Review Detail

A middle grade novel, CRUSHING IT follows two characters, Mel and Tory, as they navigate school, soccer, and family life. Mel and Tory used to be close, best friends even before one of their other friends overheard a comment one of them made. Now they don’t talk except to fight. Things at home haven’t been the greatest for either of them either. So they’ve turned to online accounts they have. They just don’t know who the person on the other side of the screen is.

What I Loved:
The depth of these characters was all-encompassing. Chapters alternate between the point of view of each of the main characters and it allows readers an in-depth look into their feelings and the situations they are dealing with. It also allows readers to piece together what happened that caused the characters to be like they are in the present day.

Even the side characters are fleshed out and human. They also have other things going on in their lives that don’t revolve around the main characters. The author paid a lot of attention to writing realistic characters and it helped the book feel fully formed.

The plot moved at a steady pace. It picks up during some of the scenes when a faster beat was called for, but then it slows down and allows readers to feel each second as it ticks by. The author’s innate sense of how fast the book needed to move helps draw readers in and keep them engaged.

The emotions in this book were vivid! The author put effort into getting the emotions right so that readers will connect with these characters and sympathize with them. Even when the characters are messy and making poor decisions, you know where the emotions are coming from and you understand them.

What Left Me Wanting More:
There was a lot of interpersonal and familial drama in this book. While the setups for them were very well-written and the author dedicated space to showing the toll this drama had on the characters, the resolution didn’t feel as impactful. It wasn’t rushed by any means, but it felt too neat considering the messiness that the drama had caused. While that will work for some readers, it may put off others. It comes down to preference.

Final Verdict:
CRUSHING IT was at times beautiful and destructive; twisting between cute moments of the characters bonding and moments of emotional anguish.