Need an -ism? This book's got it!

It really tries to sell you on the whole "teens will be teens!" idea, but we all realized that this is messed up right?

I first want to thank Netgalley for giving me permission to read this title. The book was an amazing read. I think that I will most definitely be ordering this book to put on the shelves at our library. I believe that the teens will thoroughly enjoy it.

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. I can't scream enough about this book. Amazing representation, tropes that I LOVE, and I flew through this.

The description of this book refers to it as “hilarious and provocative,” and both of those are true.

Any young adult novel that opens with a main character in a park waiting to meet someone he contacted through an app in the hopes of losing his virginity—well, that’s certainly provocative, right? I’m no prude, but I must admit, the level of frankness in this book exceeds many other YA novels that I’ve read. Heck, I’ve read a lot of adult gay romances, and I can honestly say I have yet to run across a mention of the bleaching of a certain body part, but I found it here.

It's also provocative in that it is quite non-PC for a book covering LGBT+ themes. Just as an example, one of the main characters gives an adult woman a nickname based on her large breasts, which made me very uncomfortable. In a book about respecting others, to reduce a woman to her body parts struck a very sour note for me.

If you can’t cope with that kind of thing, this is not the book for you.

If you can, Social Intercourse has its strengths. It’s certainly often funny. But with that humor, it explores some very weighty issues—the consequences of bullying, the exploration of sexual orientation and how hard it can be to come out, and the need to embrace your identity and support others in doing so. Also, the characters who express non-PC views do largely change their attitudes by the end of the book, which did help mitigate some of what was said earlier.

So, this was an interesting read. I’m curious about what the author will come up with in future books.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Beckett is an out gay teen living with his single dad, desperate to have some relationship experience before he graduates high school. Jaxon is the golden high school quarterback, raised by two moms, one of whom has started dating Beckett's dad. Both Jaxon and Beckett are unhappy with the situation, so they devise a plan to get each of their respective parents back with their original partner. But a different romance starts to brew as the two work on their plans--one that neither of them suspected.

This was such a fun read! A lot of the scenes throughout the novel reminded me of Parent Trap at times, as Beckett and Jaxon concoct this scheme in order to actually stop their parents from dating each other. The story itself is also different than a lot of LGBTQ books I've read; instead of focusing on Beckett and Jaxon's coming out stories, the core conflict is focused on something complete different, and I found that really refreshing.

Despite the refreshing story line, there were some problematic moments throughout the book as well. There were some stereotypes that were perpetuated, specifically with Jaxon and his moms, though Beckett also embodies the typically feminine gay stereotype. There also aren't a lot of female characters throughout the story, which can be fine, but the ones that are presented are generally flat. If they were more complex, it wouldn't have bugged me so much.

Though there are some problematic aspects within the story, it was still an overall fun read, though probably not one that I'll revisit again. If you're looking for a fun, LGBTQ romance for the summer, this one is worth picking up!

I was not a huge fan of this book. The characters were very unappealing and just UGH! The story line reminded me of a messed up weird version of the Parent Trap and I just couldn't get into it, though I did finish it. The cover also is not to appealing. It's odd looking and not so colorful. We do have it in our library but I don't think we'll get to many people picking it up. Sorry

This had a fairly good story, but I couldn't get past the biphobia and just complete disregard to trans people. I found a lot of issues in that manner and I kept waiting for them to get better but they didn't, so I can't comfortably recommend this to people.

Page turner but may be difficult for those who struggle with the sexism and racism in the gay community.

*I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Warning: There are many mentions of sex in this book, but nothing happens on-page, so to speak.

I give the warning because, the beginning made me feel a little awkward. Although, I will admit to being more of a prude than most. There are also multiple mentions on what is going on with theirs dicks, but I mean... they're guys who are trying to understand their sexuality, so it was more chuckle-worthy or just made me think 'oh you poor dear....'

This book has gay and bi rep, which I thought was done really well. The boys are brought together by their parents who have started dating which is a huge shock since Jaxon's mom has been married to his other mom since he was young. Their main goal is trying to break up their parents. I don't blame them for trying, but I will say the way Beckett talks/thinks about Jaxon's mother was a problem for me. AND she is really never given a chance to redeem herself from being a clingy, dimwitted tart. He honest to all calls her "Big Titties" for most of the book .... mostly because of how he found out she and his dad were dating, but still.

How Beckett acts about people made me dislike him more. I don't mind the gossiping about people or complaining, so I can't put my finger on why exactly I mostly disliked him. Only mostly, because then he would go do something great like remind his best friend that being fat didn't mean she couldn't be beautiful and fierce. I still think Shelby's character deserved more than to eat/want snacks constantly and then what happened to her at the prom, but how author's treat their bigger characters when they actually are included in a book is a story for a different day.

Jaxon, I did like more. He is still pretty immature, but I understood it. He is struggling with being bi and doesn't want to tell anyone because he is the President of the Student Council and star Quarterback of the football team. He picks his battles, but not always the right ones, which could be annoying or just not make sense. This isn't to say he doesn't do horrible things too. He does something that could TOTALLY emotionally scar one of his mothers and that is not okay.
Side note: Love the football team, Terry is my favorite character!

Now, I did mark this book as a tear-jerker, but I don't want anyone thinking this is a sad book/ one where something irreversible happens to a main character. Mostly, my eyes would begin to tear up because of the support shown to the characters. I think some of these conversations are ones that many young LGBT+ people want/need to hear. There is some awesome dialogue and a few really great emotional moments in this book.

It was hard to like this book because of how horrible the main characters could be in order to get what they wanted: their parents to break up and get back with their original partners. I almost have up 15% into the book and even further in. BUT, I thought the writing was good and if I could ignore the sh*tty things they do, I enjoyed watching them become a couple and, in Jax's case, become more comfortable in his own skin.

Will I recommend this? Honestly, I'm torn. Most likely, just because I feel we still have a lack of LGBT+ books, especially ones that end happily, but I'll be careful with recommending it.

The love story is really cute and charming, but there are a lot of very obvious stereotypes that are a little concerning.

Worthy of a purchase for YA collections. While there are similar books that have a bit more substance, teens will still enjoy this romantic comedy of enemies turned love interests.

First off, I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars. I absolutely loved this book! It was hilarious and damn near perfection! I love the cast of characters and, for once, I actually enjoyed a book with more than one POV! If you are a fan of LGBTQIAP+ books, you should most definitely check this out. This is definitely a book I will be reading again.

So...I could never put this in my middle school library. It's graphic and raunchy and completely inappropriate for tweens and young teens.

It's also sweet and hilarious and UTTERLY FANTASTIC.

I'm not kidding...I laughed at something on nearly every page (mostly Beck and his near-perfect narrative voice)--sometimes I laughed so hard there were tears. And even though things get quite graphic, it really approaches touchy subjects (masturbation, sex, parental abandonment, bullying, bigotry) in a way that older teens will relate to. (Although sometimes maybe not...I'm not sure how many teens I know would go to a drag queen spa. But it sure made for an excellent scene.)

Things get a little cheesy at the end, and the characters are a little cliched (hot jock, geeky gay kid, fat best friend, scary football team), but it didn't even bother me because the narrative was SO GOOD. I would read a sequel to this one in a heartbeat.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the characters were fun and interesting. I would be hesitant to put it in my classroom or recommend it to students because it does get a little graphic at times. It is not a hugely inappropriate level or unrealistic for teens, though. Overall a really great book.

A sort of “reverse Parent Trap”, Greg Howard’s Social Intercourse was sassy and sweet with moments that made me literally LOL (not an easy feat when you’re reading at 2:30 in the morning with a sleeping boyfriend next to you). Though the debut novel was not without its flaws, I enjoyed it, and, from a teacher’s point of view, I think it has the potential to start some worthwhile conversations amongst teen readers.

Social Intercourse is told through the alternating narration of Beckett Gaines, one of few openly gay teens at his South Carolina HS, and Jaxon Parker, the school’s star football player and ladies man extraordinaire. Beck is a Golden Girls obsessed, choir-singing, often sassy, and proud gay teen while Jax’s reputation is built on the points he’s scored on the field and the ladies he’s scored before and after games.

I think it’s fair to say that, to some extent, both boys are either walking or jumping that line into being a stereotype. However, I think Howard tries to make them more. Whether that attempt is successful is totally up to each reader, but I liked his characters.

Beck isn’t just the sassy gay friend; he’s someone who cares about his best friend, who gets angry at her mother’s mistreatment of her and tries to help her see that she’s more than the negativity that’s been drilled into her head. He’s someone who picked his father up off the ground and became the very necessary adult after his mother left him and his father behind. Beck makes some selfish mistakes (honestly not surprising because he IS just a teen), but he wants to protect his father above everything else.

I wish that Howard had been able to dive deeper into those aspects of Beck because I think that shining more light on those facets would have made him a more universally likable character for those that are more skeptical than I am.

Underneath Jax’s hetero jock exterior, he seems like he’s a sweet kid. He loves his two moms who saved him from a broken and abusive home, and, at his core, his actions are driven by the desperate wish to keep his “forever home” from becoming broken as well. In the midst of his mothers’ separation, Jax is also struggling with his own personal drama- he’s been questioning the core of heterosexual jock that his entire social life has been built on.

The two boys form a somewhat unlikely alliance when their parents start to date each other. Instead of trying to push their families together, they try to tear them apart, so they can go back to the safe lives that they knew.

During this scheming, the boys become closer, and here is where things get (even more) complicated.

Readers who like a little messy YA romance will definitely get that in spades- Beck and Jax’s interactions are funny, awkward, and sometimes exactly as confrontational as they need to be. Through them, younger readers can start up conversations about the role they should play when someone is being bullied or abused, whether being that simple bystander who does nothing, or that power player who chooses to take a backseat, can sometimes be more hurtful than the ones spewing hateful words or doing hateful things.

I think it’s vitally important that children and teens have those conversations, that they are forced to take a hard look at their own seemingly harmless choices as Jax and Beck are both forced to when they look at how they’ve dealt with each other and how they’ve dealt with their parents.

Overall, I stand by my starting thoughts- I genuinely liked this book. Is it perfection? No, but I think there’s a lot of valuable story here, and enough fun, awkwardness, and sass to keep readers hooked.

I would definitely check out more books by Greg Howard in the future.