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Review: Queer Greer by A.J. Walkley

Title: Queer Greer
Author: A.J. Walkley
Year Published: 2012

Genre: YA LGBTQ fiction
Pages: I read it in kindle format so don't know the page amount
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Challenges: author request
Geography Connection (my Google Reading map): USA (Arizona)


FTC Disclosure: I was given this epub by the author for review

Summary (from Amazon): Greer MacManus is uprooted from her childhood home in South Carolina when her father is determined to fulfill his strange but pressing dream to become a border-crossing coyote. Her parents take her and her younger sister to Prescott, Arizona to start a new life closer to the border. Greer enters a new school with the hopes of reinventing herself from the wallflower with one friend to speak of, to a social butterfly. She soon finds herself among the company of athletes, a swimmer herself. While Greer tries to get comfortable in her clique under the admiring eye of Cameron Keeting, the most attractive jock in school, she becomes increasingly interested in someone else. Rebecca Wilder, the beautiful swim team captain and infamous lesbian in town, befriends Greer, taking her under her wing. A love triangle soon overtakes Greer's world leading to drug experimentation and mental confusion as she comes to grips with her sexuality as her world starts to fall apart. Without anyone to turn to, Greer must find an inner strength and the courage to be herself in a society that doesn't always understand.

Review: This book is a quick and fun read with lots going on! Greer is a very likable character who is trying to work out where she fits into the grand scheme of her family as well as high school, stumbling along the way, but slowly figuring out who she is and who she wants to be. Luckily, by the end of the book she begins to realize that she is really the only one she needs to satisfy rather than the masses around her. However, that doesn't mean that the book has an easy happy ending, just that the reader has hope that things will eventually work out.

I posted an interesting guest post from AJ Walkley that is a great companion to reading this book (OMG, I just realized it was also a give away, I must get on that). Anyway, Walkley tackles many difficult subjects that are sure to resonate with readers: sexuality; fitting in; dealing with parents; heart break; cutting; and self-acceptance. While this seems like a lot, it all fits together well in this book.

The only part I didn't love, but it's what I don't love in most YA is the drug use. At least Greer is trying it (and anything sexual) for the first time as a junior in high school, but she very quickly makes smoking pot a habit.

I think having a character that is bisexual is good because it is unusual for YA literature where the characters are either homosexual or heterosexual. I also like that although Greer's sexuality is a main focus, other issues also come into play. Another aspect of this novel that I liked was the dialogue, which seems natural.


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