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Co-authored by one of my Write Club friends, this novel was heart-wrenching and compelling. Sometimes I forget how good my writing friends are at writing when I’m used to reading early drafts, lol!

This is the kind of novel I wish had existed when I was a teenager. It is raw and real and doesn’t pull punches. I felt a lot of kinship with Josh and Kiki. It definitely would have helped me feel less alone (and validated all my angst, lol). 

Reading as an adult, it was a bit depressing being brought back into the dark side of the high school mindset. But as with all good YA, the themes of self-discovery and self-improvement and self-love are applicable to every age. 

Josh’s depression is very real, but his constant self-flagellation got a little overwhelming at times. Kiki’s chapters balanced Josh out really well. Her perkiness and upbeat attitude make her pretty lovable even in her dark moments. I wish she had gotten one more chapter in the end to serve as an epilogue to her arc like Josh did.

One of my issues with contemporary novels is the high amount of drama packed into such a short time period. It felt a bit like Josh and Kiki were ticking off as many teen tropes as possible without the situations being as personal or unique as they could have been, and the conversations and personal insights they had sometimes came across as didactic from an adult mindset. But I think that’s kind of the point of a novel like this: show all the common real life crap that happens but give readers a healthy way to interpret it from the viewpoint of someone who’s made it through the worst of the darkness.

Overall, I think this novel does a great job of representing the real, raw, dark side of high school and has a fantastically written cast of diverse characters. This is a great novel to help anyone understand the trans experience better. All the LGBTQ+ elements read very honest and well-researched.

Be sure to have your comfort food/drink/place/pet/person on hand and curl up to read this novel!

!

Review of Victory Lap
Lisa Para on GoodReads

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This book read like a modernized, queer-friendly version of a John Hughes film, or a Nick Hornby book. The relationships in this are messy and imperfect, but in the way that relationships are messy and imperfect. With some extra grace for each other, in the end. WHICH, speaking of the end, turned out a lot more emotionally-healthy than I was expecting for a good portion of the book. This is not a book about love conquering all, this is a book about making mistakes and then picking yourself up—with help from friends. Maybe more help than you deserve, depending on the mistakes. I’m a leeetle biased because I know Kris, but only a little because he wrote this before we met.

Review of “Victory Lap”
Lisa on Goodreads

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I really loved this book! It hit all the good spots, and hit me in my big ol’ queer feels. I found myself genuinely laughing out loud multiple times throughout the story. I especially loved Kiki, her character was written in a way that felt like a real trans experience, it’s refreshing to read a book with a trans character that doesn’t feel super cliche. It’s really important to have YA books like this for youth, I wish I got to read this when I was an adolescent, would have helped me a lot.

Review of Victory Lap
Li Alexander on GoodReads

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An amazing and resilient story. I’ll treasure these characters and this story for years to come.

Review of “Victory Lap”
Hunter Robinson on GoodReads

I wanna thank all the people that helped make and made the book I’m a trans woman struggling to figure things out in her very early 20s and I wanna say this book helped me come to terms with alot of things thank you so much for making this book I hope it’s touched at least someone else’s heart like it’s touched mine 

Review of “Victory Lap”
cristytgirl on Itch