Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He's short, he's fast, he's got a ton of potential—and he's the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.
But Neil's not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil's new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can't walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he's finally found someone and something worth fighting for.

I’ve recently come to realize I might have a bit of an aversion towards YA contemporary novels, as well as a tendency to underestimate them. Why is it so, I don’t know. It may have something to do with bad past experience involving a lot of petty high school drama, silly love triangles and obnoxious mary sue characters, or simply with the fact that I’m more used to reading genres in which the world it is set in has a bigger impact on the story. Picking up The Foxhole Court, I expected it to be just like the former. Jocks, cheerleaders, stereotypes, your classic YA love triangle, all intertwined with a strong coming-of-age theme. And you know what, I couldn’t have been more wrong because this took a darker, deeper and more elaborate turn than I could’ve imagined.

So, what is this book about?
Neil Josten has changed more schools, towns, names and personalities than he’d care to count. Always on the run, he’d never thought much further about his future than: survive tomorrow. The only thing that has stayed with him through all these years is his love for exy, a sport like a mashup of lacrosse, soccer and ice-hockey. But one can’t live that way forever. It was only a matter of time before Neil slipped and his carefully constructed armour began to crumble. And slip he did. It all started with him trying out for the exy school team at the beginning of his senior year of high school. Then, he stayed the whole year. Showed too much potential. And now, Palmetto State University’s Foxes want to recruit him to play for them for the following season.

Neil knows he should say no. He knows that, with a past like his chasing him, he can’t afford to stand in the public eye for too long. And joining the Foxes would mean just that, for they are not only a Class I team but an infamously dysfunctional one at that, well-known for recruiting social outcasts and troubled teenagers, all those who need just one more chance. And maybe, just maybe, Neil needs another chance. A chance at being normal, at having a future, just this once.


Neil’s story simultaneously made me want to hug him tight and never let him go and find everyone who wronged him and make them regret they ever crossed paths with him. Seeing him tentatively realize for the first time that he, too, was worthy of love, having friends, family, doing what he loves – it wrenched my heart and shattered it into million pieces. And what he truly wants to do is be on the court, in front of the crowd and play. Palmetto State’s offer was like a lifeline thrown to him at the last moment, giving him something to hold on to, a chance to try and pull himself out. He took it with almost child-like awe and utter disbelief, as if it were the most precious and fragile thing in the world. Which, for him, it was—he never thought he’d be able to go to college, much less play for one of the most famous (or should I say infamous?) teams in the country. It somehow came just at the right time for me and hit all the right spots, reminding me of how grateful I am for having a supportive family and being able to have a say in choosing my future because not everyone has that luxury.


It was the Foxes and their coach that found Neil, recognized the broken boy hiding behind as one of their own, and promptly adopted him. Seeing them go from constant rivalry and bickering and even occasional fights to a surprising togetherness they showed on the court was amazing. No matter how broken and bitter and at odds with each other they were, once things got truly tough they stuck up for their own. It was beautiful and heartwarming in a way that filled my heart with so much love for each and every single one of them. Kevin, who is another precious little bean, devoted and determined and desperate to escape a past nearly as dark as Neil’s. Nicky, Andrew and Aaron, with whom I have a hate/love relationship, mostly because of the way they treated Neil at the beginning. Matt and the girls, Renee, Allison and Dan, whom I only wish I had gotten to know more and (most of) whom I really wish would play a bigger role in the rest of the series.

Even if the whole All for the Game were straight-on descriptions of the Foxes’ day-to-day life, I don’t think I would’ve complained. But that’s not even half of it. Sakavic enrichens her story by introducing us to the world of mafia and gangs and so-called ‘family businesses’, where looking someone the wrong way means getting stabbed in the back the next day. Through it, nearly everything (and everyone) is connected, sometimes in the most unexpected and fucked-up kind of ways. I’m always deeply intrigued by the so-called underworld and this was no exception. Sakavic did an exceptional job both depicting it and incorporating it into the sports thematic, adding that extra bit of tension and suspense to the storyline that made up for the lack of a conventional plot. There’s just enough to draw you in and keep you going until you’re fully immersed into the story. And once you are, believe me when I tell you you just won’t be able to stop.