spencer is in a new school after a year of bullying following his coming out at his old school. though spencer’s new school is somewhat progressive, he’s understandably hesitant about coming out again, lest this school is a repeat of his previous one. he and his parents want him to stay on the low, but doing so is hard, especially once he joins the soccer team.
first, i want to say i’m super glad i had prior soccer knowledge going into this, because this did focus a lot on the sport. i think you can still enjoy this if you don’t know much about soccer, but just keep that in mind!
also, i think this was the first book i’ve read that was set pretty close to where i grew up? so i loved that!
i loved spencer as a main character. he didn’t always make the best decisions, but isn’t that what being a teenager is about? i am a bit curious as to why this wasn’t in first person, especially since spencer’s was the only pov we got, but it worked fine in third person!
i also loved the romance between spencer and justice and how that played out. i related a lot to justice and i really felt for what he went through with his family.
this book dealt a lot with the theme of courage, which played into other points of the plot as well—spencer’s and justice’s separate coming out stories, theo’s (spencer’s younger brother) starting a new school, riley and spencer fighting for gender-neutral bathrooms, and so on. i love how this book explored that theme in so many different ways and it was handled so well.
i recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA and sports romances.
first, i want to say i’m super glad i had prior soccer knowledge going into this, because this did focus a lot on the sport. i think you can still enjoy this if you don’t know much about soccer, but just keep that in mind!
also, i think this was the first book i’ve read that was set pretty close to where i grew up? so i loved that!
i loved spencer as a main character. he didn’t always make the best decisions, but isn’t that what being a teenager is about? i am a bit curious as to why this wasn’t in first person, especially since spencer’s was the only pov we got, but it worked fine in third person!
i also loved the romance between spencer and justice and how that played out. i related a lot to justice and i really felt for what he went through with his family.
this book dealt a lot with the theme of courage, which played into other points of the plot as well—spencer’s and justice’s separate coming out stories, theo’s (spencer’s younger brother) starting a new school, riley and spencer fighting for gender-neutral bathrooms, and so on. i love how this book explored that theme in so many different ways and it was handled so well.
i recommend this to anyone who enjoys YA and sports romances.