Settle the Score

Romance veteran Ripper (Book Boyfriend), who uses ze/zir pronouns, knows zir way around a meet-cute, but the heroes of this entertaining contemporary, wannabe sportswriter Des and pro soccer player Orion, couldn’t have met in an uglier way: Des outed Orion in his college paper just as Orion was about to become a huge star. Des meant well, but the fallout sent Orion into hiding. Crushed by guilt, Des quit journalism for a low-wage marketing job after graduation. When his boss tells him to sign Orion as the face of their new youth soccer campaign, Des makes the six-and-a-half-hour drive to the one-bedroom cabin where Orion now lives hoping to pitch him on a way back into the sport he loves. Orion is a friendly and kind host—until he realizes who Des is and tells him to get out. Except it’s started snowing. Hard. Trapped and cut off from communication until the snow stops, Des and Orion must hunker down and get through it together. The classic snowed-in trope still works in the smartphone era, and Ripper’s keen character work and lively narrative voice will make readers warm to Des even while wishing he would get his act together. This is good fun. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Aug.)