Autoboyography - Christina Lauren

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.
But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.
It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.

MY OPINION: ****

This book was SO cute. I loved the plot and the characters so much! It was a perfect, short, cute summer read full of fluff and adorable moments.

It's been on my want-to-read for a couple of years and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Tanner is a bisexual teen who has just moved from California to a Mormon community in Utah, forcing him back into the closet. California is known for being fairly accepting and Tanner was out and proud back home, but after moving, he is forced to hide his identity especially because of the strong Mormon beliefs that are present throughout his new community. Tanner has a plan to leave Utah and go to California as soon as he graduates.

However, things change when Tanner decides to take a class known as The Seminar. The students in the class are challenged to write an entire novel in four months. This class sounded so interesting and fun and something I would love to have at my school. It's highly selective but Tanner and his best friend, Autumn, both make it in.

At The Seminar, Tanner meets the beautiful and widely-known Sebastian Brother, the class's TA whose book he wrote the previous year in the same class is set to be published. Sebastian is somewhat of a local celebrity, especially as he is scheduled to have a book tour across the entire country (which is truly amazing!). The only problem is, he is strongly Mormon and LDS.

Tanner finds himself almost instantaneously crushing on the gorgeous Sebastian Brother, despite the warning from himself and his family, who tell him to stay away from the Mormon boy. I knew absolutely nothing about the Mormon community before reading this book; I did learn that they are not the most accepting of homosexuality, believing that it is okay to feel same-sex attraction but not act on it. They will not fully say anything against gay people but as Tanner explains, you will always feel a sense of judgment and disapproval when around them.

I loved Sebastian. My poor boy needed a hug. He has always been attracted to boys but due to his raising, he tries to push away that part of himself and feel something for girls. He constantly states again and again that he is not gay, and that he just feels attraction towards boys that he can't make himself feel for girls. This causes a lot of problems with Tanner as he just wants Sebastian to accept himself. I didn't fully like the pushing of labels and pressuring Sebastian to name himself as gay or straight but I understood why Tanner wanted that validation for their relationship. Sebastian often spoke of praying to God to make him not gay, believing that there was something wrong with him for liking boys. My heart broke for Sebastian throughout the entire book as he struggled to navigate his feelings for Tanner while also staying true to his religion and his family, who were not the most accepting. SPOILER The ending broke me when his family ignored him after he tentatively came out to his parents. It was so sad to see how they chose to treat him as nothing rather than seeing him as their same son they had always known. END SPOILER

I loved the idea of Tanner writing his entire novel on his love story with Sebastian. It was adorable and heartbreaking at the same time as he poured out his feelings and confusion and anger and love for this boy who should be "forbidden". SPOILER The ending was so sad and beautiful when Sebastian read his book over and over, reliving the best and worst parts of their relationship. END SPOILER

Some key things I want to add before I finish this review:

Bisexual representation! This feels so rare in the young adult book community. I can't remember any notable books I've read where the main character is bisexual and not just gay or straight. "I’ve always liked whoever,” I tell him. “I really am bi. It’s about the person, not the parts, I guess.” This is such a beautiful way to sum it up. I loved how this book touched on the problems that bisexual people are forced to deal with: many people feel the need to invalidate bisexual people saying that they are just confused or indecisive and are really just gay or just straight, which is not at all true. Also, just because a bi person dates someone from the opposite gender does NOT make you straight; the same goes for if they date someone from the same gender! Bisexuality means you are attracted to BOTH boys AND girls and I love how this book clarified that, especially when Sebastian questioned it.

I loved the Mormon representation because it was educational and unique. I knew nothing about this religion before this book and I liked how they showed the different values of the religion, both good and not-so-good.

Tanner and Autumn's relationship was so important. Autumn was a fairly accepting best friend and even though she had her flaws, I liked how she cared about Tanner enough to accept him for who he was and forgive him for lying/keeping things from her. SPOILER I wish they hadn't had sex, though, because her virginity was taken from her by someone who didn't love her the way that she needed. Also, neither of them were taken advantage of and I love how they dealt with the consequences like mature teenagers/adults. END SPOILER

Tanner's family should be the role model that other families should aspire to be! They were SO accepting of Tanner and his identity and worried more about the fact that he was falling for a Mormon boy rather than the fact that he was a boy. I LOVED his mom, especially during the scene where she hugs and helps Sebastian! I also loved the deep conversations Tanner had with his father.

Sebastian's family on the other hand... "He’s gay; he didn’t die. Nobody is wounded. I know Sebastian’s parents are good people, but holy hell, they just inadvertently made their son feel like there’s something about him that needs to be fixed.” BEING GAY IS NOT A CHOICE. I wish that his family understood that their son did not intentionally choose to like boys.

The ending was SO cute.

I loved this book! I would recommend it to readers looking for a cute, representational, romantic summer read!

Main Character: Tanner
Sidekick(s): Sebastian, Autumn, etc
Villain(s): Not being accepted, discrimination, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.