As much of a sports story as it is a romance

"Never Vacation With Your Ex" is presented as a young adult romance, but pigeon-holing it into that genre is limiting. As the title suggests, the storyline of seventeen-year-old Kaylee potentially getting back together with her ex-boyfriend, Dean, while their families vacation together is a major portion of the plot. The romantic tension and relationship growth will satisfy readers who pick this book up in search of a romance. But of equal importance to the story (and not at all alluded to in the title) is the personal growth of Kaylee as a star volleyball player who is trying to get out of the shadow of her mom, a former gold medal Olympian—also in volleyball. We follow Kaylee as she navigates the pressures of her training, of her life and body being analyzed on social media, of the constant comparisons of her to her mom. We see her try to learn how to be the athlete, daughter, and friend she wants to be—not what everyone else wants her to be.