This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.
When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.
This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.
I’ve read many of David Levithan’s books over the years with varying degrees of success. The Lover’s Dictionary and You Know Me Well are two of my favorite books, while Every Day is… not. I’ve been reading one of his backlist books every few months, and the most recent is Boy Meets Boy.
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I think the first thing that I want to say about this book is that it’s cute. It’s almost a utopia in which people are just accepted as they are. That seems to be the main criticism of this book — that it’s too happy. But so many books about gay teens are heartbreaking, and we get a ton of fluffy, happy heterosexual romances. There’s nothing wrong with an overtly happy book about a gay kid. In fact, I think it’s something that should happen way more often than it does.
But despite the generally happy tone, this book does tackle some more serious issues. There are multiple characters who struggle with their sexuality, and there are a few characters (definitely in the minority) who don’t accept our main characters. (There’s also a minor cheating storyline that kind of came out of nowhere and that I didn’t care for.)
Overall, though, this book was really, really good. If you’re looking for a cute book about an LGBTQ utopia, you’ll probably enjoy this one.
Have you read Boy Meets Boy? Is it on your TBR?
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The Bibliophagist 