Fun, sassy, energetic, Jason June’s latest expertly delves into gender identity and expression with sensitivity and accessibility. This will definitely be a meaningful title to YA readers.

What a fantastic book! The characters were wonderfully written; vulnerable, imperfect, and someone you could get behind. I loved that Riley started out with this big agenda and grew, learned, and acknowledged his mistakes along the way. I appreciated that even though this took place in a completely idyllic, accepting community, Riley was able to point out that there were still difficulties to being a femme gay guy.

If I had to come up with any criticism it would be that it seemed that in order to be a gaybutante you had to be rich. The parties were just so elaborate, it feels like someone who was not monetarily capable could never be part of the group. Second, I kind of wish that there was just a little more substance to 'The Jock'. It felt like it was 'here is this stereotypical jerk, no more explanation needed'. Not that you needed much, but he was such a flat character compared to the rest.

4.5 stars rounded up

3.5 rounded to 4

Gay-friendly and queer-inclusive (except could be clearer on trans inclusivity),
Riley Weaver is excited to finally be a high school junior, which means he can join his school's LGBTQ+ club and attend their Gaybutante Ball, which helps LGBTQ folk network for future jobs. And he wants to get out of his otherwise nurturing small down.

However, there's a local bully jock--a gay one, this time, who sneers at femme gays. Riley lays a wager he can find a date for the club's annual ball, and hijinks ensue.

I use the word "hijinks" deliberately here, as there is a kind of comic tone to the constant one-liners and to the somewhat superficial treatment of characters. Riley gets away with an awful lot, but as the book's protagonist, he has the plot armor you expect in a slightly comic story. That plus some unexamined assumptions that poked at me here and there relating to trans inclusivity raised a couple of eyebrows or three. Though all in all, let's Get More Gay out there for kids to read. They can discuss issues themselves, if they get enough books to compare them!

I enjoyed this book, but felt like it dragged in a few places. Riley Weaver makes a bet with The Jock that he a femme gay young man can get a masculine gay young man to ask him to the Gaybutante Ball. This book is set in the idyllic utopian paradise of Mountain Falls where everyone is accepted for who they are and where Queer society hosts a huge Gaybutante social season for high school juniors that takes place in 4 cities. Overall it was a fun read and was enjoyable.

As a middle age cishet woman, I struggled with this one a little bit. Riley was just too much for me, and his problems all felt a little too much for me and I rolled my eyes more than I wanted. I left old reading this- and I should. Jason June didn't write this book for me, I'm not the target audience, he wrote it for younger readers. That said, once I got into it, I did enjoy this read and would recommend to middle / young adult readers and any other fans of the genre.

A lot of things in this worked well -Jason did a really great job showing the inner conflict and show some of this homophobia that exists within this community. As long as someone is trying to gatekeep an identity, folks with continue to have to deal with this conflict and its nice to start seeing it in stories.

2.5 stars.

TWs: transphobia, femmephobia, homophobia, microaggressions, cyberbullying, side character in a toxic relationship, mentioned racism

Riley Weaver has one goal in life: get out of Mountain Pass, the small town where his mother is mayor. He dreams of becoming a popular podcaster and seeking out stories from all kinds of people, and he can't do that from Mountain Pass. He has a plan: become a member of the Gaybutante Society, an LGTBQ+ organization that has launched the careers of dozens of queer teens. The process culminates in the Gaybutante Ball, where all the Gaybutante-Hopefuls are presented to society. Riley isn't worried until he overhears Skylar, an athlete from his school, say that gay guys don't want to date femme guys or else they wouldn't be gay. Riley, a proud femme, bets Skylar that he'll find a masc date to the ball or drop out of the Society entirely.

I am genuinely so heartbroken every time I give an OwnVoices book a low rating, especially one that could've been great. Having read OUT OF THE BLUE by Jason June and mostly enjoying it, I was honestly excited to read this. I love books where social media plays a principal role in the narrative, and *especially* when the main character is an influencer or attempting to become one. I also, of course, love books that are unapologetically queer, and this promised to be that from the beginning. However, there were many aspects that undermined my enjoyment, so I've decided to this review as a pros/cons list.

Pros:
- The book's message. This book focuses on homophobia, specifically femmephobia, *within* the queer community, which I found unique. The main character, Riley wears flamboyant clothing, full faces of makeup, exquisite nail polish; he is proudly femme. Riley's internal struggle when faced with Skylar's femmephobic opinion was so real, and I really felt for him. I also learned a lot about femmephobia and hatred within the gay community, something that I haven't seen tackled in other books I've read.

- Connery. Aside from that god-awful name, Connery was such a cute character. I can't say much without spoiling but his character was amazing commentary on expectations of masculinity. He was also an interesting foil for Riley, and I wish we got more of him.

Uh. That's about it for the pros.

Cons:
- The transphobia. For a book that mentions how gender isn't related to appearance or gender assigned at birth, Riley makes a lotttt of statements that contradicts that. I highlighted all the instances of gender being associated with genitals and it comes up five separate times, the first of which being on the SECOND PAGE. Five mentions may not seem like a lot, but this book is ABOUT how presentation doesn't equal gender doesn't equal genitals!! Riley even SAYS "it's not about genitals for me but it is for other people" which is not TRUE because HE HIMSELF BRINGS UP GENITALS!! As a nonbinary person, every single time it was mentioned I just sat there like ???

- This is just an extension of the first point, but there's an instance where Riley thinks he's looking at a woman and then the person turns around and Riley immediately goes "omg not a woman but a very attractive man" (not a quote) and I was again in shock because?? How do you know that person is a man without asking?? They could still be a woman??? It was incredibly shocking, especially considering that the MC in Jason June's previous work deliberately did not assume gender from appearance despite some characters being very masc or very femme from the beginning; they always, always asked before gendering. I thought for sure that Riley was about to be called out for making an assumption based on appearance, but he never was!

- The plot. Basically, Riley goes on a series of dates with a few guys in an effort to find a date for the Gaybutante Ball; the problem with this is that he isn't honestly approaching any of these guys. One of the conditions for the bet is that the guy can't know about it, so that they can't be swayed into asking Riley to the ball. This means, though, that Riley has both an ulterior motive and a deadline for talking to all of these guys. He doesn't genuinely *like* any of them, and I thought for sure that he would be called out on it. It's a classic trope: person A approaches person B because of a bet, person B actually falls, person B finds out it was a bet, angst ensures. I didn't necessarily want the angst, but what I did want was accountability. Riley essentially played with all the guys because he had no intention of actually forming a relationship with any of them! He just wanted a date to the ball for this bet! And I also know it's not that serious, since dating doesn't equal a relationship, but at the same time it's a little screwed up that Riley got off scot-free for this.

- Bringing up the issues of accountability, Riley is almost never held accountable! He is by all counts a selfish person and a horrible friend, and when he finally does experience consequences for his actions, the consequences fade away within a few chapters! Also, unbelievably, Riley believes that HE is owed an apology from that friend when HE"S the one who blew their friendship up! This is only one example of Riley's selfishness going unchecked, but it's the most egregious one.

- The Gaybutante Society itself. I have no idea how this works. It's stated a few times that the Society accepts anyone who tries to enter and that it's a very popular event, so my question is why aren't there like a million Hopefuls every year? You just have to be a Hopeful to have access to the Gaybutante's social accounts, and I feel like there would be so many more people trying to take advantage of that to launch their careers. Moreover, why is the Gaybutante Society even in this random small town?? The Gaybutante Society has branches in New York, LA, and a few other big cities, but they are all BIG CITIES. Why are they in this random ass village :sob:

- The diversity. This book approaches the "how do you state a character's race in narration?" question by stating every single character's race. The problem is, this makes it obvious how few characters of color there are. I read the word "white" so many times in comparison to any other race/ethnicity that I started to get a bit uncomfortable. This may be more nitpicky than my other comments, but newer books that lack diversity are a pet peeve of mine.

This review is now longer than some oneshots I've written, and I haven't yet covered all my issues with this book. If it isn't clear, I do not recommend this book. Despite its anti-femmephobic core, the issues outlined above make me regret reading this. This hasn't turned me off of Jason June's books completely, since I don't think this is a representative work, but it has made me warier of his future releases.

Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball is a YA LGBTQ+ romance (if the title didn’t make that clear for you) Riley has almost everything he needs, a supportive family , fantastic friends , but he’s lacking one thing, a date to the Gaybutante Ball!

I really am going to push this book to all my family and friends because it really provides such an insight LGBTQ+ youth go through, especially those that don’t follow societal expectations of what is acceptable behaviour or presentation and this book is all about acceptance! Which is why it’s so wonderful and I loved it just so much, the self acceptance and accepting others for who they are too.

I’m 45 and heterosexual, I’m definitely not the target reader by any means, but I love LGBTQ+ books, I’m so overjoyed that they are now so much more easily accessible, I just wish they had been when I was young for my friends, but also my peers for education to avoid ignorance, I am recommending this book to everyone,sadly it’s likely that in some parts of the US and other right wing parts of the world this book will get banned, so buy it, borrow it, spread the love, educate and acceptance. Please support this book as it is everything good in the world.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Some spoilers in review
Jason June did it again. A fantastic story of a queer teenager trying to overcome bigoted obstacles.
Riley Weaver has waited not so patiently for their junior year in order to join the ranks of the Gaybutantes, a society of queer individuals very similar to a fraternity. Members of the society typically go on to do great things through all of their connections and Riley can't wait to get out this small town.
Important fact, Riley is femme and ends up in a bet with a masc boy named Skylar that a masc gay would never date a femme because they're gay to date boys not boys that dress like girls 🙄 if Riley can't get a masc boy to ask him to the Ball at the end of the season he has to drop out of the Gaybutantes

Immediately I knew Skylar had a crush on Riley but I expected that that was why he made the bet and not as a result of but I still knew it was going to happen. I also called Nick, Riley's best friend being in love with him but the journey there was still adorable.

I loved the way that there was no sugarcoating the bigoted comments from Riley's podcast community or any of the other stupid people in the story.

Riley is a queen and the Gaybutantes sound like such a fun group, I wish it was a real thing

A young-adult, LGBTQ+ romance. Lovable characters. Many laugh-out-loud moments!

A supportive family and the best friends ever, Riley has it all, except a date to the Gaybutante Ball! Living in a supportive community, Riley has a problem with someone who has femme phobia. What is the podcaster to do? Place a beat and discuss it on the podcast.

For LGBTQ+ teens who don't feel heard.

(I received the ARC for free. This is my honest opinion.)

What a delightful book, this book is all about acceptance! Of yourself and who you are and of others accepting you, I really loved it, I wish more adults would read this kind of book, it really gives you an insight of what kids who don’t exactly go by the binary and by what society has deemed acceptable go through.
Riley was such a wonderful character, with flaws and virtues just trying to dins his niche, love and make his dreams come true.
All the supporting characters really add to the story and I specially liked Connery and Nick.

Riley Weaver is excited to finally be a junior, which means he can apply to be a member of his school's LGBTQ+ club that, over the years, has helped launched its members to success in a range of careers. Riley is counting on the club to help him spread his wings and explore life outside of his hometown once he graduates. But he puts it all at risk when he bets a fellow student that he will be able to find someone to be his date to the club's annual ball or he will drop out of the club altogether. And to make the stakes even higher, Riley chooses to track his efforts in a podcast -- putting his efforts, and his heart, on the line for everyone to see.

This is a sweet and thoughtful exploration of important issues related to identity, societal expectations, and labels.

Highly recommended!

What a fabulous story with such great and relatable characters!
Riley takes on gender nonconformity when a jerk takes a strong anti femme stance- they end up making a bet requiring Riley to find a masc guy to ask him to escort him to the Gaybutant ball.
I loved how all of the characters made stumbles that created a great space to discuss a lot of issues the queer community faces from within and outside of itself.
It was adorable and gave me a little bit of anxiety… I didn’t want these sweet babies to get hurt. I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s book for an eARC

Riley Weaver is absolutely fabulous, confident in who he is and is willing to prove anyone who questions him wrong. I adore Riley with my whole heart! He isn’t afraid to shine and be unapologetically himself, and rightly so.

The idea of the Gaybutante Society is so wondeful, with such a strong sense of community and lots of fun. It also focuses around the idea of giving back to each other, for example finding and helping mentees and also giving back a percentage of your earnings once you start earning a living wage to help support other members with things such as healthcare. It highlights some very important issues within the LGBTQIA+ community and also tackles them. One of the main themes is the stereotype of femme presenting people within the community and how many people have negative views or opinions that are guided by ignorance and a lack of human decency. It was so wonderful to see Riley squash these views in his journey as well as finding himself and having some interesting experiences along the way. The idea of having a podcast for Riley to document the journey on was wonderful and I really enjoyed the podcast segments. While this book does tackle some important and harmful topics, it does so in such a special way. With a positive spin on things, igniting hope and with an emphasis on the importance of your own journey and reflection.

This was nothing short of delightful and I feel it is an important read. I wish I had something like this to read growing up and it absolutely warms my heart to know that works such as this are becoming more easily accessible to younger people and people in general more and more. Reading this has left me with the biggest smile on my face. It has such a strong sense of community and friendship as well as such a cute romance. I will be without a doubt recommending this to anyone and everyone, just like I did with Out Of The Blue.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to fall in love with this novel.

Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball is a breath of fresh air, for a pair of lungs that have been without oxygen for so long. I'm not an avid reader of YA and rationally dabble in the genre specifically when it hits queer and, often, full of heart.

RWNDGB, I shall shorten to an acronym and an ode to a running joke in the novel, will take your breath away. At once, it's about love; found family, family, romantic love, platonic love, all of it and more. The amount of love in here could power an entire country, and I wish it could heal every heart that hurts currently with all of the transphobic bills, laws and news coming out across the country. Coupled with the kidnapping of indigenous children and the murder of marginalized people, the world is suffering.

This is the fearless, unwavering and utopian queer story that every queer, questioners and hets need. This world needs this love, and joy, and serotonin. I expected to like this book, even dislike some of it, but I fell in love with the story, the characters, the queer joy.

This story is so important. It tackles the gender binary, further examines femininity, and how society rules it as one class over the other, and how that comes into play with "pre-determined queer traits". I'm swaying between a trans man and genderqueer person, who likes being a boyfriend, and doesn't mind falling into a category of being afab man. I feel comfortable labeling myself as a femme gay man sometimes, but other times I want to throw my hands up and say... SCREW LABELS.

I just want to be a human, and often I don't want to be perceived at all, but when I do, I want to be a human first, label second. I want to be me, to figure out the ins and outs of who I am, without people judging or categorizing me, Despite leaning left and right in these categories, this novel came at the perfect time. I haven't read anything like it since The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin ( rest in peace legend ).

This story needs to reach the hearts of everyone, I think it would be the start to a process of healing. It battles toxic, possessive relationships and jealousy. It handles judgement among queers, and trying to determine if someone IS queer based on their allyship. It has one of the most beautiful, slow burn ( SUPER SLOW BURN ) romances I've ever read and wanted to root for, with the most profound platonic love that turns into romantic love ( I'm crying just thinking about it ).

Riley Weaver's journey from wanting to become a Gaybutante member and to take his love for podcasts and reaching out to people to really know them, and speak to others within the queer community, to bond and connect with people.. And the way that he loves his friends, and family, and sticks by them. The fierceness of his personality, his love, passion,, stubbornness. He was also hilarious, I adored the humor in this book and it made for several memorable scenes.

The side characters and ( several ) love interests were wonderful, full of love, and I will not be able to stop talking about the LOVE. My heart has never felt so full, and I have a feeling it won't stop swelling anytime soon. Like the Grinch, my heart keeps doubling in size when I think about this book.

From platonic friendships and love, to community, and LOVE, LOVE LOVE, this is EVERYTHING. Thank you Jason June, I love you in a very platonic, I am so thankful for your words and your heart kind of way.

I finished this in a few sittings since I'm between a couple of books, but I did stay up till almost two in the morning finishing it.

It was gorgeous. Stunning. Adjectives I save for my gorgeous, stunning boyfriend.

This book is EVERYTHING. It's going to be so banned. So read it. Buy it. Support it. Read it to your friends, your family, your kids. Love.

This... this is joy. Pure joy.

Author Jason June creates such fully realized worlds; they are absolutely immersive. I will be using this one as an example of how important world-building is even for contemporary stories. More importantly, though, is the utopia presented in RILEY WEAVER NEEDS A DATE TO THE GAYBUTANTE BALL. For a queer teen, it seems like there's no better place to live than Mountain Pass where being LGBTQ+ is celebrated on a huge scale. Jason June uses this utopia to explore the nuances of labels--especially within the queer/trans community--and how it can be limiting and even harmful. The detail in this book is exquisite and the characters are very well developed. I look forward to using it in my classes and recommending it as a must-read to friends.

I feel like Jason June writes love letters to the world that they want to live in. I always see them in their characters and I love that so much. Maybe that’s why their books always feel so beautiful and truthful.

This book wasn't for me. I wanted to love it because I thought the premise sounded amusing and that it could be a pretty hilarious skewering of people who hate on gender non conforming folks. Unfortunately the whole concept came off as too contrived for me. The characters didn't have enough depth or development. The initial confrontation between Riley and The Jock felt really artificial. I know teenagers can be pretty dense, but watching the Jock just double down on all his hateful crap didn't feel authentic.

Not every book is perfect for every reader though, so this might be fun for someone else. Just not my cup of tea.

Very sweet rom-com, with a cruel betting setup I did not enjoy, a bit She's All That but somehow even more mean. I put the book down for a while after the instigating incident, but it did win me over with the whole silly, fantastical situation, the fun attempted dates and the friendship drama.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I’ve really liked Jason June’s prior books, but Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball is probably my favorite from him thus far. It’s an incredibly queer-affirming book, exploring a queer teen as he navigates the stereotypes that come with being in the LGBTQ+ community, some of it being reinforced by the community itself. This idea of what allegedly makes someone “gay/queer enough” has been discussed ad nauseum, but I love Jason June’s unique perspective on this through Riley Weaver’s eyes. I adore the way the narrative fights back against the labels and pigeonholing of what it means to be “masc” or “femme,” and which makes the person “really” gay, and how the gatekeeping of queerness can be harmful to those who don’t fit neatly into a binary gender identity (or identify with one that is considered invalid).
The Gaybutante Ball also sounds like such fun, and how it’s part of an initiative to help queer teens with their careers and give back to the community. The promise of queer chaos is absolutely met with some aspects of this book.
Riley is a fabulous protagonist, and I love that he doesn’t let the naysayers try to dictate who he is. He takes on the challenge of finding a date for the big Gaybutante Ball and documenting the process on his new podcast, and I couldn’t help but find him endearing throughout as he shared his musings and little updates on his progress on his journey.
The romance was super-cute, and I liked who it ended up being with, given the way it was built up throughout the book. It also was quite satisfying to have it be with someone Riley already trusted, given the premise of fighting back against someone he had animosity with.
This is such a beautiful book, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for books with positive queer, gender-nonconforming rep.

♡ Slow Burn
♡ Podcaster
♡ Friends to Lovers
♡ Good Friendships
♡ Comforting Setting

(First Person POV)

As the title says Riley Weaver needed a date for the famous Gaybutante Ball after making a bet with a jock who thought Riley was too femme for a guy and who would like that? So, Riley bets to prove Skylar wrong. Naturally, things didn't go as planned and while trying to balance his work for the Gaybutante Society, his friendships, finding a date for his bet, and trying to tell his mom he wants more than his small town can offer, it’s safe to say Riley missed a few things along the way.

I read this in two days and I was so invested. Riley was such a lovable character and the overall book felt like such a reassuring warm hug. The gender norms being destroyed will not be missed. The friendships showed the good and bad, they felt so natural and real to read. It was such a highlight to read about the bestie sandwich being there for one another even after a fight. I loved Nick and Sabrina so very much. Josiah was so wholesome and sweet too.

I loved how the ending worked out and who Riley ended up with, definitely shipped them from the start and was very happy to see them as a couple. It was really cute!!

The setting of this book was so beautiful. While I understand why Riley wants more than his small hometown—I’d just like to say I want to move to Mountain Pass, it’s like a Hallmark movie-level small town but queer and comforting.

I think Jason June is now going to be an auto-buy author for me now. This book was absolutely everything. It was such a comforting lighthearted read. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially people in the lgbtqiap+ community. It’s so nice to see so much queer representation in one book and have it done in a good way. I just can not express that enough.

A lovely thank you to NetGalley and the author/HarperTeen for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.