Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd
$9.99 / E-BOOK
Availability: Out of Stock
Description
An enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract lesbian romance about daring to take a risk, even if it burns you.
Mattie Belman’s life has gone from dismal to desperate. After the loss of her acting career, her marriage, and her usual optimism, she’s back home teaching high school theater. Maybe it’ll be a fresh start.
St. Rita’s arrogant soccer coach Jillian Reed sees Mattie’s musical as an outrageous distraction for her champion players. When Jillian declares war, Mattie is far too stubborn to back down.
But as Mattie discovers there might be more to Jillian than spectacle, fire, and ego, she gets dangerously close to her iron-willed colleague. Can she avoid temptation? Or will the growing flame in Jillian’s dark eyes ignite them both?
Additional information
| Publication Date | July 2024 |
|---|---|
| Formats | epub (for Kindle Reader/Kindle Apps, for iBooks, Nook etc.), mobi, and pdf |
| Length | 97,000 words |
| Language | English |
| ISBNs | 978-3-96324-924-2 (e-book), 978-3-96324-925-9 (pdf) |
| Publisher | Ylva Publishing |
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Nia – :
I had absolutely no idea of what to expect with this book.
I knew it was a debut and I have to say it blew me away!
For a debut novel, this is world class!
I look forward to everything else to come from Carrie Byrd!
It’s an enemies to lovers, opposites attract and a “kind of ice queen” romance.
It’s been discussed in other reviews, but “Jillian Reed” was a challange for me!
I never thought I could hate a main character so much until halfway through a book and then respect her immensely by the end of it!
She is arrogant, confident, self-absorbed, seemingly made of Teflon and extremely serious and cynical.
That’s what she shows everyone, including Mattie, her new colleague.
But then there is a depth to her, i din’t recognize for a long time.
Neither does Mattie. Jillian is very dedicated to her job as a coach and is full of hidden feelings and insecurities.
Mattie, on the other hand, is an absolute sweetheart from the first second and only sees in her what Jillian wants her to see.
A tyrant, that’ll make her already sad life, a living hell!
The twists and turns in this book completely surprised me! That’s what makes this book so brilliant!
Plus, it’s extremely hot, funny, and full of cute and sometimes very annoying characters.
I can’t and don’t want to say anything more about it. Don’t want ot spoil anything!
You have to read it!
avery.friend – :
From a distance there are a lot of reasons that Loser of the Year shouldn’t have worked, particularly as a debut. It feels a bit like someone who’d never touched a needle and thread jumped straight to attempting an elaborate, wildly-technical tapestry that would be difficult for even the most experienced artists to pull off—and then succeeded beyond measure, making it look effortless to boot. While unquestionably a romance first and foremost, LotY weaves a narrative that deftly, thoughtfully, and lovingly grapples with the complicated intersections of queerness, religion, family dynamics, and the choices that are made—or taken away—in settings that don’t allow for a person to exist fully-integrated at those points of intersection.
Our POV character is Mattie, a Jewish lesbian returning to her hometown to teach theater at a Catholic school post-divorce and lack of career success. She immediately finds herself irritated yet intrigued by Jillian, the bombastic and demanding soccer coach whose winning streak allows for arrogance. Their immediate chemistry is unmistakable but dangerous due to the morality clause in their respective contracts (yes, this is a thing!) which, in short, makes queerness a fireable offense. This forces them to communicate through a language that so many queer people have had to learn: subtle cues, hidden meanings, and careful, layered gestures that fan the flames in a deliciously old-fashioned slow-burn. Rooted firmly in Mattie’s POV, we’re also left trying to get into Jillian’s head as the tension between them builds and finally bursts in an emotional, revelatory, and immeasurably hot masterpiece of a scene. One of Carrie’s strengths is in capturing physicality and using figurative language to bring familiar concepts into sharp, surprising relief, with prose such as “the woman who’d decided to bite into Mattie’s thin life and take the best strip of it for herself” and “comprehension felt like a lick between her legs”. Needless to say, the sex scenes are 🔥🔥🔥!
As someone who really loves the unraveling of repressed characters, I reveled in the slow unfolding of Jillian Reed. The brash, almost satirical persona from the beginning gives way to a woman who cares SO deeply and is doing all that she can to make herself small enough to fit into a life that’s not quite hers, using her larger-than-life persona as cover. Other characters, ranging from the ghastly school principal to Mattie’s parents, serve both to round out Mattie and particularly Jillian as characters but also capture a range of behaviors, perspectives, and personalities that many queer people are familiar with—the pleasantly useless “ally”, the loved ones who don’t quite get it but are trying, and (to quote Taylor Swift), the people who “try and save you because they hate you”.
Beyond the primary romantic arc, one of my favorite things about this book is that it reads as a love letter to students. Mattie and Jillian’s students aren’t just there for the plot—they’re essential to the story. I adored characters like Izzy (a queer student with a sweet growth arc) and Emily (the most delightful theater kid representation I could imagine); most of the moments that made me laugh out loud involved them and their peers. The reciprocity of relationships between students and teachers is something dear to my heart, and celebrated in spades in LotY.
I’ve gone on longer than Jillian at a press conference. In short: please give yourself the gift of this book. In her debut, Carrie Byrd has written a love story that runs not parallel to, but is intertwined with, Mattie and Jillian’s own journeys of growth, healing, and acceptance. To root for Mattie and Jillian’s love is to root for them to individually thrive as whole, unfractured beings, and (spoilers!)—there are no losers on that front.
Nicole Morris-Clark – :
Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd was a fantastic account of the complex process one must face to fully embrace oneself in opposition to oppressive religious upbringing, small-town/small-mind atmosphere, and private school-encoded discrimination (read: morality clause). Mattie was a recently divorced agnostic Jew with a failing acting career in NY who headed home to lick her wounds. She accepts a temporary position as a theater teacher at a private catholic girls’ school. There, she met the closeted, arrogant soccer coach everyone seemed to bend to. An immediate attraction began, and a conflict erupted over how the students spent their spare time: preparing for a theater production or extra soccer practice. Jillian turned out to be much more than she appeared.
This story had layers, twists, passion, and heart. Spicy times ensued and eventual love grew between the two as they navigated strict parameters and undeniable sexual tension.
It was a testament to the return on investment when risking everything you have carefully built for a chance at happiness. Maddie and Jillian also became mentors and examples for their students as they held space for the girls to accept and grow into their differences.
I absolutely recommend this book!
#oppositesattract #grumpy/sunshine #rivalstolovers #comingoutlaterinlife #religiousoppression #jewishauthor #jewishmain #catholicmain #privateschool #soccer #teacher #actor #theaterproduction #divorcedmain #smalltown #cominghome #icequeen #pennsylvania #nostrings #out/closeted #HEA
PS This totally feels like it could be some kind of GLEE fanfic 🙂
I received this free ARC from NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.
Henriette – :
Fun and all the feels: an opposites attract lesbian romance
This debut author sets the stage like a seasoned professional: A stodgy, old-fashioned Catholic school in rural Pennsylvania with all the moral clauses and bigotry you can dream up and a liberal, lesbian theater teacher (Mattie). Said liberal and somewhat naive teacher who is supposed to perform a musical with her students meats the icy, arrogant coach of the star soccer team (Jillian) who is used to get ALL. THE. FREE. TIME of her players.
Add to this great set-up wonderful writing which captures the characters, their development, the voluntary and involuntary humor of many a situation, the heartwarming and the chilling combined with a great story arch and you don‘t want to put down this book.
I especially relished the finer points of humor when Jewish Mattie is confronted with her daily dose of Catholicism. And it is great to see the coming of age of students and teachers alike. Of course a melting (butch) ice queen doesn‘t exactly hurt!
Thanks to Lee Winter I picked up this book. No regrets. At all.
I received an ARC from Ylva Publishing via netgalley. The review is left voluntarily.