This is the best kind of messy, emotional drama, and a hell of a debut from Lovell. We get a husband who's become a stay at home dad to two kids and a husband to the only openly gay Senator who finds out that his husband has been extremely cheating on him, and in order to get the money he needs to be able to take care of the kids with sole custody after the divorce, he goes back to the reality show where he and his husband met a decade ago. Lovell does a great job at giving us flashbacks to what happened in the original season to contextualize what's happening in the present, amazing character work, and some A++ drama that plays out across the book. Highly recommended this winter.

Hands down one of the best books I’ve read this year! I didn’t think a story about a gay guy on a reality show would be my cup of tea, but I was ever so wrong. This is a rollercoaster ride I never wanted to get off of. I laughed, I cheered, I held my breath, I cried. This story has it all, action, betrayal, love, family, secrets and lies, messy gays and well written “to the point” sex scenes. The characters here are just so wonderfully crafted and realized. Some of the best written gay characters in a book I’ve read. They feel like real humans. He doesn’t shy away from the tough things. I love that Holder lets his characters be messy and complex. Showing the complexities and shapes that love takes. He captures the dehumanizing nature of reality television. And he gives us one of the most exciting and emotional novels of 2025. Read it!!

I absolutely LOVED this book. Imagine combining the cutthroat competition, politics, and interpersonal dynamics of The Challenge: Free Agents/Rivals with Survivor Heroes vs Villains. Now picture you're getting told those stories from behind the scenes and that's what this book is. It's a love letter to reality TV while also showcasing characters with tremendous depth, heart, and polarizing qualities. I loved this book (did I saw that already? Sorry not sorry). This debut was a HUGE swing and it really worked for me. I will be anxiously awaiting the author's next work.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, one of the best books I’ve read this year.

While Luke’s seemingly perfect life falls apart around him, he gets recruited for season 20 of the hit reality show Endeavor. He participated in the show’s early seasons, but now he’s back, hoping to grab some quick cash to aid his divorce and hopefully rewrite his own story. Unfortunately for the Endeavor cast, the past always comes back to haunt.

Lovell Holder does a fantastic job of painting the drama of reality television competitions. Each chapter ends with the same punch as the end of a weekly episode. Tension builds as the novel progresses, some situations artificially staged by the production crew and others inevitable because of the connections between characters.

Speaking of characters, I found them to be varied and distinct. They are all interconnected in a web that makes for great television (or reading) drama. Each have ways that they’re playing the narrative to support their own objectives. Like Luke, we’re never quite sure who to trust, who’s an ally or a viper waiting to strike.

I loved all of the characters, even the antagonistic ones. I think that just goes to show how truly masterful Holder is with building his characters. They each have their own agendas, and Holder does an excellent job in creating realistic tension between them. Whether they were working with or against Luke, their actions make sense, and they felt so real that I didn’t always know who I wanted to root for.

None of the characters are perfect. In many ways, they’re all terribly flawed, but they’re all just trying to muddle through the competition in an effort to improve their own circumstances, and aren’t we all? Truly, the characters were the biggest strength of this novel.

I enjoyed the portrayal of reality television and the nuances that come with it. The plot gets a bit outlandish and tv-villainish toward the end, but honestly, I was here for it.

The only real criticism about the book I have surrounds Arjun. Luke’s best friend during the first season of Endeavor, Arjun haunts the first half of the novel. He’s constantly on Luke’s mind, and no one can seem to shake his absence. However, Arjun seems to be forgotten about halfway through the novel, only to pop back up (lacklusterly) toward the end. He’s built up to be a big, important figure, and I just felt the thread was dropped too severely through the middle for the full impact to land in the last part of the novel. There was almost too much going on by the point the Arjun reveals started coming that they didn’t have nearly as much of an impact.

Still. A really solid and enjoyable read.

This was delightful! I tore through it in two days, engrossed in the drama. If I stand back and look at some of the plot points at a distance I go "well, that's kind of silly" but this rarely occurred to me while reading—the book is skilled at pulling you into the melodrama and, most importantly, making you feel like every twist matters.

Luke is returning to the reality game show Endeavor for a shot at some quick cash after learning his husband's been cheating on him for nearly a decade. He knows it's probably a bad idea, but he doesn't have any other ones, and without the cash he might lose custody of his two kids, which are the only thing he's been living for. Angry, desperate, and woefully out of touch with the reality TV scene, Luke is only going to make it through with the help of his fellow contestants. Unfortunately, he left the show with more enemies than friends.

Luke is a charming protagonist, and you immediately get why people trust him, even when there's video evidence that warns against trusting him. The cast is fun, and has some pretty unflattering opinions of the reality TV circuit, even as they continue to show up. I wasn't surprised to see the author bio mention he has a history in film—while I can't say how true this is to an actual reality TV show, it certainly gave the impression of someone who understands production in general.

This was messy and heartfelt and surprisingly compassionate. I think it leaned saccharine at times, but I honestly didn't mind, because the characters were legitimately allowed to mess up, and mess up badly over the course of the book, so redemption was never a forgone conclusion for anyone. If it has one flaw, it's that Erika gets surprisingly little screentime or agency outside of Luke's story, despite being a pivotal character. This is a hard thing to balance with such a large cast (the season 20 cast starts with 20 contestants, plus production staff, so there were a few early episodes where I'm unclear who was even eliminated), and it has the same trouble as actual reality TV of showing its hand if it focuses exclusively on the finalists in the early game, but also: come one, it's Erika. We know.

I started recommending this to people before I even finished it. An absolute blast.

Didn’t think it was possible, but Lovell Holder has successfully created a story that combines the best contestants and shocking moments of MTV’s The Challenge, the drama from Bravo’s reality TV, and action-packed set pieces from the Hunger Games. While no one dies here (no need to volunteer, Katniss), if you’re a fan of Survivor and others that blend politics and endurance, you’ll be dying to check this one out.

The Book of Luke follows titular Luke, a former reality TV competitor who after discovering his husband, a gay republican (oh vey!) has been having an affair (or two, or three, or more) must jump back into the very career he left behind so he can better provide for his children. The invitation, seemingly out the blue, is his chance to pick up some easy cash and move him and his two kids out of DC and into a new life. Of course, easier said than done, as Luke arrives to season 20 of the popular reality tv completion, Endeavor, reunited with former best friend, but now sworn enemy, Imogen, and others from his past, who are sure to make his time back on tv a bit of a nightmare. There’s some nuance (emphasis on the “some”) here — Luke isn’t a perfect lead, having made some bad decisions since his first appearance, including outing a cast member, marrying a republican who’s voting record has put members of underserved communities at more of a risk, and overall is a crappy friend. This all comes to a head over these 400 pages of twists, backstabbing, reveals, and countless characters.

Speaking of, there are a lot of characters in this book. Almost laughably so. It’s almost too difficult to keep track of these people, though it does get easier as more eliminations occur. I would have loved more double eliminations or Challenge-like purge moments. Thankfully, no redemption house here so once people are eliminated they stay eliminated. Another issue lay with how Luke was written. At times, you want to root for him, but there are others where you can’t — a moment from his past is pretty despicable no matter how much Lovell wants to say it was part “of the game.” It’s too bad because serious topics are handled with a lot of care including the trans identity on television, which as a viewer of reality tv, is all but missing in real life. This pipe dream extends to the ending and boy does this book end on a happy ending. It’s sweet but maybe too sweet.

This one was a fun one for me — I ripped through these pages as more layers of this onion were removed, but mileage will vary. If you’re a fan of the source material, then this one is for you. If you’re looking for dramatics and some inner workings of reality tv, also give this a shot. At times I wasn’t sure if it was my love of The Challenge that kept me going (sometimes thinking to myself “I wonder if the author will pull a twist like MTV did in The Rivals 3”) or if it was my interest in the story. The story at times, may fall flat, but your interest in this genre of TV will make up for it. My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

Just incredible.

I loved this book so much. This combined my love of Survivor/reality TV with LGBTQ stories in such a way that made for the PERFECT read. I couldn't put this book down.

I think there was such a brilliant move in story telling, switching back and forth between the present and the past, but doing it at moments where we would get small bread crumbs that painted a bigger picture for the present day happenings. I thought that was really well done, along with the twists and cliff hanger endings to the chapters. I couldn't stop myself from continuing to read.

The thing I enjoyed the most, however, were the characters. There are a lot of characters in this novel, and when the cast is that large it's easy for you to lose some of them in the background. However, I thought the character development was superb and each character had their own motivations/backgrounds that allowed myself as a reader to root for them.

Luke was a really great character as a whole. He's morally complex - and not your stereotypical 'perfect' gay protagonist. I think the fact that he was a very -real- character added to my enjoyment of the overall story.

Also, it was so interesting to see such a light into the world of reality tv and how the decisions you make impact how the world sees you - even when you're not 'on camera'. It just added another layer to the character development and the plot.

Wonderful story. Loved every second of it. Cannot wait for this to come out in December!

DNF @ 40%

Setting: Italy/US/China
rep: gay protagonist, multiple queer & poc side characters

The writing never quite gripped me but based on the high reviews I decided to power on through the messy plot and the too many characters, but after two separate but extensive Harry Potter references I have to call it quits. seriously, HP references in a queer book is not on in 2025. do better.

The Book of Luke is a fun, drama-filled dive into the world of reality TV. Luke returns to a Challenge-style show for an anniversary season and chaos follows. He’s a compelling lead, balancing personal emotion with the show’s madness.

The dual timeline and large cast might be a lot for some, but I had a great time with it. Big thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the ARC via NetGalley—I’ll definitely be recommending this one to all my reality TV-loving friends.

The story and the idea are cute and well done, but the reality show game within the book is confusing, especially the whole who-gets-voted-in-or-out elimination process. There are too many peripheral characters to keep up with, and it's impossible to care about them. So the "strategy sessions' are an unnecessary diversion. The whole thing is too loose.

THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING AND MORE. When I read the description I knew I needed to read this book. I didn’t know I would devour it so quickly. You get sucked into the story straight away and it’s nonstop from there.

The ups and downs never stop. The twists and turns and everything in between show you the good, the bad and the ugly of reality TV.

The author does a great job of creating the characters and how they fit into the show. As someone who watches reality competition shows, this really is a great background for the main character, Luke. You feel for him but also see all his flaws throughout.

This is probably one of the best books of 2025. I can't wait to get a hard copy.

e-ARC: 4.25⭐️ This book kept me on the edge of my seat basically the entire time I was reading it. I didn’t know much going in— an LGBTQ+ book featuring a former reality show star who is returning to the competition show that he is famed for, despite some past/history/drama/betrayal that led him to leave it behind. I will admit this isn’t my typical style/genre of book but I honestly think it was exactly what I needed, as I’ve been in somewhat of a slump and not enjoying much of what I’ve read lately. The tension created by the combination of past/present storylines was incredibly engaging and I felt like the cast of characters was surprisingly well-developed for how many people were involved in the story. There were several twists that I wasn’t expecting, but really did a great job of keeping the story interesting and engaging when it otherwise might have become a bit repetitive/monotonous (while also being believable and in-character). I have mixed feelings about the ending, but I think that’s best left up to each reader to decide if/when they get to that point.

All in all I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in the premise. I can definitely see it being a five star read for many, but I think my mixed feelings about the ending are just holding me back from giving it that final bump.

Thanks to Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing for the e-ARC of this title!

The Book of Luke balances high-stakes reality show drama with raw emotional depth, anchored by a flawed but deeply human protagonist navigating regret, love, and reinvention. It's messy, heartfelt, and surprisingly tender beneath the glittery chaos.

The Book of Luke is a compelling page-turner full of complex relationships, surprising twists and turns, and at the heart of it all sincere moments of love for one's children, for friends with complex histories, and for our partners — even after they've hurt us.
I especially appreciated the gay protagonist and focus on his family; it was a refreshing change in perspective.