Reviews with content warning for Racism - May the Best Man Win

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor

22 reviews

fanboyriot's review

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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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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

May the Best Man Win by ZR Ellor is a YA contemporary romance between two exes competing to be homecoming king. Jeremy and Lukas are both dealing with a lot of emotions, both around identity and their families. So they both spend a lot of this book spiralling into chaos. The book does focus more on Jeremy trying to get everyone to accept he's a boy than it does on Lukas's struggles with autism, but they're both shaped by how they think people do/will perceive them.

This book is also about the shitty things people will do to each other, and the importance of learning and making amends. There's a wide span of friendship issues, family issues, and high school administration issues. I liked that the major subplot of fighting to amend the Code of Conduct to include verbal bullying and harrassment was given a lot of page time. I also love how the whole Homecoming Court vote shook out.

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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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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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bruhbruh's review

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emotional funny 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? Yes

3.5

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nsgold's review

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reflective 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

4.0

Content Warnings

ckoestner's review

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lulunyx's review against another edition

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emotional 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

2.25

Conflicted as I like the premise and themes of the book I just didn't like a lot about it:

Really love the themes explored but some topics were brushed over and not handled well.
The two leads are both dicks, and got worse. You can have unlikeable characters just don't try and pass them off as good.
They also have zero chemistry. Toxic as hell.
Writing style kind of bugged me
Plot was predictable

On the plus side:

Side characters are better than the leads
The way Meehan, Philip and the world treat Jeremy really struck me (I still want to punch many people in the face, especially Connor).
Really important topics (even if some of the topics brought up are not fully explored) and has good diversity of characters.

Media definitely needs more stories with trans, neurodivergent and non-white characters. The human race is diverse and amazing with so many views, media should reflect that. But this book, brushed over so many of the topics it brought up and didn't go into any real depth especially for Lukas' autism. My brother is trans and the way Jeremy is treated is realistic to what my brother has experienced, which made it difficult at times to read but also made me super mad at the reality the ignorance of some characters like Connor and Phillip shows. Overall, an important story to tell just wish it was done better.

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