Review: Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (review copy) - Naomi loves Ely and she's kinda in love wih him. Ely loves Naomi but he prefers to be in love with boys.

Naomi and Ely have been friends forever. Best freinds. Soul mates. And just to be sure, they've created NO KISS LIST - their list of people who are absolutely off-kissing-limits for both of them.

And this works fine - until Bruce.

Bruce is Naomi's boyfriend, so there's no reason to put him on the List. But then Ely kisses Bruce - and the resulting fallout is going to shake up the world! From the blurb

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LGBT Reading Challenge Discussion: LGBT YA Covers

This week I signed up to the LGBT Reading Challenge, hosted by Cayce of Fighting Dreamer. One of the cool things about this challenge is there are discussion topics each month, and March's discussion is on LGBT YA covers.

I don't pay any more particular attention to LGBTQ covers than I do for covers of other books. I don't necessarily need a cover of an LGBTQ book to shout out, "This is an LGBTQ book!" I don't think it's particularly necessary for the cover - or title, for that matter - to differentiate from other books by saying it's an LGBTQ novel (unless people are specifically looking for LGBTQ novels, in which case... I don't know.).

Of the LGBTQ novels I've read, here are my favourite covers - because they're all eye-catching! (Golden Boy is published as an adult book, but it's about a teenager, so I consider it cross over, and I'm including it.)

Coda by Emma Trevayne

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Review: Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin (review copy) - WARNING! Some might consider this review to have minor spoilers (though I don't really think so).

Max Walker: blue-eyed boy or girl next door?

To the outside world, Max Walker is a golden boy: a loving son and brother, the perfect student, captain of the football team and every girl's dream boyfriend.

But Max was born intersex - neither fully boy nor fully girl. Now something terrible has happened to him, the consequences of which have left him questioning his true identity.

Can the people around him - his girlfriend, his classmates, his ambitious parents - accept him for who he is? Or will Max's secret life tear his world apart? From Goodreads

**I reveal the terrible event in my summary below, and continue to discuss the consequences of it in my review, but as it happens very early on in the novel, and is really the start of the story, I don't think it's too spoilery. However, you may not wish to read my review if you don't want any aspect of the book spoilt for you.**

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Interview with Kathleen Winter

I am super excited to have Kathleen Winter stop by my blog today to answer some questions for LGBTQ YA Month about her novel Annabel, my review of which can be read here.

How did you come up with the idea for Annabel?

A friend told me the true story of an intersex child born in a remote place. I thought about it for a long time, trying to imagine what that must have involved, for the child growing up and for the family and the village. I experimented with these thoughts by writing a short story, which later became the novel.

Why did you decide to write about intersexuality? Was it important to you to write about this subject?

I have long been interested in secrets, in underground streams, and in rivers of truth that flow beneath and around the so-called agreed upon reality mirrored in popular culture. I experienced a lot of gender tension in my own youth, and have always been interested in what comprises maleness or femaleness in the collective and the individual mind. These strains came together in my exploration of Wayne/Annabel's life.

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Review: Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Annabel by Kathleen Winter - In 1968, in a remote part of Canada, a mysterious child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor girl, but both at once. Only three people share the secret - the baby's parents and a trusted neighbour. Together the adults make a difficult decision: to go through surgery and raise the child as a boy named Wayne.

But as Wayne grows up within the hyper-male hunting culture of his father, his shadow-self - a girl he thinks of as 'Annabel' - is never entirely extinguished, and indeed is secretly nurtured by the women in his life. As Wayne approaches adulthood, and its emotional and physical demands, the woman inside him begins to cry out. The changes that follow are momentous not just for him, but for the three adults that have guarded his secret. From Amazon UK

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Review: Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble

Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble (review copy) - Some people spend their whole lives looking for the right partner. Nate Schaper found his at high school. In the eight months since their cautious flirting became a real heart-pounding relationship, Nate and Adam have been inseparable. Even when local kids take their homophobia to brutal levels, Nate is undaunted. But when Adam graduates and takes an off-Broadway job in New York, that certainty begins to flicker. Don't Let Me Go captures the giddiness of first love, whilst also presenting a timely discourse about bullying, bigotry and hate that is rife in schools today. From Amazon UK

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