I was hoping for a cozy sapphic YA sports romance and I feel like a few content warnings are called for in this book.

There's biphobia, slut shaming and lesbophobia, at least called out eventually, but kids aren't perfect and say problematic things, so I didn't have an issue with the way that was handled, though the way it was called out sounded like a college gender studies textbook. There's a main character processing grief after losing her mother to cancer. It's also spicy for a YA book but I thought the open-door sex scenes and makeout sessions were fairly tame. Teens do have sex. She's got a trans brother who was a side character and I liked how her mom was shown to be imperfect by not accepting him coming out to her.

This book is marketed as to age 12 and up but because of the spiciness and heavy themes it's better suited for older teens.

I was just disappointed because this book had heavier themes than I wanted from it and for over half the book Evelyn was with a boyfriend and I wanted the focus to be on the queer romance. The boyfriend wasn't a shitty guy, just a boring football quarterback and she wasn't interested in him. That's the main reason I'm rating this book low. I'm tired of queer girls being with boring boyfriends for most of the romance to show that they're bi/pan.

That and I didn't really see the chemistry between Rosa and Evelyn; they went straight from rivals (and Evelyn was so self-absorbed and unlikable, I had a hard time rooting for her), to messy and stupid misunderstandings, to soulmates, it was all kind of abrupt. I felt like Evelyn should have stood up for her more and her friends weren't a very good support group for her. They fought over petty, shallow things.

I liked the way her queer awakening was handled though I was cringing the whole way through. But again, teenagers are problematic and I think it's important to show that in YA. I also liked how she struggled to find a label that fit and wasn't sure if queer, pan or bi worked for her; it's good to show on page questioning. A lot of queer people feel like that and feel boxed in by fixed categorization. I think it's good for teen readers to see that inclusivity.

I also liked the elements of field hockey and women's sports. I know nothing about field hockey and I was intrigued by the culture around a sport that doesn't get much attention or prestige. And I liked how Evelyn's grief was handled and her single-minded focus on getting into Duke as a way of being close to her mom. Teens do need to read about tough topics. But they also need coziness just like us adults.

This book has made me wonder if I'm not as ready for contemporary romance as I thought I was. When you're bored by the romance, annoyed by the stupid misunderstandings and forced drama, and think the main love interests work better as friends... meh. I do love contemporary romance when it makes me swoon right with the characters and this wasn't that for me. This was just cringe most of the way through. It would have been a stronger book as YA without the romance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

thank you netgalley for the arc! this is perfectly fine, a queer YA but the miscommunication is stupid and it might have been better as a college novel? the love interest is barely an evolved character and the friendships are not great

Kit Rosewater delivers a heartfelt and dynamic story in All's Fair in Love and Field Hockey, blending competitive sports with an irresistible queer romance. Evelyn’s journey from fierce rivalry to unexpected connection with Rosa is as engaging as it is tender. Packed with relatable characters, emotional depth, and an empowering message about love and ambition, this novel is perfect for fans of sports dramas and sweet YA romances.

YA sapphic sports romance!
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I liked the representation of LGBTQ+ characters including trans characters! There is a bit of bi/lesbophobia as a disclaimer to anyone who wants to check this out. I’m not big on field hockey but despite this, the writing kept me engaged and even intruiged about field hockey. The two MC’s have an interesting dynamic that I wish was just a little more flushed out. I felt like the story (esp the romance) was a little rushed and unrealistic. Despite those issues, I would definitely reccomend you check this out for a fun sporty YA romance.

Loved the tension in the romance, the character development and the sport spice vibe. Such a cute romance. Very easy to read very quickly. Highly recommend!

2.5 out of 5 stars

Rep:
 Queer MC, queer Chicana love interest, trans male side character

Content warnings: On-page sex between minors, references to sex, past death of a parent due to cancer, grief, panic attacks, misogyny in women's sports, racism (challenged), bi erasure (challenged), transphobia (challenged), lesbophobia (unchallenged)

This has been one of my most-anticipated reads -- sapphic sports romcoms are one of my absolute favorite niches! So it pains me to say that "All's Fair" missed the mark on a few levels.

Starting with the good, I enjoy Kit Rosewater's writing style. It's engaging and heartfelt, and I absolutely flew through the book. There are some really fantastic discussions about fluidity, the disparities between men's and women's sports, parents placing too much pressure on their kids, and just how stressful it is to try to figure out what you want to do with your life. Plus, Eve's brother Seth was an absolute delight!

However (and I'm really hoping I don't come across as a prude or pro-censorship when I say this), there's an uncomfortable amount of descriptions of minors having sex for a book that seems more marketed to adults. To clarify: I'm sex-positive and a firm believer in the value of sex education. Many teens do have sex! Regardless of whether or not they're sexually active, teens deserve access to knowledge about their bodies AND the normalization of their experiences. I even think that there *is* a place for being more graphic instead of fade-to-black, such as to provide information about how bodies work or to spread awareness about sexual abuse. What's *not* normal is including that seemingly in order to turn on grown readers. I mean, come on, its official blurb compares it to the steamy adult romance "Cleat Cute."

In the interest of fairness to Rosewater, I obviously don't know for certain that that was her intention, and I've been around Bookstagram/Booktok long enough to realize that they actually hold most of the blame in this. One of the main things influencers talk about and readers ask for is "spice levels." It makes sense that a new author would try appealing to that, in both the book and in their social media advertising of it. And as a librarian, I'm also aware of the gray space in publishing between "young adult" and general "adult;" though "new adult" is starting to gain some prominence, it's not something widely used yet. Those factors combine to create an awkward gap for stories for and about 18ish-21ish year olds.

That said, I still find it irresponsible and gross that "All's Fair" talks about minors' bodies kind of like it's erotica. At the end of the day, these characters are in high school. Plenty of young adult books include sex without trying to channel E. L. James. When you read a lot of romances, it becomes easy to tell the difference between non-graphic sex meant to normalize the act and/or advance the plot, and more detailed sex meant to make readers horny. The recently-published "Twenty-Four Seconds from Now" is *about* a teen preparing to have sex -- but in this case, the writing clearly indicates that it's meant for teens to find it relatable, educational, funny, and sweet all at once, rather than for adults to find it hot. I think that's the difference between realistic teen sex positivity and the sexualization of high schoolers. The conversations around intimacy these children (because 17 IS still legally a child) have sound almost exactly like conversations adults in their 30s have in Ashley Herring Blake novels. If I'm able to offer any advice, I would either decrease the number of mentions and descriptions of sex, or age up the characters to be in college.

It's also just...really weird to act like attraction to men is a flaw. If I was Rosewater's husband and saw "you know how much I wanted to marry a woman, and still, I married you" as part of my acknowledgement, I'd be heartbroken. I really wish we could leave behind joking about internalized biphobia. Quite honestly, I think Rosewater needs to work on that, because it also shows up in an odd rant a third of the way through implying that all lesbians are biphobic. Why can’t we have discussions about fluidity and the unique challenges bi people face without shitting on other sexualities? While I’m glad that Rosewater makes a brief comment slightly addressing this toward the end of the book, the lesbophobia still wasn’t necessary to the plot or development. So many authors treat “lesbian” like a dirty word, either not saying it at all or, as is the case here, only explicitly labeling awful characters as lesbians. At this moment in time, LGBTQIA+ people need each other more than ever. “Unnecessary” isn’t a strong enough word for petty infighting and oppression olympics. And not only does all this have dire real-life consequences for ALL members of the queer community, but it’s lazy writing.

All of that, combined with including a H*rry P*tter reference in the year of our lord 2025, makes me wonder how in tune Rosewater is with the LGBTQIA+ community at large. A queer woman who wants to write queer stories should know better than to allude to a series written by a well-known tr*nsphobe, especially since a prominent side character is trans. A queer woman who wants to write queer stories should have studied our shared history enough to know that we gained rights by banding together, not by fixating on our different labels and taking jabs at each other.

I believe that everyone is capable of changing and learning, and I really hope that Rosewater does; she has an captivating writing style and is clearly talented. If these issues evolve, I'll gladly read more from her.

Editing note: chapter 2 mentions the location being New England, and chapter 3 specifies Pennsylvania, but PA isn't actually part of New England. Also, Boston's Sports Museum isn't open in the afternoon.

**HUGE thank you to Delacorte Romance for granting me an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!**

I really wanted this to hit for me, since I was a field hockey girlie in high school, but I actually just think I wish this was an adult romance. I didn't find myself really caring about the main characters' lives to be honest.

I loved this YA sports romance! 🏑

Only two things matter to Evelyn: field hockey and getting into Duke. Only one thing stands in her way: Rosa Alvarez, her rival team’s newest recruit. After an embarrassing homecoming game loss and a tasteless prank, Evelyn confronts Rosa and the two strike up a deal. One that causes them to spend quite a bit of time together. Soon, they’re meeting in secret every day and the line between enemy and something more begins to blur. Is Evelyn falling for her nemesis and if so, what is she going to do about it? She knows one thing for sure, she can’t let anyone get in her way of keeping her field hockey promises to her mom.

This was fast paced and relatable. I really loved the characters and I was rooting for them all! This is more than just a fluffy queer romance. I especially loved the parts where Evelyn was finding herself and realizing field hockey wasn’t the only thing she could do. It’s a coming of age novel and I’m not ashamed to say that I got emotional at certain parts. Especially the ones about her mom and the unfairness in sports.

Overall, this was cute, fun, emotional and I absolutely loved it!

this was a really cute and short read, but I'm rating it 4 stars because I feel like it was really lacking some emotional depth that could have added so much more to the story and reading experience.
some of the characters were also slightly annoying, but that's okay because there was character development.
an overall solid ya sports romance :)

I really enjoyed this queer, YA, field hockey rivals-to-lovers romance! It was a great way to finish my reading year on December 31st as my 460th book. The interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics felt realistic to a teen figuring out their identity (in more ways than one). Expectations (from others and oneself), grief, death of a parent from cancer, sexuality, intimacy, friendships, relationships (romantic, familial, and otherwise), finishing high school, starting college, sports (especially girls’ and women’s sports), gender, choices, succeeding at goals, failing at goals, changing one’s goals, and more are covered in this novel and it never felt forced or like too much was going on. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was rough for me. There were a lot of stereotypes that turned me off. They were addressed in the end as being shitty behavior, but the fact that they were used at all was annoying. Also, it was hard to root for the main character. The trauma of losing her mom made sense, as did the stress of the promise, but some of the choices she made after meeting Rosa were ridiculous. I liked the way it all wrapped together though.

really well done and cute romance with some awesome characters. 4 stars. tysm for the arc. woulc redommenc.

3 stars but I have a lot to stay!

Pros: I REALLY liked the back half of this book. Eve's dead-mom-trauma was really thought out in the second half of the book. Seth's competing trauma was also really interesting and I wish we could have explored that a little more in the first half of the book. The first half and the second half feel like two entirely different stories and I wish they were meshed a bit more. I feel like a lot of these things would still be bleeding into Eve's thoughts and life, even if she's forcing herself to ONLY focus on field hockey. Eve's feelings about her mom were so genuine and made for GREAT sentence-level craft.

The romance was sweet, perfect for teen audiences. I think a lot of the snap-decisions that Eve made were perfectly in line with being a teenager girl trying to figure yourself out. The drama was exactly the kind of high-school age drama that I expect two 17 year olds to get in— feeling older than they are because they're on the cusp of adulthood.

Cons:
Evenlyn is bisexual and Rosa identifies as queer. That leaves our single named lesbian character as Melanie— who, unfortunately, seemed to be there only to fulfill a mean-lesbian stereotype. The entire conversation about LUG and BUG (things I'm not even sure teenagers talk about anymore in 2024, as it had already gone out of style when I was in HS in 2010) and having Melanie push the idea of fake-gay/questioning bisexuality really soured my reading experience as a lesbian. "Mean and don't believe in bisexuality" is a lesbian stereotype in majority of queer media. And then Melanie didn't really have much more to do with the story, just kind of there as a device for Evelyn to have a sexuality crisis.

Overall:
Slightly soured by the named Lesbian character being relegated to a stereotype, but really enjoyed the majority of there rest of the book.

3.5 rounded up. If I’m honest Evelyn was a bit annoying. I know this was a coming out story and was about field hockey but she was so quick to just fall for obvious manipulation by her friends and then to forgive them. I wasn’t a fan of Katie or the fact they maintained a friendship after how shitty she was. You should accept treatment like that from a friend. She was also too into field hockey. Which I know is part of the point but… there are other things to life and the fact her sport feeds into her aspirations for college with no explanation of what she would do with a gender studies degree focused on sports.

I liked the first half of this a lot, but I did get a bit frustrated by the sports aspect of it. It didn't seem realistic that she could be a goalie for one of the top high school teams in the country but not have any colleges other than Duke (a strong athletic schools) recruiting her, and it didn't seem realistic that a team would have only one goalie. I would give this author's next YA book a shot though!

This was such a great romance novel and worked in the young adult element that I was looking for. The plot had that charm that I was looking for and enjoyed everything that was written. It had a realistic concept and enjoyed the sports element that I was looking for. I enjoyed the way Kit Rosewater wrote this and left me wanting more.