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Review: Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald

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Time Out by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner cover shows two boys, one in a basketball uniform and the other in long pants and a jacket sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers together. Items are scattered around them on the floor of the gym and on the bleachers.

Time Out
Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald
Simon & Schuster
Published May 30, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Time Out

Heartstopper meets Friday Night Lights in this keenly felt coming-of-age story about a teen hometown hero who must find out who he is outside of basketball when his coming out as gay costs him his popularity and place on the team.

In his small Georgia town, Barclay Elliot is basically a legend. Here basketball is all that matters, and no one has a bigger spotlight than Barclay. Until he decides to use the biggest pep rally in the town’s history to come out to his school. And things change. Quickly.

Barclay is faced with hostility he never expected. Suddenly he is at odds with his own team, and he doesn’t even have his grandfather to turn to the way he used to. But who is Barclay if he doesn’t have basketball?

His best friend, Amy, thinks she knows. She drags him to her voting rights group, believing Barclay can find a bigger purpose. And he does, but he also finds Christopher. Aggravating, fearless, undeniably handsome Christopher. He and Barclay have never been each other’s biggest fans, but as Barclay starts to explore parts of himself he’s been hiding away, they find they might have much more in common than they originally thought.

As sparks turn into something more, though, Barclay has to decide if he’s ready to confront the privilege and popularity that have shielded him his entire life. Can he take a real shot at the love he was fighting for in the first place?

My Review

This is the kind of story that takes a minute to digest. From the cover copy, I knew that Barclay was going to come out at a very public pep rally and that it was going to go badly. And so, in the scenes leading up to that moment, I couldn’t help wanting to shield him somehow from the hurt that was obviously coming. But I could also really see why he wanted to do this and why he felt like it would be okay and would be safe.

And then it wasn’t. This left him not only dealing with people’s reactions to his identity but also a lot of judgment about how he came out. He was called selfish, attention-seeking, all kinds of things, and those judgments blindsided him as much as the withdrawal of support, and the surge of homophobia among the people he thought would have his back.

I felt like that emotional arc– Barclay unpacking his own motives and learning when to stand up for himself and call people out versus calling people in and helping them see him better– was the strongest part of the story.

Another thing the story addressed really well is the way that, initially, Barclay felt like he had to choose between being out and playing basketball. As he explored his boundaries and what he wanted, he began to think about what place basketball would have in his life. I liked that exploration as well.

I also thought the story was well-balanced in terms of the characters. There are some big personalities on the page, from his best friend Amy to the possible love interest and even his grandfather, Scratch, who passed away before the story began. Yet the story really remains Barclay’s. I liked that, too.

All in all, I think TIME OUT would have slipped under my radar if the publisher hadn’t sent me a copy. I’m really glad I read it. Coming out and facing homophobia aren’t exactly new stories, but I think this version brings some necessary pieces to the conversation, and it’s a well-balanced novel packed with interesting characters. I think fans of Bill Konigsberg (author of OPENLY STRAIGHT and THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS) will enjoy this one.

Content Notes for Time Out

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Barclay and another character are gay. One of Barclay’s friends is Japanese American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between two boys. Vague/brief references to sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
After coming out, Barclay faces an onslaught of homophobic comments. The F-slur is insinuated multiple times but only printed once. Barclay charges at a boy after he continually makes homophobic comments and threats to him and about him online. A boy punches another boy. A car slams into the back of a boy’s bicycle, injuring him. For a moment, it’s unclear whether the driver intends to hurt the bicyclist further.

Drug Content
Barclay goes to a college party with his older brother and drinks a lot of beer before making a fool of himself. He briefly references taking a friend’s CBD gummies between classes when he’s feeling stressed out.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of TIME OUT in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Queer: the Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teenagers by Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke

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Queer: the Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teenagers (2nd Edition)
Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke
Zest Books
Published October 1, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Queer: the Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teenagers (2nd Edition)

Teen life is hard enough with all of the pressures kids face, but for teens who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), it’s even harder. When do you decide to come out? To whom? Will your friends accept you? And how on earth do you meet people to date?

Updated in 2018, Queer is a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBT teens come out to friends and family, navigate their new LGBT social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and rise up against bigotry and homophobia.

Queer also includes personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history. This updated and revised edition is a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer – or knows someone who is.

My Review

QUEER has a lot of personal stories from the authors about experiences they had that they learned from– either because they went well or badly. The authors are frank, funny, and warm. The overall message is that if you’re a person looking to better understand yourself, you’re not alone. Being comfortable in your own skin and learning to have healthy relationships part of a lifelong journey, and there are lots of great tips in the book on those things.

The book offers suggestions on topics like how to come out to your family, how to approach a crush and find out if they might be interested in you. I thought those tips in particular were great. The advice is practical and simple.

There were a couple of things that I wish QUEER had gone into more depth about. The great majority of the text refers to gay and lesbian issues– perhaps because those are the authors’ experiences? There are some moments where bisexual or transgender issues get a focus, but they don’t get the same focus or depth. Asexuality is mentioned only briefly as well, and again, I wish there had been more information about the spectrum of asexuality.

I would have especially liked to see tips and suggestions for how to come out to family members as nonbinary, asexual, or transgender. (There’s a mention of coming out as transgender in the chapter on coming out, but I wish there had been more, because it’s not the same as coming out as gay or lesbian.)

QUEER focuses on support and validation, so it’s a very permissive book. There’s no judgment toward non-monogamous relationships or one night stands. It leaves readers (and encourages them) to decide on moral values and relationship rules for themselves and with their partners.

One of the really great assets of this book is the resource section, which lists support websites for LGBT teens and sites that will help you connect to supportive groups and organizations in your area, including how to find religious organizations that are friendly to members of the LGBT community. I love that section and am anxious to explore more of those resources.

Overall, I think QUEER is warm and engaging, and a great resource particularly for lesbian and gay teens and support communities.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Written by and intended for members of the LGBT community.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief personal stories about romance (with hints at sex but not graphic descriptions). Some references to sexual acts.

Spiritual Content
The resources section lists ways to find religious groups that are friendly to the LGBT community.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of QUEER: THE ULTIMATE LGBTQ GUIDE FOR TEENAGERS (2nd Edition) in exchange for my honest review.