Gr 7 Up-Maggie's entire life is swimming. Since she was a young girl, her life has revolved around her biggest passion: training hard enough to snag a spot on the Olympic team. Everything, including school, friends, and a social life, has come in second to that dream. Now that she's gearing up for college, however, she's having some doubts. She's never experienced typical teenage life-no boyfriend, no prom, and certainly no kissing. She asks her best friend and swimming partner, Levi, to show her the ropes so she won't be so inexperienced when she goes to college. She's surprised by the feelings that emerge for Levi when things start to get hot and heavy. Suddenly, swimming isn't the only thing on her mind. Narrator Carly Robins does an excellent job bringing Maggie and Levi to life with her youthful voice and inflections. VERDICT For fans of Kenneally's "Hundred Oak" series, sports-themed reads, and teen romance.-Erin Cataldi, Johnson County Public Library, Franklin, IN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An Olympic-caliber swimmer seeks gold in romance in the latest of Kenneally's interconnected Hundred Oaks series.As a teenage swimmer who's trying desperately to make the cut for the Olympic trials, Maggie's life is swim, eat, sleep, repeat. The white high school senior's only break is Friday nights at Jiffy Burger with her friends, including her childhood friend and teammate Levi, also white. Due to swimming, she's missed a lot of high school experiencessomething she feels very keenly when she visits Berkeley, where she will be going in the fall. Her primary swim rival, a white girl with a nose stud named Roxy, is also going to Berkeley, and it seems that Roxy has had plenty of time for romance, unlike Maggie. So she resolves to learn how to make out with a guy before starting collegeand who better to teach her than her best friend? After a little coaxing, Levi agrees to show her what to do. As Maggie struggles to both beat Roxy and make the cut for the trials, what was only physical with Levi starts to become something more. Maggie's present-tense narration is rich with the details of elite student athletics, and she is cleareyed in her exploration of her sexuality, including a look at college hookup culture that manages to be very funny. The frank depiction of female teenage sexuality elevates this series entry. (Romance. 16-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Senior Maggie King has spent her life focused on one thing: swimming. Now that she's been accepted to UC Berkeley and has a real shot at the Olympic trials, Maggie wishes she'd spent a little more time focusing on guys-specifically, how to hook up with them. Her best friend Levi seems to have no problem finding time for girls, even though he's also a competitive swimmer. Maggie hits on the idea of Levi teaching her the basics of hooking up, but as the lessons start and get steamy, the pressure to perform in the pool mounts for both of them, and her feelings for him deepen. This lighthearted romance has all the trademarks of a Kenneally novel: a strong female lead, a sexy male love interest, and a complicated relationship fraught with sexual tension. Fans of the author's Hundred Oaks series won't be disappointed as they watch Maggie's and Levi's friendship move in a new direction, and the competitive and uncertain element of Maggie's future in swimming makes the page turning all the more enjoyable. Ages 14-up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.