Reviews with content warning for Self harm - The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

CWs: some descriptions of blood and self harm; experiences of bullying, racism, and homophobia; references to police brutality and deportation; allusions to child abuse; instances of underage drinking; some explorations of mental illness, suicide ideation, and hospitalization

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a book that's just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

This book is great for a lot of reasons. There are many funny moments, the characters are relatable, and the romance is really cute. But where this book stood out to me was the main character, Yamilet. It's common in YA novels for main characters to be overshadowed by side supporting characters, but this book did not have that problem. Yamilet is a total powerhouse. Most of the plot is driven by her decisions; she's guarded and cares a lot about her family; she tries to think things through, but she also relies heavily on her emotions. Her emotions make her impulsive, and that's what made the story so engaging to me.

(Like when she instinctively told Bo she was straight, and then immediately after accidentally told Hunter she was gay. That part had me rolling.)

While I did know some baseline plot points had to happen to keep the story going

(i.e. she had to come out)

I was never sure what decisions she was going to make next. She's just so utterly human. I felt like I was sixteen again, reading from her point of view. It was impossible not to fall in love with her.

Of course, I still loved all the supporting characters too. I loved Ceasar in particular, and the sibling dynamic between him and Yamilet was spot-on. Bo is a cutie and Jamal is a total sweetheart. The diversity of representation was great to see as well. Reyes definitely took care in how they portrayed the struggles of dealing with racism, homophobia, mental health, having immigrant parents, living in a low-class household, and struggling with religious guilt.

Over the course of reading The Lesbiana's Guide, it's become one of my favorite sapphic books. I will definitely be rereading it at some point, but for now, I'm just going to revel in that post-read high.

As always, check Content Warnings because there are some pretty heavy topics throughout this book. CW: (view spoiler)

Thank you, NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

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5.0

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School follows Yamilet, a closeted lesbian Mexican-American girl who follows her brother in transferring schools after her best friend (and crush) outs her to her friend group. She is determined to hide her identity from everybody there, but that soon becomes difficult when she becomes friends with Bo, the only out lesbian (or queer person at all) at the school and falls for her.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about this book; I absolutely loved it. Every aspect of it is done so well, I love all of the characters so much, and I have essentially no criticisms.

Yamilet is such a lovable protagonist. She's just trying her best for the entire book in every aspect, be that protecting her brother, trying to conceal her sexuality, or trying to help her mother with their rocky financial situation. She is forced to be so strong and try to hold everything together, and I absolutely adore her. She's determined and a little broken and trying to survive and handle life as best as she can.

Yamilet's relationship with her brother, Cesar, is one of the strongest elements in a book filled with well-written plot lines. Cesar is also queer, and he and Yamilet come out to each other near the start of the book, which causes Yamilet to immediately start trying to figure out how she can protect him in addition to herself if they're ever outed to their mother. This is also the place where her character is most evident as the pair's differing personalities and religious views cause them to have very different perceptions of sexuality and morality. They also clash a bit over Yamilet's tendency to try and control things and provide help that others don't ask for.

Yamilet's relationship with the rest of her family is also done very well. She constantly feels like her mother prefers Cesar to her, which leads to some conflict there, particularly in relation to how she believes her mother would react if Yamilet was outed to her. However, the two do slowly become closer over the course of the book as Yamilet gets more involved with helping her mother with selling traditional beaded jewelry on her Etsy store. Meanwhile, Yamilet feels very close to her father, who was deported when she was 10 but whom she calls often. The dynamic between the two parents, who are barely seen interacting in the book, and how Yamilet's perceptions of them differ from their actual actions, are written superbly. There is no character in the book who does not feel like an actual person; they all feel real and multidimensional and human.

Yamilet's relationship with her culture doesn't appear that frequently, but it is a key part of her character. Her family is Mayan, but, since her father was always the one who cared more about preserving their culture and related activism, she feels that she lost some amount of connection with her past when her father was deported, in addition to losing him.

Yamilet's relationship with Bo is so adorable, but also felt deep and well-developed. Bo's probably my favorite character; she's a Chinese-American girl who was adopted by white parents, and she and Yamilet talk about how they both don't feel very connected to their cultural identities due to their individual parental circumstances: Bo's adoption and Yamilet's father's deportation. Bo is so cute and confident and I loved her so much. She's definitely my favorite character in the book, and their relationship development and romance are so believable and well-done.

As a semi-closeted (not out to my family, but out everywhere else) bisexual girl, I loved the way that the book handled talking about Yamilet's experiences. The book never treated her coming out as something that needed to happen for her to be true to herself or anything; it always treated being closeted as something that Yamilet has to do for her own safety, and never acts like there is anything wrong with that or like she is living a lie for protecting herself. I really appreciate that narrative, especially since that isn't the way that coming out is usually treated in YA novels. Even if everything else about the book had been horrible, I still would have adored it for how it handled this topic.

The book does deal with a lot of heavier topics, so I'd definitely recommend looking at the content/trigger warnings; off the top of my head I can think of homophobia, racism, xenophobia, deportation, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation and hospitalization, but there are likely more, so look into that if you think there's even the slightest possibility that you might need to.

Overall, I absolutely love everything about this book, and am giving it a very enthusiastic 5/5 stars. Every single character and plot line is written extremely well; I honestly have no critiques to give. Yamilet is a wonderful main character whose development feels natural and well-developed, as are her relationships with those around her. Every character is well-fleshed-out and multidimensional. The romance is adorable, but Yamilet's growth takes center stage in this book, creating a character-driven story that only elevates all of the individual plot lines.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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