Kissing Kate

Myracle, Lauren.  Kissing Kate.  New York: Penguin Group, 2003.  Print.

Awards

2004 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Annotation

One night at a party, best friends Kate and Lissa kissed.  Now Kate is ignoring Lissa, who’s left on her own to figure what and more importantly, who she really wants.

Booktalk

““Isn’t it amazing the stuff we can convince ourselves of?  And not just in our dreams, but in our normal lives, too.  You know?””  I wondered what she was thinking of, what lies she’d convinced herself were truths.  But I didn’t ask.”

I’ve had a lot of practice lately with these lies disguised as truths.  Ever since Kate and I, best friends since seventh grade, kissed everything has been screwed up.  It was in the summer, at the last party before school started.  Kate was drunk, but I wasn’t.  And even though Kate’s acting like being drunk was an excuse, I know she feels the same way about me.  She just won’t admit it.

I’ve tried to talk to her about it since, to tell her how much I like her, but she wants to forget it ever happened.  Kate is beautiful, popular and dating gorgeous Ben; she doesn’t want to be a lesbian.  She doesn’t want to be “abnormal”.  To me, though, it feels completely normal and I’m not sure that I can convince myself I’m really straight.  I’m not even sure I want to…

Image credit:  http://www.worldcat.org/title/kissing-kate/oclc/50315484&referer=brief_results

My Invented Life

Bjorkman, Lauren.  My Invented Life.  New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009.  Print.

Awards

Annotation

Roz is convinced her sister Eva is a lesbian.  To prove she’s right Roz decides to come out as a lesbian first, until her invented life gets totally out of control.

Booktalk

Then:  I used to be known as “Roz: sister and best friend”.  Recently, though, Eva’s taken that folder off her computer desktop and moved it into the trash.  In fact, she’s trashed our whole relationship.  If there was a replacement folder on her desktop it would be labeled: Roz: person to be ignored.

Now:  Currently, Eva barely speaks to me.  PD (post deletion) means we no longer share clothes, secrets or even mundane details about our lives.  We don’t even talk about the school play, even though we’re both in it together.

Then:  I used to know everything about Eva.  I would pine for (and sometimes go out with) her (ex) boyfriends.  She always talked to me about things and I thought she was perfect.

Now:  Eva has a new group of friends, the cheerleaders.  She’s still pretty much perfect, except I only know this from afar since she barely acknowledges me, let alone confides in me.  And…Eva’s a lesbian.  I think.

After finding a lesbian novel in Eva’s bedroom leant to her by Eyeliner Andie (a rumored lesbian herself), I started having suspicions about my sister.  PD, unfortunately, meant they would remain unconfirmed because Eva would never ever tell me.  I had a plan though.  I decided to come out as a lesbian and tell everyone at school about my “girlfriend”.  Once Eva saw how accepting and tolerant everyone was, she would feel safe enough to come out too.  Except…

That’s not exactly what happened.  I did come out at school, but then I starting having feelings for Eyeliner Andie in addition to my years-long crush on my sister’s current boyfriend, Bryan.  Will I able to figure out who I’m supposed to be with, get my invented life under control and gain my sister’s trust back, all before opening night?

Image credit:  http://laurenbjorkman.com/