Thank you NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

This was a home run! A grand slam? Who knows. Regardless, what an absolute treat. Hoffman’s grasp of casual, realistic dialogue and domestic imagery makes for such an immersive and welcoming reading experience. You could easily tell that the characters were comfortable and friendly with each other (at least until Luis shows up, of course!) 

As a trans masc person, this was such a refreshing and beautiful story about trans joy and happiness. While there were small mentions of transphobia that would be hard to avoid in our current world, the primary conflicts never revolve around Gene’s trans-ness. Luis never questions his status as a gay man for being attracted to Gene, because everyone in Gene’s life correctly sees him as a man. Being able to read from the perspective of a trans person who loves his body right where it’s at and isn’t struggling with being trans is such a delightful experience, and really just filled my heart with so much joy. 

Back to the writing: I loved the occasional use of Twitter threads and the baseball announcers to provide a more zoomed out, meta perspective of the whole team and how they are perceived from the outside. I also loved the focus on more than just the primary romantic relationship; Gene and Luis have friendships and family relationships beyond each other that experience tension, hardships, and resolution. 

Finally, let’s talk about that representation!! Beyond the main leads being a gay trans man and a gay man, there’s more Achillean and Sapphic rep with Vince, Baker, and Gene’s dad; characters with ADHD, anxiety/PTSD, Down’s syndrome, a hard of hearing character who signs, and probably more I’m forgetting. None of it ever felt forced or tokenized, it was just a normal people existing in the world, and it was delightful! 

This was such an incredible debut, I cannot wait to see what kind of trans love K.T. Hoffman blesses us with in the future!