I struggled to get into this one but it was definitely a me problem and not the book. Going to try to pick it back up again at another time and see if it works for me because I absolutely love the concept of this one!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

First of all, I want to make it clear that any Heartstopper comps used in the marketing for this aren’t really accurate. Publishers can’t just use whatever buzzy gay title is out there as a way to sell a title, especially when it’s as misleading as this. The small town homophobia and friendships make this better for Becky Albertelli readers.

This follows Barclay, a high school basketball star who comes out in front of his whole town at a pep rally and realizes the environment is not as accepting as he’d hoped. He channels much of his frustration with this towards small town politics and elections, and connects with the only other out gay student at school. I liked the romance quite a bit, loved that this book emphasized the importance of local elections because I feel young people can overlook them, and also liked Barclay’s bond with his older brother, but didn’t think it was explored enough. However, there were some parts of this that left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, Barclay often doesn’t realize his own privilege sometimes. Yes, it’s important to stand up in the face of bigotry. However, this book almost encourages its young audience to fight for the greater good, even when their safety is at risk. Barclay is severely bullied, and even threatened at gunpoint, and his friends are still like it doesn’t matter you need to help with this campaign and make things better for other gay kids. His experiences are often invalidated or brushed aside in ways that made me feel uncomfortable. The adults in this book all suck. Not one does anything about the homophobic bullying, not even his mother, who can’t seem to connect the dots that this is the reason he quit the basketball team. Even the school board candidate, a character we barely meet, is an adult who seems to be perfectly okay with putting kids in danger as long as it helps her political career.

The thing is, I can see the value of reading this in a classroom setting. Some valuable discussions can come from it, and I think gay teens do deal with bullying like this. Also, like I said before, local elections are so important and I like that this emphasizes that to young readers. Still, I am unsure about the messages this could send teens.

I am unclear about why this book is so short.

I love when books tackle multiple topics, in the case of Time Out: grief, homophobia, voting rights, corruption, coming out. Unfortunately, Time Out is just too short to do this well.

The book is pretty average and not particularly memorable, and this is a shame because the potential is there.

The more I read of this book, the more I disliked it. I tried to piece together my biggest reasons for disliking it without turning my review into a rant. Overall, this book felt like a step back in time -- not necessarily because the homophobia depicted has gone away, because it certainly hasn't -- but because it's a tired queer narrative. Part of the success of recent queer media is because we're finally telling all kinds of queer stories — including queer joy — but this book is much more similar to the main queer narrative told in the 90s/2000s: one that centers coming out and homophobia, not joy.

Barclay Elliot lost his grandfather in a tragic car accident and that makes him wonder how much time he has left. He could die any day, unexpectantly just like his grandfather. So he decides he's going to stop living a lie and come out to his entire small Georgia town that he's gay. After all, they all love him, he's the star basketball player, captain, and very popular surrounded by the support of his coach, team, school, and town. Then at a pep rally, he says, "I'm gay," and the entire gym is rigidly quiet. This is how it goes throughout the book. Barclay finds out that coming out still isn't as accepted as he thought and discovers his true friends and family.

I loved the first chapter, how it's set up, and ends with the announcement. As a parent, I kept thinking, no don't do it, honey, it won't end up the way you think. The reaction from his teammates, coaches, and town is exactly what I thought would happen. Throughout the book, you have some horrible jokes played at his expense, and the phrase, "I always knew you were gay." I'm sure that gets old.

This book is very good and I feel all young men and women who are struggling with coming out should read this so they know that they're not alone and help them decide on the right scenario or place to deliver this life-changing news. The book also has a nice romance subplot, with a boy he'd probably not give a second glance if he wasn't struggling with his teammates, school, and town.

The only thing about this book I didn't really care for was the predictable outcomes. Maybe it's because I'm old and lived a little but most of the story felt overdone and unoriginal. Otherwise, great read and I think you'll like it too.

Just couldnt get into this one. While I would have bene willing to overlook the awkward writing style, I couldn't overlook how annoying Barclay was. Didn't help that none of the other characters were any more engaging.

Thank you to Turn the Page Tours and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Time Out is a fast-paced contemporary novel that explores coming out, acceptance, and standing up for yourself. Right from the beginning, our main character Barclay know that his sexuality is something he wants to be honest about with his family and basketball teammates. Although he is met with hatred and bullying, I appreciated that Barclay never blames his identity for what he suffers through, and rather addresses the intolerant nature of his town. There’s a subtle romance plot line, which was a great addition, but truly this is a story about never letting others take away what makes you you.

This was a fun and cute YA with a focus on how students can make differences with their votes. I liked that this had a deeper focus and wasnt just superficial. I felt like the MC could be a little unlikable at times but i feel like his actions were very accurate for a teenager so I still enjoyed this!

dnf, 2.5 stars



I really could not get into this one, and I think that's just a me problem. The writing was plenty fine (though I do think it would be better suited to a movie format than a book one), but the characters were very irritating, which caused me to really not care about continuing to read. I'm fine reading books with unlikable (or even just meh) characters who are still compelling, but I didn't really find any of the characters compelling. I'm sure some readers will find this book interesting, but it just didn't work for me.

Welcome to my stop on @pridebooktours' release celebration tour for Time Out by @seanhayes, @imtoddmilliner, and @carlyn_gee! This queer high school sports novel is perfect for summer reading, so you won't want to miss it!

QOTD: Are you going to be participating in any summer reading programs this year (such as through a library or bookstore)?

While I am incredibly unathletic and didn't play any sports in high school, I genuinely enjoy reading books about queer athletes navigating their worlds. Time Out focuses on the world of high school basketball, and Barclay (a gay teen)'s journey of coming out and facing homophobic backlash. This book, while possessing moments of joy, dealt with a lot of tough topics that are important to read about now more than ever. The bullying and homophobia Barclay faced are both still unfortunately present in the modern American school system, making this book incredibly relevant.

My Recommendation: If you are interested in reading about queer high school athletes fighting for their place in their community, I would recommend grabbing a copy of Time Out! I would only recommend this book to readers who can handle a book with overt homophobia and bullying, because that is a major portion of this book's content.

Time Out is a queer contemporary YA novel that explores coming out and standing up for yourself.

Thank you to Turn the Page Tours and the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy for my honest review.

From the beginning of the novel, we find out that Barclay, the MC is ready to be open about his sexuality with his family and his small town. He is met with bullying and homophobia, and he has to figure out how to address the intolerant nature of his small town. There is a small romantic subplot, but this is truly a story about never letting others take away what defines you. There were a lot of themes tackled in the book, which I think could have been either fully fleshed out by making the book a bit longer or cut out completely. This book addressed grief, homophobia, voting rights, and financial corruption.

When high school basketball star Barclay Elliot comes out at a pep rally in his small town, he does not expect much to change -- other than the relief he will feel to no longer hide his true identity. But nothing goes as he expects. His teammates and his coach no longer seem comfortable with him, and he is shunned by many people in the town who used to celebrate him. As a result of his growing frustration and isolation, Barclay quits the team -- the thing that had been at the center of his world and identity for as long as he can remember. Adrift, he joins his best friend's local voting rights group and begins to spend more time with Christopher, another out student at his school. As Barclay explores other parts of his identity he never really let himself acknowledge before, he finds himself struggling with the lost of his old life and identity -- and wondering what it will ever be possible to reconcile all the different parts of his life.

This was a heartfelt and perceptive coming-of-age story, exploring interesting and timely themes around identity, family, sports, and processing grief.

Highly recommended!

This book reminded me A LOT of the tv show Love, Victor if you added politics and made almost everyone an asshole. The main focus was our main character coming out as gay, wanting to play basketball and trying to reconcile the two.

I don’t think any of the characters were 100% likeable but some were better than others. I thought most of the plot was fairly stereotypical and predictable but I think that also made it quicker to read. I did enjoy this book but it’s not one I see myself rereading in the future.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this and I had such high hopes, but it just fell kind of flat. I felt the characters were very 2-dimensional and were just there for the purpose of the story and that was it. The amount of homophobia throughout this book was insane since it is a YA book. The homophobia was there from basically the first chapter and was just so overwhelming. I know homophobia is super common especially with high schoolers, but I don’t know it just felt like some of it wasn’t necessary. I also feel like it was obvious there were 3 authors just because of the differences in dialogue and pacing throughout.

I did enjoy this and it was a very fast read, but I definitely think there was potential for more. I did appreciate that instead of the story being about a young teen learning who they are and coming to terms with their sexuality, it was about a loss of confidence after coming out and getting back to where Barclay used to be. I appreciated the change from the classic queer YA story of discovering themselves and instead we got a character who was confident in who he was and his sexuality from the beginning and just becoming himself again. It was definitely a great change of pace.

Likely this will garner a lot of attention due to Will and Grace's Sean Hayes being one of the writers. But sadly the book does not live up to the expectation: the story is tepid, main characters very uninteresting, and the story reads like a fan fiction rather than a robust and engaging tale. Admittedly, I was bored throughout and just reading to get to the end and get it over with, all the while hoping something interesting might come out of it.

Story: Barclay is the prince of his high school - their star basketball player who will lead the team to State finals this year. Barclay wants to go into the season with a clear vision and no distractions - especially the one that involves hiding his orientation. So when he comes out at a pep rally, he suddenly finds the school and his basketball buddies aren't behind him as much as he thought - or at all. In the end, only bestie Amy and her friend Christopher are there to pick up the pieces. Can Barclay find the will to still play basketball in the face of openly homophobic teammates, corruption in the school system, and a hot guy who intrigues him more and more each day?

So yes, the clichés of there: emo uber-supportive girl friend bestie, hot love interest in an enemies to friends relationship, a villain in the form of a homophobic jock whose dad runs the town, and a beleaguered emotive mom doing her best for her son. A neglected little sister and collegiate older brother round out the cast.

The problem I had with the book is that it lacked heart - it wasn't fun to read and it was hard to commiserate with the jock who had it all and still had so much even when he came out and things fell apart. Barclay as a character didn't come off as very interesting because everything was all about him - he could barely be bothered to notice anyone else. Christopher's interest in him is fairly inexplicable for this reason. On the same side, Christopher was rude, uninteresting, and fairly hostile - so why any interest in him other than that he's hot? Amy is there just to be the supportive bestie and not much else - she doesn't get much of a story.

The plot goes exactly where you expect it will go - making the journey all that more uninteresting. There was very little humor and every other character in the book existed only to forward Barclay moments. None felt like living breathing organic characters that could actually be a real person we'd want to know. The comeuppance of the town bully was by the numbers and as unrealistic a fairy tale as you would expect.

In all, there wasn't a lot to love here. It is perfectly serviceable but that's about it. There are so many good books out there it is hard to give a good reason to check this particular one out. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This one went back and forth for me a bit. I liked Barclay and his friends. Amy seemed very solid and even though Zack came back toward the end he wasn’t really gone. The basketball team was awful. Absolutely awful. And he went back?! I applauded Barclay for his bravery. Even though some of them didn’t participate in the harassment they still just sat and watched. And that captain was truly the stereotype of a villain. He literally did everything little thing he could to be an asshole and just got away with it. His little goons didn’t even get a punishment at the end even though they were there during the harassment too.

I’m glad that Barclay was able to see how selfish he was being and how things effected other people. Some decent character growth. I’m glad he got his revenge too. I hope he can spend some more time with his family and get his life back on track.

This book was short and easy to read so that’s always a plus for me. Christopher seemed very cute and I’m glad he can put up with Barclay’s shenanigans along with Zack and Amy.

Although my rating doesn't reflect it, I did enjoy this one. The beginning was just so extremely painful to read. The homophobia was so blatant and relentless. At every turn, Barclay was knocked down. It hurt me to read.

But, once the book hit about the 75%, I definitely started enjoying it more. Barclay started to make some solid friends and enjoy life again. I loved the friendship he had with Zach, it was touching to watch them rebuild it. I just wish one of the friendships had stayed steady and there had been some positive in the dark depths this showcased.

Thanks to Turn the Page Tours for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Barclay Elliot is a basketball legend in his small town in Georgia. With the entire town invested in the high school basketball team, he’s somewhat of a small celebrity. Loved by all. At least, until he decides to come out at the pep rally. It’s there that everything changes.

Now, Barclay’s at odds with his own team, finding hostility where he originally found family. So, his best friend Amy jumps in, giving him a cause to fight for. That’s also where he meets Christopher, someone he was at odds with before. But now, it seems like they might have more in common than Barclay thought. Perhaps a little romance might be sparking there as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of Time Out to review! Not going to lie, the cover made me think this was a graphic novel for some reason. Which it is not! But honestly, it could potentially make a great graphic novel anyway.

Even though I thought this was a graphic novel, I did enjoy it once I got into it. The subject matter is right up my alley, and I appreciated the ways that the issues were explored. Being set in small town Georgia affects a lot of the story, so be prepared for quite a bit of homophobia and bullying; if you’re not in the right headspace for that, I’d skip this one for now.

One of the comp titles for this book is Heartstopper, which I get, a little. I would more accurately compare this to High School Musical, but if Troy Bolton came out as gay instead of just wanting to sing. Like spot on, those are the vibes this story gives off. Not to mention the basketball team mascot is the Wildcats.

The writing overall wasn’t the best writing I’ve seen, but it’s a quick and easy read, and I do see a lot of teens being able to relate to Barclay. I also appreciated that this is a coming out story, but it’s not about Barclay necessarily finding the confidence to be himself. He has confidence from the beginning. It’s about him finding a way to use that confidence outside of basketball.

All in all, this is a quick read that is sure to find its audience among teens.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes May 30, 2023.

In this YA contemporary we follow our main character Barclay who is a high school senior on the basketball team. He comes out as gay at his school pep rally, and the book takes off from there.

This YA contemporary had a lot going on at once. At times I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a first draft. There are three contributing authors and it is evident by the disjointedness of the dialogue, pacing, bouncing back and forth among the many issues this book tackles. However this book ultimately sticks the landing in terms of its emotional, political, and narrative themes, hence why I am settling on a three star.

Main highlights:
The storyline about MC’s political activism, making new friends, and becoming comfortable in his sexuality

Main critiques:
The family member storylines seemed superficial and those characters not as developed, almost as if it could've been taken out altogether
The structure of the first half was scattered with all of the topics our MC is juggling thrown at us. This could’ve been intentional but I didn’t become invested in the stakes until the second half.
Dialogue and characters seemed out of place and inconsistent at times, almost like I was reading a different book or from a different POV depending on who the MC was talking to.