This book is long, but it was a quick read. Part of that is the lower lexile level—about a 5th grade level, although the book is definitely directed at a high school audience. I haven’t said it here recently, but about half of my incoming freshmen each year read below grade level, so having these high-interest, low-lexile books is important.

On to the book…

The school I teach at has a very successful football program, making the playoffs most of our 16-year history, including a state title. That said, we are nowhere near the rabid fans that you’ll find in this book. In East Pages, football is everything. Finn transfers to East Pages high school to further his goal of college, then pro, ball in order to support his family. His cousin Brit already goes to school there, but hasn’t really mentioned to her classmates that they are related. After all, up until his transfer, he was the enemy.

And that’s the mindset of the town—anyone not part of their program is the enemy.

The three POV characters are smart, and when they notice—collectively and individually—that things just aren’t quite right, they don’t just let it slide. They each have personal struggles, and the whole football thing just adds another layer to that.

I was especially interested in Brit—super smart, but dumbs herself down to fit the cheerleader image. Her shock at realizing that she was never actually one of the “in” group is powerful.

The three make personal sacrifices as they choose to do the right thing. The end isn’t easy, but it’s satisfying.

Possible Objectionable Material:
Drinking. Scheming. Sneaking around. The love of football is almost cult-like. Deceiving parents. Overbearing parents. Swearing, including the f-word. Mentions of Christian faith and scripture.

Who Might Like This Book:
High school football fans. Anyone who likes suspense. This book would easily appeal to readers of any gender.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2025/07/friday-night-lightstwisted.html

#AllForTheGame #HeatherBuchta #NetGalley #YALit #FridayNightLights #BookReview

All for the Game by Heather Buchta was a quick and entertaining read that I finished in a few hours.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.
The characters were all realistic and very well developed.
I really enjoyed the writing style. I found myself hooked, turning the pages.

Football is life and legacy will kill you.
The town of East Page has a history that people protect especially when it comes to football.
Welcome to Dante’s Ravine. Don’t forget to feed the river to have good luck for your football team. Actually that’s a secret… now that you know you are part of the game. Don’t mess with the game or something deadly might just happen to you.
This story is told by three different povs in third person.
Finn transfers to East Pages to play football in hope to earn a scholarship.
Megan is Finn’s girlfriend but it’s hard being at separate schools now. Megan is faking her injury to not have to go back to ballet. She starts receiving notes and having the feeling she is being followed after she notices that other school football players are getting “sick” or injury right before they have to play East Page.
Brittany who is head cheerleader is being left out of the loop when it information. But is having the right information in East page a good thing or a death sentence? Not even an accident death of one of their own football players can stop the game.
You have to wonder how far are they willing to go… all for the game.

I absolutely LOVED the drama of this small town football story. The way Heather wrote each layer to the characters was done incredibly well. As each chapter ended , I found myself SHOCKED at the lengths these people would go to win some football games. A great read & I can’t wait to read what she writes next!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all, this is a fun YA summer/early fall read. It's Texas high school football, and some teams will do anything to win. We have 3 perspectives that we follow -- Brit the head cheerleader at East Pages high school, who used to be a computer geek, but became one of the most popular girls in school, which she partially attributes to the magical powers of Dante's Ravine. Finn - Brit's cousin who has transferred from West Oak to East Pages high to hopefully get noticed by football scouts so that he can secure a scholarship and strong financial future for himself and his grandma. Meg -- Finn's girlfriend who goes to West Oak, has a high powered lawyer father and a socialite, alcoholic mother, who both have high expectations of their former-ballerina daughter. What I like about all three of these characters is they feel 16-17 years old, but they are smart, observant, morally just, and want the best for themselves and their futures.

This is a bit of a long book, but I didn't mind because the story was interesting, and the characters are well-developed. The pacing is good, and there is a lot to this -- the dynamics and innerworkings of high school drama, group think in a community that wants to win, hints of sabotage and solving the mystery behind it, superstitions, corrupt adults who think they can get away with things, etc. I don't want to share too much, but if you want a high school football mystery, pick this one up!

All for the Game is about Finn who transfers to East Page so he will be noticed more by college scouts. Once Finn starts playing for East Page his friend and him start noticing key players from the others schools happen to be out during their match up with East Page. Throughout their journey they realize how many people are corrupt in helping the team win.

This book reminds me of the Texas case with the cheerleaders “FAB 5”. This book does an accurate telling of how important sports are to communities and how some communities and people will stop at nothing to win the game. You never knew how deep the corruption to help the team win ran until the end of the book. This book kept the story moving.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy for an honest review.

All for the Game starts off with a strong hook: small-town Texas football with a sinister twist. The premise promises high stakes, dark secrets, and a layered look at power and ambition in a place where winning is everything. At first, the story delivers just that—Finn’s hope for a better future, Megan’s growing paranoia, and Brit’s immersion in the high school elite all set the stage for a compelling thriller.

But around the 70% mark, the momentum starts to fumble. The pacing slows, and the suspense that once felt gripping becomes muddled by repetitive dialogue, predictable reveals, and underdeveloped tension. Megan’s investigations quickly become frustrating—less a strategic unraveling of clues and more a cycle of “find something suspicious, get threatened, do it again.” Finn, though sympathetic, feels more reactive than proactive, and Brit’s storyline—while full of potential—never quite digs deep enough to resonate emotionally.

There’s a strong message here about complicity, legacy, and the cost of silence, but it’s buried under uneven plotting and surface-level character arcs. By the time I set the book down, the mystery no longer felt urgent, and the stakes—while deadly—seemed disconnected from the emotional core of the characters.

While All for the Game has an intriguing premise and flashes of tension, the execution didn’t hold me through to the end. A solid concept, but not quite the page-turner I hoped it would be.

This was an ARC from NetGalley. This book had me off kilter and made me feel uncomfortable. I couldn't get invested in the story. You mean to tell me no one from the outside figured out what was going on, but high schoolers continued to stumble on the truth? Most of the time it felt like a satire of Texas football culture. Additionally, the story was too long for what it was. That also caused me to disengage. This either needed to be a full YA thriller or more planned out adult fiction. It next hit that next gear in the narrative. #netgalley #allforthegame #mystery #highschoolfootball

This story is crazy. Definitely a story of when people go to far for a game. There's a lot of players in this one making sure that EastPay wins and goes to the championship football game. I really enjoyed the different pov from Brittney, Meg and Finn. This was one I couldn't put down.

All for the Game is a dynamic and suspenseful mystery. The chapters change POVs between three characters to weave a twisty and exhilarating story. There are so many secrets and so much drama, as I imagine is typical for most high schools. But the incredibly intense Texas football mindset amplifies this dynamic.

I enjoyed how this book was realistic and felt very true to its setting. I’m not from Texas, nor a football fan, and am no longer in high school, but I was fully transported into this world. I have never read a mystery/thriller quite like this, but I appreciated the plausible storyline and how everything wrapped up! The main characters were all likable and I enjoyed myself the whole time I was reading this.

First half was super boring. Then it picked up exactly at the 50% mark but it was hard to keep track of who what when where why because toooooo much was happening without any detail or explanation.

Review also posted on goodreads

This book had a very engaging premise, that was fully brought to life during the book and the multi-pov was done so well it really hooked the reader into the theories each character brought. Twisted. Terrifying. Liars. This book was fast paced, riddled with conspiracies that twisted your brain and characters that brought the fear, brought clarity while also making you question what you knew. Loved this one and great for anyone who loves a mystery/thriller, while also getting clear character building.

Buchta attempts to blend mystery, sports drama, and a bit of social commentary, but the execution is a bit uneven. The pacing lags in the middle, and while the concept is solid, some of the dialogue and character interactions feel forced or outdated. Readers looking for sharp, realistic teen voices may find themselves pulled out of the story at times.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

ALL FOR THE GAME by Heather Buchta

Thank you Netgalley and PenguinTeen for the earc (Jul 1)

Texas, football, life.
It's a ticket out for Finn. When he transfers to East Page High, it's the answer. Until it's not. Threats loom when Finn's girlfriends notices things: that prominent rivals out from the game. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous it is for her. Then there's Finn's cousin, head cheerleader. When a football player dies, she learns she is kept in the dark---that she isn't as popular as she thought. Each of them have things to face as the mystery is unraveled.
The premise of this book was interesting, and the idea of it drew me. This book is one that is full of conspiracies, and with its multi-pov, it's easy to gather the whole story and the role each character had in uncovering the plot. Each chapter brought something new and enticing: a new threat, a new detail learned. And the questions I had. I wanted to know how deep in East Pages this ran, how many people were in on it. Honestly, this was twisted. Like seriously so. The lengths some of the characters went was terrifying: the following of Meg, the threats toward Brit and Finn, the death of a player. It was just crazy.
I loved how fast-paced this was. There was never a dull moment, and with the daunting length of over 400 pages, I applaud the author for that.

2.5 rounded down. The vibes in this book were all over the place. I just did not resonate with the characters (until about 80%) and the plot felt too fantastical, and this is coming from someone who has watched way too many evil cheerleader lifetime movies. The premise had some promise but it just didn’t quite work for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of ALL FOR THE GAME by Heather Buchta in exchange for my honest review.***

I usually love sports themed books. Something about the hard work to achieve individual or team goals and the thrill of competition excites me.

Texas high school football is something I only understand slightly through the tv series FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. ALL FOR GAME is a novel about the death of a player and three teens who try to solve the mystery.

I likes the mystery better than I did the writing. The passive voice often felt stiff and the dialogue used words and phrases different than teens I know.

A lukewarm recommendation.