SYNOPSIS:
Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek’s parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshman year of high school. He never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan.

Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend—he’s barely ever had a girlfriend—but maybe it’s time to think again.

WHY SHOULD YOU CHECK IT OUT?
LGBT stories and protagonists are still waiting for the day when it won’t be an amazing, wonderful huge step in the right direction. When their stories will be as commonplace as the LGBT people living them. Until then, we’re going to celebrate and jump for joy with every sweet new romance we get that echoes reality.

Fans that recognize the title of this one as a song by the musician Rufus Wainwright will not be disappointed: not only are there Rufus songs mentioned throughout, the boys start their slippery slope to boyfriendship at a NYC Rufus concert!

This is Michael Barakiva’s debut. He’s a theater director, grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey, and is married to his partner living currently in Manhattan. For all those facts, we find him to be the perfect guy to write this book!

OTHER YA MAG COVERAGE

Our Review

EARLY REVIEWS SAY…

[W]ell-wrought and realistic … deftly draws strong parallels between homosexuality and ethnicity that will resonate with audiences. East Coast teens will see themselves; Midwesterners will feel a little envy. (Kirkus Reviews)

[A] sweet portrait of nascent adolescent love between two boys growing up and finding themselves (with some help from nearby New York City). (Publishers Weekly)

NECESSARY DETAILS
YA LGBT
Hardcover & ebook, 272 pages
Published on May 27^th 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (ISBN 0374356459)

http://us.macmillan.com/onemanguy/MichaelBarakiva