Apparently I love male gay YA. Who knew? Especially when I barely ever read books by or even about men! Still, Passing, even with (because of?) its perfect protagonists, Spencer and Justice, is a lovable read. We meet Spencer on his first day of school. He hasn't moved, he's just started at a new private school, where he can be the boy he is meant to be. Justice wouldn't be at Oakley either, if he didn't have a soccer scholarship. His dad is a parson in a fundamentalist church, and Justice's siblings (Noble, Piety, Steadfast, and one other) are homeschooled. So, while the characters aren't particularly flawed, there are obstacles on their path to the prom.

The boys begin as enemies at soccer tryouts, when Justice is a jerk to Spencer, and Spencer tries to resist how smitten he is with Justice. Spencer, though shorter than anyone on the team, has some special talents, including finding holes/devising strategies. The coach and the rest of the team accept Spencer, so eventually Justice does, too. Despite being smitten, Spencer doesn't take shit from Justice, responding,

Full offense, that sounds pretty homophobic

when Justice refers to his family's "traditional" values. Lol--do kids still say "no offense" when they're saying something offensive?

Spencer is a sophomore, and read young to me, but I wonder if most YA novels are writing 15 as older than they really are?