YA LGBT Books discussion

We had a tie for LBTQ+ book of the month - rather than vote again, I will post both books and readers can choose which, if either, they will read.

this is the first - When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

When the Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and magical realism, but also has central LGBT themes—a transgender boy, the best friend he’s falling in love with, and both of them deciding how they want to define themselves.

This thread is for discussion of this book - there is no specific reading schedule and you may post at any time. There may be spoilers in the comments, so be aware if you have not yet finished. If you are posting early in the month, please try to put real plot spoilers into a spoiler-hiding tag - write <*spoiler> before the text and <*/spoiler> at the end of it - with both * removed to make it work, and it will be hidden, revealed only (view spoiler)[ to those who choose to read it. (hide spoiler)]

I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this one.

First off, thanks Kaje for extending the November books into December-- what with finals and everything I really needed that extra time.

I was really happy with how the trans representation was done (view spoiler)[especially with having the second trans character (hide spoiler)], which is always a good start. However, I think my main problem with this book was that I got my hopes up too much-- I really really enjoyed McLemore's previous book, The Weight of Feathers, and I was super excited for some trans guy representation on top of that. I'm a little undecided on whether or not I think the book was too similar to The Weight of Feathers-- on one hand, I think it would've been fresher and more original and honestly more enjoyable had I not read its predecessor, but on the other hand I think McLemore's style (a bit like Daughter of Smoke & Bone and a bit like I'll Give You the Sun but not quite the same as either of those) is just perfect for these stories and the magical realism genre in general. All in all, I would definitely recommend reading at least one of McLemore's books, but am probably not going to pick up her upcoming third novel.

Thanks Bobby! I haven't read the other one, so I'll be interested to see how this measures up.