Overview

THE PLAYERS WE WERE is set in the competitive world of junior tennis. It is an enemies-to-friends relationship story about two fiercely independent teenagers who think they can solve grown-up, complex problems on their own. Alex Calvo wants to be number one, and this goal comes before anything else, including dating the boy she loves. She needs a full scholarship if she plans to attend a university and support her family, but as her match losses pile up and her tennis ranking falls, the college coaches walk away. Her last chance to impress is at the National Spring Championship in California, but she can't afford to travel across the country unless she teams up with the wealthy and despised Madison Nash. Madison needs to change her harmful behavior. She doesn't want to end up in rehab like her mother. Moving to Florida and joining a new tennis academy is a fresh start and an opportunity to leave her past behind. Her arrival alters the status quo established within Alex's group of friends. Suddenly, the friends are fighting, and the boy Alex takes for granted shifts his attention to the new girl, Madison. Once they are in California, Alex discovers there is more to Madison than what the horrible rumors insinuate. Their friendship grows. They play well together and share similar dysfunctional family issues. They both want to fix the broken things in their lives. Unfortunately, Madison's delinquent past refuses to go away, and now it has spread and stuck to Alex. Alex is on a winning streak, but no one wants to give her credit. Instead, they claim her rise to the top is due to performance-enhancing drugs supplied by Madison. After an athlete's deadly overdose, everyone turns their back on Madison, only Alex knows the truth, but should she risk losing it all to save Madison's reputation. For readers who enjoy an academy rivals sports drama with tropes of found family, forced proximity, enemies-to-friends, and first love. Also social themes of mental wellness and peer dynamics.

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9780996158862

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Reviews

""Janelle Gabay's young adult novel focuses on two rival tennis players, ultimately offering a moving message about friendship and love ... Gabay clearly understands the world of teens and elite high school tennis; she skillfully draws readers in with vivid on-the-court action and realistic challenges for her teen characters ... The characters, even passing ones, are memorable, unique and vividly depicted, including distinctive patterns of speech ... Tennis aficionados are sure to enjoy this book. But even those who've never heard of Serena Williams will find Gabay's enthusiasm for the game-and her compelling characters-irresistible."" - starred Blueink review ""Drama roils around interpersonal relationships and tennis-adjacent issues in the The Players We Were ... A dishy novel about ... two girls on the competitive youth tennis circuit."" - Clarion Foreward review by Suzanne Kamata ""Janelle Gabay delivers a contemporary young adult sports drama that dives far deeper than tennis rankings and tournament wins. Though rooted in the high-stakes world of junior tennis, the novel wrestles with addiction, secrecy, family fracture, ambition, and the fragile intensity of female friendship. Gabay's novel poses an urgent question: When winning becomes everything, what does it cost the people standing across the net from us and beside us?"" - Samantha Hui, Independent Book Review

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