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NetGalley Review of Cross My Heart

Posted on March 16, 2026December 13, 2025 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2025-12-03 at 7.54.03 AM

title: Cross My Heart

author: Esha Patel

publisher: Avon

publication date: March 24, 2026

pages: 320

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: injury, alcohol use

summary: Even though her Junior lacrosse season went sideways, May is not amused when Colt comes back to help coach her team for her Senior year. After he left her with only a lame text five years ago, she's so angry that she'd rather not see him again. It turns out that since his injury, he's been unable to play his own game and needs her help even more than she needs his.

tropes:

  • second-chance romance
  • rivals-to-lovers
  • he broke my heart
  • coach-player
  • childhood sweethearts
  • fake dating

what I liked:

  • good team play
  • well-drawn friends and family
  • both players with realistic issues and goals

what I didn’t like:

  • they don't seem particularly college-aged
  • I don't totally buy their years apart

overall rating: 3 (of 5 stars)

As always, you can click on the photo above if you want to buy the book.

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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Read my recent “Why” Wednesday Blog Posts

  • NetGalley Review of Villa Coco
  • 388. Why Not “Could Potentially”
  • NetGalley Review of You Won’t Forget Me
  • NetGalley Review of The Valencia Expat Club
  • 387. Why Give Speeches
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