AMAZING. I love love love when YA books make an adult feel like there is hope out there. Such a lovely story and the friendships were so fierce and loyal that it warmed my heart. AMAZING!

Funny, relatable, and important. Yamilet's struggles with her family, friends, and her own identity are ones that are so relevant and it is good to see them represented in this novel. Yamilet is a strong and realistic character, and her story is exceptionally written and captivating. I couldn't put it down!

This book deserves every accolade that it’s received, for SURE.

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School follows Yami who tries to almost reinvent herself at a new school (after being outed at her previous school). Naturally, she feels the queer gravitational pull towards Bo, the only openly queer girl at her new school. Yami finds herself put into the position of trying so hard to seem straight while also not falling for Bo.

I loved the romance of this book for sure, but more than that, I loved the relationship between Yami and her brother Cesar. The two of them learning about each other and looking out for each other felt so grounded and so real to me. Long after I finished this book, this is what I thought the most about.

The pacing for me was a little off and it took me longer than usual to get into the swing of things. But at the end of the day, my life is richer for reading this book.

This is one of the books I was most excited for this year, and it lives up to the hype! Yami has so much going on internally and externally. Bo is so cool, how could you not fall in love? I love how diverse this book is without diversity being the MAIN plot point. This book is going to win awards!

Full of all the feels. I read it so fast that even I couldn't believe it at first. Yami and Cesar are mine, I protect them with all I have. There, I said it. Yami Flores, enters a new private Catholic school with her brother. The school is hugely white, which brings loads of struggles for someone with a diverse identity. The story gripped me from the very first line itself, at first I was merely curious about Yami, but slowly, the more I read about her, the more I fell in love with her. With her flaws, with her love for her brother, with her free personality, with her anger, with her anger. And how can I not mention Cesar, her brother who was one of my favorite characters in the whole story.

It has a school sapphic love story, which made my heart full. I knew there was love story, but I was not ready for so much of emotions and feels. No, if you're thinking it's your daily sweet high school romance with all the fluff, I would sincerely tell you, you're very wrong. There's no denying the fact that it has a love story, but it is so much more than that. There are several topics the author exceptionally tackled in the story.

You'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll face heartbreak, you'll fall in love. Solid, easy 5 stars for this stunning debut of Sonora Reyes

I was really amazed by this book! A well written love letter to the queer community with beautiful representation. Won’t shut up about this book.

I would love to recommend this for students in my GSA. Aside from the much-needed representation contained in multitudes within the novel, I feel it's important for students to see the varied ways in which parents struggle to understand what their children need - and the varied ways they respond to that.

Very enjoyable story of a teenage girl trying to figure out how to keep an eye on her younger brother while staying in the closet in a private Catholic school. Yami had been outed at her public school, so when her younger brother gets the opportunity to attend a private school, Yami comes up with funds to help pay her tuition so she can go as well.

I loved the development of the friendships - Bo, the out and proud activist, the homophobic "in crowd," and others in the cast that made this book an easy and fun read. The characters were well developed and relatable. The pacing was great and didn't lag anywhere.

Overall, a really good read.

This was a book that I finished, wished I hadn't read it so that I would have the joy and discovery of reading it that first time, all over again. Reyes adeptly tackles colonialism, internalized homophobia, family dynamics, and racism with a sensitive yet pointed humor that was absolutely delightful. Yami Flores is a fierce protagonist that readers will resonate with. I can't wait to read Sonora Reyes' next book.

After coming out to her best friend went terribly wrong, Yamilet is ready for a fresh start at a new Catholic school. But she knows being a queer Mexican American student is going to make her and her brother's experience there rocky at best, so she's determined to stay in the closet. But that turns out to be even harder than expected when she meets the cute, charming, only out lesbian in the school.

This was so richly drawn and layered, and I absolutely love how Sonora Reyes balanced heavy topics with sweet teenage goofiness. Yamilet is my favorite kind of protagonist, sharp and imperfect and incredibly endearing. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is an emotional roller coaster with an excellent feel-good payoff at the end!

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is bound to become every Latinx, young adult's comfort book. I cried and fell in love with the characters and their journeys. It highlights the importance of family, mental health, and the role religion plays. I believe even adults can benefit from reading this book! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Sonora Reyes' novel The Lesbiana's Guide To Catholic School, brings readers into the life of 17-year-old Yamilet Flores. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend, Yami transfers to a private Catholic school where she vows never to fall in love and keep her mother from finding out the truth.

We jump off National Hispanic Heritage Month with debut author Sonora Reyes as they join us to chat about their bestselling young adult novel, which has recently found its way on the 2022 National Book Award Longlist for Young Readers. Our full interview can be found here: https://www.vulgargeniuses.com/season-3

Absolutely beautiful story of a Latinx girl coming to terms with herself. It’s not a coming out story (at least for our main character) but instead a portrait of what it’s like to exist in a place where you have to hide who you are. I am so glad it has been nominated for a National Book Award and I hope queer Latinxs everywhere see themselves in it.

A winning debut! Reyes doesn't pull punches in their critique of religion and its treatment of queer, fem-presenting folks. I'd read this one again and again! A fresh new voice in the YA-lit world. Y'all better keep an eye on them!

When I was a teenager I could sit down and finish an entire page book in one sitting. Now, as an adult, those days are behind me - or at least I thought they were until I picked up this book and literally only stopped to each meals and even then I'd have the book in one hand.

If I didn't make it clear, I loved this book. I loved this book so much. I can't remember the last book that I held so closely to my heart and filled with so much joy and sorrow. I was so invested in every single character and their lives, and ache at the very idea of actually be done with the book.

Reyes managed to take so many important and messy feelings and put them into a book with so much heart it shone through with every word. They tackled so many difficult topics - the devastating effects of deportation, homophobia, mental illness, poverty, what it means to feel disconnected from your culture - and interwove them into a narrative that was both relatable and heart-wrenchingly sweet.

I think the shining star of this book is how well Reyes is at building and showing the relationships between the characters. The sibling relationship between Yami and Cesar is just so spot on - they care about each other so much but it never becomes saccharine. The relationships between their families, their friends, and neighbors really brings this book to life.

I cannot recommend this book enough and thank you so much to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the e-ARC, I will cherish this book forever.

Yami and her brother Cesar are new students at their predominantly white Catholic school. Yami’s time at her old school ended poorly when she was outed by her crush. She doesn’t want that to happen again, so she’s going to try as hard as she can to not fall in love at her new school. But of course, who can blame her when she starts to fall for Bo who is the only openly queer girl at school?

I loved this!! This book gives you all the feels and I love Yami and Cesar and their friends. Yami is such a hard working girl who wants to do what’s right and best for herself and her family. Unfortunately what she wants doesn’t line up with what everyone else wants or believes in and she’s forced to hide who she is. But of course, falling in love makes it hard to hide who you really are.

Thank you to BooksForwardFriends and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a former catholic school girl turned full-time adult Gay, I knew as soon as I stumbled across a teaser for this book months ago that I had to read it.
Starting out at a new (very white, very Catholic) school with her brother Cesar, sixteen year-old Yami is determined to keep her sexuality secret. After being betrayed by her best friend and working all hours to help her mum pay for her tuition, she's just there to keep Cesar out of trouble, make new friends, and definitely not be gay about it. The sibling rivalry/love shown throughout was
adorable, and Bo (the only openly queer person at school) was my hero from the first moment she entered a scene. It's maybe leaning towards the younger end of YA, but if you're after a sweet, funny, queer, coming of age story, that doesn't shy away from some pretty heavy issues (you might want to check the content warnings on this one first), with a little
romance and a lot of self-discovery sprinkled on top, then you should absolutely give this a whirl. It's out now, so happy reading!

Yamilet is starting at a new high school and wants to keep her LGBTQ identity a secret from her classmates. It's hard enough being one of the only brown faces in a sea of white so she's not about to add another layer of difficulty to her situation. Yami soon befriends an openly gay girl and the two become best friends. As the story progresses, both girls seem to want to be more than friends.

This is a multifaceted story that features deportation, Mexican-American culture, and LQBTQ themes. At times it felt like the author had too much going on but overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a little too long for my liking and was often very angsty, but the representation was wonderful.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books, Balzer + Bray, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

#TheLesbianasGuidetoCatholicSchool #NetGalley

This was such a complex, nuanced, layered exploration of identity and love. I appreciated seeing all of the ways Yami interacted with her family and friends as she came into her own courage—it felt so real, and I'm sure will speak to many teens.

I’m concerned about the word choice in this one. The author opens with “slurp my ass,” which gives off a very “HELLO FELLOW TEEN” vibe that continues throughout the rest of the story. The diction very much sounds like an adult trying to sound like a teen. With that being said, I loved the main character, Yamilet! She is empathic and sweet, and going through a whole lot of repression that many religious-adjacent queer youth tend to experience. The heavy topics around internalized homophobia and religious shame were very real and relatable, but unfortunately unraveled so slowly that it was hard to want to stick around to figure out what was going on. Later events zipped by so fast, I wasn’t sure if I missed something. On the other hand, I know teens tend to like quick and messy events, so I would like to request some more reads on this one! I think the content may be good enough for the list, but the delivery may be too off