Could life get any worse? Jordan was so sure she was going to be named editor of her school newspaper but instead lands an assignment she’d never have chosen herself—covering volleyball, which means interviewing the new captain of the team, who just happens to be her nemesis. But what starts out as the assignment from hell might just be the thing that brings two estranged souls back together.
We Got the Beat is a fun sapphic romance that makes you feel like you’re right back in high school. Miller definitely knows how to hone in on the high school experience: we’ve all been where Jordan is, when we want something so desperately and then don’t end up getting it. It’s part of life, but Miller makes it feel so relatable that Jordan immediately becomes a character you can’t help but love for going through the same things you went through.
One of my favourite aspects was how determined Jordan was to succeed even after she didn’t get the beat she really wanted. I also enjoyed how fleshed out the main characters were in general. Jordan is a fat, nerdy lesbian who has a whole lot of heart and while it takes a bit longer for Mackenzie to show all her facets, she really stands out as someone who just wants to be good enough and constantly questions her own place in the hierarchy of her volleyball team, often making her act in ways she doesn’t really want to.
While I was initially hesitant on how the romance between Jordan and Mackenzie would pan out (I’m a strong believer in resent and remember instead of forgive and forget and I felt that Jordan’s aversion to Mackenzie was very much warranted), Miller handled the push and pull between the two well and it was interesting to follow these two as they find their way back to each other and learn just how much they have grown.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s two best friends also added another layer of depth to the overall story as they are facing their own (romantic) struggles that just show how much can go on in the lives of others that you often don’t pay attention to and how important supportive friendship groups really are.
What dampened my enjoyment of We Got the Beat a tad, though, was the unnecessary repetition of both scenes and dialogue scraps. The first thirty percent especially suffered from scenes being rehashed over and over again. I’m aware that this was for example used to make clear just how far the friendship group is growing apart but I would have wished for more variety in the depiction instead of text messages and conversations that were almost the same thing that was said a chapter ago. Thankfully, this clears up after the halfway mark but it made the first half drag at times that were supposed to get you invested in Jordan’s newspaper beat.
Fans of the second chance and enemies to lovers tropes will get their fill in We Got the Beat, a fun lesbian romance that chronicles the highs and lows of high school and shows that curveballs being thrown isn’t necessarily a bad thing, even if it’s in ways you didn’t expect.
We Got the Beat is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 20th.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Jordan Elliot is a fat, nerdy lesbian, and the first junior to be named editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. Okay, that last part hasn’t happened yet, but it will. It’s positive thinking that has gotten Jordan this far. Ever since Mackenzie West, her friend-turned-enemy, humiliated her at the start of freshman year, Jordan has thrown herself into journalism and kept her eyes trained on the future.
So it’s a total blow when Jordan discovers that she not only didn’t get the editor-in-chief spot, but she’s been assigned the volleyball beat instead. And who is the star and new captain of the volleyball team? Mackenzie West. But words are Jordan’s weapon, and she has some ideas about how to exact a long-awaited revenge on her nemesis.
Then things get murky when forced time together has Mack and Jordan falling back into their friendship, and into something more. And when Mack confesses the real reason she turned on Jordan freshman year, it has Jordan questioning everything—past, present, and future. If Jordan lets her guard down and Mack in, will she get everything she wants, or will she be humiliated all over again?
