Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - The (Un)Popular Vote

really enjoyed it, but the transphobia & deadnaming from the father was a lot at times. (there was a warning at the beginning of the book so i did know it was coming, and it was definitely important for the story; it was just a bit painful to read through at times)

that said, the beginning part of this kinda reminded me of middle grade books i used to read (in the vest way possible) - eg. the mc wanting to do something to make a big change in the community, the "you have the power to make a difference" type of thing. i hadn't read any books like that in a while so it was a nice change. *note: it does advance past where middle grade books would ever go in terms of the mc questioning his motives for what he's doing, so this is definitely worthy of the ya tag rather than mg.

this is much longer than what i usually write for book reviews lol but basically what i'm saying is i liked it a lot but beware of transphobia & deadnaming done by a parent & directed at their child.

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earofthedog's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.5

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coversofceilidh's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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stacy837's review

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challenging hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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courtnoodles's review

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emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

2.0

Would have worked better as a coming of age story about a trans boy with a Democratic yet transphobic politician as a father, and a high school student council election in the background, rather than the other way around. If you're gonna do an intense election at the forefront, with political jargon and everything, you have to go full Politician a la Netflix. Extreme camp, sheer ridiculousness, no holding back. Anything halfway won't work. And this was kind of halfway.

Excellent writing though. Lots of layered analogies that I loved.

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sophtruepenny's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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elliizzzabeth's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm not someone who is into politics (especially American politics) but for some reason this book drew me to it and I was not disappointed! Despite it being about a political campaign it didn't make the narrative boring and all of the characters made it interesting. It was what Ryan Murphy's 'The Politician' wanted to be.
Benji was definitely the stand out, especially in the audiobook where you get to hear his southern twang. It was also a very authentic look at the trans experience and made it a part of the plot without making it tragic or too sensationalised. Also the relationship was predictable but very cute.
I did have a few issues, mostly that there seemed to be some weird vendetta against the GSA, constantly saying it was 'only full of straight people' but never went to the GSA so how does he know? He says there are hardly any out gay people in the school but how do you know they are not only out to the GSA? I'm not American so maybe that's just a stereotype about them but it seemed a bit sort of gatekeep-y like saying they were the 'real queers'. Also annoyed that

jenny gets mad at Mark for not reading her mind? Like don't tell someone you want to give in and then get mad that they let you

But overall it was a very good read!

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imstephtacular's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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