The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School - Sonora Reyes

[goodreads]

Title: The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School
Author: Sonora Reyes
Genre: YA, LGBTQ+
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: March, 2024

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way.

After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that's a problem for Future Yami.

The thing is, it's hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn't going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she'll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?


Very sweet and poignant book. I found myself literally "awww!!"'ing on multiple occasions - mostly due to Bo's parents!

The characters were believably YA - including making stupid decisions and failing to communicate for far too long. But it was an understandable lack of communication, and therefore didn't bother me as much as it usually does in such books. There were one or two instances where I found myself cringing with second-hand embarrassment, but fortunately they were quickly resolved, rather than dwelled on.

I loved pretty much all the characters. They felt real to me, and I enjoyed seeing their relationships grow. I wanted to cheer when Yamilet's mother turned out to be more of an ally than anybody would have guessed. THAT is how you support your children regardless of everything!

The audiobook was narrated by Karla Serrato who did a brilliant job. She either speaks Spanish herself, or did a really good job of convincing this non-Spanish-speaker that she does. The Spanish interjections flowed naturally.

The book (or the audiobook version at least) comes with a CW. Heed this, if bigotry/the consequences of bigotry is a trigger for you.