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NetGalley Review of Racing Hearts

Posted on February 2, 2026September 8, 2025 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2025-09-05 at 7.49.00 AM

title: Racing Hearts

author: Ann Adams

publisher: Dell

publication date: February 10, 2026

pages: 352

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: mean people

summary: When her perfect-on-paper boyfriend says something rough in the minutes before the most important race of her life, Kath, who knows that routine and superstition is what keeps her rowing at an elite level, loses everything. If she wants to get her life back, she has to start over with new coach Adrian. Unfortunately, Adrian doesn't coach like anyone she's ever worked with before. Even more unfortunately, he's super attractive.

tropes:

  • "that was you?!"
  • coach-athlete
  • starting over
  • learning to live
  • rotten ex
  • pressure from dad
  • absentee dad

what I liked:

  • humor
  • best friend
  • all about racing
  • pressure
  • time limit

what I didn’t like:

  • n/a

overall rating: 5 (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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