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Julia

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Julia is Currently Reading

Julia is currently reading

This Could Be Us (Skyland, #2)

by Kennedy Ryan (Goodreads Author)

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(page 84 of 416)
"KENNEDY RYAN YOU ARE SO GOOD !!!!!" — Feb 15, 2026 02:45PM

Feb 15, 2026 09:01AM

Julia is currently reading

The Prospects

by K.T. Hoffman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: all-time-favorites, queer-rep, romance, trans-rep, sports-romance, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in February 2024

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Julia said: " I will now attempt to express my profuse and all-consuming feelings for this novel in a single review.

Firstly, thank you to publisher for the opportunity to read a print ARC. I owe you my life.

The Prospects follows Gene Ionescu, the first openly tran I will now attempt to express my profuse and all-consuming feelings for this novel in a single review.

Firstly, thank you to publisher for the opportunity to read a print ARC. I owe you my life.

The Prospects follows Gene Ionescu, the first openly trans professional baseball player, as he plays his second season with the triple-A minor league Beaverton Beavers. When an old friend and rival from college, Luis Estrada, gets traded to the team, Gene must navigate his complicated feelings for the man as well as the regular challenges of the season.

The world Hoffman creates in Beaverton is vivid and full of life, each teammate, coach, and friend easily distinguishable and memorable. The prose and narrative voice are alight with effortless humor and heart, causing the reader to fall in love with Gene right alongside Luis and the rest of their found family.

The tension of the professional sporting world and the challenges Gene faces as a queer trans man in the space are perfectly balanced with the effusive love and care that permeates the text, the characters, and the themes of the novel. At its core, The Prospects is a story of hope and luck and chance all coming together in way the only happens in the fantastical world of romance. I've never read a book so thoroughly dedicated to trans hope and queer joy. It's unflinching in its optimism and unrelenting in its authenticity.

Still, every failure and heartache is acutely felt as each main character comes to grips with the inherent transitory nature of professional baseball. Each win and loss - the epic highs and lows, if you will - of the minor league season affects the reader just as much as the characters, giving the story an emotional poignancy often found in sports romance. And a sports romance this is - Hoffman has such love and care for the sport of baseball, drawing on a deep well of knowledge and expertise to create a dynamic set piece for the story that is almost a character itself.

The relationship between Gene and Luis is effortlessly crafted and executed. The "rival-to-lovers" trope is truly a veneer for the heart-aching and complex feelings the men have for each other, their sport, and their families. The desperate, gleeful, unfiltered emotions the characters experience jump off the page and create a heartfelt and magical romance so rarely thoroughly achieved in the genre.

I cannot believe this book is Hoffman's debut. It's simply stunning and utterly dazzling. I knew I was going to love it the moment I saw the cover, but it truly went above and beyond all of my expectations. This is the queer-trans romance not only of my dreams, but also of the future of the genre. For me, it's an easy all-time favorite, and I hope a thousand other books like it follow. ...more "

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(page 100 of 366)
— Feb 17, 2026 08:24PM

Feb 27, 2024 08:35AM · see review