*3.5 ( )

Really liked the thought put into the portrayal of Maguire’s mental health. Maybe there could have been a few more sessions at length with the doctor, but really it was a great thing to see any sessions included and to see it normalized for the teens in this story rather than treated as some shame to be hidden.

I also enjoyed the chemistry between Maguire and Jordy, I liked his patience and that he’s more insecure than the usual jock stereotype. I also loved that even though Jordy is a support and a help in Maguire’s journey this isn’t one of those books that makes it seem like if you just find romantic love that’ll heal everything in you, getting a boyfriend is not presented as a cure-all here, instead we see Maguire doing the work in trying to reach a healthier mindset and being able to forge a connection with Jordy is shown as a side-benefit of that work she’s doing.

I was really pleased with the tennis aspects of this one since that’s one of my favorite sports to watch, I thought the author captured the sport really well, however, if you aren’t a fan, don’t worry, this doesn’t go too overboard with the amount of tennis in the story.

If I could have changed anything here it would have been to add more family moments. Those interractions were really good and I would have welcomed more, in particular there’s some time with the stepdad and time with the mom later in the book that I was a little disappointed to just told about afterwards (and not told very much) rather than experiencing those moments alongside Maguire.

Overall, this is a solid choice if you’re craving a sweet young adult romance seamlessly woven into a girl’s courageous mission to get her life back on track. ( )

Recommended by Carina July 2020

This was a really well done YA novel that deals with grief and PTSD very well. The main character, Maguire, has become borderline OCD with her good luck rituals and her checks because of her belief that bad things will happen to those around her, after a series of freak accidents when she was younger. Tasked by her therapist, she makes a series of challenges to herself, with the ultimate goal of traveling to Ireland for the memorial for her dad and uncle who had died in the car accident she survived. With the help of Jordy, the local tennis star who shares her therapist, she faces her fears and issues.

Really well done. Really. This was quite a good read, with fully realized characters and a sympathetic look at mental health issues. Also, no weren't any real love triangles - though there was one but that turned out to not be real. There were no enemies in this book, other than Maguire's own demons. I loved all the characters in the end and was supremely glad that Stokes didn't fall into the mean girl cliche trap. Even the "mean girl" just turned out to be a giant misunderstanding.

Great characters, interesting plot that kept me engaged, well-written, and a great grasp on PTSD and other mental health issues. I wish I had this book when I was a teenager. ( )

This novel of a teenage girl afflicted by PTSD in reaction to numerous unlikely tragedies in the course of her short life is a rather charming tale of first love and self-healing that felt just a little unbalanced (and I don't mean mentally).

The relationship between the narrator and Her Love Interest is really well done but her interactions with her new best friend seem forced; in fact, the character of Jade is sadly underdeveloped and I was aggrieved she ended up getting so little attention (her first appearance seemed so promising!). The psychiatrist, too, got less play than I thought he should, as he kind of disappeared once the story got rolling. On the other hand, I was expecting the step-father to be a total background prop and was most gratified to be wrong. And every so often, the readability of the story is put into a sharp contrast by a discordantly chunky paragraph of pointless detail, usually a trivial detail that should have been glossed over.

As a side note, I really felt like this book's title should have been a tennis pun (Courting Disaster maybe?); Girl Against the Universe sounds like a humorous, sci-fi epic about a chick with superpowers. ( )