Sidelined

by Kara Bietz

Overview

An emotional YA romance about small town secrets, high school football, and broken hearts.

Julian Jackson has a short to-do list for his senior year at Crenshaw County High School in Meridien, Texas: football, football, and more football. He knows he's only got one chance to earn a college scholarship and make it out of his small town, and keeping his head down, his grades up, and his cleats on the field is that one chance. And then Elijah Vance walks back into his life, throwing all of his carefully-laid plans into a tailspin.

Elijah and Julian used to be best friends, maybe even on their way to something more than just friends. But three years ago, Elijah broke into the school to steal money from the coach's office, and Julian was the one who turned him in. After that, Elijah and his family disappeared without a trace. And now he's back, sitting at Julian's grandmother's kitchen table. But time and distance haven't erased all of their feelings, and Elijah knows that he finally has a chance to prove to Julian that he's not the same person he was three years ago. But with secrets still growing between them and an uncertain future barreling towards them, it may be harder to lean on each other than they thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759557512
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	424,541
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kara Bietz was born and raised in New England but now resides in north Georgia with her family. Sidelined is her second novel. She invites you to visit her online at karabietzauthor.com or on Twitter and Instagram @karamb75.

Editorial Reviews

08/01/2021

Gr 9 Up—Julian, a high school senior in Meridien, Texas, has been growing into his role as captain of the football team, and thinks planning the annual prank against the school's rival will be the hardest part of his senior year. But things get complicated when his former friend and fellow football player, Elijah, shows up at his house and Julian's grandmother informs him that Elijah will be staying with them until his family moves back to town in a few weeks. Julian is full of questions about a kiss he and Elijah shared three years ago and wonders why Elijah left Meridien afterward without saying goodbye. Chapters alternate between the two characters' perspectives, exploring small-town secrets, high school traditions, and the pressure of living up to other people's expectations. Julian and Elijah are cued as white. Julian's best friend, Camille, has "curly hair" and is Latinx. While the book creates a vivid picture of football culture in a small town, the narration lacks believability, with teen characters using expressions like "good gravy," "purloined," and "tighter than a tick." VERDICT It is exciting to see more books featuring queer love stories, especially ones that take place in Texas, but an uneven execution and the availability of exceptional LGBTQIA+ options make this a secondary purchase.—Emily Yates, Green Hope H.S., Cary, NC

School Library Journal

2021-07-27
Two star football players—estranged childhood friends with a complicated past—set, hut, hike their way into their last year of high school with a high-stakes homecoming game in sight down the yard line.

All eyes in football-obsessed Meridien, Texas, are watching quarterback Julian Jackson and his long-lost teammate Elijah Vance, a once-promising defensive player. Until three years ago the two were inseparable, but then Elijah and his family moved away without explanation or saying goodbye. Now that he’s returned, unresolved feelings are stirred up between them as the biggest game of the season against their archrival approaches. This sports romance includes all the pageantry of small-town Texas with none of the homophobia. When it comes to their sexuality, both main characters experience nothing but love and support from their community, including their local pastor and his husband. Instead, the tension focuses on their families’ intertwined histories, perceptions of teen pregnancy, and the pressure of upholding the tradition of a local prank war with the rival football team. Contextual cues describing secondary and background characters indicate some ethnic diversity, but gender representation remains binary. Written in first-person, the chapters alternate between the perspectives of Elijah and Julian, both of whom are presumed White. Will-they, won’t-they suspense accelerates the story’s momentum, but the rushed pace of the resolution will leave readers yearning for a few more chapters.

An engrossing drama with an abrupt conclusion. (Fiction. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews

"This sports romance includes all the pageantry of small-town Texas with none of the homophobia. When it comes to their sexuality, both main characters experience nothing but love and support from their community, including their local pastor and his husband.... Engrossing."—Kirkus Reviews

"A vivid picture of football culture in a small town.... It is exciting to see more books featuring queer love stories, especially ones that take place in Texas."—SLJ

"Bietz has done a good job of plotting and developing characters within a Texas-football framework, making this a nice option for readers looking for sports stories with depth or LGBTQ+ themes."—Booklist

From the Publisher