Review: Running With Lions

Running With Lions by Julian Winters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh, Harry, I do apologize for not realizing I'd pulled one of your faves off the shelves at work. But I hope I've made up for it by reading it - and enjoying it! Julian Winters' debut is a sweet - and often sweetly grossly boyish - lighthearted YA sports romance, extra-fun for me as an #ownvoices bi reader who relates all too well to Sebastian for a lot of reasons. Not only because he and I are both bi boys, but also because the whole "Bastian the Trashcan" thing, his self-consciousness about his weight and especially his stomach not being nearly as toned as any other part of him? Yeah, I got that too, and I very much appreciate Winters for doing like Cale Dietrich and using his queer-themed YA debut to skewer unreasonable male beauty standards.


Though the book is overall a little unfocused in terms of plot - typical for a contemporary, though, in my experience as a predominantly SFF fictionist - I'm very glad that Winters brings a metric ton of diversity to the table, with the Lions being a very inclusive-by-design kind of team. Even Emir, as a major-league outsider - I found him relatable for less happy reasons - gets a place on the team, especially when Sebastian totally falls head-over-heels for him and becomes his biggest champion. As much as my own romantic life is at an all-time high of cynicism, it's a better kind of emotional to see Sebastian and Emir progress as organically - roadblocks and all - as they deserve.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the whole book was, again, just how grossly boyish a lot of the cast of characters were. A lot like myself and my buddy Koda in a few ways, plus some of Koda's gaming buddies too. A sort of camaraderie I've found pretty lacking in my own life, in a lot of ways. Well, maybe when I move to Oregon.

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