I Like Me Better
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
This is not how soccer star Zack Martin thought his summer would go.
When the captain’s prank means trouble for the whole squad, Zack’s left with no choice but to take one for the team and cover for him.
Now he’s trading parties and beach days for community service at a seaside conservation center — fair enough. But thanks to his new reputation, the cute intern, Chip, won’t even give him a shot. Still, Zack finds himself falling for Chip between dolphin encounters and shark-costume disasters, which means he suddenly has way more on the line than he ever expected.
Zack may be good at winning on the field, but can he keep up the lie without losing himself?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Weber (If You Change Your Mind) ambitiously blends environmental activism and lighthearted romance in this frothy summer read. When 17-year-old Zack Miller's soccer captain, Ryan, is caught out for pranking a rival team by hiding a dead hammerhead shark in their locker room, Zack's entire squad stands to take the fall. Worried that their coach will cancel important summer matches, and hoping to drum up goodwill ahead of the vote for next year's captain, Zack claims responsibility and is sentenced to community service hours at a nearby seaside conservation center. While running on the beach, he meets and immediately crushes on Chip, an intern at the center. But after Zack learns that Chip is Ryan's cousin, Zack spins a slowly spiraling web of lies to keep the prank—and the truth about its real perpetrator—secret from Chip. Zack's insecurities and yearning to fit in, both at school and in soccer, are skillfully juxtaposed against his budding relationship with Chip, with whom he feels comfortable enough to explore new facets of his personality and interests. Accessible prose and a pleasant cast round out this beachy tale. Main characters cue as white. Ages 13–up.
