this was an amazing book from start to finish, even for someone who's outgrown most y/a. my biggest grievance with lgbtq+ rep is often that it feels forced and/or inauthentic, which wasn't at all the case here; in fact, it was a heartfelt and loving exploration of someone's journey to self-acceptance. grace's fears and doubts felt real and so genuine i was rooting for her from page 1. the sports aspect was also very well-done (kept me engaged with a sport i know nothing about), and i loved the exploration of the relationships through the lens of who grace used to be to these people, versus who she is now coming back. overall a very good story, and i will definitely read more by this author in the future!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

I adored every minute of this book, it was a nice change for me since typically when I read anything sports related it has some kind of romance in it. But I really enjoyed seeing Grace’s journey through discovering herself. I loved all of the characters and look forward to reading more from this author

A solid YA sports coming of age debut about Grace, a trans girl who re-joins her old football team and has to negotiate being a girl, hurt feelings from old friends and what her future in football might be light after high school. The trans rep was well done, I liked learning more about high school football and seeing more female players. Recommended for fans of books like Home field advantage, May the best man win or Like other girls. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What an amazing book.
I read this one for a vlog on my booktube channel (still to come) and was blown away by the characters, the story, the trans representation.
I loved how honest this was and that it didn´t shy away from difficult topics but also showed the love and support that Grace got.
I also apprechiated the full cast of characters that showed a lot of diversity but also other living situations like teen parenthood - but didn´t show it as a problem but something that can be really beautiful as well.
Thank you for this beautiful book.

One of the Boys is simply an excellent book, presenting an emotional and complex story of the transfeminine experience. Grace's transition is in the earlier stages that what's usually shown in the media, and I think the way it was portrayed in the book was fantastic. On top of that, it is a sports book, and while I've never watched a game of American football in my life, I feel like the mechanics of the game, and especially the bonds between the players on the team, were wonderfully fleshed out in the story. I think Grace's relationship with her football friends and her newer friends from the theater club were what made this book really great - she's not exactly finding a brand new place after her transition, but settling into an old one that has changed. It was definitely interesting to see the exploration of this situation, of how not only Grace found joy in something she felt like she had to leave with her transition, but also how the other players and people in general changed in regards to their actions towards Grace. It was absolutely wonderful how her friends quickly and without qualms welcomed her back, and how the friendship Grace had with them gave her support against those who were transphobic, be it the misguided adults or the punchable bigots. Grace herself was such an interesting character too, and I found her motivations for playing and her character development to be great parts of the book.
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable young adult book, and I had a great time reading.

This was such a wonderful read.
Might actually go as far as to say that it was one of my absolute favourite ones of this year. Thank you so so much for writing it.

I ADORED this YA novel about identity, friendship, and football. Zeller accomplished something incredible here — authentic teen dialogue, especially in the group chats, which had me laughing out loud at times. I absolutely loved going with Grace on her journey toward her truest self and a future where she can thrive. Every secondary character we are meant to root for is a delight — gotta love those sports gays ❤️ Sports are for everyone!!! I cannot recommend this enough, I wish I'd been able to read this as a teen, and I hope this book is widely available for today's teens – queer, questioning, trans, and beyond.

i don’t read a ton of sports books. i couldn’t tell you what a field goal is worth without googling it, and i only have a vague understanding that being "the best kicker in the state" is, like, a big deal. but one of the boys didn’t require me to speak fluent football. it just asked me to care about a girl trying to find her place. and i did. deeply.

victoria zeller’s debut is everything i want out of a ya novel: sharp writing, characters that feel like people you might’ve sat next to in homeroom, and emotional resonance that sneaks up on you, then refuses to let go. the prose is so satisfying. not flowery, not stripped down to prove a point. just right. it walks that fine line of being emotionally clear without telling you how to feel, which might be why i found myself feeling so much.

this isn’t just a book about football. it’s about grace. a trans girl who once had it all lined up: team, talent, future. and then she watched it evaporate the moment the world couldn’t handle her truth. the heartbreak of that? it’s not loud or dramatic. zeller doesn’t need to make it a spectacle. grace’s pain simmers quietly, present in the way she shrinks herself, the way she hesitates, the way she no longer believes that the thing she loved most will love her back.

and yet this book never lets her be alone in that.

there’s a scene. it’s small, almost nothing on the surface. grace and riley, her friend, are talking about sports bras. grace says she doesn’t really need one yet, because hormones have only just started. and riley, without missing a beat, says she doesn’t have boobs either, but owns like ten, and they’re going shopping tomorrow. i sobbed. not in the dramatic, book-threw-me-against-a-wall kind of way. in the quiet, i remember when i felt that lost and didn’t know who to ask for help kind of way.

that moment? that was it. that was the five-star moment for me.

because that’s what this book gets so right. it understands that representation isn’t just about big speeches or sweeping changes. it’s in the little things. it’s in buying a sports bra. it’s in someone saying, you don’t have to figure this out alone. and maybe that won’t mean much to everyone. but if you’ve ever felt like your body was a problem, like the world didn’t build a place for you in it, then yeah, it hits. hard.

there’s a lot to love here: the reluctant return to the game, the complicated joy of being good at something that no longer feels safe, the stubborn warmth of teammates who show up when it counts. but more than anything, one of the boys is a book about what it means to be seen. and not just for trans kids, though that representation is sorely needed in ya and beautifully handled here, but for anyone who’s ever had to rebuild themselves from the inside out.

grace deserves the world. every grace deserves a riley. and every ya shelf deserves this book.

even if you don’t know a thing about football.

I'm not a big football fan (even though my dad and brother are), but this was so good. I loved it and never felt lost with what goes on in football.

The trans representation is amazing, and I need people to read this book!

This was really good. I really enjoyed the main character and the group of friends. I enjoyed the plot too. I almost felt like I was back in high school. I really could picture it all. It wasn't always easy to read but even those parts were great. Friendship was really at the core of this book and they were so layered and I could feel it all. It was quite a short book and I was captivated from beginning to end. I also liked the different family dynamics. I also enjoyed the football aspects, it was such an original take on the sport and I loved seeing it through that angle. So, yeah, this was such a good debut and I'm looking forward to reading more books by Victoria Zeller.

This book is just excellent. It's been a minute since I was so absorbed in a book that I forgot it was a work of fiction and not the reality I live in, but that happened here, and when I looked up and remembered where I was, I was so sad it was over. Grace is a remarkably compelling character, and her whole circle of friends (football friends, gay friends, gay football friends) is an absolute delight. I want a movie adaptation now so I, a person who's never understood sports, can figure out what the hell was actually happening in the football games.

4.5 stars

One Of The Boys is the debut of Victoria Zeller, and a fantastic one at that. Now, admittedly, I am the furthest from being a football fan, so some of the more technical football moments during the games eluded me a bit. BUT that being said, I really enjoyed the story here. Grace's story feels so real, raw, and genuine. It's a realistic depiction of transitioning and being a teenager. I really loved how the author pointed out the frustration of the conversations around "what do you identify as?" when Grace is simply a girl. That is such a real experience as a trans person that seems small on the outside, but is a much bigger frustration on the inside. It points out the issues in many conversations us trans people have with cis people, even if they are well meaning. Overall, I really enjoyed this. Grace's story is a journey of transness, self-discovery, and self-acceptance. I honestly feel that so many people could read this and find something that resonates with them.

Grace starts junior year with more struggles than most kids. She came out at the end of the last school year, ending in a breakup, her leaving her football team and having to adjust to losing most of her friends. When she’s asked to rejoin the football team, being one of the best kickers in the state, she sees a chance to be herself and do what she loves. But what does it mean to be not only the only out trans women in your school, but the only trans woman out in your sport?
The story follows her through her school year, painting a fascinating picture of friendships, sports, transition, queerness, self-discovery and acceptance, the pressures of being closeted, and the stress that comes with going to college. I really like Grace as a main character. Her (former) anger issues, the way she sometimes has to decide not to stand up for herself in order to not cause a scene, the joy she feels when she’s on the field, her trying to figure out her future, all add up to making her a really intriguing character.
I also enjoyed the side characters, including artsy Tab, who doesn’t appreciate Grace returning to her life with the jocks initially, Zoe, her ex-girlfriend, who seems to be questioning her sexuality and Dray, one of her friends on her team. The only character that I felt was a bit underdeveloped was Grace’s dad, who didn’t get to play as big of a role as I hoped he would, mostly appearing in the background, being supportive (his character development was really nice to see though!).
Even though I am someone who doesn’t really play sports (or watches them or cares too much about them etc) and as someone who doesn’t have any experience with the American school system, I really enjoyed the way sports were presented here. While some references are certainly more understandable for people more involved with football, everything was presented accessible enough that I could easily follow the story. By both focusing on the personal joy and fulfillment Grace finds in the sport as well as focusing on the camaraderie (or the lack of it) of being part of a team the narrative managed to draw me in and keep me engaged until the last page.
All in all, this is a very fun YA novel and if you enjoy sport or high school stories, want some YA with trans women (a rare treat), like coming of age stories or want to read about the epic highs and lows of high school football, then you should check this book out!

TW: alcoholism, anti-muslim bias, deadnaming, injury, sexual assault, transmisogyny, transphobia, violence

First of all, I don't care about football at all I'm from Spain all my American football knowledge comes from a manga called Eyeshield 21 that i barely remember anything about and with all that said i felt really invested on all the games we saw in the duration of this story. The author makes a really good job of explaining things for people that know nothing (Thank you Tab for being there ily) and also keeping you interested in something you might feel confused about.

The writing style is really easy to follow and approachable and I really loved Grace as a character and her pov, i loved the 2nd person pov parts for the things that happened in the pass.

This is an incredible important story, it's beautiful to see Grace be able to be herself and her friends having her back.
I really recommend picking one of the boys up if you feel up to it.

"There's always another September waiting for you on the other side."

I don’t know anything about football. Well, that’s not true. The little I know of (American) football is what I accidentally learned while waiting for the cameras to find its way back to Taylor Swift’s box at the Super bowl. And even though I’m not the biggest fan, I am Brazilian, so I know plenty about regular football (or as North Americans like to call it, “soccer”), so what I’m trying to say is: I Get sports. But most of all, one thing I know a lot about, like, first hand experience, very well, is being queer. And boy does this book Get queerness.

Grace Woodhouse is a former (really good) kicker for her high school’s football team, who ends up being convinced by her teammates to join back in because none of the other boys can kick a ball to save their own lives. Grace Woodhouse is also a former boyfriend to clever, straight and beautiful Zoe Ferragamo, who is suddenly cutting her hair and texting and driving around with Grace late at night.

When something life-changing happens, there’s this slicing of your timeline that you can feel in your head, like a pair of scissors on a rope, that divides you into a Before and an After. You’ll inevitably feel the impulse to try and make it so everything feels as Before as possible, because you know how to deal with Before, Before was comfortable, manageable. After is unclear, it’s a question mark, it’s an abyss, and it’s in front of you even if you won’t acknowledge it, and it’s real fucking scary, but you gotta let go, jump in, because, god, it can be real fucking beautiful on the other side.

So, yeah. If you’re reading this, read the book. There’s Before OOTB and there’s After.

Thank you, Victoria Zeller, for pouring your heart into this story. Thank you Levine Querido for publishing it, and thank you Netgalley for letting me read it.
Let’s go queer stories and queer joy and queer authors!!!

I absolutely adored this book and I am so grateful to have received an advance copy. As someone who is no longer a YA but who reads a lot of YA, I felt like the writing style only pulled me out of the story a couple of times. This book deals with very real issues that are happening in the world right now and it really put me into Grace’s shoes in a way I wasn’t expecting. Be ready to laugh, cry, and be blown away by this story or resilience, hope, self acceptance, and a strong determination to live life authentically, a message that everyone can use.

**Initial Reaction**: 9
**Characters:** 10
**Setting:** 8
**Plot:** 9
**Pace:** 7
**Style:** 7
**Ending:** 9
**Enjoyment:** 8
**A Seat at the Table Bonus:** 4/5
67 + 4 = 71 / 16 = 4.4375
Rounded Rating = 4.5

Grace Woodhouse has come out as trans right before her senior year of high school. The previous year she had a girlfriend and was the star kicker for the football team with the potential to play college ball. While there are a few hecklers, her old team captains ask her to return to the team as their kicker in hopes of a championship year. They have her back.

This is very much a football YA sports story. Grace just wants to be able to kick and be part of the team and doesn’t actively seek outside publicity. I like football and understand the rules so that part of the story is easy for me. Grace is already out but there is push back from some in her school and the other teams they play. There is a good friend group that includes her old girlfriend. The book is made more plausible as there have been female high school kickers. I appreciate the team work and friend relationships. This is an age appropriate YA teen story for ages 12 and up.

This book is beautifully written and amazing depicts an underrepresented story. I loved the characters, they felt real and their journey felt so natural I feel lucky to have read this book and will definitely be looking for more by this author.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a really well done coming of age novel that touches on the fight for trans rights within the sporting world. The book switches between present first point of view in the eyes of the main character, Grace, while also showing her struggles with discovering herself in the past, shown in second point of view. Normally, second point of view can be a bit hard for me to read. However, the author wrote these passages fantastically,

I am not so much of a football fan myself, but you could feel the love (and hate) for the sport through the author's writing. This book really captured how something you love can treat you horribly. I really felt that this story is one that everyone should read. It was both uplifting while also soul crushing as Grace navigates her life both inside and outside of the sport. Overall, a very beautiful book on self discovery.

The perfect trans YA novel does not exi—

OK, it might be a stretch to call One of the Boys perfect. For one thing, there can be no One True Trans YA Novel because there is no One True Trans Experience, of course. What we need is a plethora of diverse experiences. But I have to say, considering I never played any sports in high school and know nothing about football and transitioned at thirty, somehow Victoria Zeller’s story of a trans girl in high school playing football hit me in a way I wasn’t expecting. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Levine Querido for the eARC.

Grace Woodhouse has come out as trans over the summer before her senior year of high school. She thought that meant leaving football behind forever—but she was wrong. When her former teammates inveigle her into rejoining the team, Grace must discover if there is still room for her in this hypermasculine sport. At the same time, she’s navigating this whole “being a girl” thing while also processing a breakup and, oh yeah, she might be getting scouted for a college team? But no pressure.

Zeller’s writing just hits. Her style has a satisfying sufficiency to it, neither overly descriptive nor too sparse. And every so often, she says something that really resonated with me:

If things had gone differently—very differently, the way I wish they had in retrospect—I might have been teammates with Riley.

Chills down my spine as I read those words, which capture the complex emotions a lot of trans people feel no matter what age they transition. Living as your authentic self is its own kind of joy, and I am so immensely happy to have figured out who I am—yet that happiness will always be accompanied by the bittersweet wistfulness of wondering what I could have had if I had realized all of this sooner.

Now, I don’t know if Zeller’s writing will have the same power for cis readers. I can only speak to my experience of this book as a trans woman, of course. I hope it does. I hope cis people read this book and see our struggles, like when Grace’s ex dead names her accidentally in a conversation:

“It’s okay,” I said, even though I felt like I’d been punched in the throat.

This is the perfect simile, and this moment is a perfect example of the grace (pun intended) we trans people are expected to display in the face of microaggressions like this. And this is an example where the microaggression was accidental—Grace and her ex are on good terms! Yet it happens, and even when you know there is no malice behind it, it’s painful.

All of this happens against the larger backdrop of how Grace’s team, friends, and school handle her transition. One thing I really love? The unremarkable acceptance, for the most part, of Grace and her transness. In the current political climate, it’s tempting to succumb to the idea that everyone is openly hostile to trans people. The reality, which Zeller ably captures here, is that most people … don’t care. They will use your correct name and pronouns and accommodate you even if they don’t quite accept or (as is the case with some of Grace’s teammates, at least at first) don’t understand. The hardcore transphobes are loud and shitty, but they are a minority.

Indeed, although Grace’s transness obviously runs through every page of this book, it isn’t the main source of conflict. That comes from her relationships, as it should. Grace’s return to football, which consumes a lot of her time, strains her newfound female friendships that have been a source of strength and solace. Similarly, Grace’s ambivalence about pursuing a college football career, while connected to the celebrity conveyed by her status as a trans athlete, is ultimately about something much deeper: her relationship to the game.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to any readers that Zeller is writing this during a time of intense scrutiny of trans people (especially trans women) in sports. (I recently reviewed Fair Play, by Katie Barnes, if you want a primer.) One of the Boys sidesteps some of these issues by Grace playing in a sport that is, while nominally co-ed, effectively a boys sport. If Grace were instead joining Riley on the girls soccer team, that would be a different set of challenges. Nevertheless, she still faces undue scrutiny and notoriety. Yet it all comes down to feelings, or as Grace and her teammates call it, feelingsball.

Everything I know about football comes from my repeated viewings of Remember the Titans. That was a movie, which had swelling music by Trevor Rabin and lots of visual cues to convey tension and get the audience invested in the pivotal games. Zeller has to do that all with words … and, incredibly, she succeeds. I learned more about kicking than I ever knew. More importantly, I actually have a better understanding now of the kind of camaraderie and investment that young men put into football. This belies the stereotypical views I have held about football since long before I realized I wasn’t a man. Yes, Zeller’s depiction showcases the more toxic, overly macho aspects of the game too—but it goes deeper than that. She makes a strong case for why Grace would want to continue playing well into college.

This makes the ending even more poignant. I love the ending of One of the Boys—all of it. Everything, from Grace’s decision about college to her relationship status to some of the developments with minor characters. Zeller avoids trite, contrived resolutions in favour of decisions that make sense for her characters and also show promising maturity. Some of these resolutions are very happy, others feel bittersweet—thus perfectly capturing the tumultuous nature of this time in one’s life. High school graduation marks a time of transition (pun intended) for all of us. We all have to decide what parts of ourself to keep and what parts to leave behind.

This novel is not perfect. I wish we had seen more of Grace’s dad, for example, and how he was advocating for his daughter. The whole kerfuffle around the podcast and the resulting protest action, while very realistic, felt really compressed for time. Yet these are minor quibbles.

I want this book to be a movie so bad.

One of the Boys made me laugh and made me cry. Whether we’re talking sports stories, trans stories, or high school stories, by any measure this novel is excellent and one of the best I have read this year.