*Spoiler free*

The jellyfish commonly known as a Portuguese man o’ war is neither Portuguese, nor a jellyfish, nor a man, nor even a singular organism. If you can cope with those facts, you can begin to understand River McIntyre, an elite high school swimmer who’s bad at counting laps. River McIntyre has lived all their life in the shadow of Sea Planet, a now infamous ocean theme park slowly going out of business in the middle of Ohio. As Sea Planet drifts toward its final end, so does River’s high school career and, worse, their time as a competitive swimmer. Or maybe not. When River makes an impulsive dive into Ocean Planet’s shark tank, they unintentionally set off on a wrenching journey of self-discovery, from internalized homophobia and self-loathing through layers of coming out, gender confirmation surgery, and true love. And at the end of this race? Who knows. After all, counting laps has never been River’s strong suit.

I legitimately cried over the deal announcement for this book. I was a competitive swimmer for ten years, I’m trans, I’ve dealt with certain kinds of dysphoria, it was a process to grow into my identity, I’ve gotten top surgery. I’ve desperately wanted to read this book since I found out about it, since it seemed like it touch basically hit my right in the chest. Trigger warnings: internalized homophobia, transphobia, self-harm, deadnaming

*Spoiler free*

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 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.

I mean, when you find out that a book is about a trans boy competing with his ex-boyfriend for the title of homecoming king, how can you not want to scream? Because that is definitely how I felt when I found out about this book. I’m not sure exactly how long I’ve been excited about this book, but I do know I’ve been excited for as long as I’ve known about! It sounded like it would be absolutely amazing! Trigger warnings: transphobia, grief, homophobia, ableism