Autoboyography by Christina Lauren…ARC Review

Autoboyography releases TOMORROW!

Synopsis:

Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community.

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

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.

 

My Review:

Autoboyography is the newest work from the dynamic writing duo of Christina Lauren and it’s pretty much a given that I will read anything these ladies put out.  This, of course, was no exception.  I was so happy and so lucky to have gotten an early copy of a book that truly is a book everyone should read.  For so many reasons this book is hugely important and is so relevant in today’s world.  Touching on many important things including sexual identity, religion, societal issues, family dynamic, and so many more, this book touched me on a level that will stay with me forever.

Tanner and Sebastian’s relationship starts out as an innocent mentor situation in a senior year advance writing class.  From that start, however, the glimmer of attraction between them was apparent.  We begin with Tanner pining for Sebastian from afar, knowing, for many reason, Sebastian would never be anything more than a crush. Sebastian, you see, even if he was gay, is a Mormon, and in that religion, having a romantic relationship with someone of the same sex was simply not done.  Ever.  Knowing how life is in a Mormon town, Tanner accepts that and continues his secret crush and is just thankful to be in Sebastian’s presence, even if it’s  in this way.   But each time they spend time together, Tanner can’t help but feel the attraction is mutual and is growing stronger every day.  He wasn’t wrong.  What follows, once Sebastian speaks his feelings out loud, is a beautiful and emotional journey of self-discovery, love and loss, and moments that will change both Sebastian and Tanner (and, I suspect readers) irrevocably.

I felt so many emotions while I was reading this story.  In fact, I’m getting all teary-eyed again as I type this. Looking at my young adult life, I have to say I was pretty lucky.  I lived in a small town but the people I surrounded myself with were mostly open-minded. I was raised to accept everyone regardless of sexual orientation and now that I have a 14 year old I have to say I’m so thankful for that upbringing.  I’m raising my son to know the same values and also, no matter who he choses to love, we support him. I know that there are so many young people struggling for acceptance after discovering who they are in their true self.  And man, does it break my heart.  Sebastian and Tanner are fictional but I know they represent so many real people just like them.

Tanner’s family loved him for him but were worried because, for obvious reasons, Sebastian choosing to have a relationship with him would be nearly impossible.  Of course they wanted to protect him from a broken heart.  Unfortunately, the heart wants who it wants. Sebastian’s family, because of their religion, know only one way and that’s for a man to love a woman.  Period.  So you can imagine the emotional journey that unfolds on these pages.  And yes, it was emotional, but it was also beautiful in the most important of ways.

The hopeless hopefulness Sebastian and Tanner have in their quiet moments together both broke my heart and mended it at the same time.  It was incredible.  I don’t want to go through and tell too many specific moments because this is a story you really need to experience for yourself and I don’t want to spoil even one moment for you.

Christina and Lauren, thank you for this book.  Thank you for bringing us Sebastian and Tanner’s story.  They will live in my heart forever.

Five Loves

 

About the authors: 

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 31+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)

Find out more on their website

 

 

 

One thought on “Autoboyography by Christina Lauren…ARC Review”

Leave a Reply