Enjoyable but lacked conflict and relied heavily on telling rather than showing. The revenge theme felt clichéd for a teenage narrative where natural conflicts and jealousy among characters could have been more engaging. Initially liked the characters, but they became predictable, reminiscent of Mean Girls. The attempt to inject originality with the family dog and older brother's relationship felt forced. The positive aspect was the inclusion of queer representation. However, the overall impression was that the book borrowed too much from early 2000s teenage chick flicks, particularly Mean Girls 2. As a journalist and LGBTQ creative, I had hoped for more, but it left me indifferent. Recommended for 14-16-year-olds, but feels like a familiar storyline.

Jordan (JoJo), a junior in high school, is disappointed when she's given the volleyball team beat for the school newspaper instead of an editor position, especially since Mackenzie (Mack), her former best friend who has ghosted her, is the new team captain. Mack regrets what she's done and asks Jordan to forgive her. The two slowly become friends as Jordan begins to cover the volleyball team. But as Jordan learns, there's much more to Mack than what everyone sees as the perfect student athlete.

This is a decent Sapphic YA book, with a well written young narrator voice (Jordan's is the sole POV). The book became more engaging as the plot conflicts were introduced and there were strong secondary characters in the role of Jordan's best friends and parents. The "mean girl" character's role was resolved a bit too neatly, perhaps, so that everyone came out looking good.

I appreciated the fact that Jordan was written as a fat protagonist who still gets the girl.

5 out of 5 stars

Rep: Fat lesbian main character, lesbian love interest, non-binary secondary character, bisexual Korean secondary character, Jewish secondary character

Content Warnings: Fatphobia, internalized homophobia, underage drinking, overbearing parent, bullying, mentions of drugs and sex

This is such a wonderful book that felt like getting a hug! The entire cast was delightful. I love that all the characters get to act like teens -- yes, they act stupid sometimes, but they're 16. It's expected since they aren't adults. It's genuinely fantastic that teens will be able to read this and actually see themselves and the way they act represented.
As a former journalist, I also adored re-entering the newspaper world. It's nice to read about young people who share that passion and want to make the field even better. Plus, having a non-binary journalist teacher in their late 20s? I feel SEEN.
This will be an immediate purchase when it's published. Jordan is one of my new favorite YA protagonists for how unapologetically she embraces her nerdiness and body. I too am fat nerdy lesbian, and the representation is impeccable. Mack is also precious, and I love their romance (which is rare for me when it comes to teen characters). I'm already excited to read what Jenna Miller writes next.

**HUGE thank you to Quill Tree Books for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

Look, this would have gotten five stars alone based on the fact that Jordan's favourite Doctor is 11. She has *taste.*

There's no sophomore slump for Miller here. Plain and simple. This book took every wonderful aspect of her debut and applied it here perfectly. Nerdy, fat-positive, and full of queer love and joy. I literally could not have asked for more and adored every word of this. It was just so cute and sweet and heartfelt and perfect.

This was cute, though it felt meandering in places. One strength was definitely the interesting insights to how anti-fat bias is perpetuated in lived experience, though.

Rating: 4.5 ⭐️

Thank you to Jenna, NetGalley, and HarperCollins for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

There are so many things to love about Jenna Miller’s sophomore YA Romance novel; not only is it an enjoyable, funny, and relatable read, but there’s a lightness in the way she approaches serious/emotional topics. In We Got the Beat, we got:
✦lesbian, bisexual, and non-binary rep
✦fat positivity
✦multiple nerdoms
✦volleyball
✦friends to enemies to lovers
✦love of writing
✦Korean and Jewish rep
✦sweet and decent cis, white, male teens
✦dogs

Jordan’s looking forward to starting her junior year of high school because she’s pretty sure that she’s going to be the first junior to be named the editor-in-chief of her school’s paper. On her first day, though, she finds out that instead of any editor position, she has the volleyball beat. If that wasn’t disappointing enough, her ex-friend/current nemesis, Mackenzie, is on the volleyball team.
Jo is determined to show that she can crush her assignment and not let something that happened two years ago get in the way of her journalism dreams, even if she’s still hurt by Mack’s ghosting of their friendship.
Will she be able to keep those feelings at bay? Or will some unexpected news change things forever?

Preorder We Got the Beat from wherever books are sold! If you’d like to order a signed and personalized copy, make sure to purchase from @redballoonbookshop!

Just not my cup of tea in this genre, though I am very picky for myself. In this one, the story and setup didn't work for me; even if she does need to write the best volleyball story for sports to show she can stretch herself as a reporter, why does she need to spend that much time with the team? The character relationships and motivations make no sense either. Everything was dramatic as hell for no reason, which did not help the tension and pacing, which make me lose interest in what was going to happen in the romance. DNF'ed, but I can see why others would like it!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC! We Got the Beat is definitely one of my favorite YA books that I’ve read this year!! This enemies-to-lovers, sapphic romance was so cute and had such a fun plot. I love any book that has a journalism aspect to it, so of course I ate this book up. I will say, it was predictable, but I honestly wouldn’t change a thing. I can’t wait for others to read this and I'm excited to read more from Jenna Miller in the future!

This one wasn't for me, but in this case it wasn't anything against the book--I just wasn't vibing with it. But I can definitely see teen readers loving it and valuing the representation!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

This was an absolutely adorable read! Jordan and Mackenzie were both flawed and lovable in that endearing way only teenagers can be.

Having a book like this at 16 would have made a world of difference. I’m so glad this book and others like it exist today.

Many thanks to NetGalley & the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
This is a cute YA sapphic romance featuring an enemies to lovers trope. I enjoyed it and it's a cute, clean read (except for some *responsible* underage drinking). I knocked off a star because I felt like it could have used a bit more substance.

It is so rare to read/watch stories about LGBTQ high school kids that feel like they were made for actual LGBTQ high school kids. I'm in my mid-40s, I've been out a zillion years, the world has changed shape a dozen times for queer people just in my lifetime. I *shouldn't* be able to get all the jokes and references in books about high schoolers! Sabrina *should* be a Netflix show to these kids, not a WB show from the mid-90s! Matt Smith *should* be old-school Doctor Who! I sincerely loved that this book wasn't written for me, but was written for youths that will never experience the same kinds of things I did growing up as a closeted teen. It makes me feel so hopeful. And I think it's so especially important right now with all the legislation targeting queer and trans teens. These friendships felt so lived in, the drama and romances felt so very true to high school life, and nothing gets me quote like a good supportive straight sibling!

My only struggle with We Got the Beat is that it felt like our narrator took one huuuuuuuge deeeeep breath and then told the entire story before she ran out of air! Probably that was intentional due to TikTiok Brain, but I think the story would have felt even more satisfying — and the last few chapters would have felt less sloggy — if Jordan had taken a pause to really punctuate things like her first kiss with Mack, the huge volleyball tournament victory, the big profile. Instead she just kept talking right through it!

However! This was such a sweet and empowering read and I know in my heart this one's gonna change lives!

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books + NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! quick and easy contemporary romance, I read it in a single day.
Jenna did AMAZING writing this book.


As someone who was openly out as lesbian in high school, who was the nerd & enjoyed reading on The Weeknd’, and was the outcast. who was plus size in high school, that the school desks were to small, and who is still plus size and hospital chairs are uncomfortable. (If you read the book you’ll understand that point) The “fat” representation is beautiful, exactly how it should be written. I felt so heard and seen with so many aspects in this book.

The LGBTQ+ representation was also so well written, finding ones self worth, and accepting yourself as you are and nothing less.


Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for an E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and feelings.

This was such a cute book! I really enjoyed myself while reading this. I absolutely loved that it was based in Minneapolis as a resident there:)
The characters were all so lovable and I especially loved the brother-sister bond 🥺.
It’s so amazing having another amazing book with sapphic and plus size representation!!
I would definitely recommend picking this up when it comes out, but add it to your ‘want to read’ shelf now.

This book was really great. I loved both of the characters. I loved their relationship and the explicit representation.

When it comes to YA there’s two types: one with the main characters being within the age range, and the other is YA written specifically the people in that age range. This one leaned more towards the latter. I read Our of Character and can’t remember much more than the representation it had and, unfortunately, I think that this one is just as unmemorable. The author frequently lost focus of the setting and any conversation was more monologue like and it wasn’t an enjoyable read for me. I loved the fat lesbian representation but that’s about it for me. It reads as any other YA fic you may think of when you think of YA. It just wasn’t for me.

A cute queer read that serves as a lighthearted, fluffy follow up to Miller's debut. I loved the nuanced conversations about queerness and girls in sports.

"We Got the Beat" is my second by Jenna Miller read and even though I'm not the target demographic, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the story of Jordan Elliott, a determined and resilient teenager navigating the complexities of friendship, betrayal, and self-discovery.

Miller skillfully portrays the struggles and triumphs of teenage life, capturing the essence of high school experiences with authenticity. Jordan's journey of self-discovery, acceptance, and learning to trust again is relatable and heartfelt. As she grapples with past humiliations and confronts her own biases, readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster that resonates on a universal level.

This was a great take on the jock/art type. I really enjoyed the second chance aspect of this as well. It was nice to read a YA book with a chance at falling in love but also pointing out that forever was really just for now. Great story, including the reconciliation after the third act break up! Thanks NetGalley for the eARC!

Jenna Miller's We Got The Beat is a lovely story about forgiveness and love in a way that has you rooting for Jordan and Mack the whole time! It has all of the drama and insanity of a true high school romance!