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Life is not easy for Chance Cesar, who doesn't exactly fit in at his rural New Hampshire high school. He's openly gay, has a propensity for wearing bright-colored clothing, has an identity crisis with his gender, and the school's bullies are after him constantly. His only friend is Emily, a chubby, university-focused girl, who is definitely not one of the popular students. Chance falls in love with Jazz Donahue, a fellow high schooler, and Emily helps Chance hatch an elaborate plan to make sure Jazz returns the feeling. But the plan is not working well, because Chance is not sure if Jazz is gay, and he is getting mixed responses from him to his many advances and schemes. In desperation, Chance performs a couple of love spells to win Jazz's love. In the end, he realizes that he just needed to be himself all along for Jazz to love him, and they finally share a passionate first kiss.
This is a timely, hilarious book, targeted at teens who are questioning their gender identity and have feelings for the same sex. Many teenagers today can identify with Chance and his travails, as he navigates through high school and has many confusing feelings as to what it means to be a gay male in rural America. Kerick uses fashionable teen speak to make the high school setting believable (adorbs for adorable, totes for totally, etc.), the characters are true to themselves, and the teen reader can easily identify with them. This is a great book for gay teens and for anybody who wants to read about high school problems and gender identities.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review