May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor

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.

Everyone in this book is a well written hot mess. The characters felt real. I really want to see fanart of Sol's homecoming outfit.

“It's not political to protect kids. There shouldn't be sides.”

Every teen's journey is the same: self-discovery. Though everyone's experiences are much different from one another. May the Best Man Win presents us to Jeremy and Lukas, two boys that are going through this journey. Jeremy's journey is about proving himself to people: he wants everyone to see him as the man he is. Luka's is about fulfilling all the expectations of a family that is falling apart after the death of his older brother.

They both have great motives for winning Homecoming King, and through the read you can't avoid but feel torn between their divide. These two boys fit, and we read as they slowly progress to madness over one another's plan to grab attention and votes. How easy is it to get lost in yourself when it seems like everyone around is charging to attack you? It's in these dark moments that we need our friends by our side, and that's unfortunate for our main protagonists, because it's easy to push people away when you're lost.

The book tackles themes such as privilege, transphobia, microaggressions, sexual harassment. How can a school be progressive when it is controlled by alumni that wish to maintain the status quo from last century because they are more worried about how political that would be than the fact that anyone who differs from their norm will get abused?

Though it started slow and the pacing was improving as the story progressed, reading Jeremy and Luka's journey was a remarkable experience, along with their friends Naomi, Ben and Sol. I wish we got to see more of them towards the end, but it was perfect nonetheless.