
Run Like a Girl
Harlequin · Hardcover · May 20, 2025
Dera Edwards knows her life is over when she's shipped off to live with her estranged father in the middle of White Suburbia.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A determined runner’s push for a place on the team meets the costs of being seen.
- Themes
- Perseverance in sports, Estrangement from a parent, Online bullying
- Genres
- Track & Field, Contemporary YA Romance, African American YA
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
Split the Sky (coretta Scott King Author Honor Title)Marie Arnold53% matchShares African American YA
You Belong HereSara Phoebe Miller, Morgan Beem56% matchShares Contemporary YA Romance
The Education of Kia GreerAlanna Bennett56% matchShares Contemporary YA Romance
RedAnnie Cardi53% match
The TournamentRebecca Barrow55% match
D.j. Rosenblum Becomes the G.o.a.t.Abby White56% match
Sunday MoneyMaggie Hill55% match
Balancing ActPaula Chase58% matchShares Contemporary YA Romance
For younger readers: Caprice, Learning to Fall, Run Home
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
Dera Edwards knows her life is over when she's shipped off to live with her estranged father in the middle of White Suburbia. To make matters worse, Dera learns that her new school doesn’t have a girls’ track team, shattering her dreams of getting a track scholarship and, one day, competing in the Olympics. Not one to give up easily, Dera joins the boys’ team instead.
Continue reading
But while she has the school administration’s blessing, her new teammates and classmates are less than welcoming. Between that and her frustratingly distant father, Dera is positive her junior year is ruined. Just as she starts to accept her status as an outsider, Dera’s approached by her classmate Rosalyn, who wants to feature Dera’s story in her blog. Eager to change the narrative and spend more time with Rosalyn's gorgeous cousin Gael—also known as one of the few teammates who will talk to her—Dera agrees. But when she goes viral and gains attention across the state, Dera’s new notoriety opens the door for trolls both online and at school. Paired with her deteriorating relationship with her father, she soon finds everything to be too much. Will Dera be able to keep outrunning her problems, or will her dream be the very thing that derails her?
Running Against the Grain
A determined runner’s push for a place on the team meets the costs of being seen.
Come here for
- The grit of claiming space on a boys’ track team
- A young outsider finding her footing amid school and family strain
Expect
- Track ambitions tangled with online attention and hostility
- A personal coming-of-age story with pressure on and off the track
Where it sits
| Track & Field | 84% |
|---|---|
| Contemporary YA Romance | 52% |
| African American YA | 44% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Coming of Age
- Diverse YA Fiction
- YA Stories About Parents
- YA Stories About Girls & Women
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Contemporary YA Romance
- Bullying for Teens
- New Experiences for Teens
- Prejudice & Racism for Teens
- Authors
- Amaka Egbe
- Publisher
- Harlequin
- Published
- May 20, 2025
- Format
- Hardcover
- Theme
- Perseverance in sports · Estrangement from a parent · Online bullying
- Reading lane
- Coming of Age