I won’t lie. It’s awesome seeing my books out in the wild and I love nothing more than getting tagged in pics of readers reading my books, or blogs that feature them.
That’s why it was so cool to see that Crush made a list of YA FF/ romance books to read for people who love the movie Love, Simon.
I wasn’t tagged in this one, but I followed a link on a twitter post by Malinda Lo and was pleasantly surprised to see Crush featured. I may have sighed and swooned just a little that readers are still loving Tess and Maddie three years after the book was published.
You can check out all the suggested books on the Bibliosapphic website here.
I’ve read and loved only one of the books on this list – Dating Sarah Cooper – but I will definitely be adding the rest of the books to my TBR list.
As for Love, Simon, I haven’t yet seen the movie, but I’ve just finished reading the book it’s based on, Simon vs the Homosapien’s Agenda, and it makes me look forward to seeing the movie even more.
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS** for those of you who haven’t yet seen the movie or read the book. You have been warned! 🙂
Simon is a brilliantly funny, sweet and romantic read, and like a lot of other readers, I loved guessing who Blue was and chopping and changing throughout. (FYI – I did manage to pick it before the big reveal!)
I loved the quirkiness of Simon’s family and the push and pull of his friendships as he navigated school and trying to work out who Blue was himself.
I particularly loved the revelation Simon had while quietly falling for Blue and then acting on it. The apparent ‘newness’ of everything normal in the glow of first love and happiness. Something I remember clearly when I fell in love the first time, and then again later when I fell in love with my wife.
One thing I have seen mentioned on my social media though is how apparently easy Simon and Blue have it on their coming out. How apparently little homophobia they grapple with compared to what can sometimes occur in real life. I’ve heard a few people I know mention this fact, mostly from people in the LGBT+ community who are older and who suffered terribly in their teens and early life. For them, Simon’s story doesn’t ring true, and I get that. They grew up in vastly different times.
But we’re moving on and times are certainly changing for the better. It’s a great lesson that while some of the stories you read might not be your truth, they’re someone’s truth, whether that’s good or bad, sweetly romantic or littered with stigma and homophobia.
The former is certainly my story and I’m eternally grateful for such wonderfully accepting and loving family and friends who made my story a happy one. It doesn’t erase the bad but it tells both sides. And in a time where more and more countries are changing laws to allow recognition and protection of LGBT+ citizens, I think it’s fantastic that we now get to have our own happy endings.
So many romantic movies have been made about heterosexual teens getting their happy endings, I love how we’re starting to finally see movies where boys can love boys, and girls can love girls, and they get to live happily ever after.
I’m definitely going to have to up my game for the next Girls of Summer book, that’s for sure!