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

I loved so many things about this book its hard to know where to start! Firstly, it was such a fun read. Once I got going I absolutely devoured it. What really took this book to another level for me was the exploration of family, sibling relationships, and familial support. The relationship between the main character and her brother was such a strong cornerstone of this story and their dynamic brought so much to this story. Another thing I love about this book is how much joy there is. No gays to be buried here! Its such a celebration of queer joy and cultural joy as well as queer love and familial love. The way this book talked about complex issues like outing, coming out, staying in the closet, and dealing with interpersonal homophobia was so clear and honest and well done. This book is so important for queer readers to have access to. I also just loved the main character Yamilet. She’s so caring and bursting at the seams with love, but sometimes there’s a disconnect in how she shows that love and the kind of support others need. Communication is explored and so is opening up to those who will support your and truly be there for you. I smiled and laughed so much while reading this book and I actually teared up because it was so heartwarming at times. There is also a discussion of mental health (see content warnings), which I found to be really authentic and accurate. It meant a lot to me to see the representation of mental health in the context of family and community, rather than just some isolated thing.

Content Warnings

thelibraryofanolive's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

DELICIOUS THIS HAD ME SMILING, LAUGHING, CRYING READ IT RN ITS SO SWEER BUT HAS A DEEPER MEANER ITS THE OBKT BOOK IVE EVER LIKED THE MAIN CHARACTER OF BEST YA EVER YOU CANT TELL ITS YA

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sagagi's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

imstephtacular's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

4.5

I liked that this book talked about the hard parts of being queer in high school as well as being a POC in the white-centric US. It was cute, funny at parts, and serious and sad in others. But I loved that it had a happy ending! It was really good and I enjoyed it overall. I just wish we'd have gotten a few other perspectives from the story, like Cesear, Bo, and maybe even the mom, but I also see why we didn't.

Content Warnings

purplepenning's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Some pacing issues, but it didn't keep the brilliant emotional integrity from shining through.

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