Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

From Goodreads,

"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."

Goodreads - Boy Meets Boy

Awards:

• Lambda Literary Award (2003)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)

Favorite quote from Boy Meets Boy,

"Her husband was with her, they got married two days after she got her diagnosis.  He vowed he would never leave her side, and he didn't.  I don't know how to describe it.  She could be retching or shaking or not really there, and he would kneel right beside her, look her right in the eye, and say, 'I'm here.'  And the way he said it -- 'I'm here.' -- was an 'I love you' and a 'Hang in there' and an 'I'll do anything, absolutely anything' -- all these intense feelings in this one calm phrase.  If he had to leave the room, he made sure she had this teddy bear propped up next to her -- they called him Quincy -- to take his place.  Toward the end, there were these few moments when she got all anxious a few minutes after he left the room, and he would come right back in, as if he knew exactly how she felt.  I came to the room early on Saturday and I saw him curled up in the hospital bed, singing Beatles songs to her and looking her in the eye.  I couldn't go inside.  I just stood in the doorway crying, because it was so sad and it was so beautiful."

This book falls in the LGBTQ genre.  The book follows Paul who is a high school student who is openly gay and has known this since kindergarten.  He has his group of friends and everything is perfect until the new boy Noah waltzes into his life.  Paul then has to juggle his friends and Noah, and ultimately figure out how to fix everything with everyone.

When I first started this book I had some mixed feelings.  I felt like the book was slightly chaotic with a large number of characters being introduced quickly.  I felt like I couldn't keep everyone straight and there was just an information overload.  I continued to read a chapter here and there over the course of two and a half weeks.  Finally I sat down and decided I needed to just power through the rest of the book.  Once I powered through it, the book got better.  I came across the quote above and I really fell in love with it.  I sent a picture of the quote (okay, paragraph) to my boyfriend.  I explained that I could see us and our relationship in that paragraph.  Throughout the book Paul was dealing with feelings for Noah while Kyle had feelings for Paul.  It turned into a hot mess and ultimately led to Kyle saying the quote above.  It honestly moved me.  That is the picture of what love is supposed to be.  I feel like in today's society we get so caught up in the right and the wrong of who you love, and we don't focus on the fact that we should be simply loving one another.  We should be supporting one another in the best way that we possibly can.  But we don't.  We don't love each other through the good and the bad.  I think if we all just loved each other through everything that we would live in a much better world.

I hated some of the unrealistic aspects of this book.  For example, the cheerleaders rode in on motorcycles at a pep rally.  That isn't something that would happen at a high school.  At one point in the book Paul enters the school early before school starts and puts up decorations for Noah.  That isn't something that would be available or allowed to happen at a normal high school.  Or at least that wouldn't be something that would be allowed at my high school.  I just enjoy books that are entirely realistic or they are completely unrealistic.  I don't like a mix of the two worlds and this book really tried to mix the two.

Overall, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  The character and information overload at the beginning was a huge downer for me and the unrealistic aspects was a turnoff.  I would recommend this to anyone looking for a LGBTQ book.