Publishers Weekly
12/12/2022
His girlfriend dumping him is the final straw for Black Mexican track star Sebastian Villeda—Bash the Flash—who’s grieving the death of his mother while navigating tense relationships with his absent father and emotionally distant stepfather. He isolates himself from his friends and sets his sights on getting into Rutgers, the college his mother dreamed he’d one day attend. Hoping to end his self-imposed isolation, he begrudgingly shows up at a house party that’s quickly busted. There, he meets shot-putter classmate Sandro Miceli, who is Italian American and who recently broke his foot after falling off his roof while attempting to find some peace in his bustling household. After the boys share a drunken kiss, Bash, who never thought he was queer, looks for opportunities to hang out with Sandro. Their burgeoning romance hits a rough patch when Bash accidentally reveals one of Sandro’s secrets to his parents while attending dinner at their house. The duo’s alternating perspectives are depicted via realistically crass teen narratives that showcase complexly rendered characters and fraught encounters; Sandro’s erratic temper and Bash’s dawning self-awareness regarding his sexuality present refreshingly credible images of the messy lives and desires of contemporary teens. Ages 14–up. Agent: Carlisle Webber, Fuse Literary. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
"James Acker's The Long Run introduces us to two funny, unique, passionate narrators, and also to a boldly authentic new voice in queer fiction. Written with equal doses of heart and ferocity, this is a fabulous debut. Bash and Sandro will run away with your heart." —Abdi Nazemian, author of Stonewall Honor book Like a Love Story and The Chandler Legacies
"Raw, real, electric, and unputdownable, The Long Run goes the distance! Acker boldly breaks all the rules with his poignant, passionate prose. I never wanted to leave Sandro and Bash, who show us that love—and sex—is not a sprint to the finish, but an investment in the long run." —Steven Salvatore, critically acclaimed author of And They Lived…
"Sandro and Bash are not your typical YA queer couple, so buckle up! They curse, they’re coarse, and they’re in love—maybe. Don’t ask them, it’s complicated. James Acker is a splashy new voice with an unforgettable romcom about tough guys with soft hearts." —Adam Sass, award-winning author of Surrender Your Sons and The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers
"The Long Run is a raw, emotional love story anchored in two journeys of self-discovery... A stunning novel." —Bookpage, starred review
"Refreshingly credible images of the messy lives and desires of contemporary teens." —Publishers Weekly
"A thoughtful coming-of-age story and tender romance with two memorable main characters that will wiggle their way into readers’ hearts and stay long past the final page." —BCCB
Stonewall Honor award–winning author Abdi Nazemian
A boldly authentic new voice in queer fiction.”
School Library Journal
★ 11/03/2023
Gr 10 Up—Sebastian Villeda, also known as "Bash the Flash," is a senior on the track team and is ready to run away from his problems just as fast as he executes his events. Sandro Micelli, a classmate and track teammate, has a caring heart and a complicated home life. Navigating all the uncertainties of senior year in their own self-knowing ways, Sebastian and Sandro form an unexpected bond that helps bring clarity to not only their futures but their own personal journeys. By writing it as a multi-perspective novel, Acker effortlessly allows readers to see the narratives of both protagonists develop through sprinkles of Spanish to highlight the differentiation of cultures, vivid imagery through descriptive writing, and candid dialogue both internally and externally. This YA LBTQIA+ novel is written with the honesty and transparency of not only teenage emotions, hardships, and romances, but to the evolving growth of two boys from different backgrounds being there for one another. VERDICT Highly recommended.—Marcos Vargas
FEBRUARY 2024 - AudioFile
With outstanding performances, Lee Osorio and Max Meyers illuminate the rich and complicated inner lives of New Jersey high schoolers Sebastian Villeda and Sandro Miceli. Listeners immediately understand that these two young men are much more than outward appearances and stereotypes. Meyers and Osorio make them both feel messy, endearing, and real. "Bash the Flash" is a track star whose outsized personality masks his struggles. Sandro feels ignored and belittled by his big, busy Italian family. He's closeted, but he plans to let himself be out when he goes to college. Bash and Sandro make an unexpected connection the summer before senior year that turns into a deeply meaningful, transformative relationship. This beautifully written and narrated Stonewall Honor novel is funny, painful, ribald, and fresh. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-11-29
A coming-of-age romance between two high school athletes in New Jersey.
Sebastian Villeda, known as Bash the Flash, and Sandro Miceli, called the Italian Yeti, know of each other from school; they move in different circles even if they’re both athletes. Black and Mexican Bash is a track captain, and Italian American Sandro is a field captain, but they couldn’t be more different—at least in the ways they’re perceived by most people. In fact, Bash has lost his mother, and since he started exploring the Spanish language, he has a word for how he feels: cansado, or tired, weary, and miserable. His White stepfather works nights, and the two don’t spend much time together. Sandro, on the other hand, has a large family, but amid the crowded, noisy chaos of eight family members sharing a single bathroom, his overworked parents don’t really talk to him. As the two seniors come together, they realize they have more in common than they’d thought, and an unlikely friendship starts turning into something more. Although the boys’ backgrounds and upbringings are fresh and intriguing, the chapters that alternate between their first-person perspectives are derailed by the stream-of-consciousness narration and characterization that lacks depth. Their explicitly described sexual explorations and awakenings notwithstanding, their relationship is lacking in genuine chemistry, making the slow prose drag.
Unsatisfying. (Fiction. 15-18)
