2024 the best man plot review

Price: $11.99 - $8.49
(as of Dec 18, 2024 07:29:08 UTC - Details)

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.

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 outdate 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?

Lukas Rivers, football star and head of the Homecoming Committee, is just trying to find order in his life after his older brother’s funeral and the loss of his long-term girlfriend―who turned out to be a boy. But when Jeremy threatens to break his heart and steal his crown, Lukas kick starts a plot to sabotage Jeremy’s campaign.

When both boys take their rivalry too far, the dance is on the verge of being canceled. To save Homecoming, they’ll have to face the hurt they’re both hiding―and the lingering butterflies they can’t deny.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Square Fish (May 17, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250833299
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250833297
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 - 18 years
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL720L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 10 - 12
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.35 x 1 x 8.15 inches
Reviewer: M. Elizabeth
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An engrossing, important, propulsive read
Review: For context, as a middle-age, cishet woman, I am NOT the intended audience for this book. Nevertheless, I inhaled it. It is a beautiful, messy, heartwarming AND heartbreaking dive into the lives of Jeremy and Lukas, exes who have fallen painfully, angrily out of love with each other and are competing for the homecoming king crown at their wealthy, "progressive" high school.Jeremy, head cheerleader and class president, has recently come out as a transgender boy,and his ex-boyfriend, Lukas, is a football star in charge of the school's homecoming, who is trying to get his life back on track after the loss of his older brother.This book is messy, and real, and sweet, and angry, and speaks to the power imbalance of kids on the cusp of adulthood and the adults who fail to protect them.Representation matters, and this book delivers. The characters leap off the page and find their way into your heart. You go gladly along this journey with them, hurting when they hurt, hoping when they hope, and yes, at times feeling disappointed in their choices. But that's what makes it great. That's what makes it real.ZR Ellor has crafted a beautiful, important tale. Cannot recommend highly enough!

Reviewer: Rocinante
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Like a car crash you can’t look away from …
Review: Before senior year, popular cheerleader and class president Jeremy dumps his boyfriend, comes out as trans, and decides to run against his ex for homecoming king.I had heard that a lot of people don’t like this book because the main characters are unlikable, and yes, I can definitely see why people think that. Jeremy especially is pretty horrible for most of the book. But I still found this book fascinating. Like a car crash you just can’t look away from.Jeremy and Lukas have both been living a lie for the last 3 years. Jeremy was pretending to be this perfect, popular girl, and Lukas, who is autistic, has been hiding his disability from the entire school, and has basically made “being popular” into his special interest. Before freshman year of high school, they decided they wanted to be popular and Lukas figured out exactly the kind of person he needed to appear to be and made it happen. 3 years later they are both in total crisis mode. Jeremy is having a gender crisis–finally coming out as trans and starting testosterone, but still feeling like he just looks like a girl with short hair in boys’ clothes. Jeremy’s gender dysphoria is severe, and every deadnaming, every misgendering cuts deep, and this book does a great job of showing how painful that can be. We should all know by now that not every trans person has the same experience, but I thought this was a eye-opening portrayal of a character grappling with their gender, figuring out how to be a man without falling into toxic masculinity, how to be perceived as a boy–but also wanting to be a flamboyantly gay cheerleader, and dealing with bigots, TERFs, and an unsupportive school administration. Lukas’s crisis is that his “perfect” older brother had died several months earlier, his parents’ marriage is falling apart, and he feels like he needs to be the perfect son and get into an ivy league college to hold his family together, be a perfect student, and lead the football team to victory. Meanwhile, he’s been masking his autism at school and while hanging out with friends which is exhausting, he’s having a really hard time studying without asking for accommodations, and he has no idea why Jeremy dumped him so cruelly and seems to hate him now.Unfortunately these crises are causing both characters to lash out at each other and Jeremy is so angry all the time and lashing out at everyone around him and just generally being self-centered and a horrible friend. But these two ding dongs are still in love with each other and really justy need to sit down and actually talk to each other! Both characters have a lot to figure out, but they do get there in the end and basically deserve each other. I’ll admit reading this book was kind of stressful; I’m not used to reading books where the main characters are so horrible to each other. This book definitely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but ultimately I’m really glad I read it.

Reviewer: koontzink
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well Done!!
Review: First, I'd like to note that the characters in this book are incredibly well developed. I read a few reviews stating that the main characters were not very likable. Maybe I'd agree with that, but I'd also have to say that being self absorbed just isn't very attractive, yet it is totally age appropriate for these characters. I'd be curious to find whether these reviews were written by older adults who had hopefully moved on from this developmental state. Their behaviors, including their stupid behaviors, were dead-on, meaning that fit very well with the characters at all times. I was especially glad to see that any changes in the characters were quite believable.I was a little thrown off by one character's diagnosis of a mental health disorder. I don't even remember what it was (autism, I think). The kid didn't seem to have any symptoms - and I'm a psychologist. I think I'd recognize it. It didn't cause any problems with the characters or the plot. I just don't know why it was in there.It's been an incredibly long time since I went to high school (I read this book as research for a project) and, although I know the boys in this book dealt with homophobia, transphobia and general you're-different-from-me phobia, I hope that we have evolved as much as this book would indicate. Maybe it has. I remember my son (at about age 16) telling me that his (male) friend had hit on him and my son's concern was that he'd hurt his friend's feelings by telling the guy he was straight. At the time, I just thought my son was a really great guy. Maybe things have progressed this far in general. I would just be (pleasantly) surprised if it has. I'd be more likely to believe that if the author had made the book more realistic in that regard, he wouldn't have room to develop the characters or the plot. Baby steps.My favorite aspect of this book was the author's voice. There were a number of literally laugh out loud moments, and it was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Reviewer: Alexandre Pedro
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Entertaining and charming
Review: I don't usually read highschool settings but I'm glad I gave this one a shot. This is a good story about change, making your place on the world, and discovering who you are, full of drama that while typically teenager, feels real and human.I kinda can't help wishing for a college sequel, to be honest!

Reviewer: Rick P.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Sinceramente, este não é um livro para todo mundo. Os personagens desta história são mimados, egoístas e passam por cima de todo mundo... Mas, por incrível que pareça, acho que este é justamente o maior trunfo da história: o autor não teve medo de retratar os seus personagens com seus lados mais feios, e achei isto extremamente corajoso.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved this book so much!!!!!! As a gay trans guy, I adored this amazing representation; and, of course, I was dying of happiness over Jeremy and Lukas by the end!!!! I think this is both my new favourite romance book and my new favourite self-discovery/self-growth story!!! This book was just over all super amazing!!!

Reviewer: S J Marriott
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The plot of this book was amazing, I loved the character development. This is the first book I've read with good trans and non binary representation. The author did an amazing job at portraying Jeremys gender dysphoria and Lukas’ autism. Everything about this book was perfect.

Reviewer: fran123
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: the order arrived well before the indicated date. And the book is in perfect condition.

Reviewer: Elijah
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I think the product is very nice, as long as I can read the book and its not in terrible condition I usually don't mind. However for some people I know they like their books very clean and sleek looking and my books came with a crease both on the cover and on the spine, the one of the cover luckily isn't too noticable but the one on the spine makes it look a little more unfinished. I think I saw a few more reviews saying theirs had slight damage as well. (I tried to show the parts in the photos) Id like to add that it was delivered with another book as well and that one was in perfect condition, so I don't believe that it was something with shipping however that could be a possibility.