Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Genre: Realistic fiction

Age Recommended: 13 and up

This book is an ARC, courtesy of NetGalley and will be published by Scholastic on August 26th.

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Mike’s father is dead. He died in the war against Afghanistan hoping that his sacrifices and those of many others would end it.

Eight years later, Mike is 16 years old, and the war is still going on.

Mike is not sure that his father ever loved him, when one day, he receives a letter from his dead father. Mike’s father had written this letter before he died and now some anonymous person had sent this letter to him. A couple of days later, Mike gets another letter, and then another!

He is overjoyed at seeing these letters that his father had written himself. His father also tells him to never stop playing football. Football has been Mike’s passion. Mike gets hurt in a game and his mother forbids him from playing ever again.

When the next football season starts, Mike can’t help but forge a signature on the registration paper. He joins the team, helps win a game, and becomes a school wide celebrity.

Mike also falls in love with a girl named Isma. She disapproves of sports but likes Mike anyway. Mike still hasn’t told his mother about Isma much less the football team.

Also, his fathers letters have started becoming more personal and Mike finds out a secret that he would have never guessed in his wildest dreams.

This secret now joins the many others hidden from his mother.

Will Mike’s mother find out the secrets?

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If you would like to read this book, you can pre-order it here:  If You’re Reading This