“Spectacular Things” by Beck Dorey-Stein is the story of two sisters, Cricket and Mia, born to a young single mom, and the way they work together to make Cricket a professional soccer player. But that doesn’t even begin to convey what the book is really about or how it will make you feel. It’s about family – moms, sisters, dating, marriage, and love. It’s about ambition and about sports, and you don’t need to be a sports fan (I certainly am not one) to enjoy this.
Let’s talk about the structure of Spectacular Things. First of all, the beginning. What a start. Suffice it to say you’ll be hooked from page one and won’t be able to put it down until you read the whole book and figure out how you got to where you started (the book starts in 2028 and then goes back to 1989 where you work your way forward to figure out how Cricket and Mia got to where they are in 2028. I love books that take place over that many years, books where you really get to grow up with the characters, so I loved this. And then there were so many twists and turns in this book, the kind you’d usually be more likely to find in a mystery than in contemporary fiction, and it works so well. Every time one comes about you’ll be surprised but also it’ll feel so right.
I think the word ‘bighearted’ is overused in describing books, but it’s the best one I can think of to use here. The phrase ‘must read’ is also overused, but Spectacular Things is just that. It’s been a delight to read Beck Dorey-Stein’s work over the last seven years and see her grow as an author. This book cements her status for me as an auto-buy author.
PS: Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for providing me with an Advanced Reading Copy
