Winner Take All, by Laurie Devore

For Nell Becker, life is a competition she needs to win.
For Jackson Hart, everyone is a pawn in his own game.
They both have everything to lose.

Nell wants to succeed at everything―school, sports, life. And victory is sweeter when it means beating Jackson Hart, the rich, privileged, undisputed king of Cedar Woods Prep Academy. Yet no matter how hard she tries, Jackson is somehow one step ahead. They’re a match made in hell, but opposites do attract.

Drawn to each other by their rivalry, Nell and Jackson fall into a whirlwind romance that consumes everything in their lives. But when a devastating secret exposes their relationship as just another game, how far will Nell go to win?

Visceral and whip-smart, Laurie Devore’s Winner Take All paints an unflinching portrait of obsessive love, toxic competition, and the drive for perfection.

 

"Darker and weightier than many stories about rivals falling in love, Devore’s second novel draws a blurry line between honest emotions and calculated moves...a hard-hitting message about the pressures placed on teens to succeed." ―Publishers Weekly

“Heartbreakingly real…an unrelenting, incisive look at one young woman's highly pressurized world." ―Kirkus Reviews

"A clever plot twist reveals just how quick we are to judge the behavior of girls more harshly than that of boys...A winning choice." ―School Library Journal