Jonny Garza Villa: Futbolista

Join award-winning author of contemporary young adult and new adult novels, Jonny Garza Villa, for a night discussing their adult debut romance novel! Jonny will be joined in conversation with National Book Award finalist author, Sonora Reyes.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A classmates-to-friends-to-lovers romance that's equal parts raunchy, heartfelt, queer, and Mexican-American, centered on college football (the REAL football)!

Gabriel Piña knows who he is: a college goalkeeper, a future Liga MX or MLS star, and definitely straight. He’s starting his freshman year with a lot of eyes on him and even more potential, but he’s got this. Nothing will have him straying off the path to greatness.

That is, until his philosophy classmate Vale volunteers to tutor him. Vale, the same guy who Gabi, in a moment of history repeating itself, might’ve kissed very briefly—and only once—just to help him out at a party. Vale, the smart, supportive, compassionate new friend with beautiful brown eyes and a smile that keeps Gabi, for completely inexplicable reasons, constantly in a daydream.

As a friendship blooms and the two spend more and more time together, Gabi finally begins to recognize something about himself: maybe he’s not as straight as he thought he was. But a larger and darker realization lingers. Someone like Gabi—a brown, Mexican futbolista with dreams of playing for El Tri—can’t also be bisexual. He’s seen the way his teammates and community react to queerness in their sport. It would be the exact type of straying off path that destroys his future.

Or, maybe Gabi could be brave enough to embrace all those parts of himself and forge his own path, one that includes a boyfriend and the beautiful game.

A sports romance for those who keep rewatching Bend It Like Beckham and rereading Red, White & Royal Blue and the incredible collection of queer soc—football romances out there, Futbolista follows the first semester of one guy's freshman year of college, navigating who he is, who he’s allowed to be, and who he wants to be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonny is an award-winning author of contemporary young adult and new adult novels inspired by their own Tejane & Chicane and queer identities including their debut novel Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, a Pura Belpré Honor Book, a Finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters' Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book, and a Kirkus Best YA Fiction of 2021 selection; Ander & Santi Were Here, a Stonewall Honor Book, an International Latino Book Award winner for Best Young Adult Fiction, a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club selection, a LatineLit Bestseller, a Finalist for the Texas Institute of Letters' Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book, an AudioFile Earphone Award Winner, and named a Best YA of 2023 selection by Bookshop.org and Audible; and Canto Contigo, the winner of the Stonewall Book Award for 2025, the winner of the Texas Institute of Letters' Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book for 2025, an AudioFile Earphone Award Winner, and named a Best Book for Teens by the New York Public Library and the Los Angeles Public Library

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