52 pages • 1 hour read
Ana HuangThe Striker
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Asher”
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses sexual content.
Asher Donovan plays his first season with his new Premier League team, Blackcastle. He recently transferred from the Holchester United team and wants to do well. He feels frustrated by the team’s lack of cohesion during the season final match. In the final moments of the match, his captain and rival, Vincent DuBois, refuses to pass him the ball, and they lose.
After the game, Coach Frank Armstrong calls Asher and Vincent into his office. He scolds them for letting their rivalry sabotage the game. He insists that in the offseason they’re going to train at the Royal Academy of Ballet (RAB) and work out their differences. Vincent protests when Armstrong announces that their instructor will be his sister, Scarlett DuBois. Asher privately stews.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett teaches her ballet class at RAB. After class, she chats with her students, excited and overwhelmed when she hears that Emma got a part in The Nutcracker at Westbury Theater. Scarlett was supposed to dance there, but five years ago, she was in a car accident that left her with chronic pain.
Scarlett’s assistant and friend, Carina, tells her that their boss, RAB director Lavinia, wants to see Scarlett in her office. Lavinia informs Scarlett she’ll be training two Blackcastle players at RAB for the summer. Scarlett protests because she doesn’t want to train Vincent and hates Vincent’s rival Asher. Finally, she acquiesces.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Asher”
Asher and his teammates Adil and Noah go to the Angry Boar pub. Asher grabs them drinks at the bar, turning and dumping the beers onto a beautiful woman. He flirts and asks for her number, but she turns him down. Confused, Asher hopes to run into her again.
A week later, Asher is still thinking about the mystery girl from the pub when he reports for his first training session at RAB. In the empty studio, he knocks over a bag and starts picking it up when the mystery girl enters. He’s shocked to see her again and tries engaging her in conversation. Then Vincent arrives and reveals that the mystery girl is in fact his sister, their trainer Scarlett.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett feels pleased seeing Asher’s shocked face when he discovers who she is. She also notices how attractive Asher is. She dismisses her thoughts and starts the training session. When Vincent and Asher start bickering, she demands that they stop. Afterward, Vincent leaves for an interview while Asher hangs around to chat with Scarlett. She insists he stop flirting when Carina enters—visibly shocked by Asher’s good looks.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Asher”
Two days later, Asher reports early to the studio for his next training session, eager to see Scarlett. Before practice, Scarlett gives him a few rules for their relationship, insisting he can’t flirt or call her nicknames.
During the session, Scarlett winces and dismisses herself from the room. Vincent warns Asher not to get involved, threatening to kill him if he tries anything with Scarlett. Shortly after she returns, Vincent gets an emergency call about their dad. He’s in the hospital after falling and breaking his hip. He leaves RAB early to handle the situation.
Asher offers Scarlett a ride home because it’s storming and she usually takes the train. On their way out, paparazzi swarm them. Asher apologizes for putting her in the spotlight. On the drive, they chat about their families and professions before Asher drops her off. Alone in the car, Asher reminds himself “Scarlett is off limits” (48).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Scarlett”
Vincent stops at Scarlett’s after talking to their dad. He demands to know who drove her home, but she won’t give him a direct answer. They discuss their dad’s condition, and Vincent tells Scarlett that he will go to Paris to stay with him while he recovers. The siblings’ parents divorced when they were young, and Vincent lived with their dad. Scarlett agrees, but the siblings wonder how Armstrong will respond.
The next day, Lavinia informs Scarlett that the sessions will continue without Vincent. Scarlett doesn’t know how to feel about training Asher alone. She runs into Asher, who has come to RAB to see her. Suddenly, a paparazzo appears in the hall. Asher and Scarlett run, but Scarlett is overcome by pain and collapses.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett wakes up groggy in the RAB infirmary with Asher by her side. She pretends she’s okay, but finally reveals she was in an accident five years prior and still suffers from chronic pain. Asher is sympathetic and reveals he carried her three flights to the infirmary. He also reveals that someone leaked his location and that the paparazzo got in “disguised as a prospective student” (63). Listening to Asher, Scarlett realizes she’s seeing him in a different light.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Asher”
Over the next two weeks, Asher struggles to quell his feelings for Scarlett. During dinner with his parents—Ron and Pippa Donovan—Asher’s mind wanders to Scarlett, too. Ron reprimands Asher about his poor football performance, then scolds him for ignoring him. Asher knows Ron is disappointed that he left Holchester for Blackcastle. He excuses himself to visit his late best friend Teddy’s grave. At the cemetery, he mourns Teddy and reflects on his life.
“Scarlett”
Asher’s private driver, Earl, takes Asher and Scarlett to Asher’s estate. Asher leads her through the palatial space to the ballet studio he has built in his basement. It will give them a safe place to train where the paparazzi can’t find them. Earl will chauffeur Scarlett to and from RAB, too. Scarlett is delighted.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Asher”
Asher takes a drive in one of his sports cars. Cars and racing are his favorite things after football. He’s collected numerous vintage cars since joining the Premier League. While driving, his mind wanders to Scarlett again. She mentioned that she was going on a date recently, and he wonders whom she’s seeing. He reminds himself that they can’t be together and that she’d be a distraction anyway.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett arrives at Asher’s for another training session. They take their practice outside and start a playful game of football. Scarlett plays as hard as she can, her body tingling throughout. Suddenly, a paparazzo jumps over the fence and tries taking photos. Asher is furious, demanding to know how he got in. After forcing the paparazzo off the property, Asher invites Scarlett to take a bath to soothe her sore muscles.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Scarlett”
While bathing, Scarlett reflects on her situation with Asher. After the bath, she pokes around the private wing, studying his framed photos. He joins her, and they chat about his transfer to Blackcastle. Scarlett wonders if he’s being honest about his reasons for leaving Holchester. Then the two get a weather alert on their phones. Because of a flash flood warning, Scarlett has to stay at Asher’s.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Asher”
Asher and Scarlett spend the evening watching movies together and sharing an intimate conversation. Scarlett opens up about her parental relationships and professional history. Asher opens up about his family and professional life, too. Then Asher asks Scarlett if she’ll dance again and encourages her to audition for a part in the upcoming RAB staff showcase.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett lies awake listening to the rainstorm and reflecting on her evening with Asher. Feeling hungry, she sneaks to the kitchen, where she runs into Asher. Convinced he’s an intruder, she almost hits him with a frying pan. They end up collapsing on the floor with Scarlett straddling Asher. Overwhelmed by desire, Scarlett excuses herself to her room. In bed alone, she masturbates, thinking about Asher.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Scarlett”
Scarlett leaves Asher’s the next morning without saying goodbye. She meets Carina for tea and reveals what happened at Asher’s. Carina suggests that she and Asher have a fling. The conversation turns to the showcase, and Carina encourages her to audition.
Scarlett meets with Lavinia about the showcase. Auditions are over, but Lavinia offers to let Scarlett be the understudy for Yvette, the dancer performing the lead role.
Earl drives Scarlett to Asher’s for their next session. She’s excited to tell him about the showcase until she arrives and discovers him kissing an attractive blond in the living room.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Asher”
Polina surprises Asher by stopping over. They went on a few dates months ago but haven’t seen each other since. She asks Asher to be her date to an event to make another man jealous. She lunges in for a kiss in an attempt to convince him. Asher tells her he can’t be her date.
In the studio, Asher notices Scarlett is acting strangely. He’s surprised to hear she’s upset about Polina and teases her for being jealous. Scarlett ends the conversation, reminding Asher that they need to be professional. Asher agrees, and they stay focused for the rest of the session.
Chapters 1-15 Analysis
Chapters 1-15 introduce the novel’s primary characters, conflicts, stakes, and themes. The narrative alternates between the first-person points of view of protagonists Asher Donovan and Scarlett DuBois—a formal choice that creates tension between the characters’ concurrent storylines even before they meet. As the narrative unfolds, Asher’s and Scarlett’s intersecting first-person narratives inform one another and provide insight into their personal histories, their inner worlds, and their privately developing feelings for one another. The similarities and disparities between Asher’s and Scarlett’s worlds intensify the forbidden nature of their relationship.
Overlaps between Asher’s and Scarlett’s personalities and points of view reveal that both characters are trying to claim who they are on their own terms while navigating The Tension Between Personal Desires and Communal Expectations. For as long as Asher and Scarlett can remember, they have defined themselves according to their careers. Asher has dreamed of “[p]laying on a professional pitch, hearing thousands chant [his] name, [and] being the one who took [his] team to glory” since he was a child (1), while Scarlett has dreamed of dancing at Westbury Theater and proving her skill and talent as a ballerina. In the narrative present, however, both Asher’s and Scarlett’s dreams feel compromised. Asher recently transferred from Holchester United to Blackcastle to escape the pressure of his father’s expectations, but his first season with his new team has not gone well. He feels professionally frustrated at the novel’s start because he isn’t living up to his own standards and because he feels like an outsider on his new team. His teammate and rival Vincent DuBois is especially significant in this regard. An antagonist used to create narrative tension, Vincent does everything in his power to make Asher feel unwelcome—even refusing to pass him the ball during their matches. This dynamic ostracizes Asher and illustrates his loneliness, confusion, and desperation to balance his professional goals and personal desires. Scarlett is similarly frustrated at work: The injuries she suffered from a car accident five years ago have stunted her career and kept her off the stage. She desperately wants to dance again, but fears that she won’t be able to live up to her past standards. The novel uses these parallels between Asher’s and Scarlett’s storylines to suggest that professional frustrations have the power to impede personal growth journey and threaten one’s self-worth.
Chapters 1-15 use micro settings to develop the protagonists’ characters and provide insight into their complex personal histories. These settings include Asher’s estate, Asher’s private ballet studio, and RAB. At RAB, for example, Asher “fe[els] a pinch of satisfaction” showing up to the establishment in his incognito car (23). This setting offers Asher the opportunity to disguise his identity as the popular, handsome footballer and to hide from the paparazzi. The academy is also a safe place for Scarlett, as it’s where she works and spends most of her time. The paparazzi intrusion in Chapter 7 disrupts the characters’ sense of safety at RAB and thus changes how they respond to this setting. Indeed, the scene in which they run from the paparazzi and Scarlett collapses conjures notions of fear and danger. In turn, Asher’s estate and new private studio become symbolic safe havens, secluded spaces that foster Emotional Intimacy as a Means of Overcoming Trauma. Although palatial, Asher’s house “straddle[s] that perfect line between cozy and luxurious” (74). It’s tucked away from the rest of the world and offers the characters a new refuge where they can train and interact in private. These spaces indeed facilitate raw, honest conversation between Asher and Scarlett and thus advance their burgeoning connection. The scenes of them watching movies, talking intimately, and running into each other in the kitchen capture the house’s positive influence on their relationship. The setting gives them a chance to escape public scrutiny and interact as equals. This is particularly true because they don’t have to worry about scrutiny from their families, the public, or their colleagues as they have in other settings.
As a contemporary romance novel, The Striker relies on tropes to incite its primary conflicts: The novel is a forbidden romance story in which Asher and Scarlett’s feelings develop as a result of their forced proximity—another genre trope—while they know that they’re not allowed to act on these desires. This heated dynamic between the protagonists intensifies the narrative atmosphere and foreshadows how the most unexpected relationships might lead to love and transformation.
Related Titles
By Ana Huang
