Synopsis:
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.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
Usually I love books with LGBTQ+ themes. The genre is one of my favorite things to read. I had heard a lot of hype surrounding Boy Meets Boy, so I decided to give it a chance. It was my first David Levithan book. Unfortunately, I did not like it at all. I ended up DNF'ing the ebook at about 15%. I also tried the audiobook, and made it one third of the way through before DNF'ING it.
There were so many reasons why I didn't like this book. First and foremost, all of the teenage drama was incredibly annoying. The main character drove me crazy with his insecurities. The one third of the book that I did read was mostly him gossiping about his friends to his other friends, and playing the "Does he like me, does he not like me, I'm not going to ask him, I'm just going to freak out about it" game. It got old real quick.
The last thing that really bugged me was that the book just wasn't realistic. It was almost like David Levithan had never been to a high school before. Maybe it's because I'm from the Midwest, but we definitely did not have cliques of drag queens walking around together when I was in high school. You were lucky if you knew one drag queen in school, but most of our schools didn't have them. We also didn't have a lot of openly LGBTQ+ kids that people treated respectfully, or everyone was nice too. Most of them were bullied and ridiculed instead of praised. Maybe that's changed in the almost ten years since I've graduated, but from having friends that have kids in school, I know it hasn't. I wish high schools were more open to the LGBTQ+ community, but around where I live they're not. Maybe that's different in other parts of the country. All of that kept taking me out of the story, and ruining my immersion. Seeing the main character face adversity, and not let it get to him would have helped with that.
I did not like Boy Meets Boy at all. I typically love LGBTQ+ books, but this one just wasn't for me. I will try reading more of David Levithan's books in the future because I do own most of them. It might be a little while before I try another one though. I'm a little intimidated because I didn't like this one, and it was my first book of his. I hope it's just a fluke, and that I love his other books.
I give Boy Meets Boy: 1/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.davidlevithan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/David-Levithan-139042149485971/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11664.David_Levithan
I received this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
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