Tay Marley’s rise from Wattpad standout to full-on multimedia phenomenon has been wild to watch. Back in 2017, she published her YA sports rom-com The QB Bad Boy and Me, a story that quickly found its people – 32 million reads on Wattpad and a print bestseller run later in 2019, it’s still one of the platform’s big success stories.
That book eventually made the jump to the screen as the Tubi original Sidelined: The QB and Me, which ended up smashing Tubi viewing records. And now? The universe is officially expanding.
The sequel film, Sidelined 2: Intercepted, premieres November 27 on Tubi, with Noah Beck and Siena Agudong returning as Drayton Lahey and Dallas Bryan. This time, the story follows the pair as they navigate long distance and the whole “college life versus real life” balancing act. If the first film was all about sparks and tension, this one looks like it’ll dig a bit deeper into what happens after the fairy-tale beginning.
But Tubi isn’t the only place the universe is growing. Wattpad is rolling out a brand-new novelization of Sidelined 2: Intercepted on December 2, written by Rachel Espy and inspired by Marley’s original characters. Readers can grab the first two chapters right now as an exclusive sneak peek on Wattpad, with the full novel also heading to bookstores in Canada and the US through Wattpad Books.
And if you want to fall even further down the rabbit hole, Wattpad currently has a whole slate of related stories available for free until January 2, 2026. That includes a prequel and multiple sequels that flesh out more of the relationships, backstories, and timelines offering fans plenty of opportunities to revisit beloved moments and explore new perspectives:
- The Summer of ‘98
- The QB Bad Boy and Me
- The QB Summer and Me
- The QB Bad Boy: Playing for Keeps
- Sidelined 2: Intercepted (free on Wattpad December 2)
Wattpad has been home base for plenty of writers who made the jump from posting chapters online to becoming major names – Anna Todd with After, Beth Reekles with The Kissing Booth, and Ariana Godoy with Through My Window, to name a few. Tay Marley is now part of that group, and the continued growth of the QB universe shows there’s still a strong audience for this kind of heartfelt, drama-filled YA storytelling.
With a new movie and a new novelization dropping days apart, it looks like the QB Bad Boy Universe isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Based near Toronto, Brandon is a news writer and Book Specialist for Book Notification who covers the world of books, maintains author pages, writes a variety of content, and is an avid reader of non-fiction and biographies.