This book is littered with Legally Blonde references and I love it more for it. We follow Blaine, an overzealous artist who runs for senior class president after he's broken up with in public.... on their ANNIVERSARY. I loved how Robbie Couch describes art through Blaine's lens, as I'm personally fascinated with murals. It's an ode to artsy queer kids everywhere.

What made me enjoy this book even more was the cast of characters. Trish and Danny were my favorites, and I definitely want one of the election shirts! The plot is fluffy and fun, with enough foreshadowing along the way to make elements mesh. Overall absolutely gorgeous and a glorious introduction to Robbie Couch. I'd recommend this to fans of Election, Legally Blonde, and having allllll the LGBTQIA+ rep in books

*Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This is a story about defining your own path to happiness.  Heading into his senior year of high school, everything seems to be going Blaine Bowers's way.  He has a perfect boyfriend, a loving family, a great group of friends, and a successful gig painting murals for small businesses in his neighborhood.  On the eve of his one-year anniversary, Blaine fully expects that his boyfriend Joey, the student council president and a member of a prominent family, will invite Blaine to join his family on their annual spring break trip to Mexico.  Instead, seemingly out of nowhere, Joey dumps Blaine on the grounds that he needs to start dating "more serious" guys, unlike Blaine.

Things get even worse when Joey then starts dating Zach Chesterton, the buttoned up junior class president who is running to be the student council president.  So Blaine decides to prove to Joey and Joey's parents that he is serious by running to be the student council president -- even though he has never shown an interest in student government or managed to remain a member of a school group for more than a semester.  Much to his own surprise, Blaine's campaign gets traction — aided in part by the unexpected support from Danny Nguyen, the cute son of the owner of Blaine's favorite coffee shop — and begins to dominate all other aspects of his life.  But as success seems within reach, Blaine must confront what he really wants — and what he is willing to sacrifice to get it.  

This book was excellent!  I really enjoyed the author's debut novel, The Sky Blues, so I was particularly excited to read his latest — all the more so when I learned it would be a queer spin on a Legally Blonde-like story.   The book exceeded my already high expectations. 

Blaine is such a compelling character and it was great to go on this journey of self-discovery with him.  I also appreciated how the book centered both Blaine's romantic relationships and friendships.  This novel was a deeply insightful exploration of what success means — how difficult it can be to figure out what it means for yourself, especially in the face of influence, and often pressure, from one's family, friends, community, and broader society, and how to balance it with other priorities.  Much like Legally Blonde, it also shows the danger of assumptions and expectations, both when others make them about you and when you make them about yourself.  Finally, the book addresses mental health issues in a sensitive and nuanced way.  

Very highly recommended!

It’s easy to get sucked into this book from the very first moments and find yourself unable to put it down.

We open with our main character, Blaine, finishing up work for the day on a mural he’s painting for a local small business. We follow as he gets ready for his date, dreaming of how he’s going to take the next step in his relationship.

And then he gets dumped.

To be honest, I cringed at the foundations of this book. Blaine gets broken up with (on his one year anniversary) because he “isn’t serious enough”, so he plans to run for senior class president in order to be seen as serious and get his ex back. It’s really obvious, even from the beginning of this book, that this isn’t where Blaine should be.

Yet, I couldn’t help but cheer him on as he created a campaign that focused on listening to the needs of his fellow students and their mental health. The future he envisions for their school helps endear readers to his campaign, even if they weren’t sure of it before. Not only did I want Blaine to continue running for senior class president, but I became invested in wanting him to win.

There are definitely some surprises and twists along the campaign trail as we get closer and closer to the final results, but I really loved the way this book ended and how Blaine grew from this journey. I’ve been really enjoying seeing how characters change from the beginning to the end in my recent reads, and this book definitely focuses on the character growth as Blaine figures out who he is as a person and what he wants out of life.

Couch’s sophomore novel follows high school junior Blaine Bowers who has just been dumped by his boyfriend so he can pursue more “serious” guys instead because he considers Blaine to be too goofy, too flighty, too…unserious. From Blaine’s passion for painting gorgeous murals to his rather relaxed style, Joey thinks that he can only get far in life if he surrounds himself by serious people—which, in his eyes, Blaine is just not.

Determined to prove Joey wrong and show that he can be serious, Blaine decides to enter the running as senior council president to beat out Joey’s new “serious” boyfriend Zach and get his man back in the same act. But the further Blaine gets in the race, the more he realises his reasons for competing may not be all that sound and he’ll have to ask himself how much of him he is willing to sacrifice of his identity to get the guy.

Blaine for the Win is the queer take on Naturally Blonde I never knew I needed but now can’t stop thinking about. It’s these types of narratives that explore identity and finding yourself that always get me super emotional. Blaine, for the most part, knows who he is, what he likes and what he wants out of life, but his boyfriend Joey dumping him and ridiculing his “goofy” attitude, personal style and his passion for painting murals throw Blaine for a complete loop. Couch really shows the pains of growing up here as you get to see this clash between what Blaine loves to do and what he begins to think others will “need” him to act like in order to be accepted by society at large. As he steps into this new role of competing for senior council president, he learns about himself and expands his horizon but also realises that he doesn’t have to change literally everything about himself just to be palatable to others when there are more than enough people in the world who love him just the way he is —it’s an empowering and uplifting message that will resonate with young and old readers alike.

It’s also always a pleasure for me to see (already great) authors grow between their debut and sophomore novel. You can tell Couch has improved on characterisation and story flow which I really appreciated in Blaine’s story. Though the secondary characters take quite a while to become their own fleshed-out presence, there’s no insta-love or out-of-character actions and instead everything ties up beautifully. The pacing is swift and thus the story keeps you on your toes with unexpected twists and great little hints which are carefully planted early on in the novel that make for that excellent “damn, I should have seen that coming” moments while reading.

And despite the driving topic of the novel being quite heavy, the story itself is filled with queer joy, upbeat commentary on society’s standards and above all, empowering messages that you’re amazing just the way you are, no matter what other people might make you want to believe. I really liked how mental health was introduced and discussed here—one of Blaine’s friends suggests to Blaine to simply “advertise” his candidacy with a poster proclaiming “Let’s talk” and it starts an avalanche of students reaching out to Blaine telling them about their mental health and the way they feel their school could do better in helping students combat their struggles. Throughout the novel, we get to see not only Blaine address his mental health (especially after such a public and painful break-up) but also his friends and their anxieties that otherwise might have been swept under the rug. It’s a brilliantly simple way to engage not only Blaine’s classmates but also the reader as you ponder just how important it can be to have that voice that speaks up for you when it concerns prioritising mental health in an institutionally competitive setting such as a high school.

Add to that an incredibly sweet sub plot concerning Blaine and his aunt (who moved in with Blaine’s family after some turbulence in her own life) that made my heart melt, moments of queer joy since Blaine has such a supportive friend group that helps him plan (and execute) his campaign and a lovely romance arc that doesn’t overbear the main message of the novel and instead infuses it with the sweetness of falling in love with the right person after having been burned by the wrong one, and you have yourself an incredibly well thought-out story that is sure to make readers excitedly flip the pages.

With the empowering message that you don’t have to change yourself for the approval of others, Blaine for the Win offers a feel-good queer rom-com with loads of relatable moments, a refreshingly engaging approach to mental health and a charming friend group that would go to political bat for you! Perfect for fans of Yes, No, Maybe So and Not My Problem.

I was in the mood for a lighter read, and the description of this one screamed Legally Blonde to me, a movie I was always a fan of.

Blaine has the “perfect boyfriend”, and they have a date to celebrate their one year anniversary at an exclusive restaurant – one Blaine’s family would never be able to afford. He’s sure Joey will ask him to spend spring break with his family at Cabo. Instead, he breaks up with Blaine because he’s too unserious. Turns out Joey the “perfect boyfriend” is slime.

Blaine is a sweetheart and so easy to like. He paints murals (for very little money) for local businesses to spruce up the neighborhood, adores his temporarily unemployed aunt (she’s awesome in every way) who lives with them, and longs to spend more time with his hard-working parents. He also has a couple of best friends who are there for him no matter what. When Blaine enters the running for senior student council president it’s for all the wrong reasons, but he discovers some important things about himself along the way. He may also meet a cute guy who’s more deserving of him.

Important themes of finding your path, following through on promises, and knowing your worth are addressed, as well as mental health issues high school students deal with – don’t underestimate the pressures they’re under. This novel is tons of fun, has memorable supporting characters, and is guaranteed to leave you with a smile.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Blaine for the Win is a super cute queer teen retelling of Legally Blonde. there was a few references in there that I enjoyed as well.

the cast is wonderful and they were enjoyable to read about. i enjoyed reading about all these characters, Blaine was particularly interesting to read about. The side characters were also engaging and well developed. the relationship was very slowburn and not my favorite but overall pretty cute!

the plot was kind of basic but still made for a nice read for a day. probably not something that will leave a huge impact on me but something I read in one sitting that i enjoyed. also it's perfect for spring!

thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved this book! All of the characters were so fun and I really enjoyed how we got to see deeper into them. I also really enjoyed the plot and the way that the story closed. This is a great book!

4.5 Stars

Blaine seems to have it all. The perfect boyfriend, a great job as a muralist, and a supportive, loving family. In fact, he’s 100% positive that his boyfriend is about to ask him on an epic trip to Cabo for spring break. However, when Blaine gets there, that’s not the case. His boyfriend dumps him, in public, on their 1-year anniversary. Because he’s not “serious” enough.

So, Blaine decides to get revenge by running for senior president of the student council. The trouble is, Blaien knows nothing about student council. Enlisting the help of his friends and a possible new crush, he’s determined to show everyone that he can do it. But is he willing to give up things he loves in order to do so?

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy of this to review! The Sky Blues was absolutely one of my favorite reads of 2021, so I was super excited for this one. Happy to say it definitely lived up to the hype for me!

This is only Robbie Couch’s second book, but one thing he absolutely excels at is writing great characters. And great character friend groups. Though a bit misguided at times, Blaine is such fun as a narrator. He has a bit of an eccentric family and best friends who will do anything to support him. And even though Blaine has such personality, he doesn’t drown out the side characters. They’re all as part of the story as Blaine is.

If you’re a fan of Legally Blonde, you’ll also love all the little nods that Couch throws in throughout the book. For me, it was a fun spin on a story that everyone knows and loves. There’s also a lot of great discussion about mental health throughout, especially the mental health of high schoolers. Blaine makes it center stage for his campaign, and it honestly needs to be more center stage for high schools in reality.

Honestly, this is such a feel-good novel, and that’s what The Sky Blues was, too. Everything about it feels so uplifting, which makes it perfect for a spring release. The only reason it’s not a complete five stars from me is because it hasn’t beat out The Sky Blues as my favorite, yet. But Couch is definitely marking himself as an expert in feel-good YA.

Robbie Couch's upcoming YA novel, Blaine for the Win, is a fantastic, heartwarming story about finding yourself and deciding what you want from life and love.

After loving Couch's first book, The Sky Blues (which was one of my favorites from last year), I was so excited to get an ARC of his new book, thanks to some arm-twisting by my dear friend Amy. Couch truly is the king of feel-good YA fiction!!

Blaine is creative, artistic, a bit of a daydreamer. He loves painting murals on buildings in his downtown Chicago neighborhood, and he loves his boyfriend Joey, who is a type-A overachiever with plans of becoming president one day.

When Joey breaks up with him—on their one-year anniversary and at the fanciest restaurant in Chicago—he tells Blaine he needs to date someone serious to be his partner in success. Blaine is too scatterbrained, too flighty, and he dresses too flamboyantly.

Blaine is devastated but he’s determined to win Joey back. To do that, he’ll become a serious guy—and to prove it, he’s decided to run for senior class president, to succeed Joey—and defeat Joey’s new, perfect boyfriend, Zach. Given that Blaine has never even been on student council (or cared), it’s an uphill battle which will require a lot of work, not to mention the support of his best friend…and some unexpected others. But will becoming a serious guy ruin what is best about Blaine? Will it close his eyes to those who truly care about him?

I loved this book x 1,000,000! It was sweet and fun, but there’s lots of discussion about teenagers’ mental health which is such an important topic to address.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Blaine for the Win publishes 4/12, and if you’re a YA fan you’ll want to pick it up!!

Blaine for the Win is a cute high school story by Robbie Couch. It's definitely not quite for me, but I would have loved it if I was a teen. I would definitely recommend it to any teen looking for a nice ya gay story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a cute and lighthearted story about a teenager's journey in learning to find his own happiness.

As soon as I picked this up, I realized the problem with it. The story itself is promising and enjoyable. But frankly, I don't think it should have been a Legally Blonde retelling. What makes Legally Blonde so fantastic is its message about misogyny. Legally Blonde, at its core, is a feminist story about how women and feminine people are severely underestimated, because our passions and aesthetics and even the way we speak is systemically laughed at and put down. And by taking that story - the story of a woman who was always brilliant and just needed the world to see it - and centering men, it inherently diminishes - and kind of erases - what makes the original story so valuable.

Now don't get me wrong, I love retellings, especially ones that shift the message or change it up a bit. However, I have a firm belief that retellings need to be able to answer two questions: "Why does this story need to be told here and now?" and "What perspective are you adding to this story that was missing before?" And though I think this book is able to somewhat answer the first question, I don't think it can answer the second. The things that are added just deviate too far from the original story to elevate itself as a retelling. I'm not against using the story of Legally Blonde as a vehicle to discuss teenage mental health issues but the two don't seem to mesh particularly well - again, maybe because the whole foundation of Legally Blonde is built upon the historical underestimation of women. Tbh, it felt a bit saddening to see a story that was groundbreaking for so many young women and feminine people rewritten by a man, changing its feminist message into one about teenage boys struggling with perfectionism and mental health.

Also Elle Woods would be HORRIFIED by the outfits Blaine wears.

CW: death of side character's parent (past, cancer, offscreen), mental health (anxiety, depressive episodes)

The tagline has been there since the beginning: Queer YA Legally Blonde. This delivers on that and so much more.

Blaine gets dumped by his boyfriend for not being ~serious~ enough. And so, to prove him wrong, Blaine runs for class president having never thought of class government before. He much prefers painting murals on the sides of local businesses and having just the absolute sharpest closet. (A direct quote, “There are turquoise angel wings, yellow knee-high socks, and a whole pile of fanny packs in pastels, but not a single normal necktie. How can I have eight fanny packs - <I>eight fanny packs</I> - and not a single freaking necktie?”) Once Blaine throws his hat into the ring for Senior Class President, there’s no going back and he finds himself along with his best friends, trying to figure out how to make his mark and win the hearts of his classmates.

I absolutely adored this book from start to finish. Much like Robbie Couch’s last book, The Sky Blues, I read this one almost all at once. I did the first 40% in one sitting, and then the last 60% in one other day. Everything about this just sang to me.

Let’s start with the characters, specifically our eponymous one, Blaine. From the very first page, he is such a realized and fully-formed personality that I almost couldn’t believe that I had only known him for a few minutes. He is complex and flawed, complicated and deeply relatable. Who of us in high school didn’t cleave to our friends when our lives got a little rocky, depending on them to lift us up when we needed it. He is a breath of fresh air and you can’t help but root for him to win from the beginning.

Aside from Blaine, the rest of the characters shine in their own lights. There is no underdeveloped character for the sake of Blaine’s story. His best friend Trish and her girlfriend Camilla are not just there to offer support to Blaine. They are dynamic forces all on their own. Throw in the cute, plant-obsessed boy named Danny who joins their campaign squad? It’s a perfect recipe for characterization.

I loved this book wholeheartedly. Robbie has crafted another story that will jump off the page and live in your heart and head for days after you finish it.

5/5 stars - What, like it’s hard?

It was a fun, cute, quick read. With a diverse cast of characters whose journey feels genuine and valuable, the novel features characters that are easy to connect with. In addition to the main protagonist, most of the side characters experience satisfying character development as well. The book surprised me in a good way. Overall, it's a sweet read with a good message.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Blaine for the Win is a sweet read that I would say has more appeal to the lower side of YA than upper YA. The diversity was amazing and I loved the cast of characters, though I do think the writing was a little immature and the plot left just a little something to be desired. I really enjoyed the overall premise, though I wish we had gotten more development of the characters to make the plot run smoother for the reader. I would definitely highly recommend this to people ages 12-14, though I'm not sure upper YA readers would have the same enjoyment of this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Robbie Couch, and the publisher for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blaine is a high school student who loves art! He also has everything a high schooler who has everything he could possibly want. When his high school boyfriend breaks up with him though, Blaine decides he needs to gets more serious, so he decides to run for senior class president. When things start to go wrong, Blaine wonders if he is doing the right thing.

I really enjoyed this YA read! It was very diverse and has issues that high schoolers go through. As a person who is out of high school, it is nice to see these issues represented and accepted. I also liked that Blaine and his friends were authentic characters. I will definitely recommend this book to others!

Blaine for the Win is super sweet YA contemporary that has everything I want from the genre. A great friend group? Check. A main character that's easy to root for? Check. A great love story? Double check.

So yeah, this really worked for me. The book begins with our hero, Blaine, being dumped in the worst way possible and its impossible not to really feel for him. He runs for class president to prove to his ex that he can be serious and the story really kicks off from there. Everyone around Blaine questions his decision to run, but they are also very supportive. They let him find his voice and stand for what he believes in while gently reminding him that his ex isn't worth it. This is what makes his small friend group so great. They care about him, but are brutally honest. I loved his bestie Trish, and thought she had a great arc. I also loved her gf, who was so sweet and nerdy.

I also loved Blaine himself. Blaine knows who he is, but isn't always comfortable with it. He wants to be better all the time. Also, he has a great sense of fashion and is an artist, who does murals for local businesses. He is a drama queen but is self-aware and funny. Overall, he's great and that's I dug this love story.

There is a romance in this, with super fun meet-cute and a lot of sweet tension, but the main love story is one of self-love. Blaine slowly finds what he loves, and comes to love himself, class president or not. Of course, the actual romance was also great, and gay. The love interest was bi, and there was some interesting discussion surrounding this. Overall, this book has so much love, and I can't wait for the world to read it.

The blurb for Couch's novel shows so much potential. Blaine is dumped in a very public way. Now he is attempting to redeem himself and get a little vengeance by running for student council president against his ex's new love. At first glance, there are a lot of possibilities for fun and adventure. In execution, the hook is quickly handled and the journey begins with few surprises. Technically, we get the story we are promised, yet the plot left something to be desired. A lot of what was to come was telegraphed without enough twists or character development to sustain the length of the novel. There were more than a few scenes that felt like we were delaying the inevitable. Fans of the genre or Couch's style may appreciate the choices made, but it may not satisfy all.

4.5 stars

I enjoyed Couch's first YA novel, so I was excited to have the chance to read this one, and I was thrilled to discover that I loved Blaine and his world even more than the predecessor! Here's why:

Blaine, the m.c. of this charming contemporary YA novel, is flawed but just the right amount. He's a high school junior, an artist, and a son/nephew/friend/boyfriend/dog's person to a remarkably engaging cast of ancillary characters. When the novel begins, Blaine is in what appears to be a challenging romantic partnership, and the way this storyline evolves is riveting. He makes a classic mistake that most folks make at a variety of ages: trying to change himself for someone else. The entire novel features his exploration of how and why that doesn't work.

One of the many successes of this piece has to do with how well-rounded Blaine is. Couch develops a layered discussion that exceeds some of the more typical YA tropes. Yes, Blaine is trying to figure himself out, but it's not just in an area or two. Readers see many aspects of his life and how he fails, learns, and succeeds in many of them. While there is definitely a central throughline in terms of Blaine's impetus and goals, it's the finer points along the way, especially how he faces and deals with consequences, that make this character stand out for me.

Couch is on a roll, and I'm looking forward to reading what comes next and to enthusiastically recommending this one to my current students.

I laughed, I cried. This was a new to me author and I will add them to my must-buy list. This is one that needs to be on every library shelf. It is funny and thoughtful. The diverse cast was refreshing. Blaine definitely for the win.

My second time reviewing a Robbie Couch ARC and I'm happy to say this one was just as cute as his first novel! Blaine for the Win has a wonderfully diverse cast, a lot of wonderful themes surrounding family and friendship, as well as very sweet romance.

Couch does a good job of writing a heartfelt queer story that balances romance with friendship. The stakes are not super high which makes the book fall more into the fluffier side of queer YA lit, but it doesn't dampen the successes of the characters. Danny was my favorite character and I liked his and his dad's backstory involving their heritage and his mom.

The story was very predictable, and while this isn't necessarily a fault, I like to have a little surprise when I'm reading. Also, the book mentions Barack Obama a few times and while this story is about student council and class elections, (this is just a personal preference of mine) I sometimes find myself pulled out of the fiction when real life celebs or politicians are name-dropped. Same thing with the Ru-Paul's Drag Race references.

Like I said though, totally a personal preference of mine.

Overall, an enjoyable read that I can gladly recommend!