I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Stella and Ellie Steckler are only a year apart, but their different personalities make their relationship complicated. Stella is single-minded, driven, and she keeps to herself. Cross-country running is her life and she won't let anything get in the way of being the best. Her sister Ellie is a talented runner too, but she also lets herself have fun. She has friends. She goes to parties. She has a life off the course.

The sisters do have one thing in common, though: the new girl, Mila Keene. Both Stecklers' lives are upended when Mila comes to town. At first, Ellie and Stella view the new star athlete as a threat. But soon Ellie can't help but be drawn to her warm, charming personality. After her best friend moved away and her first boyfriend betrayed her, Ellie's been looking for a friend to share her secrets. Stella finds herself noticing the ways she and Mila are similar. Mila is smart and strong--she's someone Stella can finally connect with. As the two get closer, Stella becomes something she vowed she'd never be: distracted.

With regionals approaching and college scouts taking notice, the pressure is on. Each girl has their future on the line and they won't let friendships get in their way. But then, suddenly, Mila goes out on a training run and never returns. No one knows what happened, but all eyes are on the Steckler sisters.

Short and Sweet Review

Stella and Ellie are sisters, only a year apart, but they’re both on the cross country team. Stella is more focused and her life revolves around running, while Ellie likes track she knows she isn’t as good as Stella and she has no problem going out and having fun. When Mila Keene joins the cross country team Stella feels threatened but they become friends. Things start to go bad when Mila goes missing and all eyes are on Stella and Ellie.

I don’t know anything about cross country but I’ve heard that this book isn’t a great representation of the sport. Stella and Ellie have always had each other’s back especially after the few roughs they had while their mom struggled with her alcoholism. Stella has a demeanor in which she comes across as mean and unapproachable so it’s not surprising that she doesn’t have a lot of friends. When Mila comes Stella does not like her but after hanging out and having similar issues with their parents, Stella realizes she actually likes Mila and their blooming friendship. Mila ends up catching the eye of recruiters from Georgetown which is where Stella goes and when Stella finds out she flips out and ends up texting Mila threatening messages which is a rookie mistake. Mila ends up going missing and people are looking at Stella because of an incident that happened the year before where she became violent towards another runner. Stella has a problem with her temper and I didn’t like her as a character, she has a bad attitude for most of the book. Now let’s focus on Ellie. Ellie isn’t any better she’s a hot mess. She’s willingly someone’s side chick and she believes him when he says he’s going to break up with his girlfriend soon and to make matters worse Noah is dating Ellie’s teammate. Ellie has had an abortion and she’s been keeping it a secret along with her relationship with Noah. When Ellie sees Noah with his actually girlfriend she sees red and starts to act out which makes people think she’s as crazy and violent as Stella. When Mila goes missing we see people looking at Ellie and Stella but we also learn that a few years ago there was someone killing the female cross country runners so that’s also a possibility. The ending was not great and everyone in the town of Edgewater sucks.

Overall, I did not like this book. Stella’s attitude throughout the book will just put you down because she’s a pessimist and Ellie just looks stupid with the decisions she makes. I’m hoping the next book I read by Goodman will be better than this book and The Counselors.