The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is really strongest when discussing Yami's family, heritage, and community. I loved reading about her relationship with her mother, the love she has for her father and how close they are despite his deportation, and her nuanced relationship with her brother Cesar. Reyes has a sharp, witty writing style that I enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story didn't click for me the way that it should have. Catholic School felt a bit like a plot device to keep Yami closeted, and without it, there would be no story. The love interest didn't feel fully fleshed out to me, and as much as Ii love to see political/social justice activism in books, it felt like that was her entire personality. So I couldn't ever really FEEL the chemistry or the excitement over Yami's romance.

This book is also full of very current pop culture references, and I personally feel a bit taken out of the story when that happens.

Overall, I think this is probably going to be a perfect book for a lot of people, just not for me.

Yamilet Flores is dealing with a lot: the fallout from being outed, keeping her brother out of trouble, and navigating a new school. The last thing she needs is a distraction in the form of smart, funny, and cute classmate, who also is openly queer.

I loved this story. The characters are multi-faceted, richly drawn. They're dealing with very serious issues but those are treated with care and concern (and there are trigger warnings). There are moments of humor and lightness and there's love - friend love, self love, familial love, and romantic love.

An excellent YA coming of age and coming out story about a Mexican-American teen attending a mostly white Catholic school for the first time. After being outed by her former best friend, Yamilet is determined to fly under the radar at her new school. Between her cute new friend who's one of the few kids willing to push back against the school's doctrine (especially like when the ask students to debate topics like whether LGBTQ people deserve the right to marry like everyone else) and beginning to question why religion is being used to invalidate people like her just for their sexuality, she decides it might be time to be her true self. But with fears of being kicked out if her mom finds out she's a lesbian, she's determined to make enough money selling beaded earrings before she does that she'll be able to live independently if she needs to.

This book didn't shy away from the difficult sides of being a queer teen, especially in a religious household. I loved how everything was handled, though, even if it was sometimes heartbreaking to read. Ultimately, it was about a teen learning to be true to herself and the enduring power of family (both biological and found) and love.

TW for homophobia, religious intolerance, and attempted suicide.

First impression: great title; also being a queer nonbinary latinx person who has gone to catholic school this feels like a must read.

There was so much I loved about this book. It was so funny and relatable. There were moments that had me laughing aloud like when Yamilet said WWSGD ( What Would a Straight Girl Do?) instead of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) This was another needed read for me. The way Yami & Bo fought against the closed mindedness of the catholic school was inspiring and their little romance took forever but was so cute and precious. The storyline with Cesar was really sad but felt honest. It all felt realistic but still hopeful and happy and that's all I can ask for from a debut author. Looking forward to more from Sonora Reyes!

******SPOILER AHEAD********

The moments when Yami was tryna save up to live on her own w/ cesar in case her mom kicks them out was so real and heartbreaking. Then when the mom turns out to be a badass supportive parent to everyone’s surprise it really just warmed my heart. And when all 3 of them cursed out the dad! PERFECTO

I would recommend this book to my queer Black & Brown teen patrons. A lot of my teens struggle with if they should come out and I feel like this book puts a lot into perspective. Its not always the right choice, choose safety first. Also anyone looking for a funny, real book with chicanx representation, lesbian representation!

Searing and hysterical by turns, The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a witty and moving look at being The Outsider and trying to fit in--even when that means hiding who you really are.

THIS BOOK IS ACTUALLY EVERYTHING TO ME!❤️🥹🏳️‍🌈

What I LOVED about this book…
-Let’s start simple, the cover is gorgeous & the title really reels you in.
-Main character & POV of dear Yami. After getting outted by her best friend at her previous school, her and her brother change school…to a private catholic (and very white) school.
-The family dynamics written are truly top notch. Yami’s Dad was deported prior to the novel’s start & shows her mom being a single parent. Yami has a lot of expectations on her, like keeping her brother out of trouble & helping her Mom with her business. Yami has a rough time coming out to her friends and Mom, but loved how her mom ended up handling everything!
-Cesar, Yami’s brother, was such a strong character. I loved when he came out as bi to Yami. It was probably my favorite coming out scene in a book! It was emotional while also making me laugh with the siblings! His struggle with mental health was a strong spot in the book. Loved the rep of a teenage boy dealing with depression.
-Friendships were wonderful, loyal group of teenagers.
-Bo was so sweet! I loved how Bo was fleshed out & we got to see her relationship with her parents as well. I really enjoyed her thoughts on her adoption & the discussion she has with her parents regarding race. I love how the romance takes time to build & wasn’t the premise of the whole novel.
-The anti-prom was everything 🥹

An outstanding 5 ⭐️ coming of age novel. I can not believe this is a debut. Am patiently waiting for the author’s next novel ❤️ Will hopefully be able to use this in my classroom this upcoming school year.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing the ARC of one of my favorite books of the year! 🥰

I will never stop raving about it. It’s warm, it’s fierce, it is the exact book I needed when I realized I was gay. The full cast of characters were amazing, the representation was spot on and made me feel seen. I don’t know what’s in store for Yamilet but I can’t wait to see how this ends.

This is a great book the topics addressed are done so with respect— discussions of colonialism, religion, and LGBTQ+ rights all fit perfectly into the book.

But, more importantly, the romance was so cute!!! I want what Yami and Bo have. The gay chaos is absolutely one of my favorite aspects of the book.

As a lesbian who taught at an anti-gay Catholic college, I found much to like about this novel. The main characters are lovely, brave kids who are wrestling with real questions about race, religion, and sexuality. Most of the “bad guy” characters are not at all nuanced, and the novel falls into that YA temptation of piling misery upon misery for the main characters. But Yami and Cesar's parents are more complex and unexpected than I initially assumed.

I will request that the library where I teach purchase this novel.

Yamilet Flores is in the closet. Her super religious mom, emotion avoiding brother, and deported father are just some of the people in her life that don't know she's gay. After being outed by her ex-best friend, Yami takes the chance to move schools with her brother. Only problem? They're one of the very few students of color in this very white, very rich, very catholic school.
Hiding who she is is already hard enough and then she meets out and proud Bo, who she definitely does not have a crush on.
An amazingly deep story about identity, family, culture, acceptance, and so much more. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is one of my favorite books from the past few years. It reminds me why Young Adult is such an impactful genre even as I move farther and farther from my teen years.

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a must read! I don't know which had me hooked more, the internal dialogue and struggle that Yami is constantly facing, the unknown the she and Cesar must traverse through with their mother, or the waiting for the romance to stop building and finally blossom! It's a book about love, acceptance, and realizing that everyone deals and lives with different difficulties in life, all of which are completely valid. Not to mention it's beautifully written!

When I first saw the title for this YA novel, I immediately knew that I had to add it to my TBR. As a Mexican-American girl who attended Catholic school from until I was 14 years old, this book called to me, and it did not disappoint! I mean…look at the first line of the book: “Seven years of bad luck can slurp my ass.”

I have yet to read a book that so accurately exemplifies the Catholic guilt that I also experienced as a young person during my time (and for a while after) attending Catholic school. Yami is dealing with so much on top of guilt for not fitting into the narrow definition of a “good Catholic”, from fear of coming out to her mother and friends to coping with her father being deported from the United States. I appreciated how Sonora Reyes dealt with Yami’s very real fears, including the possible repercussions of coming out in her religious and “traditional” family. Despite how much she loves them and how much they love her, she is still fearful of being kicked out of her home and is forced to plan for such an outcome.

Although this book focuses on quite a few heavy topics, it didn’t fail to make me laugh. Yami was such a fun character. I laughed out loud so many times because of her penchant for getting herself into uncomfortable situations in her efforts to avoid anyone finding out she is gay. She’s a bit of a mess, but all of her wackiness made her such a real character.

Her interactions with her friends and family, including her younger brother Cesar and her crush Bo, are also a big part of her journey and the book itself. I appreciated that the author focused on the immense amount of pressure that her mom puts on her to constantly watch out for brother, which is something so many Mexican girls are tasked with, no matter the age. Her crush Bo is also dealing with issues of her own as a queer Chinese girl adopted by white parents. I can’t speak to her experience, but the different representation in this book made it an even more enriching read. How Cesar and Bo’s experiences are woven through Yami’s own story was just beautiful.

Overall, I loved this book. It made me laugh, made me tear up a bit, and comforted me in ways I definitely needed. Even though the characters are really going through it, the book ends on a hopeful note that gave me the warm embrace that I hoped (and needed) it to be.

I loved The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes! First I want to state that this book does have content warnings for: homophobia, racism, immigration, and a character with suicidal ideation and subsequent hospitalization. Even though this book does deal with some serious topics, it's also very cute! I loved the focus on family in this story. There's a great sibling relationship and both supportive and unsupportive parental figures in this book. Luckily most of them are supportive! This book is also very diverse for being set at a mostly white Catholic school. We get a Mexican-American lesbian MC, a Chinese-American lesbian MC, a Mexican-American bi MC, and a Black gay MC. I loved the characters so much, they were well-developed and felt like real teenagers. I liked that Reyes addressed the fear of being queer in a Catholic family and the complicated emotions that come with that. I really related to Yami as the older sibling in a single parent family, how that can come with responsibilities and stresses that not every teenager faces. Overall, I just really loved this book. The romances are very sweet, but The Lesbiana's Guide also had me crying a few times as the more serious aspects of the plot unfolded. I'd highly recommend adding this one to your Pride Month TBR!

“lak’ech” - i see you; you’re my other me. to protect him from fights, yami follows her brother cesar to catholic school. she sees this change as a reset after getting outed by her ex-best friend at her old school. a reset where she can pretend to be straight, just like she has been pretending at home.

i literally jumped the very first time i saw this title for, like yami, i was also a queer kid in catholic school. & before that i was a queer kid in church, in sunday school. fortunately not long after my mum gave me the option to leave, one which i readily took. & the rest i’ve slowly unpacked by reading queer coming of age.

i'm feels odd to call this book nostalgic because i would absolutely Not go remotely near catholic school again, not after all the years spent years processing & unlearning the things that were taught. but it made me think of the little things that i had long suppressed.

like our uniform — a white collared shirt practically made of cardboard with a blue pinafore over it (intentionally rolled up past the knees of course) which in hindsight is funny because pinafores are Certifiably Gay™️.

like going to prom with my best friend, just two heteros ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) dancing with one foot between us.

& while yami’s experience was not entirely like mine, it was there in the gradual realization that there were other queer and questioning kids in school, like & unlike us, & that these kids silently had each others’ backs. in seeing others living proudly & wanting that, but also realizing that its okay go at your own pace.

it was also there the realization that there are still Good adults in the most unexpected places, doing the most to keep these kids safe.

lesbiana’s guide is full of messy kids brimming with so much love to offer. at times to people who don’t deserve it. you gotta love these kids. to see them struggle but make it out the other & in one piece. to see that they are enough the way they are. and now kids will get to see that through this book.

“I don’t want to apologize about who I am, or how I look, or what I feel.”

Yamilet Flores is not doing so great. After being outed by her former best friend, she decides to switch schools and attend a Catholic school with her brother, Cesar. This time, Yamilet will be straight; she’ll fit in, even though she’s the only gay, Mexican-American girl at an overwhelmingly white high school. The only problem? Bo, an adorable, intelligent girl who is out and proud. Written in the simultaneously snarky and witty voice only a whip-smart teenage girl can possess, Reyes captures the incredible and heartbreaking experience of falling in love and being who you truly are in a world full of people who want to keep you down.

What Reyes manages to accomplish in The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School is real and raw: high school is miserable. But when you’re made to feel different because of your skin color and sexuality, it’s downright hellish. Yami must navigate the trials and tribulations of her life. From a seemingly unsupportive family, to disgusting discrimination at school, Yami does not have it easy. It would be hard for anyone to handle this with grace—much less a teenager—but somehow Yami manages do so.

Yet Reyes doesn’t just zero-in on all of Yamilet’s hardships. There are very poignant discussions of racism, homophobia and class issues, but that’s not the focus of Yami’s story. Instead, Reyes tells a tale of joy despite the chaos: of coming into yourself, of grabbing hold of your identity, and, perhaps most importantly, of being unashamed in loving who you want to love. Yamilet and Bo prove that the sky is the limit—over, and over again. Their romance is the type of fairytale that all of us wished to have in high school, and maybe even beyond. To see two queer kids fall into such a sweet love story is a beautiful thing.

Reyes truly poured their heart out in this book. The Lesbiana’s Guide To Catholic School is, if nothing else, a story of triumph. Reyes proves there’s a happy ending out there waiting for everyone.

This book has such a strong and solid voice for a debut. I loved how sharp and intense and real Yamilet was, how i could picture her, her hand steady while doing her trademark eyeliner despite all the troubles and messiness of the world surrounding her. She is such a great lesbian protagonist and I can only thank Reyes for depicting with such care gay thoughts and how just we are always having gay thoughts and an inner fight-or-flight response to gay panic. It was stunning to see Yamilet exploring her feelings and her relationship to her sexuality after having been outed by her former crush and best friend, prior to the book. Reyes highlights how being gay and open about yourself within yourself is important rather than painting coming out as an inevitable step, especially regarding queer kids it could harm instead of making them free.

The romance was really cute. I think people may unfairly criticize the miscommunication that gets in the way of their relationship but let me remind you: they are teenagers! And lesbians ! in a catholic! and not super openly gay-friendly environment. It was realistic and I loved how Reyes handled the different approaches to being gay and put in discussions of very specific lesbian experiences such as the fear of being seen as a predator by other girls and the whole alienation of being a lesbian in girl friendship groups. Bo was a really interesting love interest and i loved how she has her own narrative arc and comes to terms with parts of her identity as a Chinese American adoptee.

Amazing book following Yamilet as she moves to a new school with her brother to try to keep him out of trouble. She struggles with keeping her identity as gay private and is shocked to learn her brother is bi. She begins to save to support them for when they come out to their very conservative Hispanic mother. Their father has been deported back to Mexico but is very supportive until Yami tells him she is gay. After that things snowball for her ending with her brother revealing he is suicidal and being hospitalized. When the two come out to their mother she is supportive and fights back against their father who had quit talking to Yami. A great statement about having a belief system, but not letting it negate your love for others.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, Balzer + Bray, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

TW: forced outing, homophobia, lesbophobia, suicidal thinking

Yamilet is a sixteen-year-old teenager and she prefers to be known for her eyeliner, not for being the only Mexican kid in her new, white and very rich Catholic school. At least none knows's she's gay and after being outed by her crush and ex best friend, Yami doesn't want anyone to know. Now she has other priorities, like keeping her brother out of trouble, study and not fall in love and complicate everything. But, of course, life isn't always simple, faking being straight seems really hard, expecially when she knows Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, a cute, smart and talented girl. She has also deal with her mother, while trying not to fall in love.

The lesbiana's guide to catholic school was definitely one of my most anticipated reads in 2022 and it didn't disappointed me at all. I fell in love with the cover, I mean...look at it! And the plot was amazing and intriguing. This book is the brilliant debut of Sonora Reyes who assured me as an obsessed reader of anything Sonora will ever write in the future. The book is fresh, raw, also painful to read and at the same time moving, hilarious about a queer girl navigating a catholic and mostly white school and the problems and issues that comes with it, with her relationship with her mother and herself.
The story is incredible and I loved Yami's journey into accepting and celebrating herself, without shying from telling the sufferings and heartaches and injustice that came with the journey itself.
Yami is a wonderful main character and I loved her voice, so honest and witty and funny and her relationship with Bo and her accepting and loving herself. The author did an outstanding job in dealing with difficult themes like homomisia, forced outing, pain and grief.
This book is truly amazing and I love it with all my heart.

Sharing your love for someone is hard, sharing it with your family and the world is even harder, especially if your mom is super religious & you have to attend a Catholic HS and you have to hide that you are queer from the world. That’s what Yami has to contend with when she is sent to Slayton catholic school, where she meets Bo and falls hard, but has to pretend to be straight, after being outed by her former bff/crush. There Yami meets Bo, who is out and proud, and she must come to terms with her feelings for Bo, dealing with her brother Cesar, who had to attend Slayton for issues he had at his former school and coming to terms with her identity.

I really enjoyed this book a lot. A lot of laughs, a lot of tears, a lot of rooting for both Yami & Cesar. The book helps the reader see that Queer folk have the same issues as straight folk: falling in love, learning who your true friends are, family problems, depression…you name it. The author is sensitive to the suicidal thoughts/issues that Cesar has and warns the reader that the book deals with “racism, homophobia, the suicidal ideation and hospitalization of a character”. The scenes with Cesar, Yami and their mom after Cesar were carefully crafted in a way that the reader can feel the pain that the family goes through as they each come to terms with his attempted suicide. Thank you NetGalley for the Arc and for Ms. Reyes for an amazing book!

This story was absolutely incredible. It was so poignant and touched on so many essential topics necessary for young adults to be exposed to. This book was such a warm hug with the sweet sapphic romance and the incredibly loyal friends. Sonora Reyes gave us a story where these teends are breaking out of their given boxes to be who they are meant to be in the real world and it left me in awe.

Thank you so much to HarperTeen for the opportunity to read an e-ARC!