Let’s Read Good Books

My Thoughts:

I wanted to read The Misdirection of Fault Lines after learning that it’s about tennis. I love sports themed books, especially if it revolves around a competition. Even though I’m not a huge tennis fan and the scoring confuses me, I enjoyed this book.

Alice, Violetta, and Leylah have arrived at an elite school for the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament. Each comes from a different background, and each has personal reasons for competing. Violetta’s mother, a former player herself, is constantly pushing her daughter to succeed. Leylah has a point to prove after being disqualified two years ago. Alice, still grieving her father, isn’t sure she belongs at this expensive tournament when her family is struggling with so much debt.

All three girls are Asian, and each experiences racism to varying degrees. They each are stereotypes themselves. Violetta is losing control of both her eating disorder and her recreational drug use, while Leylah is angry and seething over imagined betrayals. The villain of the story, the school’s superintendent, is one-dimensional, existing solely to inject more conflict into the story. I do wish the characters had more depth, because it would have made their triumphs and failures resonant even more.

The writing skews younger, and if you can overlook some of the clumsily presented social issues, this is a fun book. It’s fast paced and the girls’ struggles and the drama that ensues is engaging. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I just wish there had been more tennis.

From the back of the book:

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants goes to the US Open in an emotionally honest and openhearted novel for fans of Yamile Saied Méndez and Jenny Han.

Three teen girls compete at an elite tennis tournament for a shot at their dreams—if only they knew what their dreams were.

Alice doesn’t belong at the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament. She needed a sponsorship to attend. She only has a few wins on the junior circuit. And now, she has no coach. Tennis was a dream she shared with Ba. After his death, her family insisted she compete anyway. But does tennis even fit into her life without him?

Violetta is Bastille’s darling. Social media influencer, coach’s pet, and daughter of a former tennis star who fell from grace. Bastille is her chance to reclaim the future her mother gave up to raise her. But is that the future she wants for herself?

Leylah has to win. After a forced two-year hiatus, Bastille is her last chance to prove professional tennis isn’t just a viable career, it’s what she was built for. She can’t afford distractions. Not in the form of her ex-best friend and especially not by getting DQ-ed for her “attitude” before she even sets foot on the court. If she doesn’t win, what future does she have left?

One week at the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament will decide their fates. If only the competition between them stayed on the court.

Misdirection of Fault Lines is an incisive coming-of-age story infused with wit and wisdom, about three Asian American teen girls who find their ways forward, backward, and in some cases, back to each other again. Anna Gracia, acclaimed author of Boys I Know, delivers with a refreshingly true-to-life teen voice that perfectly captures the messiness, awkwardness, and confusion of adolescence.