Blaine for the Win

Written by Robbie Couch

Narrated by Michael Crouch

After being dumped so his boyfriend can pursue more “serious” guys, a teen boy decides to prove he can be serious, too, by running for senior class president in this “clever, fun, original” (BCCB) romp from the author of The Sky Blues.

High school junior Blaine Bowers has it all—the perfect boyfriend, a pretty sweet gig as a muralist for local Windy City businesses, a loving family, and awesome, talented friends. And he is absolutely, 100% positive that aforementioned perfect boyfriend—senior student council president and Mr. Popular of Wicker West High School, Joey—is going to invite Blaine to spend spring break with his family in beautiful, sunny Cabo San Lucas.

Except Joey breaks up with him instead. In public. On their one-year anniversary.

Because, according to Joey, Blaine is too goofy, too flighty, too…unserious. And if Joey wants to go far in life, he needs to start dating more serious guys. Guys like Zach Chesterton.

Determined to prove that Blaine can be what Joey wants, Blaine decides to enter the running to become his successor (and beat out Joey’s new boyfriend, Zach) as senior student council president.

But is he willing to sacrifice everything he loves about himself to do it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797150192

Robbie Couch

Robbie Couch writes young adult fiction. If I See You Again Tomorrow, his New York Times bestselling third novel, has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Robbie’s debut, The Sky Blues, was a Barnes & Noble Young Adult Book of the Year finalist and Junior Library Guild selection. Robbie is originally from small-town Michigan and lives in Los Angeles. 

Reviews for Blaine for the Win

[Keighley Patrick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was so good. I enjoyed it a lot and I loved that it surprised me in parts.

[Linda · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a tough one for me. Robbie is a talented writer and the story was tight. Blaine's motives were clear throughout. But, for the most part, I didn't enjoy it. It's based around one of my least favorite tropes. And for most of the book, I didn't really like Blaine. But, again, the book was very well written. Loved The Sky Blues, btw.

[Thomas Kiel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book - enjoyed the story and wish all kids in high school could be who they are.

[Ninfa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything that Robbie Couch writes is amazing. This story is about Blaine, who is trying to prove to his ex-boyfriend that he can be a serious guy by trying to be senior student council president.
At the beginning, he has no idea what to do for his campaign, but alongside his best friend(s) he develops a campaign that is based on the students' opinions, so they propose an initiative to attend the student's mental health and wow, this was very impressive because I had never thought that mental health is something that can (and should) be adressed in schools.
We also have a very cute slow-burn which is amaaazing. I loved the character developments that Robbie gave us. The characters were never perfect, but omg, they could recognize the mistakes and grow from that, which is something that I love to see.
This is a five out of five stars to me because the author did a veery good job. Go LGBTQ+ stories :) !