Caught Offside (Soccer Sisters #2)

Montalbano, Andrea. Caught Offside (Soccer Sisters #2)
October 3rd 2017 by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
E ARC from Netgalley.com

In this sequel to Soccer Sisters, we follow Val Flores as she works with the Brookville Breakers. She's never minded before that Brookville is a wealthy town, and she lives nearby in a not so wealthy neighborhood, but she starts to feel uncomfortable with Chloe's driver and some of her other teammates. Makena starts to talk about a dance she's going to at her school, and even goes shopping with some of the other soccer girls and doesn't tell Val. When mean girl Jessie suggests that Val would be more comfortable with a rival team, El Fuego, Val starts to question her allegiance to the Breakers.
Strengths: This looks enough like the Alex Morgan Kicks series that my soccer loving girls will be sure to pick it up. Montalbano is a very passionate emissary of soccer and supporter of Girl Power, and the length and writing style will go over well with middle grade readers.
Weaknesses: I was about halfway through before I realized this was a sequel; I was somehow just confused. This seems to have been published previously, and there doesn't seem to be a hardcover copy being published, although Follett is issuing prebinds.
What I really think: The beginning of this could have used more focus (the collapse of the indoor soccer area doesn't seem to have affected as much as one would think), but it's still a solid purchase for middle school libraries.