Always the Almost

A trans teen pianist grapples with coming out, competition, and romance in Underhill’s exuberant debut. Sixteen-year-old Miles Jacobson has two goals: beat rival pianist Cameron Hart in the Tri-State Piano Competition, and persuade his football player ex-boyfriend, Shane McIntyre, that he’s still the same person he was before he came out as trans. Despite his enthusiasm regarding his plans, however, he struggles with his brusque piano teacher’s insistence that his playing needs to have a personal meaning if he wants to beat Cameron. His desire to win Shane back is also complicated by growing feelings for Latinx artist Eric Mendez, a newcomer to Miles’s small Wisconsin town who is immediately supportive of Miles’s queer identity. A breakthrough with his concert piece leads to a successful preliminary competition round, but when Miles makes a relationship mistake that jeopardizes his budding courtship with Eric, he struggles to navigate myriad tertiary conflicts while trying to repair the romance. A beginning note promising a book “full of joy” lives up to that assurance; building nuanced characters with relatable problems, high emotional stakes, and earnest first love, Underhill delivers a delightful triumph. Most characters read as white. Ages 12–up. Agent: Patricia Nelson, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Feb.)