ok listen i had a bunch of issues with this book. i picked it up like seven books ago and had to leave it because i Simply Wasn't Connecting and i really thought i wasnt gonna finish it. these issues kept being there further on, but i immediately noticed that i was reading teenagers written by adults. you know that feeling? like the issues felt superficial and the banter didnt go anywhere, like it was there for the hell of it? a lot of whatever and shut up when someone can't push the banter further? a lot of that. so i quit.

but then i read All For The Game and my sports gays hormones were running high and i said you know what? fuck it we're just gonna power thru. coincidentally, i think i had abandoned right before things actually picked up, so this time i was actually able to genuinely enjoy it!

its not perfect alright? it isn't. especially not after the beast that is AFTG because those are. very complex and deep and this is more of a light summer read WHICH IS FINE but also that contrast highlighted some issues:

-the sports gays angle was... a lot of gays and not enough sports? i cant believe im saying this, a year ago i would have slappec myself across the face, but after AFTG (which made me literally fall in love with a sport that doesnt exist) and fence (which made me fall in love with fencing, which does exist) i have come to the conclusion that the sport must serve a purpose other than simply Be There. and i felt nothing for the soccer. i was ready to be like HELL YEAH GOAL THAT or whatever yall soccer people say, and yet i didnt. also, emir went from the Absolute Worst to the Absolute Best and we only get a glimpse of the reason and that makes me BITTER how tf did that happen mister

-i like that we discussed body dysmorphia, i dont love how lightly we breezed over it. i COMMEND the fact that it was there at all, but also, it fizzled and dissolved unsatisfactorily, and didnt show up when it needed to. are you really going to tell me this guy who regularly looks in the mirror and pinches as the "excess" did not have a glam of self consciousness when he slept with the boy he likes, that he considers absolutely perfect and stunning and out of his league? did not fuckin think so. so. good attempt, next time lets do more of it

-can we NOT do the "hes mean to you because he likes you" thing anymore? or at least call it out properly? because the way mason treats grey the entire time is UNCOOL man and shes a firecracker and deserves better and should have fuckin kicked his head like the football

other than that. cute! we LOVE pakistani gay emir and bi disaster bastian. its super cool to see a confident, secure, open bisexual character, we dont get a lot of those. also, i liked that we introduced emir's faith into it, although i dont know how accurate it is (and i really hope this was fact checked and shit with people who actually practice it). theyre really cute as a couple and though their falling out as kids wasnt exactly what i thought had happened, what actually did happen was satisfactory enough. i like them they get a pass. my absolute favorite characters, tho? willie and hunter. LOVE THE HELL OUT OF THEM WHERES THEIR BOOK SIR.

all in all: more soccer, more realism in the body dysmorphia, less mysoginy, but just the right amount of kissies in the lake and gay panic and hoodie stealing. and the title is pretty as hell. not mad at it!