len ❀'s Reviews > You Don't Have a Shot

“I play because it makes me happy. Because it connects me to other people and forces us to share our mistakes and successes as a team instead of experience them all by ourselves. Because when I make a tricky pass and my teammate receives it anyway or I’m in a tough spot and someone opens up for me, I feel like I can count on people. And they can count on me.” I take a deep breath. “I count on all of you. I believe in all of you. Winning matters; of course it does. But the spirit of playing, of working alongside the other players on the field and making something magical happen with just our bodies and minds and heart, that’s what really matters. I guess I just wanted to say thank you for showing me that again.”

And isn’t that what winning should be about? What it should feel like? Unfortunately for Vale, it wasn’t like that from the start.

You Don’t Have a Shot can be described with a few things—a YA sapphic romance, rivals to lovers, coming of age, and found family. It features complex relationships, authentic characters, new epiphanies, dysfunctional families, supporting friendships, and a sudden fondness for the person you least expected to like.

When we first meet Vale, she comes off as many things, none too good—prickly, arrogant, stubborn, proud. Although, while the reasoning behind characters acting the way they do are always related to either their childhood, parents, or personal struggles, I will say, Vale’s felt much more raw and personal. I think part of it has to do with Racquel Marie’s storytelling and way of writing her character. She’s aware of her behavior and how it comes across against others, but is unaware of how to fix it. Vale’s character is realistically flawed, showcasing layer upon layer of a teenager trying to make it through high school, a summer camp, taking care of her brothers, grief, and her manipulative, controlling and unsupportive father. She’s a teenager about to turn into young adulthood juggling the life she wasn’t supposed to be given. Her character development is slow, but we really see what’s inside her mind, which helps us become more understanding of her behavior. She unconsciously berates others, but it feels more personal than critical. Her only goal is to win, because all that is in her mind is winning. What bothered me at first became a position I stood on with full sympathy, only because I could even relate. Most of her reasoning behind her shitty personality and attitude came from her fathers unconscious controlling voice. She’s stubborn like her father, and her selfishness came for the sake of her future only. Although she does start off as someone who only cares about her benefit, Vale’s growth is beautiful to witness. We see her become the young woman she would’ve never been able to become had it not been for the people around her giving her that first taste of freedom and happiness without a care in the world. She finds a different sense of belonging and comfortableness with her teammates that she’s able to learn from them.

While Vale may be a courageous and strong midfielder, she’s emotionally weak, projecting her emotions onto others, without a second thought of how their feelings may be affected. However, we see her learn from her previous mistakes, and she allows herself to be taught by others. Her emotions become easier for her to grasp, and she’s able to have control of her own life outside of winning the tournament. Vale came off as entitled and discouraging. She was angry, cared about no one else but her, thought about what she wanted only and not others, and made it seem like the world would end if she didn’t win. But could I blame her entirely? No, not really. Her whole life seemed to be right in front of her but she couldn’t see it all. She only saw the parts she thought were the most important, not realizing the moment she was living was one of her most important moments of life. She was taught differently, and it took a summer camp training of soccer with her nemesis to see that. In short, she finally took out the stick that was up her ass.

And while Vale had a grumpy and colder exterior, Leticia is her complete opposite. She comes off as more care-free, supportive, and aware. She’s in the summer camp for the joyous feeling it produces, and for the benefit she gets for training and helping others. Her goal isn’t just to win like it is for Vale, but to make memories, have fun, and enjoy the time she has at the moment. She’s strong, fierce, selfless, and prickly, but her attitude comes off as useful both on the soccer field and outside. She’s a natural-born leader, one who helps others stand up and keep going forward. Even if I’d describe her as feisty, Leticia is warm-hearted, loving, and brave. She’ll have her own set of goals but will do her best to help others accomplish theirs, even if it means putting hers behind.

There’s a difference between criticism that’s constructive and criticism that’s cruel. The problem with living your entire life sitting on one side of that line is never really knowing what the other side looks like.

Even if there is a big focus on the characters, the romance between Leticia and Vale is worth mentioning. They’re rivals from the start, so being co-captains for the same team wasn’t looking like the best set up for Vale. But as they train together, their harshness towards each other mellows down. The relationship is sweet, to say the least. Even if the enemies and rivals to lovers tropes aren’t my favorite due to how loosely marketed it is, I thought Racquel pulled it off with these two. It’s pretty slow-burn, with the two unconsciously doing things for the other, which I gotta say, I was a huge fan of: Vale slowing down her jog so Leticia catches up; Leticia stopping her run and stretching her calves while Vale ties her shoes; Vale keeping Leticia’s jacket and Leticia not asking for it back; Vale trying to fix her messy morning hair when Leticia is in her bedroom; Leticia getting herself a red gatorade and Vale a yellow one even if she teases her about it (the only one she drinks); Vale letting Leticia call her Valentina despite the fact that she hates it; Vale knowing Leticia is a vegetarian because she noticed she never get meat in the cafeteria; Leticia standing up for Vale against her father and praising her as “one of the best player’s [I’ve] ever seen”; Vale sprinting to Leticia when she’s hurt; Leticia using Vale’s bruise on her face as an excuse to “check” and touch her face. When I say it’s the little things, this is what I mean.

Another thing I appreciated about their relationship is how their rivalry never really subsided. Their sassy banter was kept up, even in the epilogue, when they were dating but were still on opposite teams. The two also didn’t feel like it would be right if their rivalry was no longer a thing, which I think really made the relationship stand out more because of how it was always a part of the relationship to begin with. But instead of it being aggressive, it was loving, even if a little teasing. I was a huge fan of this, and I can even say that You Don’t Have a Shot takes the spot as my favorite rivals to lovers books. Besides the eye-rolling worthy moment of “I never hated you,” everything else was spot on. The banter. The sass. The confusion from rival to acquaintance to partner to friend. The unconscious care. The little actions. Their private shared moments. Shout out to Racquel Marie because this is not only my first sapphic rivals to lovers book, but also my current and new favorite.

“Well, I guess it’s just nice we haven’t grown out of the rivalry.”
She looks down at me, making a big show of the few inches of height separating us. “I don’t think you’ve grown out of anything.”
“Fuck you,” I laugh. “I’m practically five-eight.”
“On a good day, I bet.”
I stick my tongue out at her. “Bad days too.”
“And what’s today?”
“What?”
She smiles sideways at me. “A good day or a bad day?”
I match her smile, feeling my heart pick up pace. “The absolute worst.”

Although I was a big fan of Racquel’s characterization of Vale, the romance, and the character development, I do think one of my only niggles in the story is the lack of Leticia’s point of view. We don’t get Leticia’s pov, and I felt like this was something missing from the story because it felt like a disadvantage. We learn some of the basics of Leticia, such as why she and Vale had a rivalry (which I wasn’t surprised that Leticia never “hated” Vale *rolls eyes*), a little bit of how she was when she was younger, and how useful the summer camp is for her, but because we aren’t inside her head, we’re not able to get a full analysis of her character. There aren’t inner thoughts or actions she makes that are helpful to use for her characterization. Everything is seen through Vale’s point of view, and because there is a rivalry, some of the book’s portion is spent on Vale thinking not the best things about Leticia (which are valid, don’t get me wrong). But I didn’t feel like I got to learn Leticia as a person as much as I wish I did. There are enough scenes to give an idea of what type of person she is–caring, compassionate, reliable, sourceful, risk-taking, caring. But besides some of the traditional and basic components that make up people, there are things about Leticia that felt like they were missing–like things about her childhood and moments of her struggles–that would help her character development. I also think this story felt more like Vale’s than anyone else’s, and if that is the case, that’s perfectly fine. I guess I was expecting more of a balance between the two. This isn’t something that affected me a lot, per se, just something I noticed and wished it didn’t bother me as much. I also wish there was a little bit more focus on Vale being asexual. It’s not to say I’m not thankful there is some representation, but it felt like it wouldn’t have made a difference if Vale wasn’t ace. There were no stereotypes or anythink, thankfully, but I also think it was useless information that contributed nothing to the story.

There is a different sense of beauty in being able to relate to characters in young adult novels. People constantly mention how they’re too old for them, but I disagree. I don’t think there’s ever an age for these books, not because you may not be able to relate at the moment, but because you’re able to look back at how these “kids” would fumble and stumble, making stupid decisions you wish you could tell them to not make. But when you think about it all, you realize you were like that at some point. There may be a lot of scenes and sections that make it more dramatic than it should be, but I don’t think we can deny that we can see our teenage selves in these teenagers and put ourselves in their shoes. With a brain still developing and real life to catch up to them, it’s no wonder they’re being rash and irresponsible. Not only that, but sometimes I even learn from them. Maybe it’s because I’m only in my 20s and it wouldn’t be the same if I was in my 30s or 40s, but young adult stories provide a different sense of comfort for me. I’m thankful that queer stories like this exist.