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aspencross's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Naomi and Ben also deserved better and both deserved to be homecoming king and queen.
-Jeremy is an asshole who’s only consequence is getting punched by a bully when he is such a shit friend to everybody
- the boy also complains about not wanting to be a victim and then victimizes himself all the time
- Jeremy does so much shit in this book and we’re told that he’s popular and was popular before he transitioned and I do not understand how when he’s so insufferable
- I was on Lukas’s side until
- I have never rooted for 2 characters to never get together as much as Jeremy and Lukas
- The ending was horrible because there’s so many plot points that are left unopened like
Side note: the author has also apparently done some shit and is lesphobic. This Reddit post has links and more information https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/s/JuVfSwXcrt
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book is also about the shitty things people will do to each other, and the importance of learning and making amends. There's a wide span of friendship issues, family issues, and high school administration issues. I liked that the major subplot of fighting to amend the Code of Conduct to include verbal bullying and harrassment was given a lot of page time. I also love how the whole Homecoming Court vote shook out.
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Grief, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
bashsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A gripe I usually have with queer fiction - especially queer YA fiction - is that the queer characters are not allowed to be messy disasters. There is a very limited amount of disaster allowed for queer characters before they have to be consumed by guilt and apologies.
That is not a problem here! These guys - the two main characters, Jeremy and Lukas - are selfish and angry and hurting and think that ruling a high school via Homecoming Court can fix that. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that it obviously can't. There are some truly painful moments in here, but I loved that. I loved that they did awful things that I totally would've also done if I'd been in their scared and miserable positions when I was seventeen. This is not making excuses for them, though - they are completely in the wrong most of the time- just, it makes their character growth wayyy more satisfying than usual.
This author clearly has a very nuanced understanding of queerness, and he approached how transitioning goes from a number of angles, including an important one that I don't usually see - that trans people themselves need to grow into their genders and resist toxic behaviors for the sake of validity.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the autistic representation in Lukas, which I wasn't aware of before I started reading this. I appreciate that a trans gay guy and an autistic got to be assholes and not use their identities as an excuse, but that those identities were integral to how they process the world. That's a fine line to balance, and I think Ellor did a great job.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism and Classism
-F-slur used a few timeslonglost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. Autistic rep AND queer rep ?? All I want in life. Unfortunately I just could not vibe with the book or its characters.
Lukas and Jeremy's relationship was not enjoyable to read about during most points of the book. It came off as TOO mean-spirited so so often and I genuinely don't see why
I DID enjoy the queer power message in this book, and while I didn't enjoy the shitty school system it also reflects reality unfortunately so. I wish I could have liked this book more because I'm 100% behind Jeremy's fight to change the Code so that the harassment he's facing is Actually Acknowledged but I couldn't stand the main plot of fighting over the Homecoming crown even if I could sympathize with both character's motivations. The actions they took against each other just felt too mean-spirited.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
alyxinthestars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Dysphoria
Minor: Biphobia, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Car accident, and Alcohol
curiositys's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism and Infidelity
sunsetcity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
yvonne_cl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Deadnaming and Infidelity
Minor: Child abuse
maisierosereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings: transphobia, misgendering, bullying, homophobia, anti-autistic ableism, violence, hate crime, sexism, threats of sexual assault, underage drinking, past domestic abuse/physical abuse of child, toxic relationship, infidelity, grief (past death of loved one/car accident), drug use, threats of knife crime
I loved the premise of this book when I first heard about it – a YA lovers-to-rivals-to-lovers romance between a 17 year old trans boy (Jeremy) and an 18 year old autistic boy (Lukas) is right up my street! I was also drawn to the gorgeous cover art by J. Yang, “a transmasc illustrator in a penguin onesie”. The audiobook is narrated by Avi Roque, who did a great job narrating both of Aiden Thomas’ audiobooks – it’s great to see that books like this one are creating work for other trans artists in addition to the authors!
To start by clearing up a little misinterpretation I had: I was under the impression before starting this book that it was a romcom, but I would say it’s more of a drama than a comedy.
The main characters are both morally-grey disasters who make more than their fair share of bad decisions. They’re not exactly loveable at the start of the book – Jeremy in particular comes across as very self-centred. The success of series like The Foxhole Court (with its infamously messy main characters) implies this won’t be an issue for many readers, but it might be a turn-off for others. The characters did undergo a degree of development by the end of the book and recognise that they should have acted differently in the past, and seem to want to do better moving forward.
I could empathise with Lukas feeling that he had to mask his autistic traits, and struggling to ask for the accomodations he needed from teachers with inaccessible teaching styles. However, I would have loved to have seen a little more positivity around him being autistic, perhaps as part of his character development or through more neurodivergent side characters.
Speaking of side characters – my favourite character of the whole book was probably Sol, a nonbinary Latine computer nerd in the school year below Jeremy and Lukas. While they also made some poor decisions, as teenagers are likely to, I found them much more loveable than the main characters and would love to know more about them and their story.
The rest of the cast of characters includes some definite antagonists, and others whose motivations are more complex. I don’t know how realistic the school’s policies on e.g. bullying and harrassment are, since I went to and work in English secondary schools where the antagonist’s actions would easily be grounds for exclusion, but I’m glad that this “outdated administration” was challenged by many of the characters.
One issue which went unchallenged and which I would like to highlight is the arguably lesbophobic description of TERFs (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists) given by one of the side characters, who says that a lot of TERFs are lesbians who “hate trans people because they like to claim they’re the most oppressed queers in existence”. I really hope this was edited for the final copy. While I don’t disagree that the queer community needs to reflect on its own transphobia, I think this line is a dangerous oversimplification when many young adults who will read this book may not have encountered this term before; after all, people of all sexualities are TERFs, and their transphobia is not because of any discrimination they may receive for other marginalised identities. Reinforcing the association between lesbians and transphobia will not help anyone.
Some scenes and details which I did enjoy included Jeremy’s fabulous outfit for the last day of homecoming week, a review of scented candles, the use of the song “Holding Out For a Hero” (yes, the one from Shrek; and yes, it was stuck in my head for days afterwards), and the people elected as homecoming king and queen.
Overall, if you like a dramatic contemporary romance with imperfect characters? Definitely give this one a try!
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Car accident