Mary: Here we are with another YA Book Club! This one has a big back-to-school vibe for me, since a bunch of it takes place in high school, and even though school around here technically started back in July, I’m still feeling the Fall school feels. What made you want to pick this book, Emily?
Emily: Oooh I did pick this one, didn’t I? It’s been a while since we’ve done a YA book club, so I forgot! I’d just heard a lot of really good things about this one, honestly, and I went into it not really knowing that much about the story. I just knew that a lot of people I trusted had liked this book. And I guess I can go ahead and reveal that I don’t think they led me astray! This book was adorable. But more on that as we go.
So here’s the basic synopsis. Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores is one of the only Mexican kids at her mostly-white Catholic high school. No one knows she’s gay, and she hopes to keep it that way. Now her goal is to just keep her brother out of trouble, keep her mom happy, and stay in the closet. But things get complicated when she meets Bo, the only openly queer girl at her high school, who also happens to be pretty perfect.
Some minor spoilers to follow, but I think you could still read this and enjoy the book later!
Mary: One thing I really appreciated about this novel is that there are layers of things going on. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s not always a given, you know? Yami isn’t just dealing with coming out, she’s also worried about her brother being bullied, her father who’s been deported, and her family’s finances. Her life is complex, and even once she manages to navigate her sexuality she still has problems to face. Her life isn’t solved by fixing one thing, and I think some novels – maybe especially YA novels – forget that.
Emily: Yeah, even at the end when things seem to be getting better for her in some ways, there are still parts of her life that are messy.
But yeah. Phew. There’s a lot going on in this book. What should we talk about first? Okay, let’s start with the setting, because obviously the Catholic school is a big part of the book (it’s in the title). At the beginning of the novel, Yami and her brother Cesar are transferring to a Catholic school after Cesar gets into some trouble at their previous school. The new school is a chance to start over, but it also includes a lot of challenges. What did you think of the school setting? I feel like it added pressure to a lot of issues Yami and Cesar were dealing with anyway.
But like, legit gay. And also very sweet and tender and moving.
Mary: For sure – and I think that it gets at something really interesting about private schools in general. Private schools are often viewed as “safer” than their public counterparts, but they’re also often religious. While we don’t have time to get into the history of why a lot of private schools exist, what ends up happening sometimes is that you get a lot of kids from non-religious households or different denominations going to a specific type of private school. You’ve also got, of course, parents who send their kids to religious institutions regardless of how their kids feel about religion in general.
In this novel, Yami and Cesar aren’t particularly religious, and the school is seen as a chance for them to escape Cesar’s bullies. It’s a safe space in that aspect (I guess?) but gosh, it had some backwards views on gender and sexuality. But like, what do we expect from a Catholic school? I really appreciated that even before Yami and Cesar arrived at the school, Bo’s coming out was already a topic of conversation, and she was doing work to make others more politically/socially aware. It shows that the school already has its issues and has stuff going on, even before the main character enters the scene. That type of world building always makes things feel more complete and believable for me.
Emily: Let’s talk about Yami and Cesar’s relationship. It was really hard for me to read about personally, because close siblings always remind me of my brother. But it was sweet seeing them interact and take care of each other.
Mary: That makes sense, for sure. I appreciated that they had a close bond and “saw” each other even through their differences of opinions on things. I also appreciated that the book highlighted that Yami didn’t want to push Cesar to say anything or do anything regarding his own coming out. Even as she was feeling more emboldened about her own life, she never pressured Cesar to come out with her.
In some ways, I feel like this book gave me a glimpse into how younger generations are handling sexuality. Coming out is still scary, but it’s not necessarily the guaranteed exile it maybe once was. Yami is scared to come out to her parents, who are still living in that harsher past, and she’s nervous to come out to her friends because of things that happened to her in the past, but once she reveals everything her friends are…chill? Honestly, even her mom was like, well I don’t want to lose my kids so I’m going to roll with it. It felt like a realistic scenario; everything wasn’t perfect, but the people in Yami’s life were much more open than they might have been even ten years ago. I’m not sure if that makes sense.
Emily: Yeah, I think it’s interesting that throughout the book Yami has such a connection with her dad and always thinks her dad likes her better. That she’s her dad’s “favorite.” So when she decides to come out, it’s her dad that she comes out to first, but ultimately it’s her dad and not her mom who rejects her. It’s sad but also interesting. Because I feel like for so many people, a huge part of coming of age is seeing our parents differently. Realizing they’re not perfect. Or realizing they aren’t who we thought they were.
Mary: Ugh, that was heartbreaking. I felt so bad for Yami, because for a small part of the book she really felt like she had no one. I was very very pleased with how things turned out, though.
For me, I really liked that the parents weren’t cast as one specific thing, even though they seem to be to begin with. When we first meet Yami’s parents, they seem very traditional and religious – very much against being gay for sure – which is why it’s such a pleasant surprise for Yami to find out her mom isn’t as conservative as she thought. Bo’s parents seem absolutely perfect to begin with, with a nice house and super liberal, accepting vibes. They don’t care that Bo is gay, and they fight for her with the school. That being said, they also argue a lot. Yami thinks her parents have a perfect romance, but they don’t. The reader thinks Bo’s parents have it all, but they don’t. Sometimes in YA the adults can kind of get shoved to the side, and while the parents didn’t steal the spotlight by any means, I liked that they had their own things going on.
Who doesn’t love the beautiful dresses at the ballet folklorico?
Emily: Yes, for sure. It’s always weird to me in YA books when parents are just conveniently out of the picture. That’s not true to real life. And as much as kids might think their parents’ worlds revolve around them, they often have their own issues going on.
While we’re on the subject of families, I think we need to acknowledge that this book also deals with issues of depression and suicide. That seems like a big reveal, so maybe I’ll leave it there and not give anything away. But I think readers should be aware that it’s there. I feel like it is handled really well, however, and that’s really all I wanted to say about that. I just feel like we can’t talk about this book without acknowledging that piece and nodding to how delicately it’s handled. So, good job, book!
Mary: For sure. It’s always good to know that sort of stuff going in, and I will say without spoiling that I liked how the book handled it, too.
I think another thing this novel does really well is weaving in discussions of race. For Yami, the fact that she and Cesar are the only Mexican students at her school is a huge deal. She feels like an outsider, but she acknowledges that engaging in her cultural traditions – like playing specific music, making traditional jewelry, going to a folk dancing festival – brings her a lot of joy. Yami isn’t ashamed of herself or trying to hide her roots, she’s just bummed she feels like she can’t share it with anyone.
Bo’s also an interesting case of how people can have nuanced feelings about their race. She’s Chinese, but adopted by white parents who try (good naturedly) to compensate by celebrating her culture in stereotypical ways. It takes a lot of courage for Bo to tell her parents that they don’t need to force her to be Chinese in a certain way. I think that the novel points out well that sometimes people aren’t openly racist and hostile, they just don’t understand and don’t care to. And of course, that’s bad too! It’s just a different type of bad.
Emily: Or, like, in the case of Bo’s parents, I don’t think it’s that they didn’t care to understand. But you can still want to understand and be good-intentioned and still do racist things. I feel like that’s important.
Mary: Right! They cared a lot, but didn’t quite get it, or let Bo discover things on her own terms. I was thinking specifically of the girls in school who asked Yami how to say her name, said it wrong, and then just didn’t correct themselves or try.
Emily: Let’s talk about Bo and Yami’s relationship. Because, ack, I thought it was so cute! Yami has a crush on Bo right away, and she’s so worried Bo is going to figure it out and find out that she’s a lesbian. She’s afraid of being rejected two-fold. One, she’s afraid of being rejected by this girl she really likes. And two, she’s afraid of coming out and being rejected for being gay, which is what happened to her with her (former) best friend.
So, there’s this really awkward scene where it seems like Bo might be hinting that they should maybe date, and Yami panics and tells Bo she’s not gay. And Bo’s like, “Oh yeah well I have a girlfriend.” And this cute little awkward tension builds from there. It all felt very real to high school romance, and I really liked them together. What were your thoughts?
Mary: Yesss – I love this relationship! I’m not sure if it’s a trope per se, but I love the sort of romance where the couple both really likes each other, but just can’t express their feelings or keep running into inconveniences that get in the way of them being honest.
It did feel very true to high school, but in a way where it all still made sense. Yami’s feelings about coming out keep her from being honest with Bo, but it’s not one of those situations where I thought, “If you’d just talk to each other it’d all make sense!” I understand why Yami wanted to keep her being gay a secret – she was hurt so bad in the past – and I understood why Bo told some lies of her own. It was very sweet and awkward and just perfect. It never felt forced or like it was moving too slow or fast to me.
Most importantly, I really appreciated how even though Bo and Yami didn’t see any path to dating each other for a portion of the novel, they still became friends and valued that friendship. And Bo’s parents were also great as a kind of surrogate family for Yami when she was having a hard time with her own parents.
Emily: Yeah, a lot of times when I read YA romance, I’m sitting there thinking “well, they’re not going to be together forever anyway,” so the stakes seem lower somehow. Not that that’s a bad thing! I love YA romance, and I love how serious romance can feel when you’re a teen, even if it (usually) doesn’t end up working out forever. But all of this is to say… dang, I really hope Bo and Yami are forever because they work so well together and it seems like they really gel with each other’s families!
I mean, yeah, I know they’re not real people. I know they’re characters in a book. But still!
Mary: Right?? I’m rooting for them. I would honestly read a sequel to this book, even though I’m not a huge fan of series.
Emily: Anyway, on that note, should we rate this? I think this was a pretty clear five star read for me. I really enjoyed the characters. Everyone felt nuanced and had their own things going on (which we’ve touched on). This book covers a lot of ground without feeling like too much or too preachy. I loved the romance. I loved the family dynamics. Really, there wasn’t much I took issue with at all. Sorry, I know that’s boring.
Mary: 100%! I gave it 5/5 stars on Goodreads because I just loved it so much. I listened to it on audiobook (which was a great choice!), and I found myself blazing through it because I just really wanted to know what happened next. I would recommend this one to almost anyone!
Next time, we hope you’ll join us at YA Book Club again for The Getaway by Lamar Giles! We read Not So Pure and Simple by Giles in 2020 and knew we had to pick up his next book, too. Though I haven’t read too much about it yet, I know The Getaway follows Jay, who seems to have a perfect life and a cushy gig working at a theme park – until strange, dark things begin going on in his town. It seems to combine apocalyptic thrills with threats from the rich and powerful, and really, I’d read anything Giles writes! Join us next time!
Next time!