I had really high hopes for this debut novel, The Queer Girl is Going to be Okay by Dale Walls. It's a story of Dawn who, with the help of friends Edie and Georgia, is making a documentary about queer love to enter a film contest for a major scholarship. 

Dawn lives in Texas and is hiding her own queer identity from her religious family. I enjoyed and resonated with the descriptions of life in the South, especially around cultural expectations and religious values. I also thought the author did an excellent job creating a lens into what it is like to be Black and Texan, two identities that are not my own. 

Edie and Georgia get a fair bit of character development as well the MC Dawn, but I think the character development overall was wonky and uneven. I wanted more growth and nuance, and this gave more happy ending life is great YA vibes. That said, I also wanted more fortitude from Dawn about standing up to her family's value system. Do I know that's not always realistic? Yes, but I think that brave conversations are something teens really do need to read. 

Unfortunately, this didn't hit the right notes for me personally. I'd revisit this author because as a debut, this is a promising start.