Sidelined

Sidelined

Genna is a star basketball player whose team is on their way to the State Championship. Most everything is going right in her life; she has college offers to fantastic schools, she starts dating the guy she's crushed on since Freshman year, Jake, and she's on the top of her game. Then she has a career-ending injury. She finds that her dream is over and there never was a Plan B. On top of all of that, her parents are fighting all of the time and when she really needs her mother, work seems more important. All of this physical and emotional pain leads to her abusing her pain medication and going to extraordinary measures in order to make sure she's never without her pills.

I loved so many things about this story. It highlighted what so many injured student athletes experience. At no point did her parents or any of her doctors think to assess her emotional wellbeing after being told that her plan can no longer happen or when her home life implodes. Genna had amazing support from her friends, Jake, and her father. Once she starts therapy, she has the best therapist she could have possibly had. He never took her answers at face value and calls her out when she's evasive.

Jake was amazing. He's invested in Genna whether she plays basketball or not. He has quite the reputation around school but took the time to change his ways before pursuing a relationship with her. He reached out for help when he saw Genna spiraling out of control. It was his interference that kept Genna's path from becoming worse than it could have been.

This was my first book by this author but it certainly won't be the last. I hope that some of the side characters get their own story!

*I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*