But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.
It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him. (Pub Date: Sep 12, 2017)
Tanner moved to a small town of Mormon majority in Utah a few years ago, even though he is bi and jalf-jewish. Because of that, despite giving full support about his sexuality, his family thinks it's best if he goes back into the closet. It had never been a problem until a semester before graduating he meets Sebastian, son of a bishop and an example of how a good Mormon should act. Sebastian is a TA, supposed to help him write a book as part of his grade of a class called The Seminar. But how can Tanner even hand in this paper if all he can write about is his feelings for his tutor?
I was surprised by the length of the book, it's not colossal but from the plot I wouldn't have thought there was so much to write about. As I read, I understood. Christina Lauren took her time to explain the religious aspects of the matter, make us see both sides. I really appreciated her effort, since I didn't known much about them myself. The story didn't feel slow because of that but it did get repetitive, if not predictable at a point. So this is more like a 3.5 that deserved being rounded up.
Still, this was a good book. Both Tanner and Sebastian are very cute boys, I could only wish he best for them. Tanner could be a little too pushy, forcing Sebastian to take a stand while the boy was still pretty much lost on who he was, but even that I easily forgave. It's not easy to hate Tanner. Also, I liked that the author managed to include Sebastian's flaws and still portray him as the perfect guy, that was an interesting effect.
Both families play important roles and, different from so many YA's, they aren't a blur. Each parent and even the siblings were given personalities, reacting accordingly. Unfortunately, that works against the two, but they were still important pieces to the story.
I think this book will appeal to those who liked Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda as well as Openly Straight. The way the plot moved actually reminded me a lot of the latter and its sequel Honestly Ben. I prefer the series but Autoboyography had a more serious and deeper take, especially since it dealt with a religion.
This book will surely make you think as the issue goes far beyond what said religion preaches. Lauren explored very well all conflicts, giving me lots of food for thoughts. I'll probably still think about all this for a while.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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