The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by Page Powers, 352 pages. Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House), 2023. $19.Language: R (47 swears, 5 “f”); Mature Content: PG (one heated kiss that doesn’t go anywhere, and one instance of underage drinking spiked...
Language: R (47 swears, 5 “f”); Mature Content: PG (one heated kiss that doesn’t go anywhere, and one instance of underage drinking spiked lemonade); Violence: PG (references to microaggressions around the protagonist’s transition, but no outright bullying or abuse);
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Noah is a 16 year old, trans white man from a middle class background, that is trying to start over fresh at a wealthy new school in Ann Arbor, MI. He desperately wants to be seen as "real" enough. To do so, he wants to join a team or club that screams masculinity. So he tries out to join the Football and Lamborghini After-School Club, despite the attempts to dissuade him from the standoff-ish, über wealthy, but lonely, club president Asher. The Football/Lamborghini club is actually a front for the Borrow a Boyfriend club, the hottest secret group at school, where "borrowers" can request a "date" from one of the desirable club members. The club is struggling though, so Noah makes a deal to help them win the talent show, in order to finally be accepted in the club and be seen as a real man to his classmates, his parents, and most importantly, himself.
One of the cover quotes says this was "a joyous story of trans happiness that the world desperately needs" and that was what drew me in. The plot was silly as any romcom movie, but I really liked watching Noah and Asher grow closer together. I liked seeing Noah's self-identity as a man and the found family nature of the club develop more fully over the course of the novel. There were some issues with the plot trying to do too much, as it was a debut novel, but I enjoyed the characters and the emotional growth of the novel enough to overlook it. A hit with your contemporary fiction/romcom readers, and extra points for the great LGBTQIA representation.
Reviewer: Kiera Beddes, #bookswithbeddes