Blog Tour Review & Giveaway | Dangerous Play by Emma Kress

Title: Dangerous Play
Author: Emma Kress
Pages: 352
Buy Link: bookshop

Synopsis:

A fierce team of girls takes back the night in this propulsive, electrifying, and high-stakes YA debut from Emma Kress

Zoe Alamandar has one goal: win the State Field Hockey Championships and earn a scholarship that will get her the hell out of Central New York. She and her co-captain Ava Cervantes have assembled a fierce team of dedicated girls who will work hard and play by the rules.

But after Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party, she finds a new goal: make sure no girl feels unsafe again. Zoe and her teammates decide to stop playing by the rules and take justice into their own hands. Soon, their suburban town has a team of superheroes meting out punishments, but one night of vigilantism may cost Zoe her team, the championship, her scholarship, and her future.

Perfect for fans who loved the female friendships of Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie and the bite of Courtney Summer’s Sadie.

REVIEW

content warnings: sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape/mentions of rape, misogyny, violence, sports injury, near-death situations

Dangerous Play by Emma Kress is a contemporary sports YA following fierce field hockey captain Zoe Alamandar and her tight-knit team. Zoe has one goal – win state championships and earn a scholarship for college. She’s almost there too. It’s her junior year and the team she hand-picked with her co-captain is good. Then Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party. Struggling to cope with the trauma, she and her team decide to take justice into their own hands. Could a single night of vigilantism take it all away?

This book highlights the importance of female friendship and bonding through a sport that’s not typically considered “feminine”. The characters were relatable, human, extremely likable, and very diverse.

This was inspirational, heartwarming and the cover immediately drew me in.

The story itself was fast-paced and well thought out. It had me hooked up until the last page and I read it in less than three hours. This may seem like an unnecessary complaint but I have to mention that. If I see the word fockey, or any variation of it, one more time I might scream and throw the book out the window. Field hockey somehow equals fockey? Nope! I literally did a google deep dive to figure that out and the “references” didn’t stop there. Almost every page had at least four fock-it’s and absofockinglutely’s which were extremely annoying to read.

Overall, the story and characters were great and I’d totally recommend this to friends and the bookish community. The synopsis said ” Perfect for fans who loved the female friendships of Jennifer Mathieu’s Moxie and the bite of Courtney Summer’s Sadie ” but I personally think that if you liked The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, you’d enjoy this. I was thinking while reading that the book somewhat reminded me of THUG and I really liked that book so if you did too, give this one a try.

Thank you to TurnThePage tours for providing me with a finished copy and the opportunity to read this book. I really enjoyed it!

About the Author

Emma Kress loves writing about badass girls and her debut novel DANGEROUS PLAY (Macmillan, Summer 2021) is a fast-paced thriller about a team of field hockey players who refuse to accept the world as it is, and set out to change it.

An educator of over 20 years, Emma was one of four finalists for New York State Teacher of the Year. She is a graduate of Vassar College, Columbia University’s Teachers College, and the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. Before teaching, Emma worked in social services helping survivors of sexual assault. Now, she lives with her family in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Tour Schedule

August 22nd

Turn the Page Tours – Welcome Post

August 23rd

Kait Plus Books – Author Guest Post
Brinns Books – Review

August 24th

Caitlyn Barlow / Book Corner – Review
Belle’s Archive – Review

August 25th

Infinite Pages – Review
Melancholic Blithe – Author Interview

GIVEAWAY

Up for grabs, we have ONE (1) finished copy of Dangerous Play by Emma Kress. This giveaway will be open to U.S. residents only and will run from August 22nd to August 30th at 12 AM CST. To enter, click the link below!