Author: Robbie Couch
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

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?

Robbie Couch’s Blaine for the Win starts off as teenage musings. The initial setting is at the beginning of spring break in northwest Chicago. As every other high school teenager would do, Blaine Bowers is starting his break with many great plans, and on this particular day, he is painting a mural at Susan’s stationery to give it a face-lift.

It’s a Friday, a perfect day for any teen out there to have a great dinner plan or night out, and Blaine is not the one to miss such. On this particular night, he will be attending his much-awaited anniversary dinner with his boyfriend, Joey Oliver, who the author describes as the It Boy of Wicker West High’s senior class and president.

Blaine has a great life, and he figures that it will get even better once Joey takes him out on the date night of all date nights. He expects to be picked up by Joey in a fancy signature charcoal suit on a fancy sunny spring evening, and he plans to have dinner at the fancy Grey Kettle, overlooking a glittery Lake Michigan. He is also thinking about their plan to fly first class with the Olivers to Cabo San Lucas, Land’s End in Mexico, for a week on the annual family spring break trip.

On the other hand, Joey thinks that their relationship is going nowhere and wants to break up with Blaine on their anniversary dinner. According to Joey, Blaine is not the right guy for him and his family; he requires someone more serious than an artist who is not interested in politics. They break up, and Blaine is a big mess; he undergoes a mental breakdown but is able to overcome it with support from Aunt Starr, Trish and Camilla. So, Joey devises a scheme to demonstrate his seriousness by running for class president against Joey's new boyfriend, Zach Chesterton. What follows is a tough battle for Blaine against mental health, self-preservation, self-improvement, leadership battles and LGBTQ+ issues.

I fell in love with many characters in the book, from the relatable and very supportive Aunt Starr to Danny Nguyen, Trish, Blaine and Camilla. Their characters are well developed, and I felt like I knew them in real life. However, the main character, Blaine Bowers, was not my type of guy, both in queer terms and even as a friend. Throughout the novel, he is always in a mess, and however much his family and friends help him and stick with him, he seems thankless and full of teenage drama. I needed the author to make Blaine apologize for his behavior in the end.

Still, many things in the novel struck a chord with me, from the LGBTQ+ coming of age, mental health issues and teenage school drama/teen/youth culture to Blaine googling images of Grey Kettle before the date. Joy posting shirtless photos on Instagram with captions, Blaine listening to Taylor Swift’s Folklore, and mention of a new Pixar movie. I also liked the novel’s fast but smooth pace; I could not put it down, and I felt compelled to read it in one sitting. I would recommend Robbie Couch’s Blaine for the Win for junior and high school students, parents with high schoolers and parents with LGBTQ+ teens. I enjoyed the drama, and I hope they adopt the novel for youth TV.

- Weldon Ngetich