What would you do if you've literally spent your whole life focused on reaching the highest echelons of soccer, only to have to decide between your dream and saving a life? This scenario happens to Cricket at the beginning of the novel, and then we go back in time to see how she got there.

The plot is predictable, but the characters and growth are realistically good, and it's a great read!

Mia was her mom and dad's gift to each other, and her little sister Cricket was their present to Mia. The story begins as Cricket is playing for the US Women's soccer Olympic team. Older sister Mia is giving birth at the exact time and watching Cricket play from the hospital. A health emergency occurs. Then the narrative jumps back to their mother Liz Lowe as she is a high school senior who has signed and committed to play for UCLA. It becomes apparent that Liz is pregnant with Mia and her promising soccer career ends abruptly.

What I absolutely loved about this story was the characterization, the relationship and dynamic between Mia and Cricket, the gradual way that the narrative unfolds as we find out more about Mia and Cricket's absent father, their mother's love of soccer, and how she passed along being a "team player" to her girls, both named for Women's soccer legends. Something else I loved was the interlocution of the history of the game of soccer and how it grew in culture. As a fan of women's soccer I loved this essential part of the story. Cricket, Mia and Liz were WONDERFUL characters, there are also very memorable side characters.

What I didn't like; in some ways I feel like this book glorifies codependency, but it does show the darker side. I had a professor in college that said "Gilmore Girls" was "anti-choice pro-life propaganda" and I spent hours trying to prove them wrong by highlighting some of Rory's most pro-feminist and pro-choice identity scenes. But ever since then I have always read into stories about teenagers choosing birth instead of termination with a critical eye, especially in narratives where the child's father was a predator of some sort. I don't think this is the case at all, but it did give me a lot to think about. What was a larger theme in this book is the mother and the sister giving up big parts of themselves for the other; without the person asking- so in some ways what you are willing to give up in your life for your daughter or sister.

While some of the setbacks that happen can seem like too much, there is enough drama in all of their years that you are like JEEZ WHAT ELSE CAN HAPPEN TO THESE WOMEN they deserve a break already. It can be bit much at times and you don't always agree with the decisions of the characters but you still get the feeling that things will work out for them..... particularly because in the prologue about Mia having a baby, you get a lot of what can only be described as spoilers.

This would be a great book for book clubs as it is thought provoking and allows readers to ask questions within a group. The characters are flawed yet likable. This is great for fans of sweeping family dramas like The Celebrants, Blue Sisters, Long Island Compromise and Like Mother Like Mother.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dial Press for the ARC. Book to be published July 1, 2025.

Spectacular Things
I very rarely give a novel 5 stars, but this one was 5 stars for me. I noticed quite a few reviewers gave it 3 stars, citing there was no action and it was predictable. No action? This novel is about a single mother Liz, and her two daughters. Liz gave up a lifetime dream to be a competitive soccer player to raise her two daughters, Mia and Cricket and give them every opportunity to become the best soccer players she couldn’t be. However, not all plans work out and Mia and Cricket had to learn at an early age to rely on each other and make sacrifices.
Was the trip smooth? Of course not. Mia, the older one just started college when she became her younger sister’s guardian and had to make grown up decisions. However, she was determined to fulfill their mother’s dream and helped her younger sister to reach stardom. But, what happens when the tides turn and now it’s Mia who needs Cricket’s help? You just have to read to find out. I was home sick with a bad cold and literally couldn’t put the book down. A few constructive recommendations, the book could be shortened somewhat without losing anything and some of the soccer details could be less for those of us who are not into the sport.
Thanks NetGalley, the publisher ant the author for providing me with the advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

This book is an absolute gem for anyone who loves deeply emotional, character-driven stories about family, dreams, and love. The writing is rich and tender, perfectly capturing the intricate dynamics between the characters. What truly stands out is the way the themes linger with you long after you’ve turned the last page. The story feels as vast and intimate as the small town it unfolds in, pulling you into its world in a way that’s both personal and all-encompassing. It’s the kind of book that leaves a lasting impact on your heart, making you reflect on the complexities of family and the dreams that shape us.

What an incredibly touching read! Wow. I don’t have sisters, only a brother, so books that center around sisterhood always feel like stepping into an unfamiliar yet intimate world for me, but I can imagine what it feels like given how much I love my sibling and would do anything for him. And Spectacular Things absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way.

Mia and Cricket, these two sisters raised on the Maine coast, are bound together by a fierce, unshakable love. From childhood into adulthood, they’ve settled into their respective roles in the family, with one dreaming big and chasing those dreams, and the other quietly making sacrifices to help her sister soar. It’s both beautiful and heartbreaking to witness, and it really touched me.

This book asks a powerful question: how much is too much to give for someone you love? And even more than that, what happens when that giving starts to chip away at the giver? The dynamic between Mia and Cricket is so layered. There’s no villain, no resentment, just the complicated push and pull of two people doing their best for each other. I could feel the imbalance, the ache of one sister giving a little more, the other receiving a little more, and how that shaped them both. And yet, there was so much tenderness. So much love.

The last fifty pages had me sobbing. Like ugly crying, forehead on the book sobbing. Beck Dorey-Stein writes with such emotional precision that it sneaks up on you, until suddenly you’re heartbroken, hopeful, and totally undone. This was a beautifully written novel that I know will stick with me for a long time. Mia and Cricket are characters I won’t forget. Ever.

Highly recommend to anyone who loves books about complicated families, sisterhood, sacrifice, and the quiet power of love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Beck Dorey-Stein and The Dial Press for the eARC of this book.

What an incredibly touching read, wow!

Sisters are a strange thing to me, having been raised with only brothers, so I always find books about sisterly bonds so fascinating. This one REALLY puts you through the ringer.

These sisters, Mia (elder) and Cricket (younger) are galvanized in their love for one another, no matter what life throws at them. Growing up on the Maine coast, they have adhered to their roles in life, through some sacrifice.

The question is posed, though: what is too much to give? What would either Mia or Cricket sacrifice for one another? When these tight knit sisters are shocked with some amazing and terrible news all at once, decisions must be made. Decisions that will affect both of them for the rest of their lives.

I felt a lot of heartache while reading this. I felt that there was a distinguished power difference between the sisters. There was one that benefitted a little more, while the other sacrificed a little more. And that made me sad, because there was no malice or ill intent. It just always had been, so it just was… At the same time, I could understand it.

I spent the last fifty pages of this book pretty much straight sobbing. This was just a really beautifully written book. I adored these sisters.

I've been a fan of Beck Dorey-Stein for years, and I completely adored Spectacular Things. The characters and their development is so real and endearing; the pacing perfect. I cried with the Lowe women and laughed with the Lowe women. Dorey-Stein's character work is the real gem of this book. I loved the tenderness of sisterhood, the very real flaws of the characters, the growth that came out of trauma. It's not often that I am thinking about a lit-fic book and dying to pick it back up, but this one really snagged me. I will be raving about this title until its release and beyond.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The strong family bond that Liz instilled in Mia and Cricket was remarkable. I also liked the polar plunge ritual that kept Liz’s spirit alive in the girls. I did find it a bit predictable however. I also did not enjoy the love/hate relationship between Cricket and Sloan (Sloan was mean) only to have them end up together.

This wonderful story pulled me in from the first pages and did not let go. This is the second novel I’ve read by this author, and I really appreciate her gift for sweeping me up into the lives of complex characters facing choices and circumstances that feel so true to life. The layout of this book is interesting - the stakes are laid bare right at the beginning, in a way that’s almost overwhelming. But the beauty comes in the pages that follow, as we learn about how these two sisters came to this place, and things make sense bit by bit. It felt like how these things go in real life: how, when you move to a new place and meet new people, you first learn who they are right then. But if you get to spend time with them, you learn about what brought them to this place and all the circumstances that formed who they are today. I REALLY enjoyed this structure, and will be thinking about this book and these two sisters for a long time, in the best possible way. Looking forward to more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me the opportunity to review this book.

Spectacular? No. Enjoyable? Yes! There were lots of things I loved about this novel — the exploration of sibling dynamics, passions and the fine line between a healthy obsession and a toxic one, love after loss, and learning to move on. As a former competitive soccer player, I thought the portrayal of the sport and its emotional highs and lows were spot on, but there were moments when I wished I was reading less about it. I get it, soccer literally defined the lives of the women in this novel so it makes sense for it to have been such a big part of it. But I don’t know, there seemed to be something lacking for me — maybe more emotional depth and hard hitting lines? Not to say that it was completely lacking in these areas—I guess it all just comes down to this novel not being very high stakes and falling a bit short in the wrap up. I would have to agree with a previous review that stated the predictability of this novel and how you know everything is just going to work out for the characters in the end. I love a happy ending, but I would have loved to have had a moment of doubt leading up to the finale. Overall, I do think Beck Dorey-Stein is a great writer and that this was a well written novel, just wasn’t the breathtaking, spectacular read I was hoping it’d be.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Mia and cricket have a complex tender sister relationship. This was a very detailed book in both setting and in storyline. I liked it but did not love. I give 3.5 stars.

Great story. Couldn't put it down. I look forward to reading other books by this author. The story was both sad and uplifting.

Something about this book just grabbed me from the start and didn't let go! I wish I could rate it even higher than five stars, and I already know it'll be one of my favorites of the year, that I'll re-read time and again. SPECTACULAR THINGS follows Mia and Cricket, two talented sisters growing up in small-town Maine. Their young mother Liz, once a rising soccer star, passed her athletic gifts on to her daughters—especially the energetic, ambitious Cricket, who seems destined for greatness, while practical, studious Mia abandons the sport to fully support Cricket's dreams instead. As time passes, the sisters are forced to reckon with the secrets of their mother's complicated past (and their fears of repeating it), the delicate hopes they harbor for their own futures, and the life-changing choices they're confronted with in the present. Does following your heart simply come at too great a cost? How far would you go to help the people you love...and what would you ask for in return?

After really enjoying Beck Dorey-Stein's other books, I couldn't wait to read her latest, and I can truly say that it's nothing short of, well, spectacular! I was so invested in Mia and Cricket's story, and wanted so badly for everything to work out for them. Both sisters are such complex, fully realized characters, and it's interesting to see how, in a way, some of their greatest strengths also manifest as their flaws and places to grow from. Mia is enduringly responsible and always tries to look out for the people she loves, but this can also come at the price of her own happiness and well-being. Cricket is unfailingly driven and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, but this can also lead to her pushing away people she truly cares about—and who care about her. They both also navigate the fine line between loyalty and self-sabotage throughout the story.

Another highlight of the book for me was the way Dorey-Stein weaves the theme of love through the entire story. SPECTACULAR THINGS isn't a romance novel, but it is a love story. A love story between partners, between teammates, between parents and their children, and, of course, between sisters, and all of these different relationships are handled with such depth and nuance from start to finish! I also loved the romantic storylines we got for both Mia and Cricket (without spoiling too much about who they each end up with). It was wonderful to see Mia, after she felt like so many things in her life had just "happened" to her, take matters into her own hands and take a chance on love when it came her way, despite her worries. And, to see Cricket fall for someone who brought out the best in her, who turned out to be the one she was looking for all along. This story is just so full of love in its many different forms, all of which were beautifully portrayed!

I also really enjoyed the level of detail given to the settings in the book, particularly Victory, the town where the sisters grew up in, and everywhere else the story took them! I'm not a super avid follower of soccer, but all of the details surrounding the sport and everything that comes with pursuing a professional soccer career were also really well-developed and exciting to read about. By the end of the book, I didn't want to leave the Lowe sisters' world, but the conclusion to their story ultimately wrapped up in a satisfying way overall. Needless to say, I can't recommend this one enough—just read it! Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and The Dial Press for the ARC.

While this book was good, there wasn't much plot that had me dying to read more. While there is definitely drama and tragedy, it's very obvious that everything is going to work out for the Lowe sisters. Basically they get everything they want even though there's bumps along the way. It was very predictable.

This book is lovely and heartwarming, though I subtracted one star for what I felt was a cheesy ending that somewhat took away from the impact of the rest of the novel. Cricket and Mia’s relationship felt so real and lived-in, and I loved all of the behind the scenes details of a professional soccer career in the making.

What I loved most is how the story never simplifies the complexities of love between sisters, between parents and children, between partners. It asks impossible questions, the kind that linger long after the last page. The result is a heartfelt, deeply moving novel that celebrates both the power and the cost of chasing something spectacular. I adored it.

wow I absolutely LOVED this book. One, being a soccer player, and also having a sister, this book hit home! This was spectacularly written and such a beautiful story. 100% recommend this book!

Sisters. Complex family relationships. Exploring self-discovery themes. This story has it all and more. I was hooked from the start. The writing is effortless and the book just captured my attention right away. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Bonus for a Maine setting! My fave.

This will probably be very popular with a lot of people but unfortunately, I could tell immediately that the writing style wasn't for me.

Beck Stein, you wrote such a phenomenal book with this! WOW! So captivating. The life of these girls and their expectations. All the heart strings were pulled with this one. I loved it.