Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights in this seamless engrossing (Publishers Weekly)
coming-of-age story about a teen hometown hero who must find out who he is outside of
basketball when his coming out as gay costs him his popularity and place on the team. In his
small Georgia town Barclay Elliot is basically a legend. Here basketball is all that matters
and no one has a bigger spotlight than Barclay. Until he decides to use the biggest pep rally
in the town's history to come out to his school. And things change. Quickly. Barclay is faced
with hostility he never expected. Suddenly he is at odds with his own team and he doesn't even
have his grandfather to turn to the way he used to. But who is Barclay if he doesn't have
basketball? His best friend Amy thinks she knows. She drags him to her voting rights group
believing Barclay can find a bigger purpose. And he does but he also finds Christopher.
Aggravating fearless undeniably handsome Christopher. He and Barclay have never been each
other's biggest fans but as Barclay starts to explore parts of himself he's been hiding away
they find they might have much more in common than they originally thought. As sparks turn into
something more though Barclay has to decide if he's ready to confront the privilege and
popularity that have shielded him his entire life. Can he take a real shot at the love he was
fighting for in the first place?
