The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School Reviews

• 
  Aiden Thomas

  THE LESBIANA’S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL by Sonora Reyes is a story about bravery, love, and so much more. It’s about discovering what makes you feel most at home within yourself, and the comfort that comes with sharing those parts with the people you love, even when it’s scary. With a sweet sapphic romance and fiercely loyal friends, this book is a warm, protective hug for teens who are fighting to be seen as themselves in a world that wants them to hide.
• 
  booksandzoe

  THIS WAS THE BEST BOOK EVERRRRRARAREARARWGLKNEA
• 
  Sonora Reyes

  I mean I might be biased, but I thought it was pretty cool :)
• 
  Talkincloud

  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! This is what I was looking for in YA! <3
• 
  Lex Kent

  Yes! This is the book I wanted and needed. YA is a competitive space and there are so many good YA books out there, but this isn’t good YA, this is great YA. This is an example of why I read and love this genre so much. I love emotional YA that gives you all the feels and that is exactly what this book did. This book isn’t perfect, there are a few teeny tiny things, but this is Reyes’ YA debut (which makes it more impressive) and I enjoyed the hell out of it so this is an easy 5 stars for me.
  
  This is one of those books that once you start reading it you can’t put it down. It is a good length, but there was no way I could stop reading. Before I go much farther I want to mention some possible triggers that the characters go through like homophobia, racism, and suicide. I’m not kidding but I think the first time I teared up was only 15% into the book. That is pretty impressive when you realize it means that Reyes made me care about the characters that quickly. And while I didn’t actually cry then, I sure was a mess before the book ended. Take my advice and keep a box of tissues next to you, you will need them.
  
  While this book made me an emotional mess at times, it was also heartwarming, sweet, and put multiple smiles on my face. When I say this book had all the feels I truly mean that. The friendships, familiar relationships, and of course the sweet sapphic romance, were all well written and they helped to balance out the harder to read parts.
  
  The rep was great and the characters were wonderful. There were some I loved, others I hated, and even the smallest of secondary characters were fully fleshed out. The sapphic romance just fits perfect with the feel of the book and they make a totally adorable couple. I think the only issue I really had is that I wanted more. I didn’t want the book to be over and I don’t want these characters stories to be over.
  
  TLDR: If you are a YA fan, this book is a must. If you’re not a big YA fan but still appreciate great stories, then this is still a must. Where is all the hype for this book?! Sometimes I just don’t get it, but I sure hope this book gets the readership it deserves.
  
  An ARC was given to me for a review.
  
• 
  Not My High

  Ważne tematy? SĄ!
  Wspaniali, wyraziści bohaterowie? TEŻ!
  Reprezentacja queerowa? OCZYWIŚCIE!
  Niepowtarzalna fabuła i klimat? ZDECYDOWANIE!
  
  Na razie zdradzę tyle, ale jedno powiem: WARTO CZEKAĆ NA PREMIERĘ 🌈
  
  Edit: znam już tę książkę na pamięć
• 
  ~ a foray in fantasy ~

  We stan supportive parents!!
  
  This book is beyond perfect.
  
  The topics addressed are done so with respect— discussions of colonialism, religion, and LGBTQ+ rights all fit perfectly into the book.
  
  But, more importantly, the romance was so cute!!! I want what Yami and Bo have. The gay chaos is absolutely one of my favorite aspects of the book.
• 
  s.penkevich

  My 12 year old just came running down the stairs (having read this under the blankets with flashlight) and lobbed this book into my lap shouting “This is the best book ever. Read it now. I am having so many emotions. Put that on your goodreads or whatever you do.” So I am.
• 
  alaska

  this book deserves all its praise because DAMN. rtc but i sobbed and gasped and laughed and screamed!
• 
  geekyfangirlstuff

  wyznawałam już miłość tej książce na instagramie, ale u mnie miłości nigdy nie za wiele - KOCHAM TĄ KSIĄŻKĘ AAAAAAAA
  
  ja nadal jeszcze nie wierzę, że wciągnęłam ją jednym tchem i już ją skończyłam…
  
  • WSPANIAŁA GŁÓWNA POSTAĆ - YAMI KOCHAM CIĘ💛 przepiękna przemiana, zakochiwanie się i akceptacja samej siebie, zbieranie odwagi…ta dziewczyna ma tak potężne serducho, że nie mam słów i cieszę się, że w końcu znalazła w nim miejsce również dla siebie!
  • relacja rodzeństwa Yami - Cesar IM CRYING
  • poruszane problemy dot. relacji z rodzicami
  • QUEEEEROOOOWAAAA REPREZENTAAAACJAAAA
  • wlw i mlm
  • relacje międzyludzkie, współpraca, przyjaźń, miłość, odtrącenie
  
  będę teraz krzyczeć o tej książce i mówić jak najwięcej - bo takie tytuły pełne ciepła, ale i tematów nierówności i okrutności ludzi są cholernie ważne i potrzebne
  
  ZANIM SIĘGNIECIE PO KSIĄŻKĘ SPRAWDŹCIE TW!
• 
  Thomas

  Overall I loved the content of this book. A romance between a queer Mexican American girl and a queer Asian American girl, themes of coming-of-age amidst homophobia among a rich white Catholic school, and some difficult family dynamics that turn out okay. I felt a lot of heart from this novel and am happy to see uplifting representation of LGBTQ+ people of color.
  
  Unfortunately I didn’t love the execution of the book from a writing perspective. The first half of the book in particular felt like a lot of teen cliches without much direction. While the latter half of the book contained more scenes with heartfelt emotional resonance, some of what took place still felt rushed. I wanted more from the writing. Still, I’m happy with what this book represents in terms of social justice and narrative of joy for queer poc!
• 
  Alex.andthebooks

  4.25
  
  Oczywiście, że zapomniałam wcześniej oznaczyć jako przeczytaną XD
  
  Mimo, że Yami nie będzie moją ukochaną bohaterką to mnogość problemów, które zostały ukazane w tej książce jest dla mnie przeogromnym plusem. Pokrzepiająca!
• 
  Emery Lee

  Cesar is my son and I would die for him. Thank you.
• 
  ash ✩‧₊˚

  i read this after a long week of school and a mental breakdown and this was just so. amazing??? as;dfklj
  
  istg it had everything i needed in a book
  - [poc] lesbians !!
  - mlm and wlw solidarity
  - family dynamics
  - talks of internalized homophobhia, religious trauma, casual racism/stereotypes, adoption (from parents of different ethnicity than you), identity
  - eldest daughter mc
  - cute christmas/mall date(s)
  - female (straight vs queer) friendships
  - gays at catholic school rep :DD
  
  
  the ending was definitely faster paced but i actually enjoyed the change tho a certain chapter got a bit dark and surprised me istg
• 
  Em Lost In Books

  3.5*
  
  This was chaotic and funny.
• 
  lavenderews

  „Przewodnik lesbijki po katolickiej szkole” to historia, która zachwyciła mnie swoją prawdziwością, wrażliwością oraz humorem, ale także przejęła trudnymi relacjami z rodzicami, które sprawiły, że odnalazłam w niej coś sobie bliskiego. Opowieść, która potrafi wywołać uśmiech na twarzy, jak i ogromnie wzruszyć. Jest w niej coś, co szczególnie chwyciło mnie za serce. To historia o dziewczynie, która na kartach powieści dojrzewa, podejmuje trudne decyzje i stara się pozostać sobą, w świecie, który daje jej jedynie wiele niepewności. To historia o miłości. Każdej. Bo każdy zasługuje na miłość.
• 
  ally

  🥹🥰
• 
  Gosia

  4,5, ale ze względu na to, jaka to dobra książka, zasługuje na zaokrąglenie w górę. Super, że wyszła w Polsce. Bardzo fajna reprezentacja, świetni bohaterowie i uniwersalne przesłania o miłości, pierwszych związkach i relacjach z rodzicami🥰
• 
  Leo

  I was so excited to listen to this audiobook but at the same a bit scared that the book wouldn't live up from the hype for me. But it definitely did, and beyond that. One of my favorite YA of the year
• 
  Tomasz

  Bardzo fajne, cieplutkie i rozczulające jak kocyk i gorąca herbata w chłodny, jesienny dzień. Wiadomo, nie ma tu nic szczególnie wybitnego czy głębokiego, ale zdecydowanie sprawdza się jako niegłupia młodzieżówka. Dużo tu reprezentacji i to nie tylko queerowej, przez co poruszane są gdzieś w tle tematy, które dla polskich czytelników mogą być nowością. Polecam zwłaszcza jeżeli szukacie czegoś lekkiego i przyjemnego.
• 
  MZ

  This was such a good surprise. Thank you GR friends for bringing this to my attention and giving me the push to read, or in my case, listen to it! This is exactly what I hope for in a YA book. A coming of age story with all the emotions, quite some angst, but also a lot of fun and a sweet romance and an important role for family dynamics. Additionally, there is plenty of diversity and the POV of the main character that is a POC in a very white and entitled environment, and not to forget very Catholic, was excellent. I can’t recommend this enough.
• 
  katelyn ❀

  i’m in love
  
  having been raised catholic and taught the same morals that are depicted, i felt seen and accepted just through reading
  
  goes to show that this was the most i’ve ever connected to a book on a personal level and the fact that this is more than just a simple romance and depicts life as not only a teenager, but one struggling with religion, sexuality, racism, and suicide needs to be recognized more than what it has been
  
  if this isn’t on your tbr trust & add it <33
• 
  micah ➳ canonicallychaotic

  immediate add to faves shelf
  
  rtc!
• 
  Marta

  4,5/5
  
  🔥YAMI QUEEN🔥
  
  Kocham tą książkę i proszę ją przeczytać.
  
  🌞pierdyliard znaczników, świetna zabawa, ważna tematyka, nie obyło się nawet bez płaczu.
• 
  Anniek

  There's a lot to love about this book, and it has a lot of strong elements. Overall though, I found it a little rough around the edges; it felt a little unfinished to me. Especially in the first half, the book felt like it missed direction. The second half proved a better experience for me, because it felt more focused, but I still felt like it could have been structured better. I just felt like a lot of the big emotional moments were a little rushed and could have gotten a little more attention. I did however love the sibling relationship especially!
• 
  Bookaholicgroup

  4,5 ⭐️
  Was für eine unglaublich tolle Geschichte!
• 
  cossette

  i spent the last 30% of this book sobbing my little eyes out.
  
  content warnings: outing, deportation, racism, lesbophobia, homophobic slurs, mentions of suicidal thoughts, disownment, implied homophobic violence, hospitalization
  
  
• 
  Kelly (and the Book Boar)

  
  
  
  Boy, the knuckledraggers didn’t even have to put any effort into finding this one. Sonora Reyes did all the work for them with this title!
  
  I read this last week for Banned Books Week and of course failed to review it on time because that is what I do. The story here is about Yami – a teen who, along with her brother, has transferred to a private Catholic school after being outed and ostracized by her former best friend and due to her brother’s inability to stay out of trouble. Her goals for the new year are simple . . . .
  
  1. Find a new best friend.
  2. Don’t be gay about it.
  
  Throughout the course of the book you learn about why Yami’s brother was having issues, meet her parents – neither of which are approving of homosexuality and one who was deported, and experience first love. Also included are some helpful doses of facts . . . .
  
  If I’m “living a lie,” then so is every straight person who’s never “come out” to every single person in their life about their sexuality. I shouldn’t have to talk about it if I don’t want to.
  
  Aside from being “too gay” – there’s zero reason why this book would ever be an issue to the crazies. It’s a typical young adult type of story that would easily translate over to Netflix like the trillions of other teenage romance books that have been converted to film in the past. A little meatier dealing with the homophobia aspect, but all in all a feel good type of coming of age story. I’ve stepped back from my YA reading in the past few years and find my complaints to be those of a grown-up that might not even bother the targeted audience. I was interested in knowing more about the mother and father’s relationship – how he got deported – how they managed to maintain a family while being so far removed – etc., but this was Yami’s story and not the parents so that’s my issue and not the book’s. I have plenty of other complaints regarding the mother, but I prefer to leave my reviews spoiler free so I’ll just leave it with she need a good shaking for more than one reason. The characters could have used a lot more dimension, the story was nothing super new and I’m fairly certain real life situations like these wouldn’t get tied up with a big bright bow at the end, but again I’m not a kid so what does my old Boomer ass know?
  
  Now a longlister for The National Book Award.
  
• 
  Natalia

  Idealna na pride month!
  Rzadko sięgam po młodzieżówki, ale czy można przejść obojętnie obok książki z takim tytułem? Nie sądzę. Dawno nie bawiłam się tak dobrze przy czytaniu: jest zabawnie, ironicznie, czasami cukierkowo, momentami przygnębiająco, ale z przestrzenią na wybrzmienie ważnych rzeczy. Postaci są tutaj tak dobrze wykreowane, że nie da się nie wierzyć w ich historie i im nie kibicować. Niesamowicie cieszy mnie każdy dobry queerowy tytuł, dobrze było sobie namacalnie przypomnieć o istnotności reprezentacji.
• 
  Sarah-Hope

  About a million years ago (somewhere around 1988) I maintained a bibliography of LGBTQI+ books for children and young adults. Of course we didn't have the term LGBTQI+ back then, at first it was just lesbian and gay, then lesbian/gay/bisexual, then the term of choice became queer, and so on. I'm positing that there must be some sort of feedback loop that operates on the principle of the more we're represented in literature, the more clearly we can see and name ourselves, which leads to more books, which leads to a better understanding of who we are in all our diversity, which leads to, etc.
  
  In 1988 the literature available was limited. We had the ubiquitous Heather Has Two Mommies. Then we had a demi-passel of teen problem novels. At the time, this body of literature was wonderful simply in existing, but it was also limited. Too many of the stories involved young people coming out and then being a) jumped by homophobes, b) rejected by their families, c) being expelled from school, or d) losing friends and becoming loners. The implication was that young LGBTQI+ people couldn't hope to be happy when they were young: they just had to grit their teeth, put up with the cruelties and losses, and hope to be able to run away to somewhere more "cosmopolitan" once they reached adulthood. Not really uplifting reading if you're thinking your life is headed this way.
  
  Another limitation was the very narrow set of people actually represented in these books. I knew of exactly two titles that had any characters who weren't white. About 80% of the teen novels involving girls took place in private boarding schools, as if it was only in such wealthy and privileged settings that a young woman could allow her thoughts to wander over to the possibility of Not. Being. Straight.
  
  Today the body of children's and young adults' LGBTQI+ literature is much more apt to include BIPOC characters from a variety of rungs on the economic ladder, which means that a young LGBTQI+ person has a much better chance of finding themselves in the books they read. All of which leads up to...
  
  Sonora Reyes' The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, a young adult title that crosses a host of identity and economic boundaries without being irritatingly smug in that I-am-keeping-a-checklist-and-ticking-off-one-person-of-every-kind-from-a-variety-of-neighborhoods-and-family-structures way. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a fun, reasonably non-didactic title that gives LGBTQI+ youth a sense that hope is for Now, and not just something to dream of a few decades down the road.
  
  Yamilet Flores, the novel's central character and first-person narrator is quirky, observant, and determined not to let anyone find out she's a lesbian. Her inner dialogues are full of the kind of conflicting impulses and sudden drops and leaps in self-acceptance that most of us will remember from our own high school years. Yamilet and her friends drive the action of the novel, learning to stand up for themselves and finding clever ways to respond to their heteronormative surroundings.
  
  This is a wonderful title for anyone who grew up LGBTQI+. Or straight. It's a wonderful title for anyone in the process of growing up LGBTQI+. Or straight. It's just a wonderful title. Buy it, read it, then pass your copy along to someone else who will enjoy it every bit as much as you will have found you did.
  
  I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.