When Aly and her longtime boyfriend, J, start their academic journey at an elite prep school, Seton Academic High, they are over the moon at how welcoming the school is. J is in line to become Seton's first Black quarterback, and both Aly and J are immersed in the all-encompassing football mania that engulfs the community. At Seton, varsity quarterbacks are gods, and the current quarterback, Parker, is no exception to the rule. When Aly discovers the truth behind Seton's flawless season, however, she and a small group of powerful girls are the only ones who stand between Seton's winning streak and justice. Thomas executes a smartly plotted debut where every page is fraught with tension, and she explores the nuances of group-initiated peer pressure. The novel showcases a diverse cast of girls, each memorable and powerful in the face of societal oppression. Thomas forces the reader to question the validity of an institution that silences and subjugates young women. This bold and unapologetic story of female empowerment will stay with readers long after the last page.

A new friendship leads a Black high school newspaper editor to pen an article that attempts to expose the real power behind her prep school football team's undefeated seasons.Parker Adams wants to continue the Seton Academic High School football legacy started by his older brother, Cooper, to secure the team's 13th undefeated season and take home a state championship. But the season unravels when a varsity player loses a flash drive with compromising information. On top of that, Parker's girlfriend, Michelle Rodriguez, hears that he slept with her best friend, Britt MacDougal. Parker is looking to restore his image by having junior Alyson Jacobs, editor of The Seton Story, write a glowing piece about him. She and J Turner, her boyfriend and Seton's junior varsity quarterback-who's on track to become the school's first Black quarterback-are bused in from a nearby town. Football is J's ticket to a college scholarship, and he and Aly enjoy the perks of the town's worship of the team. However, Aly idolizes the friendships of Britt, Michelle, Bianca Patel, and Kelly Donahue, a quartet of wealthy, glamorous girls, and she supports Britt when she accuses Parker of sexual misconduct. Aly's and J's backstories are limited, and their relationship feels underdeveloped; the focus is on their existence in connection to the elite Seton students as the racially diverse cast members explore the privileges conferred by gender and money.A timely examination of consent, power, and who owns the rights to the truth. (Fiction. 14-18)

Seton Academic High prep school’s varsity football team attributes tradition to their 12-year winning streak, and they’re not about to let anything get in the way of another victory in Thomas’s high-stakes debut. Though Aly Jacobs and her boyfriend J, both Black and 16, often feel out of place in their affluent, mostly white high school, they believe that Seton, despite its occasionally classist atmosphere, is the key to better future opportunities. J, the first Black quarterback in Seton football history, is on track to make the varsity team, but tensions run high when white Parker, the current quarterback and younger brother of the QB who led Seton to victory 13 years ago, believes that J is infringing on his territory. After Aly learns the football team’s darkest secret, she must reckon with the possibility that exposing them could unfairly and disproportionately hurt her and J’s futures. Thomas skillfully employs alternating past and present chapters, going as far back as Seton’s first win, to illustrate the sinister ways in which the school’s traditions were formed and maintained. Poignant conversations examining the lack of accountability for wealthy, well-protected men in power permeate this thought-provoking story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ann Rose, Prospect Agency. (Aug.)

Gr 9 Up —Varsity football is king at Seton, a private school near Philadelphia, where the world is so small that rumors of what quarterback Parker Adams did with his girlfriend's best friend Britt MacDougal over the summer is all kids talk about. Britt clarifies, just once, that she "didn't have a choice" with Parker. Furious that Britt dared to sully his reputation, Parker's madder still that the Seton girls—usually in thrall to the team—can no longer profess unequivocal loyalty to these charismatic athletes who share "weed, test answers, and girls" on the regular. Britt's inference that she was raped isolates her from best friends Michelle, Kelly, and Bianca; the quartet of wealthy Black girls love one another, but their popularity is now on the line. Arguments ensue. Britt's allegation bursts the bubble of their near-celebrity status. Only Aly—Alyson Jacobs, another Black girl, believes Britt, sees her pain beneath the standoff, and reaches out. Unencumbered by privilege (Aly is bussed to Seton from a poorer neighborhood), she believes in these women and the bonds of their friendship. As the first junior to edit the school's newspaper, she also wields some power of her own when she publishes an expose of the football team's criminal mistreatment of women. Realistic? Maybe not. A compulsive read—definitely. VERDICT A page-turning debut centering on a close group of Black girls and a football team's takedown following an accusation of rape.—Georgia Christgau