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eSports (Contests). Juvenile fiction.
Best friends. Juvenile fiction.
Friendship. Juvenile fiction.
High school students. Juvenile fiction.
High schools. Juvenile fiction.
Hispanic Americans. Juvenile fiction.
Puerto Ricans. Juvenile Fiction.
Schools. Juvenile fiction.
eSports (Contests). Fiction.
Best friends. Fiction.
Friendship. Fiction.
High school students. Fiction.
High schools. Fiction.
Hispanic Americans. Fiction.
Schools. Fiction.
How long can Emilia Romero keep up her charade?At Hillford West, her Pennsylvania high school, Emilia is a savvy junior set on living up to her hardworking Puerto Rican parents' high expectations. At night, she is a heavyweight gamer losing sleep doing what she actually wants to do: kicking serious offensive butt in Guardians League Online, a team-based, multiplayer shooting game. When the chance at winning glory-and $200,000-in an amateur GLO tournament to be held in a new esports stadium proves too tempting, Emilia risks revealing her true identity in order to play with the notoriously ruthless Team Fury. Meanwhile, Jake Hooper is a sensitive, emotionally aware White gamer who bonded with Emilia over an arcade game during a fourth grade birthday party and has never forgotten her. When their paths cross again at the GLO tournament, where Jake is also a competitor, their seemingly opposite lives become deeply intertwined. In this delightfully entertaining romance, Nedd covers an impressive range of topics with a rare combination of hilarity, sarcasm, and sincerity: toxic masculinity, doxxing, gaming culture wars, the pressure cooker of Latinx parenting, and, yes, love. Gamers and nongamers alike will squeal, cheer, and boo in this page-turner in which the high-stakes action within the tournament mixes perfectly with the vulnerable blossoming of Emilia and Jake's relationship.A sure winner. (Romance. 13-18)
ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)Emilia Romero has good grades, excellent extracurriculars, and a boyfriend everyone drools over. But these are a cover for her secret passion: Guardians League Online, the premier multiplayer online battle arena game. As a member of Team Fury, she's poised to become a rarity: an elite female gamer in a male-dominated space long as her parents and friends never find out. Enter new student Jake, a long-lost childhood friend who is also a high-level GLO player. Emilia scrambles to prevent Jake from spilling the beans about her online alter ego, inadvertently falling in love with him in the process. Told mainly by Emilia with occasional POV shifts to Jake, this is a lively game-infused romance. Nedd has the lingo of online e-sports down pat, giving the game and its players an authenticity that many other gaming-oriented YA books lack. Moreover, Nedd ably uses gaming to slice through many topics relevant to today's teens, such as racism and sexism. Gamers looking for a fun, relatable story with depth and heart should absolutely give this book a read.
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)How long can Emilia Romero keep up her charade?At Hillford West, her Pennsylvania high school, Emilia is a savvy junior set on living up to her hardworking Puerto Rican parents' high expectations. At night, she is a heavyweight gamer losing sleep doing what she actually wants to do: kicking serious offensive butt in Guardians League Online, a team-based, multiplayer shooting game. When the chance at winning glory-and $200,000-in an amateur GLO tournament to be held in a new esports stadium proves too tempting, Emilia risks revealing her true identity in order to play with the notoriously ruthless Team Fury. Meanwhile, Jake Hooper is a sensitive, emotionally aware White gamer who bonded with Emilia over an arcade game during a fourth grade birthday party and has never forgotten her. When their paths cross again at the GLO tournament, where Jake is also a competitor, their seemingly opposite lives become deeply intertwined. In this delightfully entertaining romance, Nedd covers an impressive range of topics with a rare combination of hilarity, sarcasm, and sincerity: toxic masculinity, doxxing, gaming culture wars, the pressure cooker of Latinx parenting, and, yes, love. Gamers and nongamers alike will squeal, cheer, and boo in this page-turner in which the high-stakes action within the tournament mixes perfectly with the vulnerable blossoming of Emilia and Jake's relationship.A sure winner. (Romance. 13-18)
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)
ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
"Refreshingly voice-y, wildly smart, and genuinely hilarious." - Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue From an exciting new voice comes a funny and heartfelt YA romance set in the world of competitive gaming, perfect for fans of Opposite of Always and Slay. Emilia Romero is living a double life. By day, she's a field hockey star with a flawless report card. But by night, she's kicking virtual ass as the only female member of a highly competitive eSports team. Emilia has mastered the art of keeping her two worlds thriving, which hinges on them staying completely separate. That's in part to keep her real-life persona, but also for her own safety, since girl gamers are often threatened and harassed. When a major eSports tournament comes to her city, Emilia is determined to prove herself to her team and the male-dominated gaming community. But her perfectly balanced life is thrown for a loop when a member of a rival team recognizes her . . . Jake Hooper has had a crush on Emilia since he was ten years old. When his underdog eSports team makes it into the tournament, he's floored to discover she's been leading a double life. The fates bring Jake and Emilia together as they work to keep her secret, even as the pressures of the tournament and their non-gaming world threaten to pull everything apart. Debut author Alexis Nedd has crafted a YA combo-punch of charming romance and virtual adventure that will win the hearts of gamers and non-gamers alike.