May the Best Man Win

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As I said, May the Best Man Win is a story that centers two angry, grieving, messy teenagers who don't know where to place their rage and their frustration when it feels like the world is taking away their control, and so they project all of that onto each other, especially when they already have a challenging history as exes. Each of them knows the other person "can take" their ugliness and their anger, so they pour all of it into this homecoming race. Is it healthy? No. Does it set a "good example"? No. But it does make sense. This was more of a character-driven book although the plot was very interesting and fun, I can really see it was the characters that pushed the author! For me the writing was standard. So I don't really have anything to say on that note. Apart from my love and hate for the characters so let's move on!

First and foremost, the audiobook was great. I did end up listening to it in 1.25 speed, but I loved the narrator, Avi Roque, and found the voices of all the characters easy enough to follow. I'm also very happy Avi is a member of the LGBTQ+ community themself. They were a great fit, and really brought the book to life!

We get a man internet dating in a direct provision hostel, a country where the babies are all replaced by letters, a lesbian with a Muslim girlfriend going home to a Belfast family that is “more complicated than Peshawar”. Irish life is flown at from many angles. Something other Jeremy is a really fascinating character to me, because he is so terrified and isolated, and a lot of his fear and anger stems from the fact that he's afraid no one will truly love him while seeing him for his transness. He's also grieving, in a way, because he's mourning the life he was never allowed to have until coming out and transitioning, and also the femininity and feminine spaces that he's had to give up in the process of transitioning. Above all, the story does such job of commenting on how transmasc people, specifically, are in danger of adopting toxic masculinity as a means to shield ourselves and "successfully" pass, if our goal is to pass.

I Just Want to Be Normal: Jeremy wants to be seen as just a regular boy rather than as a trans boy. if you read all of that i applaud you, and i really do hope i made some points here. i can sadly NOT recommend this book in any way. stay safe, y'all!When Jase and Emily are continually thrown together as wedding attendants, long-buried resentments, miscommunications, and attraction bubble up until a one-night stand becomes a red-hot affair that cools considerably once they actually face their painful shared past. Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, won’t let coming out as a transgender boy ruin his senior year. Instead of bowing to the bigots and an outdated school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise—and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend Lukas for the title of Homecoming King? we don't see a lot of jeremy's emotions because he feels like he should all hide it, which is fair and realistic. but what i personally don't get is how we as readers didn't get some kind if exclusive look into his brain. i don't know; i already didn't like him and his reasoning was hard to follow if you didn't really knew how he felt... lukas confronts jeremy with pictures of him pre-transitioning in front of the entire school. why? because lukas was in those pictures too and only after jeremy is pissed at him he realises what he did. i don't know about you but 1) how can you not notice that and 2) how can you ever forgive a person for doing that...i can't speak on this too much since i'm a ciswoman but it felt really, really off. there are a few things i just didn't like, but there are also lines and events i thought were straight up problematic. let's start with the more personal things though:

wow!! another anticipated release that i have very complicated feelings about!!! no one is surprised at this point ,,,That being said, it took me quite a while to get my footing in this story. It felt like the book didn’t quite know what it wanted to be in the first third—e.g. quirky, politically activist, social commentary, a true love story—and it took a while for different plot threads to weave together. But as everything eventually moved clearer in one direction and Jeremy and Lukas actually started talking beyond trading snarks and glares, I could not put this book down before knowing what would happen during homecoming and who would be crowned king. I think this is a really important addition to the YA contemporary canon, especially as a piece of trans fiction, but I can already tell that it's going to be polarizing and get a bad rap for having "unlikeable" characters. It's definitely one of those narrative car crashes you can't look away from, and I think I kind of loved it. With that said, I'm still processing what that means. what i can actually talk about is the way jeremy threatened to tell the entire school lukas is autistic when he damn well knows lukas isn't ready for that yet. if you didn't know, i myself am autistic and i was in no way okay with this. not because i think being autistic is something someone should hide or be ashamed for, BUT it should always be your own choice to tell that. your choice to decide when, where, how, and even if. jeremy just crossed too many lines here and i would never forgive someone for even thinking of threatening with something like that...

TW: ableism, transphobia, homophobia, bullying, deadnaming, misgendering, violence, death of a sibling Glorified Sperm Donor: Jeremy's dad left when his mom got pregnant. On one of the school's costume days, he dresses as a sperm cell, and explains that he's dressing as his father, "or at least his biggest contribution to my life." Wrong-Name Outburst: During a Rivers family dinner where all the adults are slightly drunk, Lukas tells his parents he might get into Stanford if he becomes Homecoming King. His mom says, "I'm proud of you, Jas-" before she catches herself. edit: ok so i just read that there’s a very lesbophobic line in this,,, still going to read because autism and trans rep but just want to warn everyone!!! kind of disappointed because this was one of my most anticipated books of the year but whateverrrrr In this same chapter, we learn that the "dream woman" is Alice Reade, who arrived in Carlisle to teach music. The series representative of Jasper's early love interest was named Addy McNiel, and described in "The Story Girl Earns Her Name."Roaring, raging, and riotous, May the Best Man Win is a queer lovers-to-exes-to-enemies-to-lovers romance that will have you rooting for both Jeremy and Lucas to win homecoming king—and each other’s hearts." — The Nerd Daily I’m fine,” I say. “Super fine.” I move to walk away and then hesitate. “Hey, you’re leading Homecoming Committee this year, right?” I know he is. He’s been on the committee since he was a freshman, working his way up the ladder. Lukas loves organizing complicated, flashy events. “Will you put my name down on the court ballot?” Exiled to the Couch: Lukas finds out his parents' marriage is falling apart when he comes home late to find his dad sleeping on the couch.