Throughout the novel, Reyes portrays Yami's journey in a bittersweet exposition. They describe Yami as quite the fearless and no-nonsense teenage girl, knowing how to show off her racial pride as a Mexican—the kind of person who has honed ways to challenge racial aggressions against her. Yet, when it comes to her sexual identity, it is evident that Yami initially has no support in guiding her to be comfortable with her sexuality.

As a result, Reyes illustrates a sensible motive for Yami's struggle in coming out and a reasonable justification for her envy of Bo's confidence in flaunting her sexuality in a prejudiced setting like a Catholic school.

Overall, it’s a light-hearted and fresh take on owning your identity and being fearless to take on the world despite that it might go against you. It's one of the queer books that feel so close to the heart since Reyes is also a former Catholic school student, and of the best young adult contemporary debuts to read this year. Give this book a chance and celebrate your uniqueness with it.

They put the trigger warning at the end of the book with the acknowledgements??? Who does that??? Why would you do that??? So for all my readers, trigger warnings: suicide, homophobia, racism, bullying.

Other than that this was a super cute fun book. It wasn’t anything astounding, but it was fun. I enjoyed it.

About a million years ago (somewhere around 1988) I maintained a bibliography of LGBTQI+ books for children and young adults. Of course we didn't have the term LGBTQI+ back then, at first it was just lesbian and gay, then lesbian/gay/bisexual, then the term of choice became queer, and so on. I'm positing that there must be some sort of feedback loop that operates on the principle of the more we're represented in literature, the more clearly we can see and name ourselves, which leads to more books, which leads to a better understanding of who we are in all our diversity, which leads to, etc.

In 1988 the literature available was limited. We had the ubiquitous Heather Has Two Mommies. Then we had a demi-passel of teen problem novels. At the time, this body of literature was wonderful simply in existing, but it was also limited. Too many of the stories involved young people coming out and then being a) jumped by homophobes, b) rejected by their families, c) being expelled from school, or d) losing friends and becoming loners. The implication was that young LGBTQI+ people couldn't hope to be happy when they were young: they just had to grit their teeth, put up with the cruelties and losses, and hope to be able to run away to somewhere more "cosmopolitan" once they reached adulthood. Not really uplifting reading if you're thinking your life is headed this way.

Another limitation was the very narrow set of people actually represented in these books. I knew of exactly two titles that had any characters who weren't white. About 80% of the teen novels involving girls took place in private boarding schools, as if it was only in such wealthy and privileged settings that a young woman could allow her thoughts to wander over to the possibility of Not. Being. Straight.

Today the body of children's and young adults' LGBTQI+ literature is much more apt to include BIPOC characters from a variety of rungs on the economic ladder, which means that a young LGBTQI+ person has a much better chance of finding themselves in the books they read. All of which leads up to...

Sonora Reyes' The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, a young adult title that crosses a host of identity and economic boundaries without being irritatingly smug in that I-am-keeping-a-checklist-and-ticking-off-one-person-of-every-kind-from-a-variety-of-neighborhoods-and-family-structures way. The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a fun, reasonably non-didactic title that gives LGBTQI+ youth a sense that hope is for Now, and not just something to dream of a few decades down the road.

Yamilet Flores, the novel's central character and first-person narrator is quirky, observant, and determined not to let anyone find out she's a lesbian. Her inner dialogues are full of the kind of conflicting impulses and sudden drops and leaps in self-acceptance that most of us will remember from our own high school years. Yamilet and her friends drive the action of the novel, learning to stand up for themselves and finding clever ways to respond to their heteronormative surroundings.

This is a wonderful title for anyone who grew up LGBTQI+. Or straight. It's a wonderful title for anyone in the process of growing up LGBTQI+. Or straight. It's just a wonderful title. Buy it, read it, then pass your copy along to someone else who will enjoy it every bit as much as you will have found you did.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Yamilet “Yami” Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she’s gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and most importantly, don’t fall in love. Yet, it’s hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn’t going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she’ll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?

This book was not only completely adorable, but it was great to see queer, non-white characters in a book. Not only Yami is Mexican-American and gay, but Bo is Chinese-American (adopted) and gay. It has been great to see in the past few years so many YA queer romance books come out showing not just white kids but multicultural kids having love and acceptance. I would’ve done so much to have these kinds of books when I was growing up.

The sibling relationship between Yami and Cesar is so much fun and felt like a real brother/sister relationship, including their mom putting so much pressure on Yami to take care of her brother. For one, Yami is the girl, which as far as I can tell, girls usually have more responsibility towards their younger siblings, and two, Yami is older, but only by 10/11 months. The relationship the two have with their mom is special since she’s having to be both the mom and the dad. Yami’s dad was deported back to Mexico when she was ten, and while, they still talk to him on the phone and video-chat, she hasn’t seen her dad in years. Yami feels that the only two people who get her is her brother and her Papi, which sucks for what happens later in the novel.

Bo is completely adorable and truly confident in who she is. There are some issues she works through in the novel due to trying to figure out her own Chinese and Chinese-American identity while being adopted by white people. It’s a really touching part of the book when Bo talks to her parents about how she feels, and they’re completely supportive of her and her feelings. You can tell that they love their daughter and want her to be happy. They’re definitely the cool parents I would’ve loved to have growing up.

Throughout the book, there’s obvious signs that both Yami and Cesar are going through some mental health problems. There are some slight spoilers coming up. Near the end, Cesar attempts suicide and spends some time in an in-patient hospital. Afterwards, he’s regularly going to therapy and by the end, even brings up switching therapists to someone he clicks better with and seems to be more willing to go once this happens. While Yami and her mom have a talk about how much pressure their mom put on Yami, that’s all that happens wit her. I would’ve liked to see some acknowledgement or talk about how Yami should talk to someone or that Yami is not Cesar’s parent. Focusing on Cesar’s mental health issues is definitely the right call since he had the suicide attempt, but it still feels like the focus is and always will be on Cesar not Yami.

Again, I absolutely loved the novel, even with the minor issues at the end. This was a wonderful and refreshing read, and I definitely will be adding Sonora Reyes (they/them) to my automatic buy authors.

i love YA books so much, because books like this are literally about the messiest teens and yet have the emotional capacity and maturity that absolutely shocks you with it’s strength.

in lak’ech. code for, i see you. we are one and the same. different entities, but same love. yami and her brother cesar: in lak’ech. this book is for coming-of-age, for rectifying the pain of being told your inherent being is wrong. it’s for romance, and teenage tears. but it’s just, it’s love. it’s familial love, it’s familial love found in those who share blood and those who don’t. it’s familial love in loving yourself, most of all. so. in lak’ech. yamilet follows her brother to catholic school to get him out of the constant fights and struggles he was facing. a catholic school where yami can reset. where she can be straight, where she can shut down rumors before she is once again outed as a lesbian. this reset… it’s not painless.

this book is uncertainty. yami is uncertain. about where she lies with her mother, struggling to keep their family afloat with her jewelry. her father, deported in mexico, existing only over the distortion of a screen. her brother, who she would die for. and bo, the only openly queer girl at her new school. bo, and what yami’s attraction to her could lead to. in this uncertainty, there are tears. i wept. this book is taken into so much care, but it’s words still hurt, of pain existing in small lack of acknowledgment, in strict lies, in always fearing home but loving it all the same.

it’s also so healing. it’s hard. i would take content warnings into consideration. but between yami and also the beautiful role cesar plays in her story, two hearts intertwined, in lak’ech, exploration of mexican identity and being brown in white spaces and of queer identity and the joy of using the word lesbian. it exists of mental illness, and unconditional love. this book exists in a space of a lovely romance and the coarse realities that yami faces. i cried so much, but i also cannot wait for the stories that sonora reyes has to tell in the future.

this. it immediately topped my favorites shelf. hands down one of the best queer latinix novels i've ever come across & so relevant to today's political climate.

i'll brb tho, i don't have proper words. all ik is that i'll die for yami & scott pilgrim 'K.O' anyone that calls her 'yumi'

there's so much a person can relate to in terms of yami. as a non-latinix that resides in a culture that's drastically different; i found myself resonating w/ her on a thousand occasions. this was everything i wanted in a queer novel

Trigger Warnings: Cursing, violence, jumped, outing, deportation, past death of a side character, church/religion: Catholicism, Catholic guilt, brief discussion of abortion, racism, cops, coming out, bullying, underage drinking, disownment, suicidal ideation, hospitalization, depression, homophobia, internalized homophobia

Representation: Mexican American, Lesbian, Catholicism, Chinese, Bisexual

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School is a YA contemporary romance about Yami and her brother, Cesar, going to a new high school. Yami is still in the closet and plans to stay there until she graduates for fear of rejection from her religious mother. This is a very hard plan to keep when the only openly queer girl, Bo, is cute and wants to be friends with you.

#LGBTRepInBooks #LGBTBooks #LGBTReviews #LGBTReads #TheLesbianasGuideToCatholicSchool #LesbianMainCharacter #MexicanMainCharacter #ChineseSideCharacter #BisexualSideCharacter #GayBookReviews #Bookstagram #GayBookstagram

This eARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I just love a sapphic romance! This book was cute and warm, and really made me think about my upbringing as a closeted Catholic. This book was everything I love about YA. The story is very high school, but not in a childish or annoying way. The story has a good flow and makes you want to keep reading. I did feel the ending was a bit rushed though. I wish the story had kept going or had moved some events to sooner in the story so they could be fleshed out better.

This book has great representation. The queerness is a little limited, but the main characters are all POC and the inclusion of mental health was handled elegantly:. I loved the analysis of being Catholic and gay- I actually think it could have been even more ingrained in this story!

I loved all of the characters in this story! Yami was so relatable and not just because she is also a Catholic lesbian. I loved her relationship with her brother! I wish we could have learned more about Cesar, too! Bo was awesome and I loved her supportive, goofy parents. I also thought the author did a great job illustrating the differences that people of color experience in America.

This delightful debut YA novel caught me by surprise. Yamilet Flores is 16, Mexican (from Phoenix) and transfers with her bright brother to a very rich Catholic school. Not only is she one of a handful of people of color she is also not out to her friends or family. Yami has enormous pressure to keep her brother out of trouble all the while navigating a new school and trying to get work to fund her half of the tuition. She meets Bo who is the only openly queer person and who argues with her teachers and the Priests about her rights to be herself. I love Yami asking herself WWSGD (what would a straight girl do?) when making friends with new classmates.

For a YA book this covers some serious subject matters. Yami fears rejection by her family and she or other characters have experiences with racism, homophobia, depression and suicidal thoughts. The reason for her missing out on Christmas in Mexico with her father left me so sad. Sixteen year old shouldn’t have these kind of pressures, but unfortunately they do. Bo and her parents are a bright spot in the story but even they have issues.

This story has some language and is appropriate for middle school and up. The book is 400 pages but reads quickly. I couldn’t put it down. It ends very much like a high school book should with kissing, laughter and prom. Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children’s Books and the author for a eARC in exchange for an honest review. (4.5 stars)

I greatly enjoyed this book and will definitely recommend it to my students. As a teacher at a prestigious and expensive private school, I want students who struggle just like Yami with their identity and socio-economic situation when surrounded by privilege. This book is sweet and eye-opening for students who have questions about what it's like to be Mexican-American with a father who was deported. The friends are well-fleshed out for the most part, and there are some really touching surprises. Love it.

From a stunning cover to the first page (where, as my notes so eloquently commented on the voice by saying, "HA as long as you're self-proclaimed *objectively* cute"), The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School was absolutely showstopping. Sprinkle in the chapter titles (my personal fave was "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Capitalism") and oh-so-many lines of just unbridled, fresh voice and you have youself a compelling contemporary!

Alongside the voice Reyes harnesses throughout is Yami’s energy. I mean, her heart is so big and some of her one liners are just GOLDEN. She is messy and imperfect in so many ways, but she feels so geniune and a lot of what she faces and struggles with throughout the course of the book will really resonate with readers.

This story is honest, but honest with hope as well. At its heart it’s about sibling relationships, being a lesbian, a story bravery. It is such a light while still taking on complex topics with grace and nuance. I cannot wait to see readers gush over this book and love it just as much as I did!

This is definitely a new favourite book of mine! The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School follows Yamilet, who, after being outed by her former best friend, switches to a very white, conservative, Catholic School with her brother.

The Young Adult genre needs more novels like this. Alongside a sweet friends-to-lovers romance, a loveable sibling dynamic and a humorous narration, Sonora Reyes also manages to explore what it's like to be a queer person of colour in a strict, white, Catholic School environment.

The discussions surrounding race, culture, religion, deportation, sexuality and more were refreshing to see, and there was a great balance between those more serious topics and the sweet, funny moments.

Despite being a standalone, the characters were really well developed - even the side characters that didn't get too much page-time! By the end of the novel I felt as though I truly understood and cared for both Yamilet and her brother.

Overall, this is an excellent queer, young adult, contemporary novel which I highly recommend!

Oof, how I love this book. The Catholic guilt (and trauma) was STRONG while reading this, but God, I love Yami and Cesar. I saw so much of myself in both of them, and especially in Yami’s relationship with her mom. Yami is such an incredible character - she’s messy, raw, and honest. ⁣
⁣
All in all, this is a book that hit so close to home for me. I cried, I laughed, I smiled. It may not be for everyone, but I just really loved this book.

When Yamilet Flores starts school at a mostly white, very rich, Catholic school, she has two goals: 1. make sure her brother is safe and stays out of trouble and 2. Don’t out herself again. Pretending to be straight is easier than the consequences of being gay. Except, pretending to be straight isn’t easy at all—especially when she starts crushing on her new best friend.


This book was SO good. The voice was fresh and the story was captivating. It was honest and poignant, and I cried several times—both happy and sad tears. Reyes did a phenomenal job portraying Yami’s experience(s) and making everything feel so real. The characters in the book were so well developed, and she created such great familial relationships. I just wanted to hug Yami and Cesar. 10/10 would recommend!

Debut author Reyes based this novel on their own experience as a queer Mexican American teen attending Catholic school. This is a love story with a healthy mix of angst and humor. The chapter headings alone will make you laugh! They’re versions of commandments like “Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Butt” and “Honor Thy Liner and Thy Hoops.”

This book had well-developed characters and felt really modern. I loved the sibling relationship between Yami and Caesar as well as the growth from their mom. While at times it felt like certain plot points were missing to create more depth, I think that the YA audience will love this book!

This is exactly the type of book I wished I could have had in high school. This is such a wonderful and relatable book. Being one of the only queer kids in high school, having difficulties coming to term with your sexuality, being too scared to come out. This book made me feel seen.
The way Reyes covers so many different topics from homophobia, to racism, to mental health, was done so well. Everything was dealt with very smoothly, nothing was left unanswered. And it was so great to see so many different point of views and experiences in the book. Everyone deals with their sexuality differently and it felt really nice to be reminded of that, not everyone will have the same journey and that's okay, it just need to be on one's own terms.

What an emotional yet lovely YA contemporary that made me feel all the queer feels. I loved all the characters involved, Cesar being my favourite. Yami's personality and journey of coming out along with her growing relationship with Bo shined throughout the book. Definitely recommended for readers looking for a fun yet provoking YA!

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School is a shining example of why, even as a 53-year-old woman, I am so passionately in love with the YA genre as a whole, and queer YA in particular. The depth of emotion found in contemporary YA rivals most of their adult counterparts, and Sonora Reyes's debut YA novel brought this reader to tears on several occasions.

The protagonist of our story is Yamilet, a teenager trying to find her way through life at her new predominantly white, predominantly affluent Catholic private school. This change of school is a fresh start for Yami and her younger brother, Cesar, who was always getting in fights at their old school. Yami is still recovering from being outed by her former best friend, and now strives to keep her sexuality a secret from her family and classmates. She knows that she wants to come out to the important people in her life, but her first attempt was not well received, so she retreats back into the safety of the closet.

Let me express how much I adored all of the players in this book. Yami herself is the perfect combination of awkward, loyal, and loveable, and is much stronger than she realizes. Cesar...I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket of mama bear love and tell him that he is perfect just the way he is, and that he is worthy of all of the love in the world. Yami's love interest, Bo, the only openly queer student at Yami's new school, is bold and outspoken but still trying to figure out where she fits as the Chinese daughter of white parents. Reyes portrays all of the characters in this book with honesty, and allows them each to be relentlessly authentic, not in spite of their perceived flaws, but because of them. It is a celebration of love and friendship and acceptance, and I hope it speaks not just t young people, but to people of all ages who struggle to be seen and loved just as they are.

Thank you to Pride Book Tours, NetGalley and Balzer & Bray for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴇsʙɪᴀɴᴀ’s ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀᴛʜᴏʟɪᴄ sᴄʜᴏᴏʟ
By Sonora Reyes
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The best feeling in the world is when you finish a book and you don’t know what to do with yourself. The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic school was….simply amazing.
First off, the main characters name is Yamilet…my middle name is Yamileth. It’s not very common, at least not that I know of. Second. Yamilet is attending a catholic school in which she has to hide/cover her identity. Her true self. Growing up Catholic, this resonated so much with me. I may not be part of of the LGTBQ community myself but I am a supporter/defender of the community.
In The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, we follow Yamilet as she maneuvers highschool as a Latina & Catholic attending a Catholic school. Her father has been deported and it’s up to her to help her mother and brother with financial responsibilities at the same time, hide herself. This is all I will say because i think it’s best to go in knowing the least possible to fall in love with this story. Thank you Sonora Reyes for telling Yamilet’s story ❤️
Thank you to Books Forward for a copy of this ebook.

Trigger Warnings for: homophobia, suicidal thoughts & racism

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher and then I bought my own copy of the book. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

Author: Sonora Reyes

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Mexican characters, Indigenous Person of Mexico Lesbian MC, Indigenous Person of Mexico Bisexual character, Chinese Adopted Queer Character, Navajo Indigenous Atheist Character, Black character

Recommended For...:young adult readers, contemporary, romance, LGBT

Publication Date: May 17, 2022

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Age Relevance: 15+ (language, gore, violence, religion, deportation, parentification, micro aggressions, racism, abortion, forced outing, homophobia, underage consumption of alcohol, depression, sexual content, suicide, suicide ideation, religious trauma, romance)

Explanation of Above: The book has themes of religion (Catholicism), which mentioned all throughout the book, and religious trauma, which is shown, and how it influences people to be hateful towards those who don’t fit their perceived mold of how a person should be. This is especially evident in the homophobia shown in the book and the forced outtings. There is some slight gore with vomit and blood mentioned and some violence shown with punching a mirror and fist fights mentioned, as well as a lot of cursing. Suicide is mentioned, Depression is shown, and ideation is mentioned as well. Deportation is mentioned throughout the book, as well as racism (which is also shown) and micro agressions (which is also shown). Parentification, in the form of being forced to parent a younger sibling is shown in the book. Abortion is briefly mentioned, as well as sexual content (virginity), and there is a scene where underage characters consume alcohol and are drunk. There is also slight romance in this book.

Publisher: Balzer and Bray

Pages: 385

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers drawing attention for her killer eyeliner, not for being the new kid at a mostly white, very rich, Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend, she could use the fresh start.

At Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: make her mom proud, keep her brother out of trouble, and most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that’s a problem for Future Yami.

The thing is, it’s hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. Either way, Yami isn’t going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she’ll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?

Told in a captivating voice that is by turns hilarious, vulnerable, and searingly honest, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School explores the joys and heartaches of living your full truth out loud.

Review: I really liked this book! It was a sweet story about a girl who’s having to deal with the perceived notions of who she should be and what she is at heart. The book is equal parts heartbreaking as it is victorious and I found myself cheering for Yamilet everytime she had a little victory with being her genuine self. The book heavily reminds me of Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Furia. I loved all of the twists and turns in the story, as those who I thought would be endgame was not and those who I had no hope for became more than I expected. I also loved the theme of “you should have been there” which plays a lot in Yamilet’s family and how they expected her to act, but also how she expected them to act. The character development was well done and the world building was great. The pacing was on point and the premise immediately drew me in and refused to let me go. The book is absolutely gorgeous inside and out and I highly recommend this read.

The only issue I had with the book is that I wished there was more romance in the book as it did take a long time to get to that part, and I wished that there was a good conclusion with a certain character I had high hopes for. I loved what the family did to that character, but I wished that there was a tidbit at the end as to what their motives were and if they got around to accepting the situation.

Verdict: It was amazing! Highly recommend!