and that of Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu which I thoroughly enjoyed. The female hockey aspect of this book was rather enjoyable, although I don’t know anything about the sport! I also loved the strong themes of friendship and female empowerment throughout. The strong character development is a highlight for this book. The author did an excellent job at showing the intensity and struggles of the main characters and the personal changes they go through.

I didn’t like the scenes around the incident with the firearm violence. I thought it was unnecessary and didn’t put the girls in the best light. It wasn’t dealt with properly and I feel it wasn’t okay to promote this type of behaviour as an appropriate response. Yes there was push back by some of the team, but the lack of accountability for the girls at the end really bothered me.

This was a great Debut novel from Emma Kriss. I’d recommend this to anyone who loved Moxie and books on female empowerment. The audio narration was great and easy to listen to.

Trigger warnings: sexuaol assault, rape, toxic masculinitym sexuals harrassment, gun violence, violence

*3.75 Stars*

Zoe wants nothing more than to be a field hockey state champion. And she has trained all summer alongside her team. She's co-captain and will do anything for her girls.
But things happen and Zoe realizes that the world isn't fair. And she'll do anything to make it right. Her way. So what if it involves putting on ski mask and scaring the shit out of people.

This had some good things and some not so good things in it. Overall it was a good read though. It just took me some time to fully get into the story because of the main character... I don't know, I found her pretty annoying at the beginning and it took me some time to make myself pick this book back up.
But, yes, I had a good time overall and I enjoyed getting to know the side characters and seeing the main character grow.
Basically, I thought this was good but I have read better books on a similar topic...

As a recovering high school and college field hockey player, I was very excited to read Dangerous Play. Unfortunately, the characters just did not resonate with me and because of that, I did not love the book like I wanted to. I'm pretty sure this is a case of "it's not you, it's me" and others are really going to think Dangerous Play is great.

Really really wanted to like this one. Very slow paced and couldn’t really get into it. Hopefully I will reread it soon and enjoy it better. But for now 3 stars is the best I can give it.

The concept of a vigilante field hockey team bent on revenge was what made me excited to try this book. I thought it was going to be as powerful as Michigan vs. the Boys, and the story could have totally been as good as that one, if it wasn't for the way this book tried to discuss too many issues at once and how the characters and plot were as flat as pancakes.

This book was just repetitive and I got bored pretty fast as I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Even the writing style was repetitive: I was so tired of hearing the girls say "Absofockinglutely!" and "Stick Chicks!" I wanted to throw this book out of the window sometimes. There is also extensive description of gameplay throughout the entire book that sounds the exact same every time. The games added exactly nothing to this book, there were no stakes involved. They followed a bit of a formula where the team works great together, then something happens and they start to lose games, but then things get settled, coach gives them some grand speech and they start winning again until something new happens and it starts all over again. It really failed to hold my attention for more than one third.

I definitely didn't pick this book up for the games; I was interested in how the girls would be getting revenge on the guys and how the book would discuss sexual assault and misogyny. And for a while it did: I was very taken aback by the way the author wrote Zoe's traumatic experience and her spiraling thoughts after it had happened. I had goosebumps because of the impact it had on me. Unfortunately that's the only good thing I can say, because this central theme of the book wasn't explored enough, in my opinion. The book meandered through a plethora of minor subplots that took the foreground at times and I had no idea where the plot really wanted to go at the end.

I think this book was written on a very surface level. It had the potential to explore things in a deeper way but decided to go another route instead. I can apply this not only to the plot but also to the characters. It was difficult for me to keep them straight, I kept getting them mixed up. The only girls I remember are Liv, Ava and Dylan, and that's because they're labels to me (the mc's best friend, the other captain, the trouble girl). Zoe herself missed the mark: the only part of her life you see is hockey, parkour and her dad's disability. That's literally all she worries about and all she does every single day.

The ending was okay, although kind of unrealistic because the backlash for sure would have been way worse in real life. That's pretty much the way I feel about this book in general: not good but not awful, just in-between. I loved the audiobook though. I was kindly provided a copy on Netgalley and despite having to listen to a robotic voice on the app (because apparently the NG app still sucks after all these months and you can't speed an audiobook up without it ruining the narrator's voice ugh), I could still feel the emotion the narrator put into reading this book. Her voice was perfect for this book. If I could give stars to the audiobook production only it would be a four.

This book was so BAD ASS!!!! The group of girls are all BAD ASS, given the situations and the things that happened, they pulled through like the BAD ASS girls they are. I love characters like this, even though at times Zoe was going a little too much to the extreme at times, but then again she was standing up for her right and to also help protect other girls and her teammates as well. She was a little whiny but then again she's a teen, what do you expect right??

Anyway its a great YA book, a book I think all young people should read. I liked it but I didn't love it, there was something about it, I don't know if it was because it was via audio, idk, it was a little bland, and sometimes some books are better being read than being heard. But this book is very DEEP, topics that can be disturbing or triggering are discussed here.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Dangerous Play is such an important YA book and an amazing debut from Emma Kress. Our protagonist is Zoe - co-captain of her school's field hockey team, her main goal is to get her team to the State Championship so she can earn a scholarship. But when she's sexually assaulted at a party, her team instead take their parkour skills and act as masked vigilantes, ensuring other girls feel safe in their hometown. But do they go too far in the end?

There were quite a few things to like about Dangerous Play:
- the unique field hockey focus.
- this strong group of badass teenage girls. I honestly wish they were my friends in high school! The way they supported each other was heartwarming.
- the sensitive but honest way Kress handled the topic of sexual assault from a teenage perspective.
- the character development. Zoe grows throughout the book, as she learns to live in the "after" and reclaim her power.
- the audiobook narration, as Jacobs did a fantastic job showcasing Zoe's emotions.

Dangerous Play is the kind of novel that tugs at the emotions. While I was proud of the girls at the end, I was naturally infuriated by the honest reflection of toxic masculinity and multiple instances of sexual assault and harassment. I encourage everyone, especially teenagers, to read this YA novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for the ALC in exchange for this honest review.

Dangerous Play is a novel that acts as a reminder of the power that young women can have.
A quick rundown: Zoe Alamandar's only goal is to win the State Field Hockey Championships. This win will secure the scholarship that will allow her to live her dreams outside of Central New York. She works with her co-captain Ava Cervantes to create a team of girls that will secure the win. However, after Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party, her goals radically shift. She is driven by her need to make sure no girl feels unsafe ever again. Zoe and her teammates make the decision to stop playing by the rules and make sure justice is served. Soon after this decision, their town has a group of guardians protecting young women all over. Unbeknownst to this team, one night of protection may cost them everything. This book is full of female friendships and encouragement.

My thoughts: I was a bit hesitant to read this at first. While I was fascinated by the idea of a contemporary YA piece covering topics like sexual assault, especially from the perspective of a sports team, I knew that it might not be what I was hoping for. After listening to this, I found that I was right and wrong. I think that it was absolutely an interesting perspective, but I think that it fell just a bit short of what I was expecting. I don't know enough about field hockey to really speak to those scenes, but I did find them engaging. the vigilante aspect was interesting, and kind of fun to picture, but I don't know how much I actually enjoyed it. As more of a positive, I really enjoyed the diversity of the characters and how strong their friendships were. Both of these felt really realistic, and I felt like I could be at home in their friend group. I also liked that there were "harder" conversations happening throughout the book. While the double standard conversation was important, I think more attention could have been given to the white privilege discussion that occurred. This was a very interesting book, and I think I'd want to reread it just to see if my feelings stay the same. Trigger warnings for Dangerous Play: Rape and sexual assault, toxic masculinity, sexual harassment, near death, violence

Overall rating: 3/5

Dangerous Play is available for purchase today. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf. Also, be sure to check out Emma Kress’s website!
I was lucky enough to be able to read this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a YA book that features a fierce group of girls who are on a Field Hockey team working their way to the state championships. After a sexual assault, Zoe makes it her goal to make sure nothing like that happens to another girl. She and her teammates take justice into their own hands. While they become the town superheroes, it may cost them if anyone finds out who is doing the punishing.

I enjoyed this book about Zoe and the field hockey team and their journey to a state championship. The characters were well developed and interesting. The book dealt with issues such as gender inequity, sexual harassment, bullying, and victim blaming. I thought the author handled these topics with care. The girls were strong and fierce and when hit with obstacles they banded together in friendship instead of against each other. I was impressed with the ending and would recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for the opportunity to read and review this book.
https://www.instagram.com/dani.reads.too.much/

Wow, this book was a phenomenal young adult read. This book follows a girls field hockey team and their bond. The importance of a strong team and the friendship between these girls was at the forefront as they dealt with very hard things. There are a lot of hard topics and conversations in this book about SA, Rape, misogyny, violence, fighting, and the privilege that men often have even in highschool. I truly enjoyed all of these characters and loved how real they all seemed. This was definitely a YA book tho as the language and relationships often reflected. Overall, this book was incredibly well done!

Dangerous Play is a much needed story about a group of high school girls who decide to take a stand against the sexual harassment they receive from the men at their schools. In the #MeToo era of reckoning, this book adds a much needed layer to the discussion, as it is written for and about teen audiences.

I really liked the care in which the author put into how they portray sexual assault, and how they communicate the feelings of the main character in relation to sexual harrassment. It's not easy to read scenes depicting sexual harrassment, and the PTSD that comes afterward, but it's very important that we do.

I loved how the girls in this book took the "low road" as some may say. When reporting sexual harrassment to teachers and administration doesn't work, they take it upon themselves to stop rape and assaults' from happening by storming into the bedrooms where they take place, and getting the man away from the woman at all costs. So many stories stop at "authority figure won't listen" and I'm glad this one didn't.

Lastly, as somebody with a disabled parent, I thought the author did a fantastic job of representing hat situation, and the feelings of the main character accurately and movingly. I've never related so much to that aspect of a character, as that story typically isn't written. I'm very glad to feel so seen with this book.

My only complaint: how many times can you make field hockey puns????? There are WAYYY too many in this book and it got very annoying to read after a while.