ARC Review: All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey by Kit Rosewater

A high school field hockey star must choose between her love of the game and her new, distractingly beautiful rival in this queer YA romance perfect for fans of She Drives Me Crazy and Cleat Cute!

Evelyn was raised to see field hockey as war.

Before she could write her own name, her family’s legacy on the field was already spelled out. Every step Evelyn takes toward glory is within a footprint her mother left behind. And no step matters more than this next one, with Evelyn about to lead her varsity team into their final battle season. Evelyn is beyond ready to score the Nationals title and win the critical scholarship to her mom’s alma mater that comes with it.

This year, she’s out for blood, and nothing can stand in her way…

…except for Rosa Alvarez, the highly talented new recruit on her biggest rival’s team.

After a humiliating homecoming game and follow-up prank leave the two enemies in a stalemate, they grudgingly strike a deal to help each other overcome their weaknesses on the field. But the more time Evelyn spends with Rosa, the more she finds herself casting her hardened armor aside, until she begins to wonder what life might be like if she left the battlefield behind and fought for love instead.

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**All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey comes out May 6, 2025**

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t really expecting anything too crazy when picking up this book, but I think overall it was a lucky pick up. I haven’t read a YA in a while, and I think this one was fairly well written.

All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey is not the most original title, but still aptly named. The story follows our protagonist, Evelyn, whose whole life revolves around her place as a goalie on the school’s field hockey team. Her mom, who tragically passed away a few years prior, had laid out the path perfectly for Evelyn, who strives to follow through. The problem ends up being that the one person in the way of her goal happens to be the main player, Rosa, on their biggest rival team. Chaos ensues when Evelyn and Rosa end up spending more time together . . .

I found this story to be very sweet. I think the little childish moments played out well, in a way that wasn’t annoying like you sometimes find in these kinds of YA books. The story tackled many touching themes like family, survivor’s guilt, balancing academics, planning for the future, and handling stress. There were almost too many themes, and I think sometimes that detracted from a more focused story, but I’m not going to hold that too much against the story.

The characters are all pretty real and human in their own way. Their youth also shows in their rash decisions and the way they may speak first and regret later. The way the characters learned and grew from their actions was mostly quite a natural progression, and I enjoyed the story in that sense. The whole “secret relationship” kind of vibe to the story also gave it quite a thrilling element, which I also enjoyed.

One gripe I did have though, was that at some pivotal intense moments, the youth suddenly talked the adults—using big words and language that felt a little bit too sophisticated for the level of thoughts I was expecting from the characters. May this is me just reading a little bit too much into it, but ultimately it did take away a bit from the intensity of the moment when it feels like lines are out of character. Ultimately, this didn’t happen too many times though, so not something I minded too much.

Overall the story arc was quite satisfying, and I found it easy to read through it. The story was nothing crazy unique, but I felt that it was pretty well executed and I had a good time reading it. The romantic element was as expected, and I think was tackled well. The relationship felt realistic, and I think the interactions were fairly genuine and suitable for the characters. This definitely made the story feel more genuine, which I enjoyed.