Dive into Love

High school senior Enrique Pedraza is a tennis phenom whose predominantly Latino high school can barely field a full team. The family joke is that Mexicans don’t play tennis, but Enrique spends his summers working at and attending tennis clinics at St. Benedict’s University.

There he meets first-year college student Jalen Morrell, who has a diving scholarship to St. Benedict’s.  Despite their radically different backgrounds–Enrique is solidly blue collar while Jalen comes from an affluent, professional East Coast family–they strike up a friendship and eventually become a couple. Enrique feels Jalen is the perfect guy for him, but he knows his ultra-religious and racist parents will be upset that he has a boyfriend, even worse a Black one, so he’s forced to weave an intricate pattern of lies to keep the relationship hidden from them.

Enrique’s life gets even more complicated when his childhood friend and teammate, jealous of his new relationships on and off the court, gets him suspended from the lineup and outs him to his parents. Dealing with his family’s rejection, he is forced to grow up fast as he faces an uncertain future.  Aren’t your parents supposed to love you more than anyone, no matter what?  Michael Méndez Guevara writes another page-turner for young adults that deals with difficult real-world problems, including the impact of social media, juggling extracurricular activities and relationships with family and friends.