While I enjoyed the flow of this story, I can't say I responded as well to the content. Three teenagers are accused of seriously injuring a classmate at a post-game party that gets rambunctious. Haven't we heard this before? What sets this apart is the racial mix of the boys involved, their home lives, that as much ink is spent on the parents and their motivations and lives as the boys. After all, the title seems to tilt in that direction in that it specifies the parents. I did finish, found the conclusion satisfying. But found the bulk of the book repetitious and padded.

This was a well-written, well-researched book about events that didn't need to happen the way that they did. It makes me sad that the more things change, the more they stay the same. If you want decent nonfiction with a slightly surprising ending, give this one a go.

Teenage boys are always going to be teenage boys. I don't know why we expect things to change.

Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya is an instantly discussable book as it explores race, class, privilege, etc. It's a story that happens more than we, as humans, want to admit. Vikram is a normal teenage boy. He's incredibly smart and prepping for college applications. He's also on the football team, and that team will change everything.

Vikram and his friends, Diego and MJ, all attend a party after a football game. Things go too far and the boys assault one of their classmates. What normally would just be teenage hijinx turns into something much more complicated.

I found this a very modern story, but as I'm NOT a parent, I didn't really connect. It all seemed like teenage boys doing teenage boys things. I think there are larger conversations to be had, and this book did cover those, but at times, it was all over the place. Why is a school principal involved with a party that happens outside of school? Why are the parents terrible? What REALLY happened to Stanley?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I enjoyed this story. Four HS boys go to a party, one ends up in the hospital and the other three are suspended from school upon admittance to what happened at the party. I like how it involved the three boys and their families, and included how race and privilege played a part in the questioning. It felt like a real depiction of what happens in situations like this. I thought the story was well written.

When three HS football players are acccused of beating up another kid at a party, secrets are threatened to be exposed. What happened and why? This novel explores themes of race and identity, family and secrets. It's a slow burn, but very interesting. I was a bit surprised by the ending.

"Vikram Shastri has always been a good kid. He’s got a 4.3 GPA, listens to his parents, barely hits the parties, and is on track for college. But when he gets the chance to play on his high school football team, his world suddenly starts to shift. Basking in their recent victory, Vikram and his teammates, Diego and MJ, attend the famed party at the Southern California cave and find themselves lost in the dark of night, carried away by male bravado, with a classmate who has annoyed them their whole lives.

But when the kid emerges with injuries that prove to be more serious than the all-star boys intended, they are suspended from the rest of the season and the boys’ parents are brought in to mitigate the situation. As the parents try to protect their kids, they’re also managing their own midlife crises—from failing businesses and fake identities and alienation. While the parents work together, and against, each other to figure out the truth of that night, the boys must come to terms with how much of their own secrets they’re willing to reveal to clear their names."

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

I honestly think this book could make the cut and be voted as one of the ten best books of the year. It was about three teenagers that beat up a kid that one could only call a bully. They were members of the high school football team. When Stanley ended up in the hospital from being so beat up, the school principal, along with Stanley's mom, hesitated to call the police. While investigating, the author paints a good picture of the different cultures the three boys were raised in. We meet the parents, learn their motivations and become engrossed in the family lives. Not a football book--but a book about families, culture and racism. The racism is not overt. Nobody is on a soapbox but this novel makes the reader think about bias and motivations, honesty and truth. I immediately purchased another book by Sameer Pandya and it is on my TBR read. I am very thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel, for free and in advance of the general public. This review is. my own opinion and not coerced in any way.

There was a lot to like about this book, but I felt some frustration also. This is a very well written story- but there were a lot of side stories with many different themes that made the story feel convoluted.

I was engaged throughout, but the ending left me feeling meh. I didn’t believe that a certain character would make the decisions he did and one character’s actions were left unresolved.

I still recommend this one- strong character development and a definitely interesting premise.

This is a me problem. I couldn't get into this story or stay focused on it. I found myself bored and uninterested in any of the characters. I will attempt again on audio sometime after release.

Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What a beautifully written, complicated read. It gave off Beartown vibes but with football and more highbrow. It also gave me Locust Lane vibes with the focus on family and how far they would go to protect their kids.

On its surface the book was about the search for the truth. But it was not a plot heavy read, instead it focused on the nuances and beliefs of all the characters. This made it hard to get into as it became tedious at times. But I did become invested and wanted to know the outcomes for all these flawed characters.

At its core, this was a book about race, privilege, and identity. It was a social commentary and social critique. It would be perfect for discussions and book clubs.

Our Beautiful Boys is a novel with many layers, tackling timely and complex issues through the lens of three high school football players from vastly different backgrounds. When a fight at a party threatens their friendship and futures, the school principal works to uncover the truth, while each boy’s family is forced to confront deeper issues—ranging from immigrant identity and class struggles to parental expectations and fractured marriages. Pandya seamlessly weaves together themes of race, privilege, bullying, and academia, creating a thought-provoking and engrossing read.

With its rich storytelling and socially relevant themes, the novel feels destined to become a prestige mini-series, balancing personal stakes with broader societal commentary. However, while the adult characters and family dynamics feel deeply authentic, the teenage boys’ dialogue and inner monologues don’t always ring true. Despite this, Our Beautiful Boys is an engaging and timely exploration of identity, ambition, and the pressures that shape young lives.

Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya appears, on the surface, to be a novel about high school football players who commit a violent act. In reality, this deeply emotional novel is about the many different variations on privilege people experience throughout their lives. I thought I was going to read a 'look at what these spoiled athletes did and tried to get away with' story, and was very pleasantly surprised that the book had so much more depth.

The story is about three star football players: MJ whose parents are wealthy and white; Diego is being raised by a single mother who is a successful academic; and Vikram whose Indian parents have very high academic expectations that do not include football. At a party, they are involved in a violent attack that ends badly, threatening each of their futures. As the parents try to find out how and whether their boys are involved, secrets threaten to be spilled along with truth.

As a former school principal, this book struck a chord with me, as none of the parents could accept that their darling boys could be involved and the boys held a hard line of not telling what they knew. As the student body became divided and the pressure to help the football team make playoffs mounted, I could relate to the administrator's frustration. I am not sure that I completely agree with her final resolution, though I do understand the reasoning.

This book is as much about the adult dramas as it is the incident at the party, which makes it a much more interesting and layered novel than I expected. Some of the issues presented by the parents, about the racial biases that would be involved in each boy's college prospects, were unfortunately all too realistic even in today's world.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for the digital ARC of Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya. The opinions in this review are my own.

Author of Members Only, named by NPR as one of the “Books we Love,” Sameer Pandya has now written an attention-grabbing page turner about race, ethnicity, mistakes, and family relations in contemporary American culture.

On the night of an important football victory, three high school athletes destined for prestigious university scholarships not just for their sports skills but also for their high academic performance are ready to celebrate. When MJ. Diego, and Vikram order dinner at an Indian restaurant, they are unexpectedly joined by another boy from their school, and trouble ensues. Making racist remarks as usual during the meal, Stanley nonetheless persuades the others to attend a party in an abandoned house overlooking the city. After a couple of beers, MJ, Diego, and Vikram decide to explore the caves near the house. In the third cave, they encounter a very drunk Stanley, and a confrontation occurs that lands Stanley in the hospital with life-threatening injuries and the boys in the principal’s office along with parents ready to defend their sons at any cost.

Pandya divides the book into three parts. The first focuses largely on the boys and the second on the parents and the school as Stanley’s mother ponders pressing criminal charges, the other boys’ parents grapple with their sons and each other while also dealing with personal issues, students take sides, and the principal struggles to learn the truth and make the right decisions. Part III brings the story to satisfying but not simplistic close.

All in all, Our Beautiful Boys takes a close look at the many racial/ethnic, academic, and socio-economic pressures impacting students, school administrators, and families today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine/Random House for an advance reader egalley of this highly recommended new novel.

Boys will be boys.......Ever hear that saying? Our Beautiful Boys touches on many subjects through the telling of what happened one evening after a football game. One fateful evening, the team's star players, Vikram, Diego and MJ are accused of seriously injuring another teammate, Stanley.

While looking at what occurred that evening, the three teens are suspended from school while their parents scramble to protect and defend their sons. The teens come from good yet differing family situations. They had not planned for what happened that and that night while partying all hope for the best possible outcome.

This book touches on how well we know those in our lives. How well do we know our children, our spouses, or parents? What happens when those in our lives disappoint us, make bad choices, use bad judgement? This book also touches on class, expectations, marriage, secrets, fitting in, lies, sports, expectations, privilege, and friendship.

This is a timely and thought-provoking book which has both the reader and the characters questioning what happened and how things would be resolved. I enjoyed the tension and the underlying feeling of unease that resulted from the events of the night and actions in question.

There was not a single likeable character in this book. While I’m sympathetic to the reasoning behind some of their horrendous actions, others were pretty unsettling. I did like how well we got to know the cast. They just never really had a big redeeming moment. I was invested enough to keep reading, but in the end I was a little dissatisfied. This novel explores big topics like violence, bullying, cultural appropriation, racism, and so on yet it didn’t really dive into these topics far enough for it to feel productive. I liked how we got to see our characters navigate different emotional and moral turmoils, regardless of if I agree with the outcomes. It’s always intriguing to be in a characters mind when going through situations like this.

I was interested enough in this book to keep reading, but I really did feel like I had to drag myself through some parts. Overall, I found it hard to really care about any of the characters. There are no heroes here and I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be rooting for anyone? But honestly, I wasn’t.

I felt like the book was written well and so from that standpoint I don’t feel comfortable dropping it below a 3, but I also can’t say I found the reading experience all that enjoyable. The only issue I had with the writing is that from paragraph to paragraph the perspective would suddenly change. We’d be in Veronica’s head and then all of the sudden it’s MJ.

I did think this book was an interesting viewpoint on race relations and there are a lot of topics that I think can and should be discussed. I’m not sure about the depiction of an American public high school experience though. Granted, I didn’t spend a ton of time at my high school and I’m not a boy, but I’m not sure how fraught the bathrooms at my high school were? And the proximity to all of that violence had an effect on the boys, but especially Vikram. For me, that felt inauthentic, but I’ve just had my own lived experience so I can’t say for sure.

Overall, the writing was good, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel tackles complex themes of class, race, and privilege as three high school football players become entangled in the aftermath of a violent incident at a party. The story explores how their parents react—some fiercely protective, others desperate to cover for themselves—offering a compelling look at family dynamics and moral dilemmas.

The writing is elegant and understated, and the character development is strong, making the families feel real and flawed. However, the slow unraveling of the truth and the heavy focus on the parents’ perspectives sometimes pulled attention away from the boys at the heart of the story. I wanted a sharper focus on the actual event and what drove the boys’ actions. The pacing, along with the occasional narrative detours, made it a bit frustrating at times.

Still, the thought-provoking themes and well-crafted storytelling kept me engaged. While it didn’t fully meet my high expectations, I appreciated the depth and nuance the author brought to this timely, layered story.

A student is badly injured after a party, by three of his classmates who were constantly annoyed by him. The three, all good students, were suspended. This was about so much more than the party. The parents had to get involved and of course parents want to protect their kids. But the truth had to come out. Very thought provoking.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Three high school football players are seen at a party where a boy was violently injured. The three, as are their parents, are now accused and put under scrutiny.

I had very high expectations going into this book, and this story has so much potential as it explores topics of class, race, and privilege. Usually, I would have devoured a book like this, watching the families of these boys react in such different ways, trying to protect their children and cover for themselves.

However, I often found myself distracted. The sparse writing and the prolonged revelation of the event's truth left me wanting more. The narrative seemed to get lost in the myriad of societal issues it brought up, which, while important, detracted from the central story. I wanted to return to the night of the event, to understand the boys and what drove them.

Again, I love this kind of drama - parents believing their children could never do anything wrong while the parents are a hot mess. I just would have liked a sharper focus to make it a more enjoyable read for me.

3.5⭐️


Thank you, @randomhouse, for the gifted ebook via Netgalley. #randomhouse #netgalley
Thank you @PRHaudio for the gifted audiobook. #Prhaudio #PRHAinfluencer

4 high school boys get in a fight. 3 against 1. This story delves into the family lives of the 3 aggressors. Each family is guilty of thinking “not my son” in some form or another. The boys deal with their anger and guilt in different ways. Although the adults in the story never learn the real truth, it is disclosed between two of the boys

I love a strong debut novel, but a strong second novel—well, that’s when an author’s name stays on my radar. When an advance copy of "Our Beautiful Boys" landed on my desk, I tucked it into my tote and had finished it by noon the next day. As in his first novel, "Members Only" (one of my favorite lockdown reads), Sameer Pandya, PhD ’02, builds worlds through exploring his characters’ inner conflicts and social/societal collisions. In this case, he gives us three troubled SoCal football players and their shell-shocked parents, who find themselves at the mercy of a culture that revels in takedowns.