Ray Stoeve

If you're a teen, one place you look to for answers and support are your parents. When Arden's parents separate, she's conflicted about how she feels. Fortunately, she has Jamie as her best friend, but when he enters his first romantic relationship, it strains things right at the moment when she needs him the most. Much of what ensues is messy and awkward, but ultimately very hard not to follow, while silently cheering for almost all the players involved. Arden's younger brother is in as much emotional pain as she is, but deals with it in a much different way. Their dad manages to pull himself back from an apathetic darkness just in time, while Vanessa, the girl who is attracted to Arden, hangs in there when she could as easily bail. Altogether a very satisfying story, and one well worth considering for any library collection where LBGTQ+ YA fiction is important.… (mehr)

Dean Foster is a trans guy, but everyone, including his girlfriend Zoe, thinks he's a lesbian. Then he's cast as an 'untraditional' Romeo in the school play, and he can't keep things to himself any longer.

TW for dysphoria, misgendering, forced outing, transphobia, physical bullying.

I really, really loved this book! I was excited to read a book by a nonbinary author, as a trans person myself, and this book did not disappoint. Between Perfect and Real is a story about coming of age, self realisation, and gender exploration. It captures the emotional rollercoaster of coming out during high school perfectly. It's really emotional. Dean goes through so much in this book, my heart hurts for him. But also, it's so wonderfully positive and hopeful. This book brought tears to my eyes. It's the coming out story that I needed as a teen but didn't have, and it makes me so happy that teenagers now have a story like this to read. Dean's journey to his identity feels similar in some ways to mine, and I love that. There are so many different ways to be trans, and I found Dean's story particularly relatable for me. I hope that young people reading this will feel the same as I did.

I think my favourite scene in the book is where Dean and Ronnie try out pronouns in the cafe. It was such a wonderful, lighthearted moment, so realistic to the trans experience, and so sweet and nice to read.

This book tells a really lovely, really important story and I'm so glad that I got to read it.… (mehr)