Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for providing me with an ARC for review.

This book is phenomenal. While reading it, I had the thought, "This could easily become a modern classic," and I stand by that thought - One of the Boys is genuinely one of the best contemporary YA novels I've ever read.

Grace, the protagonist, is strong, fierce, and unapologetically herself. Young women, queer and straight, trans and cis alike, will find so much strength in Grace. Her journey from coming out to rejoining the football team to the trials of being a trans girl in teen sports was incredible. Every moment of this book felt incredibly grounded in reality, genuine in a way that often escapes contemporary teen fiction. Don't get me wrong; certain aspects of this book were wish fulfilment. Trans kids getting supportive parents, friends, and teachers is not as common as this book would have you think. But even with that aspect, Grace certainly faced adversity, and her strength throughout the story is admirable.

There was a minor romance aspect to this book. It's certainly not the forefront of the plot, but certainly enjoyable, and the characters involved have an extremely appropriate and healthy relationship by the end of the story. It was also just genuinely really enjoyable to read a story that featured a lesbian main character that didn't involve being a lesbian - or being trans - as the main plot point. Like, sure, those things are incredibly vital to Grace's character. But they're not the only things she has going on! It was super refreshing.

The cast of supporting characters is incredible. Each one feels like a fully fleshed out character with their own motivations and dreams. They're all the stars of their own stories, we just happen to be in Grace's for this one. I particularly loved Kaeden and Riley. The football bros and the queer geeks all felt like people instead of stereotypes - which was somewhat unexpected given the genre.

I really loved this book and will be buying a copy as soon as it's available in paperback in my country. I can't wait to see what Victoria Zeller writes in future!

Actual rating: 4.5/5 stars.

This was incredible! My heart feels like it's going to explode, and I was smiling almost non-stop through this book.

It is one thing to discover and express who you are. It is an entirely different thing to then find your place in the world. We watch a sweet trans girl do just that as she longs for both who she is and the sport she loves so much. It really opens the question to "what even are gender rolls?" How are they a societal expectation that can exist when humanity is so expanding and individualistic?

Aside from the philosiphizing, our MC, Grace, is so endearing and admirable. I loved watching her grow even further into who she is, accepting all aspects of herself. Her relationship with herself, her friends off the football team, and her friends on the football team were all so wonderful and joyful to read about. This book really is about trans joy, and filled to the brim with a hopefullness that consumed me.

I am a sucker for a feel-good sports story. Extra points if it's football.

I learned about this book during the Trans Rights Readathon 2025. Being the aforementioned sucker for sports stories I jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy.

The book is about Grace a trans girl ex-football player. It follows her highs and lows as she finds her way during her last year of high school and her return to football.

This book masters portraying conflict, acceptance, uncertainty, and assertiveness that Grace and her friends and coaches go through.

A great debut novel from Zeller. I am excited for what she writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for an advanced copy of this book.

First things first: I know NOTHING about sports. I'm confident that Zeller does, but I can't comment on that element in any capacity.

I really enjoyed this book, and for the most part I could even keep track of the massive number of side characters. While I did feel like there was one large plot point that came a little bit out of the blue, I can see why that element was included.

The author's note is correct... I haven't read a lot of YA novels about trans girls in sports, even though I'm definitely the target audience. I was a little surprised about how Grace's story progresses, since so much of the pearl-clutching around trans athletes revolves around their trans women and girls in women's sports specifically. Grace ends up playing for her former football team and dealing with a mixture of support and bigotry from her old coaches and teammates.

On top of that, there's a lot of general teen stuff: navigating friendships, trying to figure out college plans, etc. I found it well-written and well-paced, and I really liked Grace as a character. There were also a few insights here that really stuck with me, especially as she notices things about the way her teammates treat each other, and ways in which she questions certain things she took for granted pre-transition. This was a fantastic debut, and I look forward to seeing what Zeller does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I always love when an author's love and knowledge of sports shows through their books and this book is no exception.

Grace had to completely restructure a lot of her life after coming out as trans, especially after garnering notability as an excellent football kicker at her high school. Rediscovering herself and trying to find how she fits into the bigger picture and how to handle stepping back from football then rejoining when her team desperately needed her made her such a strong character. High school is stressful enough, so when adding in the complex emotions of figuring out your sexuality while transitioning, how to navigate college applications and possible recruitments, an ex-girlfriend who is also questioning her sexuality, and friends and teammates' reactions it makes it all the more complicated. This is such an important YA book and I love how it handled the realities of being on a rowdy sports team and balancing finding yourself while others around you always have their own opinions.

I can see where maybe some of the football lingo may be a bit much or confusing for those less familiar with the sport, but this was easily one of my favorite fictional books in a long time with football in it as it really captured the sport, the behind-the-scenes of recruiting, and the comradery that team sports has. I truly enjoyed this book and the flashbacks really helped tell the story of how Grace learned to find herself and understand where she fit in the world, even if it meant football wasn't forever. This is a great coming-of-age story that captures the strength and determination it takes to truly be yourself.

Omg I LOVED this book! This writer is so talented. I'm a Bills fan because I live in western NY but I don't pay a ton of attention to football... and she pulled me in and brought the football scenes to life in such a cinematic way, I felt like I was right there. The characters all felt so real. I wanted to root for Grace right away, and the whole cast of characters felt well developed, too. I cared about each of them, flaws and all.

It dragged a bit in the middle, but by the end, I was still fully invested and loved how everything unfolded.

This could have been a really depressing story, or one that was unrealistically romanticized/glorified/ optimistic. The author did a nice job landing it somewhere in the middle. There's transphobia and hate that feels just like the real world, but there's ride or die support for Grace and room for her to grow and blossom into her true self.

This book was fantastic; I'd highly recommend it!

This book did three things I never thought possible: it made me care about football, made me nostalgic for high school, and made me truly enjoy second person. For starters, I loved Grace so much. She felt so real to me, with her conflicting hopes and dreams and her youthful mistakes. I saw so much of myself in her as a genderqueer kid, and all I wanted was to give her a big hug. I also loved her friends and how wholesome their friendships were. Especially the football captains. They were so supportive and funny and sweet. Lastly, I loved her dad. He loves Grace so much and is doing his very best, even if he isn’t always there. As for the storyline, this book is Grace’s coming of age, and it was so spectacularly well done. I loved the use of second person versus first person to differentiate past and present. And I loved Grace’s journey figuring out how she wants to be perceived, in football and in life. I thought the ending was perfect, showing her starting a new path with many possibilities. So overall, this was one of the easiest five stars I have ever given out.

A story in 5 parts:
1. My friend Gretal texts me a snippet from this book about boba
2. I realize I had this on my list and want to read it
3. I go to NetGalley and see that it’s “read now”
4. I download immediately
5. I read the book in like 2 hours, and finish before Gretal does
This all happened yesterday afternoon/evening hahaha. This book follows our main character Grace, a trans girl who is a senior in high school. She previously played on the school’s football team as a kicker, but quit after a bad end to the previous season and due to her transition. She ends up getting convinced to join the team again. The book follows her football journey, and her journey in figuring out what her life looks like with a new set of friends (queer friend group!!) and integrating that with her life on the football team. It was SO frikkin good. I loved Grace and all of her friends, and I just *shakes fist* need everyone to read it!!

3.5

#ad I received this book for free as an arc but the opinions are my own

🏳️‍⚧️book five in the trans rights readathon 🏳️‍⚧️
I really enjoyed seeing Grace’s story, how difficult it is to not stand out when everyone wants you to. I honestly know nothing about American football so sometimes when the mc was yapping about what was happening on the field I was more like “you go girl!” rather than actually following the game fully. I enjoyed that the flashbacks to pre-out Grace were written in third person, and were posed as something that happened to Grace rather than her lived experience. Like a lot of contemporary high school books it finished a little open ended letting you see that the group had their whole life ahead of them. I enjoyed seeing grace learn to navigate balancing new and old friendships, ring newly out and facing transphobia.
However my biggest gripe with the book was how the POC characters were described. Being black and gay is a large part of Dray’s identity as is revealed by the plot later on, but the only descriptor we get when introduced to the character are about his twists. Granted it is much later expanded on by using specific by the character himself “… I dunno about being a woman, but like, as a gay Black dude? I get it.”but if the reader doesn’t know what “twists” are then the character remains amorphous, and even with that it feels strange when the tall blonde white man is described in far more detail a page over. We know that Kaiden’s child KJ is mixed race but only because a character compares the baby to a footballer Kyler Murray “ you can’t just say that ‘cause he’s Black and Korean, bro,”. It feels like the author hesitated when describing the characters that are POC, when really there is no need, and could benefit from seeing how POC writers/authors handle introducing similar characters.

I would like to preface this review by coming clean: I know absolutely nothing about football. Like when I read The Prospects, even though I knew absolutely nothing about baseball. Bottom line is, if you make it queer enough I will read about any sport!!

That being said, this is not a sports romance, and I think I was not aware of that when I started this book. That´s why it took me a while to get into it (that and the fact that all the sports talk was absolute nonsense to me). After getting past all that, I did enjoy this book.

I feel like the perspective in the story is a bit more grim than I expected. It talks more about the not-so-pretty parts of coming out and being trans, like transphobia and gender dysphoria, but still manages to show queer joy and an amazing found family.

Grace is an amazing, nuanced main character; she knows who she is but, at the same time, is still struggling with her feelings and learning to open up.

One of the Boys is a YA fiction novel unlike anything I’ve seen before, which is what initially drew me to the story and made me want to read it. It’s about trans girls and sports—specifically, football. I enjoy sports, and I’m always on the lookout for diverse stories, and this one absolutely did not disappoint. I had zero knowledge of football before reading this book, and even afterward, I can't say I’ve developed a fascination for the sport. However, I really appreciated all the detailed descriptions of tactics and techniques, and most of all, I loved how the book challenged the stereotypes I had unconsciously accumulated over the years about football players.

But let’s start from the beginning! Grace used to be a football player—she had a girlfriend, a sports clique, was involved in high school social events, and had a promising future with a football scholarship as a kicker. But she left all of that behind when she came out as trans. The story we read is about the hurdles and obstacles of an early transition and how Grace tries to find her place in this new reality.

“And now, as good as it felt to be surrounded by friendly faces, it was hard not to dwell on every single way that I didn’t fit in with Tab’s theatre gays, or even Riley’s soccer jocks. I wasn’t lucky enough to be the right kind of queer.”

One of the hardest things for her is the sudden break from her team. She quickly realizes that football was and still is more than just a sport for her—it gives her stability, it’s something she knows how to do, something that feels familiar and good, something that eases the feeling of gender dysphoria.

After having decided that football was a thing of the past, Grace eventually chooses to rejoin the team, setting a lot of things in motion…
This story moved me deeply. The author doesn’t just tell it in a linear way but interweaves moments from before Grace’s coming out. These introspective passages are incredibly poignant and emotional, showing the constant battle and inner turmoil Grace faces. Additionally, the book includes group chats, Twitter posts, and excerpts from a podcast Grace participated in. This varied narrative structure brings the story to life and highlights the many challenges queer people can encounter.

What stood out to me the most was Grace’s friends. Not every moment is pleasant—there is a lot of resistance, bigoted and transphobic comments, the use of her deadname, and demeaning behavior from other football players. The story doesn’t sugarcoat anything. However, what I really appreciated was that the people around Grace had her back. Yes, she has to endure these situations herself, but she is never truly alone. Her former teammates and the football team captains support her in a powerful way, taking a firm stand and making it clear that Grace deserves her place on the team. Her father is also a loving and supportive figure, openly showing and communicating his love for his daughter. The women’s soccer team and the theater group also stand by her side. There are a lot of emotional moments in this book, and the interpersonal and intimate scenes are beautifully captured (feelingsball ftw!)

While reading, I kept wondering whether the author had personal experience with these struggles because so many moments felt painfully real. It turns out this is an #ownvoices story, and the author was a football player herself. This classic senior-year football story—centered on one last chance to win the championship—blended with a unique protagonist who left football behind when she transitioned works on every level. A phenomenal debut with relatable family and friends relationships, Humor, LGBTQIA+ rep throughout all the characters in the book and amazing football buddies who are more than just tough guys.

really engrossing and awesome story. i am NOT sporty but i still found this incredible and I loved our protags. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

One of the Boys is a novel about a trans girl who returns to playing football in her final year of high school, dealing with being caught between the sport she loves and if she has a place within it. Grace Woodhouse used to be a stereotypical jock: on the football team, popular girlfriend, eyes on a college football scholarship. That was, until she came out as trans, leaving the football team and her former life behind. Back at school for senior year, she's navigating the loss of her sport and built-in friendship group, but when her old teammates convince her to come back, her non-football friends think she's crazy and there are a lot of hurdles in the way. Grace has to consider what is important to her and what the future after high school might hold.

This is the kind of young adult novel that should be read by anyone, because it is just a great coming of age story about being trans and having to decide what to keep from your past and who you want to be as you grow up. There's a lot of nuance, not only in Grace's story but in everyone's in the novel, and a real sense that high school isn't everything, and the person you are at the age of eighteen isn't the end of anything. There's so many great characters, some with small roles, and others with larger, but everyone gets something going on, even just in the background, which felt very real to what it is like as a teenager at school when there's so many people you peripherally know or are aware of. I liked how it plays with classic ideas of cliques, like the football players and the theatre kids, but Grace was there trying to convince them that maybe things aren't so clear cut

It is also a small town America story, specifically Western New York, and how that might shape being trans and a lesbian and loving football, and how it shapes the people around her too. Strangely for a British person, this has a very specific subsection of things I do know about (I've been to Brockport, my sister played American football on a men's team), and I really liked all the details, even appreciating those (mostly all the football stuff) that I'm not so familiar with. I also like how the book explains more about football than it does about being trans, because the book is really about exploring your passion and what happens when your relationship to it changes, rather than being just focused on Grace's gender.

This book was delightful to read, heartwarming yet with enough grit to make it more compelling than a fairytale version of this narrative. There's so much packed into it, but ultimately, it's a coming of age tale about doing what you love, finding your path after school, and how being trans changes the future you thought you had mapped out.

I loved this book! Zeller uses their own lived experience as a trans woman to truly bring life into Grace's character. As a queer person myself, I make an effort to find queer authors and characters and surround myself their stories.
I really liked reading about the friends that Grace has surrounded herself with as well - both the girls outside of the football team and the guys on it that Grace thought she had lost after leaving the team. I also thought it was really unique that one of Grace's friends was a teenage father, and that there was a lot of description of him caring for his son. I have not read that in a book before!
Overall I have already recommended it to so many people and cannot wait to see what Zeller writes next!!

I accidentally read this book in a single day and honestly, no regrets. I was hooked on Grace's story right from the start, intrigued by her view of self and her own understanding of her trans identity. Her relationality to her friends was also of particular interest to me. I loved seeing how her football teammates adjusted to her being openly trans and how the girls like Riley and Tab and Zoe provided a space, though sometimes fraught, for companiable womanhood and helped Grace in her transition. The writing style was easy to digest and I thought the flashback chapters were particularly inspired, divorcing Grace's past self from her current and drawing the readers into the thought processes of someone discovering and exploring their trans identity. Though I am not a sports fan, I appreciated Zeller's fully fleshed out depiction of football, from its community, to various positions, to plays I was hopelessly lost in the dark about. It is also an incredibly timely book, with the current state of affairs in the US and the constant attacks on the trans community, especially when it comes to trans people in sports, and Zeller subtly incorporates this into the book without outright dragging the politics into the forefront, which I think is masterful and allows people who may balk at the politics being laid bare before them get a ways into the story before it really becomes obvious. Overall, from characters to storytelling to writing style, this book is really a wonderful read and I would encourage even those not sporty among us to pick it up.

This was a completely engrossing book about a trans girl in high school rejoining the football team after she transitions. Grace was such an interesting character to follow. The book explores friendship, romance, discrimination, teamwork, and so much more. It also felt like a depiction of a trans girl that I haven’t quite seen before in books.

It was really interesting seeing Grace navigate how to rejoin the team as a girl. She had the support of the captains and an assistant coach, but the head coach and some of the teammates weren't as accepting. There’s a mix of reactions, with some people accidentally being ignorant to purposeful transphobia. The book definitely doesn’t shy away from showing the times that Grace gets deadnamed and misgendered. But while there are hard to read moments, I feel like the book also spends a lot of time emphasizing the people who stick up for Grace and also shows people learning and coming around.

I was just so invested in Grace’s story. While I’m by no means a football fan, I enjoyed seeing the different games throughout the book and how Grace was contributing to the team. I also thought that the storyline about her newer queer friend not understanding why Grace would want to go back to football and that atmosphere she viewed as just toxic masculinity was really interesting. There are a lot of diverse characters throughout the book who bring unique insights to the table and it was fun to see the different parts of Grace’s life intersecting.

One of the Boys was a great read, I didn’t want to put it down. I’d definitely recommend it for people who enjoy YA sports books and queer/trans YA in general. It has a compelling plot, complex characters, and something to say.

I know *nothing* about American football, yet this bittersweet story about a girl forging a path for herself-and-unintentionally-turning spokesperson and poster-girl for her community had me hooked. Football is clearly an area of expertise and joy for the author, as the descriptions of plays and kicking strategies positively shone luminescent on the pages. I loved how determined and passionate the main character was, to pursue their passions regardless of whether they won or lost - on the field and in life. There is some discussion of the social construct of gender roles alongside the narrative which feels natural and unforced- very worthwhile reading for young people - the sort of book I wish has been around when I was growing up.

This book made me care about football, and that is a tall order.

The world needs more books with transfemme protagonists in every genre and this one will be a go-to rec when folks ask me if I know of any.

I'm going to go have feelingsball about this book for a while. Thanks for the ARC!

This book was a bit different from the books I usually read. I'm a big fan of queer YA books, but I know nothing at all about football and I honestly still don't really care about it, but it was fascinating to learn more about it. Before I started this book, I already looked at some other reviews to know what I'm getting myself into and almost everyone said that it will be a lot of football. And they certainly didn't lie. At some time I was a bit confused because I didn't understand the different terms, but it was still fun to learn more. I picked this book up because of all the people who said that this book is despite its topics a really good book. They also didn't lie about this.

Grace is a high school senior who recently came out as trans. Being trans on its own can be hard enough but being a former footballer makes it from time to time even more difficult.

The book is written in a special way. Most of the story is written in Graces current pov but there are also some chapters that are about Graces past and are written in the second-person narrator. The writing style was different from most books I read before but I really did like it. At some times I wondered if teens these days really talk like that. Some moments felt a bit cringe but maybe I'm too old to understand teen slang.

Grace is a strong main character. She knows who she is but she's still struggling from time to time and has a hard time talking to other people about her feelings, which I totally understand!

Overall it was a really good book. You can really feel how the author is connected to football and that she has a great passion in it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Levine Querido for this EARC!

I am NOT a football fan, but give me a book about a trans girl playing football and I will go feral for it. I can't say I like football any better than I did before reading this, but I respect why the sport was important to Grace. It gave her community, a built-in family. She was good at it, and damn do I get the high you get when you're good at something and others recognize you for that. My favorite part was Grace realizing that she has such a huge support system that she absolutely should lean on. I loved Grace's friendships with the boys on the team, as well as her with Tab and Riley. Her attitude in the beginning is "I'm just here to play ball and win" whenever she is asked about being the first and only transgender girl in the sport. She steers discussions away from her gender identity. But by the end, she starts to embrace her identity and become more outspoken. I loved witnessing her growth.

This book contains a LOT of deadnaming and misgendering, both malicious and in pre-transition/pre-coming out scenes. I honestly expected this from a lot of football players (I know, I stereotype, SUE ME). Grace is also very self-conscious about her appearance and not passing. If this sounds triggering to you, please proceed with caution and take care of yourself. This book will be here when/if you're ready for it <3

Thank you to the author and Levine Querido for the e-ARC! All thoughts are my own.