REVIEW: Blaine For the Win by Robbie Couch

After being dumped so his boyfriend can pursue more “serious” guys, a teen boy decides to prove he can be serious, too, by running for senior class president in this joyful romp from the author of The Sky Blues.

High school junior Blaine Bowers has it all—the perfect boyfriend, a pretty sweet gig as a muralist for local Windy City businesses, a loving family, and awesome, talented friends. And he is absolutely, 100% positive that aforementioned perfect boyfriend—senior student council president and Mr. Popular of Wicker West High School, Joey—is going to invite Blaine to spend spring break with his family in beautiful, sunny Cabo San Lucas.

Except Joey breaks up with him instead. In public. On their one-year anniversary.

Because, according to Joey, Blaine is too goofy, too flighty, too…unserious. And if Joey wants to go far in life, he needs to start dating more serious guys. Guys like Zach Chesterton.

Determined to prove that Blaine can be what Joey wants, Blaine decides to enter the running to become his successor (and beat out Joey’s new boyfriend, Zach) as senior student council president.

But is he willing to sacrifice everything he loves about himself to do it?

❤️ Little bit of romance

😭 heartbreak, break up out of nowhere

👯‍♂️ diverse supporting characters

🏳️‍🌈 2SLGBTQIA+ characters

I loved “The Sky Blues” by Robbie Couch so I was really excited when I saw that “Blaine For the Win” was available. I just finished reading this lovely coming-of-age YA novel and I absolutely loved it. It’s actually one of my favourite YA novels this year.

When this novel opens, high school student Blaine is painting murals and late for a date with his awesome and slightly-posh boyfriend, Joey, for their anniversary. What Blaine doesn’t see coming is Joey dumping him at the restaurant when they should be having the best night ever.

It turns out that Joey thinks that Blaine isn’t serious enough. Joey has his life planned out. He knows where he wants to go to school, he knows what career he wants. And Joey has realized (with the help of his parents) that Blaine isn’t the guy for him.

Heart-broken, Blaine retreats home to lick his wounds. Blaine eventually hatches a plan to run for student council to prove to Joey that he can be serious. After all, if he wins the election, then surely he can win Joey back.

This book is utterly readable and I was drawn in from the very beginning. I loved being invited into Blaine’s mind, his emotions and his story. I was rooting for him from the beginning. The story unfolds at a great pace, there’s a lot going on but Couch keeps it all manageable and engaging.

The cast of supporting characters is wonderful and engaging and they have varying interests. Their voices are unique and I always love that. They are a team of the kind of friends you want in your life; they tell the truth and they have your back. There’s a lot of truth in the conversations that the characters have and it was refreshing.

Be prepared to have tears in your eyes

Goodreads || Author || Publisher

I received an ARC of Blaine for the Win by Robbie Couch from Simon Schuster via Netgalley/ Edelweiss in exchange for an unbiased review.

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