May the Best Man Win

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I exhale. Tension eases from my binder-compressed chest. Mom and I have always been close—my dad was never around, and she left my stepdad when I was really young. The two of us have always been a team, the Harkiss girls against the world. But that ended when I transitioned, cut off like an electrical short. I’m not sure what we are now.

the autism rep felt really hmm in general. i really didn't like how only two parts of autism were talked about in this novel: reading people and how the school-system has basically been created for neurotypical people. yes, those are important and i especially appreciated the latter. HOWEVER, there's so much more to autism. i wasn't expecting to see a replica of my own thoughts and feelings here; i was just hoping to see some glimpses of what i learned about autism. it's also not just bad things, things that work against us; it can be so much more. Jeremy Harkiss is a cheer captain, student body president, and an overall role model for many people. He came out as transgender, which was a hard decision overall but with his all-star-ex-boyfriend Lukas running for the title of Homecoming King that he has worked so hard to get, he has had enough. He won't let anything get in his way between him and his crown. Does Not Like Men: Jeremy's mom has had almost nothing but bad experiences with men. Jeremy's dad left her, and her last boyfriend yelled at her and hit six-year-old Jeremy. When Jeremy comes out as trans, she has trouble accepting him partly because she sees masculinity as toxic. You wanna talk about the plot, what plot? The only thing here was two teenagers who don't know how to communicate, transphobic and homophobic people everywhere and a homecoming prom that's only here so we have an excuse to read a book about two teenagers that aren't even good to themselves. At least I learned more about toxic friendship ;) Roaring, raging, and riotous, May the Best Man Win is a queer lovers-to-exes-to-enemies-to-lovers romance that will have you rooting for both Jeremy and Lucas to win homecoming king—and each other’s hearts." — The Nerd DailyThis was more of a character-driven book although the plot was very interesting and fun, I can really see it was the characters that pushed the author! For me the writing was standard. So I don't really have anything to say on that note. Apart from my love and hate for the characters so let's move on! And perhaps a work like this is not for readers at all, but writers. Why not, when there’s so many on this island of ours; when, as Kevin Barry points out in the introduction to his edition: “at any given moment […]there are ten thousand maniacs battering their laptops with caffeinated fingers”. When Joseph O’Connor edited, he poked at the idea a little. “If you’re Irish enough to qualify for the Republic of Ireland football team, under the one-grandparent rule, or to cheer for it, even ironically, when it’s playing against our friends in England, you’re eligible for a seat on the squad bus.”

Jeremy Harkiss, cheer captain and student body president, won’t let coming out as a transgender boy ruin his senior year. Instead of bowing to the bigots and an outdated school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise—and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend Lukas for the title of Homecoming King? Olivia accepts Jasper's proposal. Edwin Clark's weasily actions helped elevate Jasper to a heroic level. A trans boy enters a throw-down battle for the title of Homecoming King with the boy he dumped last summer in ZR Ellor's contemporary YA debut. It’s books like these that make me so incredibly thankful for the #ReadWithPride series because I kind of want to stand on a skyscraper somewhere and throw copies of this book at people down below, urging them to read it (or be pummelled by it which, incidentally, was what happened to my feelings while reading this). Really, May the Best Man Win was nothing like what I expected and dare I say, I might even love it more because of that fact. From the cover and synopsis, you’d think this is a fun queer rom-com about ex-lovers who find themselves fighting for the same homecoming king crown after one of them transitions over the summer. And it is that, but it’s also so much more. That being said, it took me quite a while to get my footing in this story. It felt like the book didn’t quite know what it wanted to be in the first third—e.g. quirky, politically activist, social commentary, a true love story—and it took a while for different plot threads to weave together. But as everything eventually moved clearer in one direction and Jeremy and Lukas actually started talking beyond trading snarks and glares, I could not put this book down before knowing what would happen during homecoming and who would be crowned king.Overall this book was beautiful and fantastic and it made me cry so much! *remembers* I couldn't have asked for anything more...well maybe a less annoying Jeremy? But even Jeremy himself changed and I was really satisfied! Thank you Z.R. Ellor for writing this magnificent fantastic book! This will always stay in my heart ( ´◡‿ゝ◡`) This book had been on my TBR since I first heard of it, so I’m glad that I mostly enjoyed it. It wasn’t without flaws, but I found that there were important conversations about what it’s like to be transgender in this book and the story as a whole was really entertaining. I also loved all the fun pop culture references throughout this book.

This villainous behavior was a good contrast to the good-natured Jasper Dale, who displayed courage and thoughtfulness. Something however, should be said for the boy who fell into the well. After all, if it wasn't for Teddy, Olivia might have reconsidered Edwin's proposal. Criticism On top of that, this book has a great, diverse cast of secondary characters, some absolutely mischievous shenanigans and authentic and relatable autism representation. ok some things i liked!!! i liked jeremy’s messiness (i know i just said i didn’t i . please i’m confusing myself at this point) and the exploration of being early in your transition and the validation you yearn for and how sometimes you look for it in unhealthy ways!! (hahaha relatable) There I go, talking in the past tense. So let’s pretend for a second that we’ll see new episodes of FNL one day and look at what’s going on in this one: The story really looks at how Jeremy has had to distance himself from all things "feminine"—not just clothing and make-up, but even "feminine" behaviors and attitudes such as softness, empathy, generosity, and openness—just to be awarded the badge of "manhood" on cis men's terms. And it's not that he necessarily wants to disconnect himself from those things, but he feels like he's not allowed to have them or express them, because that opens the door to people invalidating his identity. And no, that shouldn't be the case, but that's the way it is. So he adopts a lot of aggression and even violence because he thinks if he can't get people to see him as a man, maybe he can get them to fear him as a man, because he thinks fear is a shortcut to respect.Exes Jeremy and Lukas have a lot on the line with the Homecoming king title. For Lukas, it means stepping out of his late brother's shadow and earning a sure acceptance into one of the ivy leagues that would finally make his parent's proud. For Jeremy, it means everyone has finally accepted what he's always known: he is a guy, and he's not gonna let his pseudo-progressive school and some transphobic classmates stand in his way. But before he came out, Jeremy used to be Lukas's girlfriend, and Lukas never understood why he ended things. Competition heats up as the two vie for the crown, and neither of them seem to care who they hurt in the process.