Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - May the Best Man Win

Sol was an absolute delight amidst this drama. Both Jeremy and Lukas were heavily flawed, but I honestly don't like Jeremy as a person whatsoever. Lukas had his good and bad moments.

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paskendus's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I am very glad I went into this book knowing that both main characters are a bit annoying. I guess one can expect that from teenagers.
It was an interesting read in a way, especially seeing teenagers showing anger and even being spiteful as a self preservation technique, but my oh my how they did not communicate. With each other or the adults. And the adults were... passive at best, so all around people just trying to survive on assumptions.
The writing felt repetitive at times and overly dramatic for my taste. I also did not feel a lot while reading the book, I got what the author wanted me to feel, but I just didn't. Characters made correct, good conclusions after something happening but I just did not see how they got there, that may be on me and lack of investment. I also think it was preachy and very on the nose at times.
And honestly I did not like the ending after all the messy things that happened everyone should have gotten some therapy to work through at least some of their personal stuff before being all lovie dovie. Or I at least would have loved to see the resolving their problems more.

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nanacai's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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darkmattersoybean's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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longlost's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This. This sure was a book.

I really wanted to like this book. Autistic rep AND queer rep ?? All I want in life. Unfortunately I just could not vibe with the book or its characters.

Lukas and Jeremy's relationship was not enjoyable to read about during most points of the book. It came off as TOO mean-spirited so so often and I genuinely don't see why

they ended up getting back together.

Jeremy treated Lukas like shit, and while I understand that

Jeremy was hurt by Lukas's comment on the day they broke up he also uses it as an excuse to vilify Lukas when like. There is no reasonable way he could have known how to respond to Jeremy at that point. Also he KNOWS Lukas is autistic and therefore has trouble w/ social shit, and yet it never occurs to him to say "hey, I broke up with you because of that comment you made, not because you somehow did a bunch of things wrong in our three years of dating" which we see Lukas is worried about from the chapters in his POV.

Naomi and Sol were fun however. I liked them.

I DID enjoy the queer power message in this book, and while I didn't enjoy the shitty school system it also reflects reality unfortunately so. I wish I could have liked this book more because I'm 100% behind Jeremy's fight to change the Code so that the harassment he's facing is Actually Acknowledged but I couldn't stand the main plot of fighting over the Homecoming crown even if I could sympathize with both character's motivations. The actions they took against each other just felt too mean-spirited.

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alyshkalia's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Content Warnings

aslanjude's review

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emotional sad 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

5.0

I want to hear absolutely 0 cis opinions on this book. It was excellent and you can pry my love for this book from my cold dead transgender hands. <3 Zabé Ellor wrote a book that reflected more of my own feelings as a gay trans man in high school than any other. "Reminder: the main villains in MTBMW are the wealthy and powerful adults who refuse to protect queer kids, not the kids themselves" - Z.R. Ellor on Twitter @ZREllor

Content Warnings

stinky_stew's review

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emotional tense 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

3.25

I found a lot of the side characters to be obnoxious and for as slow of a burn the book is I had a hard time handling how long the focus was on them. The resolution seemed short. It was a very slow burn I wish more time was taken to relish in the end

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