very cute ( )

The world inside Boy Meets Boy is the fantasyland where we all want to live, or at least visit whenever the mood strikes us. A place where kindness reigns supreme and hate just does not seem to exist. At. All. Main character, Paul, is unlike any teenage boy you will ever meet. He is sensitive, smart, funny, romantic, thoughtful, and a serious empath. His environment is a high school where students, dissatisfied with clubs of the cultural norms, create groups like the Joy Scouts, the French cuisine club, and the Quiz bowling team. The janitors are closet (pun totally intended) wealthy day traders. The parents form groups like P-FLAG (Parents and friends of lesbians and gays). The town itself is ultra-accepting - there is a bar called the Queer Beer bar where straight guys sneak in to hit on lesbians. It's like a paradise for the LGBTQ community: the perfect world where everyone is welcomed and joyfully accepted. Even insults are always playful and harmless. The quarterback can also be the homecoming queen - shoulder pads and manicured nails come together in one character, Infinite Darlene. Cheerleaders can afford Harleys. Mothers make pancakes that resemble the topography or states or continents. Imagine that.
But. In order to have an interesting story, you need conflict. Right? The conflict is love and all of its broken hearts. Paul was once dumped by Kyle. Now Kyle wants Paul back, but only after Paul has started something with a new boy, Noah. Noah has been burned himself. So when Noah finds out Paul kissed another boy, he's a goner. Now Paul wants Noah back while Kyle chases Paul. Then there is Ted who was dumped by Joanie for Chuck. Somehow, Paul tries to mend all these hearts, including the ones he has no business mending. The big question is, will he win Noah back or will Kyle win his heart? ( )

(This was one of those free "Summer Reading" books I get from Audiobook Sync. I had so many books to listen to that I didn't listen to this one straight through, but set it aside for long periods of time.)
Despite the fact that this audio book was performed by a large cast of performers; because some of the young male characters had similar sounding voices, more than once I could not tell which character was speaking.
Hyperbolic characters gave this a theatrical musical feeling, like Grease, or more aptly, Glee. Conversations between high school friends about their approach to dealing, either with romance, or with religiously bound uncompromising parents, while probably realistic, felt didactic.
All that said, it's a fine depiction of how, no matter how you cut it, a teen's quest for true love is complicated, scary, and usually emotionally painful. Add the burden of feeling compelled to reject social mores to be oneself, and having to navigate that undercurrent . . .well, the author accomplishes telling that story, all the while, remaining upbeat.
And on a final note; it's really not a musical, as there was only one song, presumably entitled, "I'll Give You That, Boy" which was surprisingly well performed by Tremaine Ford as Zeak. Not "surprising" because I know anything about Tremaine Ford's abilities, but because most audio books with songs make me cringe as I reach to turn the volume down to barely audible when the narrator attempts to sing them. ( )

I'm tempted to tag this book "fantasy" because it takes place in small town where the PFLAG group is bigger than the PTA. It's not like this book pretends homophobia doesn't exist (in fact, one of the main characters has a very hard time with his parents) but it does seem unreal to me. I sort of thought of it as a hopeful vision of the not-so-distant future. Great for LGBTQ teens, or as a Gay Straight Alliance book club pick.

One picky thing about the writing, though: I've read some of Levithan's other books and this is by far the most precious. Some of the narrators poetical musings were hard to swallow (I think the word I'm looking for is "twee"), but to give the author credit, it's probably not far from how a real 15-year-old romantic would express himself. ( )

YA m/m romance in which, well, boy meets boy, boy has some questionable interactions with his ex-boy and so causes new-boy sadly to bolt, then boy makes romantic gestures to get new-boy back. On the surface it sounds…not great, and if it weren’t for the excellent characters that make up boy’s friends and the fun/funny takes on high school vibes, it would have been. But those good things are really good and make it not only a tolerable read, but a good one. I was recommending it to Charlie by describing it as a story that feels like it happens in the halls of Glee’s high school. ( )