The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons

Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother and a Messi-in-training. He's also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of bullying, Spencer gets a fresh start at Oakley, the most liberal private school in Ohio.

At Oakley, Spencer seems to have it all: more accepting classmates, a decent shot at a starting position on the boy's soccer team, great new friends, and maybe even something more than friendship with one of his teammates. The problem is, no one at Oakley knows Spencer is trans—he's passing.

So when a discriminatory law forces Spencer's coach to bench him after he discovers the 'F' on Spencer's birth certificate, Spencer has to make a choice: cheer his team on from the sidelines or publicly fight for his right to play, even if it means coming out to everyone—including the guy he's falling for.

The end felt pretty sudden but it wrapped up nicely.

THIS BOOK WAS SO QUEER AND GAY AND TRANS AND NONBINARY

Love the normalisation of gay people within sports. Also, I'm British and don't understand soccer!! I really enjoyed the story, I thought Spencer's relationship with his parents was sweet and realistic, and his struggle with legislation and his birth certificate so realistic and it highlighted how there are still laws that discriminate against trans people.

Some things I didn't like were the fact that Spencer had like no chest so he could just take his shirt off and not need top surgery. I get that the Fitzsimons wanted to write a story about a trans teen who was stealth, but it just made Spencer a lot harder to connect with, seeing as he didn't face probably one of the biggest and most upsetting struggles for many trans men.
Another thing I didn't like was the ending, as Justice just disappeared and the explanation felt a bit rushed and I think I would've liked more detail into Justice's difficulty with being blackmailed into coming out to his very homophobic family and then leaving the school. I also think it would've been nice if the book expanded on Spencer and Aidan's relationship, as it never feels explored enough, as well as Spencer's budding friendship with Riley.

I would definitely recommend this book, and it would've been a 5/5 if some of the problems had been fixed.