Futbolista

Futbolista is about Gabriel Piña, an incoming freshman football (soccer) goalkeeper. His first semester at college is filled with a lot of football and self-discovery. It’s a great romance, along with being a hopeful and inspiring story about discovering who you are and navigating that journey in traditionally conservative areas.The characters in this are all amazing. Gabriel is surrounded by so many well-written friends, teammates, and family members, and those relationships are just as important to the story as the romance. His relationship with his roommates and closest friends adds a lot of humor and heart to the story. I adored their dynamic!The romance is swoon-worthy! Gabi and Vale meet at their very first college party when Vale is dared by friends to kiss someone, and Gabriel happens to be nearby. At first, Gabriel is interested in a girl he’s recently met, Leana. He soon learns that Leana and Vale are best friends and that Vale is in his Philosophy class. Vale and Gabi start hanging out more, and Vale, a Philosophy major, starts helping tutor Gabi. The two grow closer and closer, and Gabi starts considering how being openly bisexual could affect his dreams of being a football star.Gabi’s bisexual awakening unfolds perfectly. The author ties it into the Philosophy class he’s taking, which I found so creative and effective. This is a very character-driven story with a lot of introspection and heartfelt conversations. If you’re someone who likes it when books really delve into the heads and hearts of the main character, this book does that especially well.This is easily one of my favorite new queer romances of the year and is guaranteed to be near the top of my list of favorite books of the year. This is a must-read queer romance, in my opinion, especially if you want to read a truly thoughtful bisexual awakening. This is laugh-out-loud funny at times, but it also made me genuinely feel all the emotions Gabriel was going through. Gabi, Vale, and all their friends are going to stay with me for a while. I adore them all so much!

Great read

Oh my goodness, what a fantastic book! FUTBOLISTA is easily my new favorite JGV.Futbolista has all the exhilarating emotional build-up and catharsis I expect from a sports romance and also rings so true to the kind of big self-discoveries that are so common in the first year of college, living independently for the first time and being forced to consider new perspectives and information. Gabi—romantic, earnest Gabi—is such a great protagonist, and I love love loved the wholesome masculinity of his character in this setting. Gabi cries; he's comfortable and confident expressing his emotions; and his comfort with physical closeness and affection with Vale, even before he realizes he's crushing hard, is satisfying. The single POV works really well here, with the strong coming-into-self focus of the story.I was also really pleased with how JGV wrote the almost-romantic arc with Leana. Gabi is still pursuing Leana a full 30% into the story, and I was admittedly skeptical of this, worried that the development of Gabi's relationship with Vale would suffer for it. But I am happy to have been so wrong! JGV writes a convincing, satisfying arc for Gabi and Vale, without ever dismissing or devaluing Gabi's earlier feelings for Leana. This last point, that the queer-presenting relationship is not written as more worthy than the straight-presenting one (that never came to fruition), is so important for a bi-awakening book, and I commend JGV for that.I love when queer sports romances tackle the near-compulsory heterosexuality and performative masculinity ("give your team jacket to a girl to wear") of sports, especially male sports, and that JGV gives us this exploration in combination with that of homophobia in Mexican fútbol fans and at the college, rather than professional, level is both unique and satisfying. JGV has this special affinity and talent for writing super specific Tejane Mexican-American communities, and, as a native Texan myself, I love getting this kind of insight into my home state. Truly, where else are you going to read about the Texas A&M-Corpus Christie fútbol team?For those who are interested: this book is horny and open door, but not particularly explicit in its descriptions of what you can see through that door.Major, MAJOR thanks to Levine Querido and Netgalley for the advance copy of this title!

-🇲🇽Mexican Romance-Achilean (bi x gay)-New Adult (18yr college students)🗣️DO THE AUDIOBOOK!!! 🥹🥲I love the queer Mexican representation SO FREAKING MUCH! I was cheesing and giddy for this couple the whole time! A little messy as Gaby was figuring out his sexuality and coming to terms with it. Vale was such an amazing character! I loved his personality and he was so patient 😭 the cutest!! I loved their banter & flirty-ness with each other! As well as with the new friend group 🥺😩 I loved Gaby’s HS friends but these felt just as amazing! I loved the transition from the old to the new group! They’re jokes were hilarious and it really just feels so homey reading all the Spanish y la carrilla throughout the book!

Ugh, Jonny Garza Villa can do no wrong. As always: hilarious, real, queer, romantic, the best--with a dash of heart-aching philosophy. Couldn't put it down.