*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own*

Audiobook!

This is a very good and very important book, but at the same time, it makes me a little apprehensive.
For me, this is the kind of book every teenage girl should read, but I think it should be read and discussed because as much as the topics covered in this book are very real it is still fiction and in real life, things don't happen that way, where everything works out in the end.
This book is great for girls to read and not feel alone and understand their feelings, our protagonist grows up and learns a lot in this book and I think if I were between 14-16 years old I would identify a lot with Zoey and her growing up.
It would teach me a lot, but I've grown up and I've already passed this stage, that's why I can see how some things in this book only work because it's a book.
I think this book is perfect for reading and discussing in classrooms and book clubs.
I found it very necessary but I know that some things that happen in this book, however much they served as a lesson for our protagonist, it was wrong and that's not how things happen in real life!

Wow, you can really feel the pain and frustration these girls feel being constantly harassed while the authority figures in their lives refuse to do anything to protect them. Totally understandable why they would want to take justice into their own hands.

I liked the side plot with Zoe and her parents. It is important to show that teens don't always understand the reasons behind their parents' actions. A lot of the time parents do what they do to protect their children and provide for them and sometimes children need a reminder of that.

Overall an entertaining coming of age story with sports, school life, and the pressures of being a teen girl.

This is one of those books that is really hard to review. It deals with some really hard. This book has some solid characters but to be the honest the story isn't all that unique. I have read several different books with this exact set up and two of those books also deal with the same sport. So while this is a good book and talks about several important subjects its in no way original. I would still recommend it but it wouldn't be my first recommend for a book like this.

First off, thanks to net galley and the publisher for this early access audiobook! This book brought about a lot of mixed feelings for me, but overall- I really did enjoy being able to listen to this audiobook about friendship, field hockey, and feral rage.

Dangerous Play is about a field hockey team that takes a vigilantism approach to sexual assault and rape after our point of view is assaulted at a party. It’s a story that centers around the rage young girls feel, and comments on the destructiveness of that rage. I would describe it as a darker Moxie meets We Ride Upon Sticks. For a lot of the book, there’s some “kill men energy,” as Youtuber Carley Thorne would put it, but it takes a turn into discussions of the way holding onto anger corrupts, which is a good thing, but not exactly what I was expecting. Or, if I’m honest, what I wanted.

Let’s start with the good, shall we? I LOVED the narration on this audiobook. This narrator was spectacular in getting across the emotions of each scene, and I found myself gripped by her point of view and her acting. She was not monotonous in emotional climaxes- she was on edge, she was crying, she was feeling everything her character was feeling. I deeply enjoyed the audiobook itself, and have no problem recommending it to others on that note.

I loved the friendship dynamics in this book. I loved the way the field hockey team was written, and the way tensions rose in regards to race and class but friendship remained at the heart. I was really impressed by a scene in which the field hockey team is divided on whether or not to take a certain action, and the characters of color all step back from it. One of the characters basically says, “You shouldn’t do this, we can’t do this, because the system will not be kind to us,” and the only characters left taking things too far are noted to be the white characters. I really loved this exploration of privilege, because we so often see revenge stories from the perspective of a white woman who wants to fight the patriarchy, and forget about the nuance. I appreciated this moment solely because it was something I don’t see acknowledged a lot.

This book is hard to read at points. There is multiple scenes of graphic assault, whether physically or sexually, which I don’t think the synopsis or the cover prepares you for. It was honestly more jarring to have the cover give me the vibes of a wholesome young adult, only to turn around and provide plot points more akin to a young adult thriller. I think the cover is gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but I also don’t think it fits the actual vibe of the book.

I think this book does a lot of things right. There are a lot of nuanced discussions of chronic pain, of being a child that takes on a lot of responsibility, and so on and so forth. I do feel that children who come from homes where they have to shoulder a lot of burdens for the sake of their parents may feel cheated by the way the storyline ends, which basically says, “It was all in her head and her parents were actually working really hard!” which isn’t exactly true in a lot of cases (and didn’t seem all that true in regards to the actual book).

If you’re looking for a book that will portray characters toppling the patriarchy for catharsis, I don’t think this is the book for you. If you’re looking for a nuanced look at how sexual assault survivors cope with trauma with messy characters that make messy, unlikable decisions, then this is the book for you. I personally really enjoyed Dangerous Play, but I’d make sure you are ready for this when you read it. The depictions of sexual assault in this book are fairly graphic, as well as the actual scenes of assault during the vigilante justice. It could also be triggering for children of neglectful parents, or children with chronically ill/suffering parents. Take care of yourself, and if that means skipping on this one, that’s okay.

Dangerous Play centers on a high school field hockey team and their fight for the championship-- as well as their fight against sexual assault and the system that continuously lets them down. Let me tell you, I LOVED this book. I was given an ARC of the audiobook by Netgalley (thank you so much!) and couldn't stop listening once I started. The rage I felt at the injustice the girls faced was palpable, but the sisterhood of this team and the way they supported each other made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. While the girls didn't always handle the situation quite right (and didn't always see eye-to-eye about solutions), they always had each other's backs at the end of the day.

I found the protagonist, Zoe, to be charming and at times a bit frustrating, which is exactly how I expect to feel about living in a teenage girl's head. I also loved all of her teammates and their nuanced personalities and relationships. The dash of romance was adorable as well. The intense moments, both in games and out, had me at the edge of my seat. Rachel Jacobs' narration hit the nail on the head, giving life to the story and nailing the emotions of every scene. By the end, I was misty-eyed and empowered. Highly recommend if you want to see girls kicking ass and finding their strength in each other.

It should be noted that this book contains several instances of sexual assault and harassment. Please take this into consideration before reading.

I LOVE this book!! I love that it’s a cast of powerful young women who empower each other, rather than try to tear each other down. I love that the competition is on the field, not amongst themselves. I love that they are goal driven and diverse and flawed. I love the friendships, and openness, and family dynamics. I love that this brings the #MeToo movement to teens and explains, without patronizing, what it is, why it started, and why it matters to them.

Ok, maybe the author tried a little too hard to cover all the diversity and politically correct topics, but at least it was done tastefully.

There is laughter and sadness, tragedy and triumph. There is vigilante justice, and racial and sexual injustice.

As a teacher, these are the books I look for to fill my class library. These young women are the examples I want to use for my young women who are just learning to use their voices and find their path. I applaud the effort of the author to make the language genuine and timely.

My one serious criticism would be the use of profanity. Yes, I loved the “fock-y” play on words, but that doesn’t excuse the over abundance of usage of fu*k. Maybe since I listened to the audio and didn’t actually read the words, it’s actually the homonym each time, but to me, it sounded like an awful lot of the profanity word, and only occasional use of the pun.

I want to include this in my classroom library, but will certainly include trigger warnings for sexual assault, rape, harassment, misogyny, body shaming, and teen drinking.

I appreciated the voice actor’s subtle intonations that brought life to the characters, showed their distinct personalities, but always remained true to the teens that they are.

This book brings up many needed conversations. I need more strong, empowering girls fighting against misogyny and rape culture in books.

It is Zoe’s junior year of high school. She’s the captain of her field hockey team and all she really wants is to win the State Championships and get a scholarship to her dream school. Then everything changes when she gets sexually assaulted at a party. Now she has a new goal: to make sure that no girl feels unsafe again. Her and her teammates decide to go against their sexist school who isn’t doing anything about the situation and take matters into their own hands.

I loved the friendships between the characters. All the characters were diverse, realistic, relatable, and likable. This book focuses on female empowerment and teamwork, on and off the field, which we need more of in YA books. I appreciated how there wasn’t the typical “mean girl” here. It was all about the girls’ friendship. It was really interesting reading about their dynamics and it felt like an actual friendship. They all had unique reactions and emotions to things that happened which brought the story together. Some of the decisions the characters made were quite dumb but that honestly made it more realistic.

The writing was pretty good. It showed emotion well. I had a few problems with the pacing as it seemed a bit slow and uneven at times but it wasn’t too much of an issue.

I loved how this book touched on difficult subjects. It went over the double standards the school had, victim blaming, how consent culture isn’t rape culture, internalized misogyny, intersectional feminism, and more. There was even some discussion about white privilege. I do wish that these topics were a bit more expanded on, but they were important to read about nevertheless.

I felt that the heavy topics of sexual assault was handled well. It wasn’t glorified in any way. Zoe took her experiences and used them to help other girls. I loved how this shows victims that your experiences don’t define you. It was hard to read about but I feel that it’s necessary for people to learn about in order for things to change.

I liked learning about Zoe’s story with her family off the field and out of school. By the end of the book she learns more about herself and gets closer to her family.

Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it if you’re looking for a story about strong female friendship.

trigger warnings: sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape/mentions of rape, misogyny, violence, sports injury, near death situations, and bodyshaming.

Thanks to NetGalley and BigSky Audio for an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Co-captains Zoe Alamandar and Ava Cervantes have worked extra hard off season to build a winning field hockey team. Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party, other team members are also dealing with sexual harassment, and the school wont do anything about it. Zoe pushes the team to fight back and ends up going too far.

I loved comradery among the team.

It is so frustrating that the system is not set up to support young women in need. While Zoe and some teammates took it too far, I did love that they had each others backs and wanted to help others. I thought about this book a lot during the couple of days it took to listen to it. I hope it continues to get the message out to empower women and punish sexual assault perpetrators.

I enjoyed listening to Rachel Jacobs' narration.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio edition of Dangerous Play by Emma Kress.

Zoe is a tough chick, she plays hockey, does parkour to train, and takes no crap. So when her power is taken away from her in the form of sexual assault, she is stunned. And even more shocking is learning how often is happens to her friends.

Refusing to stand by and do nothing, Zoe and her friends start a form of vigilantism, saving other girls from their fate, searching parties for potential predators to stop. But one effort goes a bit too far, getting Zoe in over her head.

I get why this book was written. It's an important topic, and happens way too often. There is also a huge problem with the justice system believing young girls and placing the blame on them. But, I don't know if this is the right route. The girls, with their hearts full of love and sisterhood, did not go about it the right way, which could have made things worse for the victims. As much as I love seeing people brought to justice, I'd rather call out the actual justice system, rather than see vulnerable people put themselves in harms way.

Otherwise, I think I would have eaten this up as a teen. It was full of female badassery, sisterhood and empowerment. A little romance didn't hurt either :)

4 stars

Emma Kress's debut YA novel centers on Zoe, the m.c., who is a high school junior and enthusiastic member of her school's field hockey team. Any fun Zoe and her friends might be having is dampened - to say the least - by the continued sexual harassment, assault, and general terror they face from male identifying characters at their school. These incidents are repeated, detailed, and challenging to read, so it is easy to imagine how much tougher it is for these young women to actually experience them.

Zoe and company start off by following the proper channels, and I really appreciate the realistic depiction of how this doesn't work out for them. The adults in charge are doing everything wrong, and while this is sad in an IRL context, it's important that teen readers (and really all readers) see this disappointing but common response. Things take a weird turn that I do not love into vigilante activity, but I still think the messaging and portrayals are mostly on point overall.

Though I am never a fan of drawn out sports descriptions, I do love the thematic and literal women-on-the-same-team! elements happening throughout the novel. I expect that most young readers will find the related connections empowering, uplifting, and ideally relatable.

Despite the vigilantism that did not totally work for me, I enjoyed the novel overall and am eager to read more from Kress. Prospective readers should again be mindful of the repeated scenes of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and victim blaming.

Wow!! Honestly, this was an impulse ARC request I made and I 110% loved it! This book is super empowering YA lit with some heavy themes of sexual harassment, assault, and rape, set among a high school girls’ field hockey team. I loved the characters. I loved the messages. I loved the bits of humor and romance that were weaved throughout. I found the characters to be very relatable I was really invested in their stories. This book has a lot of heart.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was deep!
And a beautiful read about strong women and the problems in our society!
A must read for every person on this planet!
Thank you publisher and Netgalley for a copy!

This was a strong and powerful read about badass field hockey girls learning parkour to carry out their vigilantism against the teen boys who sexually assault them and their friends. Hard to listen to at times, and it infuriated me hearing what these girls go through and how they are brushed off and ignored. Very well written and read, a great new book.