I’m aware the gay YA coming-of-age genre has grown more common in present-day queer literature, especially coming out stories, but I still think this should be read! For the rep, yes(I liked the sprinklings of Aboriginal culture throughout, and the men’s group as a whole), but also because of how sweet it was. I was smiling by the end. Jackson and Tomas’s love story has the earnestness of two baby gays fumbling through their own self-discovery, and figuring out how to love each other.

And I loved the different scenes of Tomas working on his comic book graphic novel with Jackson! Seeing a character’s creative process in any kind of media is always so much fun, especially because of how these different parts shaped the two boys’ relationship. I will even forgive the continued use of “drawer”. (Also, art was a lot more important to this book than I thought it would be?? That was super cool.)

I’ll definitely check out Gary Lonesborough’s other works! I’d been super excited to read this even before I found out it had another title in the U.S.