Erin Becker Author

Erin Becker Author

Photo of Erin Becker, author

Photo credit: Tina Leu

Erin Becker is an author living in Washington, DC. Her debut novel, Crushing It, comes out from Penguin summer 2024. It’s Bend It Like Beckham + “enemies-to-first-crushes” for the preteen set––but adults will love it too.

Cover of novel Crushing It by author Erin Becker

Cover art: Ricardo Bessa

Crushing It: an “action-packed but tender debut”

On the soccer field, Magic Mel is in her element. She’s ready to lead her team to victory at the city championship in her new role as captain. Off the field, however, is a totally different story. Mel can’t get a handle on her class presentation, her friend group has completely dissolved, and her ex-friend-current-teammate, Tory, is being the worst. The only place she feels like herself is in her text conversations where she shares her secret poetry with BTtoYouPlease.

Tory McNally, on the other hand, is keeping everything together, thank you very much. So what if her mom is more preoccupied with her craft projects and new husband than her, or that she’s down to one IRL friend because of annoying, overly peppy “Magic” Mel? She’s perfectly fine, and even when she maybe isn’t, she’s got NotEmilyD to text with.

As the championships loom closer, everything around Mel and Tory starts to get more and more complicated: the dynamics on the field, the rift between their friend group, and, as they connect anonymously online, maybe even their feelings for each other . . .