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akswhy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
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
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 timesreading_rainbows's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
lish_reads'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
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault
jenny_d's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Racism, and Violence
elskabee'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
1.5
BUT unfortunately the good parts were few and far between. The plot was stupid and barely existent (so... I'm not American but I'm pretty sure winning homecoming king ain't that important, they act like everything will suddenly be perfect if they just win). I hated that most of the homophobia/transphobia was concentrated in one over the top neo-nazi privileged rich white boy that everyone can hate. There were other more minor and realistic instances of transphobia and the book would have worked better if they'd cut the bully character out entirely.
Which brings me to my next and most important point: this book is dark. If you want a cute and comforting queer read, this ain't it. All the characters, especially Jeremy, are f***ed up assholes and not in a lovable way. They make ridiculously dumb decisions that no person would make and consistently ruin their own lives and the lives of everyone around them. I could forgive it if that was the point, but it was just way too far off the rails to have a clear message. In the end there's some stuff about how it's okay to ask your friends for help, that community is important, and that you shouldn't push everyone away. But it feels a bit disingenuous considering how little the characters actually suffer any real consequences.
Heck, it wasn't even good from a romance perspective because the relationship development isn't on the page.
TL:DR you probably shouldn't bother reading this book.
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, and Homophobia
Minor: Drug use, Violence, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
seawarrior'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
4.0
Both boys could be horrible throughout the story. I spent most of it angry with Jeremy in particular. However, I did see my own angry, terrified, newly transitioning teenage self reflected in his rage and self destructive views. Anger is a key theme throughout the book; Jeremy takes it out on others, while Lukas turns it against himself.
It's not exactly rewarding to see the ugliest parts of transitioning into a boy transcribed into words, but I do feel it's important. It's rare to find stories that tackle the grief and the rage that trying to find yourself again as a self-made man can inspire. Walking the line between rejecting toxic masculinity from your personhood and protecting yourself from the wrath those who embrace it feel towards you can feel like an everlosing war, especially when trapped in environments with hateful men who are never held accountable. At the same time, we risk losing formerly close relationships with cisgender women who struggle to understand us as both a male and as someone who's experienced similar gender-based violence all our lives. Finding community again in these circumstances can be rough, but it is possible once we learn to let our anger evaporate and trust that our loved ones will protect us once we part with the armor that rage provides. I feel relieved to find a story that embraces these difficult issues as a part of it while still reminding the reader that our lives aren't as hopeless as they can sometimes feel.
I was also excited to find out that Lukas was autistic. His own struggles with wanting to control how people viewed him felt really relatable to me too. Yet I didn't feel he was able to have his tangled emotions and self-hatred resolved as much as Jeremy did, which was disappointing.
Overall, this story was one I really loved. It presents itself less as puzzle piece that fits exactly in place to validate the reader and more like a series of ever-shifting mechanisms that shy away from snapping together so simply. I don't think that's necessarily a flaw. These characters hold a lot of meaning for me and I expect them to stick with me for a long time. If their author ever wants to continue their story, I would be delighted to re-enter their world.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Biphobia, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Antisemitism, and Alcohol
mrsmiralda'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
1.0
Also, the school administrators SUCKED. As a future educator, I would’ve liked to see some positive teachers or administrators but instead all we see is teachers who deadname and misgender Jeremy, physical abuse due to transphobia being ignored, and the school system overall disappointing neurodivergent children. It was really frustrating for me to read because it’s unfortunate that this is the reality for most students. I vow to be different and I just wish there was some semblance of hope among the adults in this book. But not one of them was a positive influence.
I can’t speak on the trans rep or the autistic rep, but from my perspective, the book was missing key elements to make it be an empowering story. It was full of miscommunication that made me want to tear my hair out, and the ending felt rushed. I’m just disappointed.
Also, the two side characters that were used for plot development felt like diversity points. Sol is a Hispanic non-binary person and Naomi is an Asian girl and they are both used and treated like trash the entire time. And somehow they both forgave the trash they were handed without so much as apologies? Are they not worth anything?
There was also a line in the book that was quite lesbophobic about TERFs being mainly lesbians? Completely unnecessary.
Just…this book made me so angry. I don’t recommend this unless you like dumpster fire.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use and Grief
Minor: Death
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