Reviews with content warning for Drug use - May the Best Man Win

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May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor

10 reviews

fanboyriot's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

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

Read For:

Rivals to Lovers

Second Chances

Homecoming King

Cheerleader x Football Player

Friends to Lovers to Enemies to Lovers

The only thing that comes to mind when I think of this book is: “I love it and hate it at the same time” and really I kind of do.

The queer kids in this book were amazing, everyone else just kinda sucked. The trans rep in this was so painfully well written. The things Jeremy thought and the way he described how he felt was as heartbreaking as it was relatable.

But wow, were these characters so toxic.

Naomi was such a horrible friend it was laughable. She was jealous constantly and she just goes and asks out her best friend’s ex, who had made it clear he didn’t like her like that?? Like why?? All because of some banters that were messed up, I get being petty but bro have a good reason.

Lukas was so toxic. One minute he was fine, going through a lot at home and having to always be the best at everything. He had to get into an amazing college, he had to win homecoming king because if he did that then he would get into a good school, then his family would care about him like they did his dead brother… yeah, because that's how it’s going to work. So he took his anger out on Jermey.

Jeremy was also toxic, just not as bad in my opinion. He was selfish and breaking up with his boyfriend when and how he did it was so incredibly messed up but people acted like he was the worst person ever. He literally had no one. His mom was so desperate to have a daughter she failed her son in the process. Jeremy might have been a mess but wouldn’t you be when everyone failed you and had no problem telling you that they hated you, he was bullied, harassed, and misgendered constantly.

The last few chapters were the best. Everything coming together, the person who got the crown, the drama being resolved finally, and the relationships being settled.

(Switching, First Person POV)

Spice: Lightly Mentioned

Rep: trans (ftm) MC, Autistic MC, Non-Binary SC, Latinx SC

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bashsbooks's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

WOW.

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.

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reading_rainbows's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

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

Was a stressful listen. So much bad behaviour

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lish_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

“I need to be bigger than my anger, but I’m only five foot two.”

This book is messy, imperfect, complicated, and important.

Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, publicly announced his transition before the school year started and wants to take his senior year by storm, school administration and transphobic bullies be damned. Lukas Rivers, Jeremey’s ex, wants to be crowned Homecoming King, get accepted to an Ivy League, and heal the rift his older brother’s death left in his family.

As the two go head-to-head competing for their prestigious private school’s Homecoming Court, tempers flare, and our two main characters and their friends are, well, teenagers, grappling for a place in a world that expects something specific of each and every one of them, no matter their own desires or opinions on the matter. Jeremy, Lukas, their friends, rivals, and enemies, are all figuring out how to be themselves in the wake of what society, their school, and their families expect of them, and at times these expectations are suffocating. The ways these characters choose to fight back against injustice (actual or perceived) aren’t always the best choices available to them, but each choice is authentically made by the character in question. This book is not a cute rom-com, despite the effervescent cover and synopsis, though I was rooting for Jeremy and Lukas’s possible reconciliation, even when I wanted to sit them down and shake some sense into them both, older-sister style.

In addition to their battle for a Homecoming crown, Jeremy struggles transphobia amongst his peers and the adults in his life, as well as with his masculinity and what American society dictates as acceptable forms of masculinity. Lukas, secretly living with an autism diagnosis he’s only ever told Jeremy about, struggles to pass his AP Bio class in the face of an ableist teacher, and the student body struggles with a Cresswell administration that cares more for appearances of progressiveness than actual change. There’s a lot of social commentary packed into this book, and some of it is handled better than the rest. But I think Ellor’s main goal — to show that trans characters don’t have to be perfect paragons of virtue, but can be real and imperfect and flawed — was met. I felt for Jeremy in every single sentence, even when he was being an asshole and hurting people he was supposed to care about, and especially when he knew he was making a bad choice and just didn’t know how to make a better one. These characters are only 14-18 and all very privileged, struggling with gaining real-life experience and dealing with the consequences of their actions for possibly the first times in their lives — they’re going to make a wrong decision sometimes, and even experience whole seasons of their lives defined by their bad choices.

I do wish there was a little more resolution in the end — some of the plot points were wrapped up quickly and without the attention I thought they deserved, and I thought a few characters got off a little too easily for my taste — but I enjoyed the place we leave both Jeremy and Lukas.

All in all, I think MAY THE BEST MAN WIN is a strong debut in the queer contemporary YA genre. If you get the chance, give the audiobook a try — narrator Avi Roque brought distinct voices and layers of personality to each and every character, making the audiobook a joy to listen to.

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jenny_d's review

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emotional slow-paced

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

Content Warnings

elskabee's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

This book was a hot mess in a bad way. I wanted to like it so badly because it features a main character who is a trans guy and the other main character has autism. The rep side of things was generally handled well, and the internal conflicts about neurodivergency, gender, and sexuality were the best parts. *Contrapoints voice* aS a tRaNs pErSOn I felt that the internal conflicts and struggles Jeremy experienced were highly relatable, especially in relation to passing vs ideal presentation.

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.

Content Warnings

seawarrior's review

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challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

To begin with, this book isn't a fluffy romantic comedy. If that's the type of story you're set on reading you may not be able to appreciate it. This was a difficult book to read at times, yet as a trans autistic man, I felt like I saw myself in both Jeremy and Lukas' perspectives and experiences.

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.

It would have been nice to see him find community with more neurodivergent people the way Jeremy eventually did with other queer students.

I wouldn't have minded reading a much longer book for this to have happened. I really loved Lukas and following his journey of self discovery.

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.

Content Warnings

mrsmiralda's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

This book could’ve been great but it was missing so much. Not only is the main character Jeremy so incredibly problematic and toxic, there’s just some horrible things that happen in this book that go unaddressed and ignored. Lukas, who is autistic, is questioning his sexual identity after his ex boyfriend (Jeremy) transitioned ftm. There’s plot points I won’t get into, but at one point Lukas shares videos of Jeremy before he transitioned as an oversight (which seems like a crappy oversight, seeing as Jeremy makes it very clear all of the time how he wants zero association with who he used to present as) and Jeremy threatened to out Lukas’s autism to the school. Lukas feels some type of way about his autism so that was really uncool, but it was glossed over and not really talked about afterwards…???

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.

Content Warnings

maisierosereads's review

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challenging tense medium-paced

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

I was provided with an eARC of this book so that I could write an honest review as part of the Turn the Pages blog tour! Click here to read this review (and enter a giveaway for a physical copy) on my blog.

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!

Content Warnings

xoodlebooks's review

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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