I enjoyed the unique plot of this story. However, I felt that there could have been more character development. The relationship between Cricket and Mia lacked emotional depth, which prevented me from fully connecting with them as characters. While the plot kept me engaged, I believe that incorporating more literary elements would have allowed me to care more about the two sisters as people, not just a storyline.

I really loved the relationship between the sisters, and how the story progressed with them. I did feel that it wrapped up a little TOO perfectly, and felt a little rushed almost to create the perfect ending. I loved the writing though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this book!

A good sports story is never REALLY about sports, but rather about the dedication, sacrifice, and choices made in the pursuit of athletic glory, as well as what that pursuit reveals about society as a whole. Such is the case with SPECTACULAR THINGS, which examines motherhood, sisterhood, love, and friendship through the lens of women’s professional soccer.

Liz Lowe is a high school soccer phenom, destined for greatness when she unexpectedly gets pregnant and gives it all up to raise her daughter Mia as a single mom. She instills her passion for soccer in Mia, but it’s her second child, Cricket, who has inherited her mother’s talent. From the moment Cricket is singled out, the lives of
both Liz and Mia are both sacrificed in service to Cricket’s dream of making the national team. The Lowe women are a family united with a single goal… until their world gets torn apart. Just as Cricket starts to achieve the success she has dreamed of, she is the one asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Beck Dorey-Stein has crafted a novel that doesn’t require any real interest in or knowledge of soccer, but one that also puts you right in the middle of the action as Cricket pursues her dream. It’s a well paced, thoughtful novel about the triumphs, difficulties, jealousies and often wrenching questions faced by women athletes and their loved ones.

*Spectacular Things* explores the complex bond between two sisters, Mia and Cricket, as they navigate love, ambition, and sacrifice in their small Maine town. Mia, the responsible caregiver, and Cricket, the soccer prodigy, must each confront the legacy of their family and the difficult choices they face to pursue their dreams. With wit and heart, this novel delves into the delicate balance of loyalty, self-worth, and the cost of greatness.

I liked this novel. The complex relationship between Cricket and Mia kept me glued to my Kindle. I felt the most attached to Mia's character. Being the steady figure for her mother and sister, I felt deeply for all the sacrifices she had to make. I wanted nothing but the best for her. Cricket's journey leaned on her soccer career and the connection she found with her mother. I loved seeing both characters heal and move forward through the story.

However, I wish the novel kept the pace of the first chapters. The middle section felt a little long. While I was interested in the sister's stories, I wanted to get back to the looming decision introduced in the first chapters. By the time we got back to the present, the decision and emotions felt forced and rushed.   

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone seeking a story about the complex relationship between sisters.

Thanks NetGalley for an arc. This was a new author and I was given the opportunity to get a sneak peak of the book. Normally I am not a soccer fan but the underlying story is so much more than that. Sisters, family, competition amongst friends, and the devastating loss that both sisters endured. Cricket and Mia endure tragedy but figure out a way to overcome it. Mia gives everything up so. Cricket can have a future. Overall a great story about perseverance and how the power of love will get you through everything.

** spoiler alert ** There's a lot to like about this book; the relationships of the characters are well done. However, the author got too detailed with the day to day living within a life consumed by soccer.
Also, the relationship between Sloane and Cricket felt very forced. It didn't evolve as a love story at all for me - it just felt like an easy way to put a bow on the ending for everyone to be happy.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beck Dorey-Stein has written an entertaining and thoughtful book about two sisters, Mia and Cricket, who learn to survive after their single mother's death when Mia is barely an adult and Cricket is a teenager. The story is focused on professional women's soccer and Cricket's talent as a soccer player. We learn that Mia and Cricket's mother was also a star soccer player making her way towards professional soccer when she got pregnant and abruptly changed her life to raising her first child, Mia. Several years later, Cricket was born, again from an affair with the married father of Mia.
Their life was full of love and soccer, and as a child, Mia was trained by her mother in soccer and was successfully moving towards greatness. When Cricket's talents and potential overcame Mia's, a family decision was made to put all their energies in getting Cricket to her professional soccer goal.
Mia, as the older sister, was required not only to quit her soccer dreams but also had to step in to raise Cricket so her mother could work several jobs to cover Cricket's soccer expenses.

As much a story about the grit it takes to become a professional soccer player as a story about two sisters, "Spectacular Things" is a fast-paced story about what one sister gives up for the other to achieve a very singular and challenging goal.

Thank you NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy.

Heart breaking and heart warming. Dorey-Stein does a fantastic job of creating a story with characters that you feel immediately connected to. There is a vulnerability and fierceness to each of the women the book follows. She captures the loss of a loved one and the bond between sisters in a fantastic way. The book is an emotional roller coaster that leaves your heart in a good places.

Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein is the story of how far you might go in keeping a legacy alive. Mia and Cricket are sisters who are raised by a single mother who has huge goals for them. She wants Mia to be a soccer star, but when Cricket shows more ability than Mia, Mia is asked to set aside her goals in deference to her sister's greater skills. As a result, Mia puts all of her dreams aside until she leaves for college, until a tragedy brings her home and she once again sets her life aside. But if Cricket were asked to do the same for Mia, would she? Could she? An interesting and devastating novel.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This is a touching story about two sisters and their relationship. This story is witty and you will find yourself thinking about these characters long after you finish it. This was the first book for me to read by this author but definitely won't be my last. Highly recommend!

This was the first book I have read by this author, I really liked her style of writing. The book was a little slow at times, and some of the topics I was not interested in, but overall ii was a fast paced book.. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Thanks so much for the review copy. I adore Cricket, Mia, and Liz. Such great examples of strong women. I like the cover. I played soccer in high school and this made me feel nostalgic.

For someone who couldn't care less about soccer, I got pretty into this novel. Its a heart warming story about the strength of sisterhood, hard choices life forces us to make, and soccer!
Liz, Mia, and Cricket, all start out as over achieving soccer players but life happens...
3.5....I would give a 4 but everything turned out too perfectly for everyone at the end. And as much as I want to-as Liz would say-Be positive!, it's just not realistic.
Thank you, Netgalley, publisher, and author for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5, rounded up.

I really loved this book.

I don’t know if it’s the soccer fan in me, or the girl mom in me, or what, but this book was a genuinely wonderful, cozy read for me.

I liked the way this book played out — starting with the big plot point right out of the gate, and then working from beginning to end to flush out the story of how the Lowe sisters got to that point. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the story and relationships build. I loved learning about the characters and the way their choices were displayed, the sacrifices made all leading up to the ultimate choice toward the end.

Ultimately, what I enjoyed the most was the theme of sacrifice amongst family and loved ones — how far are we willing to go for the ones we love, especially those who have done so much for us?

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an advanced copy of this wonderful book!

An entertaining read about sisters and life choices. Will be well-received by many. The plot was prescribed by the initial chapter and that took away a lot of the joy of discovery for me.

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing for the arc!

**4.5 stars** Right from the start, this book had me feeling so alert. It grabbed my attention and held it right until the end. I am so glad I was able to read an advanced copy.

The story is mainly told through two different pov’s: Mia Lowe and her younger sister, Cricket. The two sisters were raised by their single mother, Elizabeth who worked tirelessly to make ends meet. Like their mother, both sisters grow to love soccer but after a tragic accident, Mia sacrifices her passion for the sport to become Cricket’s caretaker while Cricket works to accomplish her dream of becoming a professional soccer player. We follow the two grow and adjust to their normal until secrets from their mother’s past resurfaces and begin to haunt them

The narrative is structured in two timelines. One follows present-day Mia and her husband welcoming their baby daughter and Cricket playing soccer for the national team. The second timeline shifts to their mother’s pov of becoming a young mother to Mia. It’s a story about familial sacrifice, loyalty, and sisterly love and it was an incredible, heartfelt read.

I was not expecting to cry so early on in this book. There is so much emotional depth to these characters. The author did a phenomenal job of making you sympathize with one sister while also understanding the choices of the other–you can’t help but feel for both.

And of course, the writing is exceptional. The only reason why this isn’t a perfect five-star rating is because I wish that present timeline was longer. I needed more of that heartbreaking decision-making. But don’t let that deter you. This was an amazing story. If you’re looking for a literary fiction novel centered on a deeply moving sisterly bond, look no further.

This was so good!

I started reading but got nervous when I realized how much soccer was in the book. I worried it would be like Carrie Soto
Is Back, by an author I usually love but so much about a sport I’m not interested in that I can’t read it. Luckily, that is not the case here.

While there is a lot of soccer, Beck Dorey-Stein expertly incorporates it into both the trajectory of the story as well as helping us understand who these women are and why they are this way. This is a saga about what it means to be a parent, to not be ready to parent, to overwhelming love, to sacrifice and more sacrifice. It is about grief. It is about being a sister and the complexities from being not only sisters but substitute mother/daughter. It is about finding love. It is about not sacrificing your gift.

The characters feel real (although maybe one is a little too perfect) and I didn’t know where the book would end up going. I love where it went.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Spectacular Things takes readers on a moving journey through the lives of two sisters raised unconventionally by their single mother. In their family, soccer isn’t just a sport; it’s a way of life. It pulses through their veins and shapes everything they know.

Beck Dorsey-Stein masterfully explores the idea of sacrifice; not just the sacrifice of dreams for family, but the quiet, personal sacrifices we make every day.

This isn’t just a story about a female athlete- it’s an epic, modern-day adventure that honors what it means to be raised by and around strong women. Each character’s strength is unique, and Dorsey-Stein builds us up through emotion, competition, love and grief. She doesn’t just mention unconditional love or loss, she plunges us into it, making us feel the weight of it all. She challenges us to ask: what does true love really mean? Is it a person? The fulfillment of our dreams? Or is it found in the way our lives impact others? Perhaps that’s the very meaning of life and love itself.

I’m incredibly grateful to have read this as my very first ARC. As a former female athlete and now a coach to young women, this book came into my life at the perfect time. It reminded me that everything happens for a reason, and it’s what we do with what we’ve learned that truly defines us.

If you loved Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid or The Favorites by Layne Fargo, get ready—this one is going to stay with you. The Spectacular Things releases on July 25th and I’ll be telling everyone I know to read it. Hands down one of my top books of the year!

What an incredibly spectacular book. My heart was breaking over and over again for the Lowe sisters, and particularly for Mia. I could not tear myself away from this story, and the mode of storytelling felt so TV-like to me.

The second book I've read this month about orphaned siblings, one of whom is a professional soccer player. The second book with that theme that I have absolutely LOVED and tore through. Fans of Fun For the Whole Family should be very excited for this book to drop!!!