I love queer stories with a different cultural identity then my own. I also like when football is called football. A win-win.

gabriel piña knows exactly who he is: one of the best college goalkeepers in the country, a future professional footballer, and definitely straight. he’s starting college confident in these facts, and nothing will stray him from his path to greatness…that is, until he meets vale, the guy gabi briefly kissed at a party, who just so happens to be his new philosophy tutor. as he slowly begins to realize he just might have feelings for vale, he begins to wonder what being bisexual would mean for him, as a brown, mexican futbolista.

i adored jonny garza villa’s ander & santi were here and canto contigo, so i was very excited to read this book! i snatched it up as soon as i saw it in netgalley’s “read now” section. i loved this exploration of queerness in a college student. as i stated earlier, gabi started the book very sure of himself, but the rest of this book is, more or less, his identity crisis. it’s very hard for him to accept this part of himself considering the way his team, whom he considers his brothers, reacted to another team’s player being outed, as well as his parents’ and culture’s beliefs. all this emotional turmoil while he has playoffs to win. needless to say, this was not an easy journey for him, but luckily, vale supported him and was patient with him throughout it.

with all that said, this book was not all heavy. there were some lighter moments, and i found myself laughing and smiling at some points. overall, this was a wonderful young adult romance. i highly recommend this, and i can’t wait for more from jonny garza villa!

A college sports romance overflowing with all the qualities we love in the genre! Found family, yearning and heart are three of my favorite elements featured in this story. The pacing is dynamic especially when you have characters exploring their identity and navigating a new life experience. Highly recommend checking this one out!

Huge thank you to Netgalley & Publisher for providing the earc!

I wanted to give this author one last shot after seeing so many glowing reviews. To be honest, I really didn’t like their first two novels. Like, at all. I can definitely say this was more enjoyable. New adult was a great choice and felt a *little* less cringey than the previous books. More bro-y, though…

I found this story to be very cute. I loved seeing Gabi’s bi-awakening and coming to terms with himself. We need more bi-representation in the YA & NA communities. The futbol aspect was also fun to follow, and I enjoyed reading through all of Gabi’s adventures.

Some flaws that keep me from rating this higher:
-Pacing issues: it’s a long book and some aspects feel way too long and others way too short
-Character development: many secondary characters felt like they were used as plot tools. Very little development of any of them. By the end, I don’t really “know” any of them
-The writing quality still isn’t there for me

In short, I’m seeing improvement in the writing. This is a cute story, and I did enjoy reading it! On the fence if I will still keep reading this author.

3⭐️

4.75

Jonny Garza Villa can do no wrong in my mind, and they certainly knocked this new adult sports romance out of the park (please forgive the mixed sports metaphor). Set as a companion to Fifteen Hundred Miles to the Sun, here we follow Gabriel Piña, the keeper from Jules's football team as he navigates his first year of university. I love the way JGV writes about teens discovering themselves. We see Gabi start university thinking he knows himself and what he wants from his future and we watch as he learns that maybe he didn't have it all figured out at 18 and maybe that's okay. I adore Gabi and the boys. Seriously, if Jonny wants to keep expanding on this universe and give us romances that follow any of Gabi's roommates or Kat I wouldn't be mad. I also really loved Vale and their relationship. While there was part of me that had a hard time buying into Vale's emotional maturity in regard to their relationship because seriously when has an 18 year old by ever been that understanding, I was still swept up in the rest of the story enough that it didn't bother me too much. I don't think this overpasses Ander & Santi as my favorite JGV, but it is a close second.

I love this book so much.

I know Jonny Garza Villa as a YA writer (I believe all three of their other books are pretty solidly YA) and this was... very much not. Though I see that GoodReads has it tagged as YA. Womp womp.

I'm also not sure if I'd call it romance, per se, in part because it doesn't rely on tropes to keep the momentum going. Piña is such a himbo, and a lot of the book revolves around his perceptions of himself and his friends, and he wants people to see when they interact with him. Under other circumstances, I'd called this an 'idiots to lovers' book, but while the romance was great, I think the real focus of this story was Piña learning to love himself.

The very end was a little fantastical in terms of how things work out, but I think we (the readers) deserve that. I have an immense amount of respect for the author both in terms of real-life behavior and pure talent. I tend to read really quickly, but I deliberately took my time to savor this book. Every single one of these characters felt so real to me, and the male friendships in particular were delightful. Very much recommend this as a New Adult romance/lit. Please be advised that there are a lot of, hrm, physical activities described in these pages. I'd especially recommend this for fans of "The Prospects." You guys, sports books have to be SO OVERTLY QUEER before I care even a little bit. And this one, with its green-flags himbo narrator and loveable love interest was *chef's kiss*

[Note for NetGalley: I had apparently requested AND preordered this book, so I waited to read my physical copy. Hence the lack of "ARC" acknowledgement in the reviews.]

This book has everything: that one queer friend who clocks you before you can figure it out for yoursed. The "I'm totally just an ally" inner monologue. Hot guys. Hot girls. Bisexual panic. It even has cunty broccoli!

This is a truly heartfelt and meaningful story, especially as someone who did not fully understand they were queer until the last few months of high school, and was only able to safely explore it after moving to college. Being queer can be difficult. Speaking from personal experience, learning you're queer in Texas means you have extra challenges. But once that box is opened (or that cave is exited), your life is so much brighter. Jonny Garza Villa has captured that perfectly, and his story about embacing your authentic self and learning to grow and change is a timely and much-needed story about embracing the intersections of our identities and finding joy.

I have never been more proud of a character than I am of Gabi ugh last 10% was just a sob fest. Having to come to terms his true self while battling Machismo culture and just regular old sports ball dude bro homophobia. He’s for sure my favorite futbolista.

The use of philosophy to come to terms with how we take ourselves out of automatic thought processes and what society expects of us and step out into the sun.

Vale is such a patient and beautiful person. It takes a lot to stand by someone who wasn’t ready to fight for you and the love you shared and not turn that into resentment.

Heart tugging tale for sure.

Jonny, you never let me down! Fr fr 💖😭💖

I’m not going to deny that the reason this isn’t a 5🌟 is because the first 50 pgs of this book had me going “😵‍💫 all this football talk is losing me real quick.” I stand firmly in the camp of queers that knows nothing about sports and has no interest in it. Talk figure skating with me or bust, and even then take it easy. I just love watching people being graceful af on ice 😂

Anyway 💁🏻‍♀️✨

I ultimately loved this because Jonny Garza Villa is an excellent storyteller. They have a way of making me become invested in their characters every single fucking time. In this one, they even got me loving two side characters! As a fellow bi girlie, I’m just saying the dork that is Pérez and the absolute baddie that is Kat could get it 😩🙏🏻 Pérez got me by being so authentically himself and not giving a shit what anyone thought. He spoke his mind and was the kind of loving and encouraging friend everyone should have. Kat was also the other kind of friend you absolutely need if you’re queer. They’re observant, gentle, and promote growth and self-reflection. They wanted to be a safe space for Gabi, and they absolutely were. I would risk it all for those futbolistas 👌🏻

But of course the stars of the show were Gabi and Vale. They were so adorable and sugary sweet with each other 💖😭💖 The way Gabi was an oblivious fuck for a good chunk of this despite being SO DOWN BAD for Vale from get go was AGONY. The way he flirted with Vale so fucking hard? My brother in bi arms, how was Vale ever supposed to survive that? 😩 and let the record show…Gabi…ain’t no straight man sending thirst traps to another man (on purpose or not) and thinking to himself “😌 I’m a okay with this man using these pics to masturbate.” I was begging Gabi through the pages of the book to see the closet was made of GLASS.

Also. When Jonny said that the characters fuck in this, they truly do. Gabi and Vale are some horny motherfuckers…and you know me. I might be ace, but I support horny rights 😔🙏🏻 I support it even more so when it clearly comes from a being so in love with the other person you basically want to live inside their skin. Amazing. Incredible. No notes. We support being lovesick in this home ✨

Finally, the one part of this had me almost tearing up was when Gabi finally comes out to his dad. Had me out here being a soft lil baby 🥺 Gabi loves his dad and football SO MUCH, and his biggest challenge was truly finding a way to see the possibility of coming out and keeping both his family and his future football career. It was really meaningful to see how that all resolved itself towards the end of the novel. Truly had me this close 👌🏻 to crying

As always… I stand in my corner cheering on Jonny Garza Villa and trying to get the world to read their books. They deserve all the hype and support in the world. No one out there is writing such stunning, authentically queer and Mexican novels. Everyone should have the pleasure of reading them 💖

I loved this book so much. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a JGV book will make me cry, that it will make me laugh and love these characters while also Going Through It with them. That they don’t shy away from addressing the homophobia and machismo prevalent in Mexican culture, but also that we will face and challenge it together and still find a HEA in the end.

These characters felt so real and all felt like people I knew. They’re funny, smart, loving, caring, and I wanted nothing but the best for all of them. You could really feel the love that Gabi and his friends have for each other and it was really great to see. Vale, his love interest, was wonderful, and I loved watching their dynamic grow and evolve.

Seeing Gabi say or think the words that he’s bi on more than several occasions meant more to me than I thought it could. Every time he did it, every time he reaffirmed his bisexuality, it was like a salve for my lil brown bi heart.

Reading hasn’t come as easily for the past several months now and yet I just couldn’t put this down, these 400 pages flew by and were filled with such a great and fulfilling story.

If you like books about queer joy, finding yourself when you thought there was nothing else left to learn, a supportive found family, a love interest who will steal your heart, or a heaping helping of sports, then you should definitely pick up this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Levine Querido for the arc!

Jonny Garza Villa is a forever auto-buy author for me. This is their first New Adult book and it has the same heart, humor, and soul of their YA books that came before (with a lot of extra spice!).

From the first page, I was hooked on this story and eager to read more. So eager in fact that I binge read this book in less than 24 hours and was very sad when it came to an end. I could have read about Gabi and Vale forever. I could have read about Perez, Ahmed, and Nguyen forever. These characters are full of life and so vibrant in a way that leaps off the page and make you feel like you could turn on your TV and actually watch them play football.

This book realistically and expertly tackles the complexities of sexuality, of self discovery and coming out, of toxic masculinity, and of the importance of authenticity. And the depictions of sex are informative, sexy, and inclusive. This is exactly the representation that queer young adults need in literature, now more than ever.

If you’re looking for a spicy, fun summer romance, I couldn’t recommend this more.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I felt really emotional reading this. Pina and Vale were amazing together and I really felt Pina's fear around his parents and teammates finding out, and it's clear how much toxic masculinity and bi/queer phobia was affecting him. Also, fuck Barrera—that dude sucked. The ending with his parents made me extremely emotional. The entire time, especially after how Jules' dad had reacted in 1500 Miles From The Sun, I was super worried, but when his parents reacted the opposite way and even insisted on buying the bisexuality flag, I smiled so hard! Thank you Jonny Garza Villa for reminding us all that happily ever afters are possible!

I have loved every book that Jonny writes, so when I saw that they were releasing their adult romance debut I knew I had to read it. I absolutely love this book. I think this may be my favorite one from them. It is filled with culture, love, and futbol. I am not a soccer fan and I did not think this was over my head with the soccer that we get. I was able to follow along with the soccer scenes we got. This also brings attention to how athletes that are part of the LGBTQIA+ community are treated. Gabo (Gabi, Pina) is struggling with his sexuality and tries so hard to justify how he is feeling to avoid what it really means. His friends are everything that Gabi needed as their undying support is the boost he needed. I will definitely be rereading this book once I can get the audiobook.

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @levinequerido for the E-ARC, it in no way influences my review.

Trigger Warnings(TW)
Homophobia, Sexual content, Biphobia, Outing, Alcohol, Bullying, Medical content

** I would be mindful of the trigger warnings before reading.

#BookishMujer #LatinasWhoRead #JonnyVillaGarza #Futbolista #NetGalley #LevineQuerido #ARCreview

This is my first book by Jonny Garza Villa and I am now collecting his backlist. This is definitely going to be a favorite of the year and I cannot wait to get a finished copy. I don't know why this is categorized as YA, maybe because they're 18 but this story is definitely so layered and has some spicy scenes that I wouldn't classify as YA.

The friend group I would classify as a found family. Gabriel is a cocky, confident and its definitely deserved. Vale is the ultimate cinnamon roll. Their chemistry is off the charts, and you will root for them until the very end. It gives you a glimpse of the misogyny there is in sports, and in the Latinx culture. Villa does such a great job in putting a spotlight on Gabriel's obstacles in coming out, in where you understand where he's coming from without it making repetitive.

What I enjoyed was how they intertwined their philosophy class within the story. It helped Gabriel with his coming, it was able to ask intuitive questions without being over the top or too preachy.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review, as always, all words are my own.

Looking for a sharp, heartfelt sports romance about chasing goals on and off the field? Then let me present you to ‘Futbolista’ by Jonny Garza Villa.

Gabriel Piña is a college goalkeeper with a clear path: pro soccer, no distractions, and definitely straight. But then there’s Vale, his philosophy classmate, unexpected tutor, and the guy he maybe once kissed at a party (oops).

As their friendship deepens, so do Gabi’s questions about who he really is and what he wants. Set in the world of college fútbol and layered with Mexican-American pride, Futbolista is a tender, funny, and fearless story about first love, identity, and rewriting the rules.

Easy to read, what leaps most off the pages of this novel is the powerful reminder that when you truly love someone, you don’t let them go, you fight for them, no matter the differences that stand in your way.

I personally really enjoyed this story—it felt like more than just a romance; it felt real. There were scenes where I saw pieces of myself in the characters, in their doubts, their joy, and the quiet moments where everything shifts. That relatability made it hit even harder, and I found myself rooting for them every step of the way, and so can you!

JGV wrote an adult romance and they did not hold back the spice yallllll🌶️🌶️🥵

Gabriel Piña is the starting goalkeeper for his college soccer team as a freshman and he is that 👏 guy 👏

He has goals of becoming a professional soccer player and nothing will stand in between him and that.

When he meets Vale in his philosophy class, Gabi can’t get him out of his mind. But Gabi, who dreams of being a Mexican soccer player can’t be queer.

I really loved Gabi and his journey to figure out who he really his and how to be proud of that.

I LOVED all the soccer in this book. It’s one of my favorite sports to watch and this book gave me my fix.

It got a little long in the middle and if you’ve read JGV’s YA before, be prepared for the a level of spice, for real 😂

All in all, I will continue to read anything by Jonny Garza Villa, they never fail to make me smile.

Thanks to #netgalley, the publisher and author for this e-arc. This book is out TODAY

This book was a very fun and well-written bi-awakening story! I love how it takes time to show so much of the joy that comes from exploring a newly discovered part of oneself, even amidst all the questioning and the conflicts from the outside.

Gabi was such an endearing character, I really loved following him and his group of friends as they navigate the newfound freedom of being in college, on your own for the first time.

Gabi's take on that experience was a bit different from what we usually see because he begins with this assuredness in who he is and what his future looks like, college is merely another step to get there in his eyes. I loved how interlaced with his philosophy class his bi-awakening was, not just because of Vale's presence but also the material itself. Throughout the story there's this theme of breaking through one's chains — in Gabi's case that is breaking free from people's expectations, machismo and his own fears — that I found so meaningful and it definitely struck a chord in me.

The other characters were also great. I love the way that each of them stepped in to support Gabi in their own ways. The only thing I found myself wishing for is more character building when it came to them, or at least Vale. But, to be honest, this is something I will overlook here because it's the story of Gabi's bi-awakening so it makes sense for him to be the center and sole focus. Overall, I think the writing wasn't exactly to my taste but that's only subjective.

This was the book that made me realize that I actually really love sports in books. I was fully immersed in every single match, the tension was very well captured. Also loved how this portrayed the homoeroticism of sports and thanks Kat for fully acknowledging it!

I will say that, on many fronts, this book wasn't quite made for me because the main character's experiences of life and queerness are very different from mine so there is only so much I can speak on. But I think this book will mean a lot for people who relate more personally to Gabi so I highly recommend it if that's you. I would also recommend this for anyone looking for something that hits a nice balance between seriousness and pure fun!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC

Jonny Garza Villa is on my must-buy list. Their thoughtful, emotional, complex characters at the heart of the book made me laugh and cry. I loved Gabi's supportive family and goofy teammates, and the easy, comfortable friends to loves relationship between Gabi and Vale. The Futbolista made me cheer for a fictional sports team and root for the happy ever after.

Futbolista is a heartfelt, witty, and romantic story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Jonny Garza Villa’s writing is, as always, excellent. The jokes are fresh and hilarious and the characters feel genuine and full of life.

Futbolista follows college freshman Gabriel “Gabi” Piña during his first semester on the football (soccer) team. He has a clear vision of who he is and what he wants - until he has a chance meeting with Vale at a party which grows into a friendship that has Gabi challenging everything he thought he knew.

This is truly Gabi’s story and his heart shines throughout the book. Every high and low, every worry and triumph is visceral and I loved being inside his head. Gabi’s adjustment to college life, his bi-awakening, and his journey of self-discovery are relatable and felt profound to me as someone who has shared those same experiences.

Overall, Futbolista is another excellent work by the author and I would recommend it to anyone interested in college-set coming-of-age stories, queer joy, and sports romance. It’s a delight from start to finish!

This heartwarming romance follows Gabi, a talented soccer player, as he navigates his first semester of college, balancing the pressures of a promising athletic career while also exploring his identity. It starts a bit slow and leans heavily into sports, which aren’t usually my thing, but Gabi’s charm and vulnerability hooked me until I just couldn’t put the book down. I think the way it captures the freshman college experience is remarkably authentic, and I was moved by the tender and honest portrayal of a young man figuring out his sexuality and the social complexities that come with it. This is the second book I’ve read by Jonny Garza Villa, and I think it’s safe to say they’ve earned a spot on my auto-buy list.