Love & Other Curses

February 15, 2019
Magic, reality, and love combine in a tale of love and identity.Ford (Lily, 2016, etc.) walks several tightropes as he introduces readers to 16-year-old gay country boy Sam Weyward, who is balancing life between his biological family and his created family, the drag queen performers he hangs out with at Shangri-La, the only gay bar around. Sam is from a line of supposedly cursed family members, destined to see the ones they love die--if they fall in love before age 17. When cute, straight, trans Tom Swift enters Sam's life for the summer, the curse seems to be working in overdrive as losses hit both his families. Ford's complex and eclectic characters are perfectly grounded in a world tinged with magic: the "Grands," (Sam's grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother) are Norn-like weird sisters who see small bits of magic in the world around them. Juxtaposed are the trio of queens who help guide Sam on his journey to find his inner drag queen: Lola, Farrah, and Paloma. Mysterious songwriter Linda and Sam's hair-metal-loving father round out the cast. Unfortunately, Tom's characterization as a stereotyped tragic trans teenager distracts from the magic; immediately deadnamed, his body subject to constant scrutiny, Tom's plotline revolves around trope-y trauma and humiliation to enable the cis main character's growth. All major characters are implied white apart from Farrah, who is African-American, and Paloma, who is Latinx.Funny, sexy, and emotionally wrenching, this is a story of growing up. (Fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Sam Weyward, a gay teen in rural New York, knows that if he falls in love before his fast-approaching 17th birthday, the generations-long family curse will kill his love interest. Living with his magic-practicing grandma, great-grandma, and great-great-grandma (the Grands) and his 1980s metal-loving father, he can never forget about the curse. But he finds distraction with drag queens at the gay bar Shangri-La, the family ice cream stand, mysterious phone calls, and Tom Swift, a trans boy staying at the lake this summer. As his friendship with Tom, who is straight, grows more complicated, Sam wonders if the curse can be broken. While there is a lot to enjoy about this book, like the vivid setting and appealing premise, the unhealthy relationship between Sam and Tom, and the often-unchecked transphobia make this a troubling, offensive, and potentially harmful story. Tom is repeatedly deadnamed, misgendered, and outed (with Sam, among others, committing these offenses). The fixation on Tom's body and transition feel voyeuristic and turn him into a one-dimensional character just used for Sam's own development. Sam and the rest of the cast get to be vibrant and complex, with Sam supported and loved both by his biological family and his chosen family of drag queens who are helping him find his drag identity. Tom is miserable, angry, rejected, lacking support, and ultimately forced to present as female-a painful trajectory without much hope. VERDICT Though this novel is funny and highly readable, the tragic trans narrative makes it one to skip.-Amanda MacGregor, Parkview Elementary School, Rosemount, MN

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
Grades 8-12 Sam Weyward's family is under a �generations-long curse, but if Sam is able to resist falling in love before his seventeenth birthday, he just might escape it. One day while at work, Sam meets Tom, a trans guy visiting town for the summer. The two develop a complicated friendship, and Sam worries he may be falling for Tom. When Lola, one of Sam's drag queen friends, ends up in the hospital, he becomes increasingly concerned that everyone he holds dear is in danger. Ford (Suicide Notes, 2008; Z, 2010) weaves together an intriguing mixture of teen angst and gender and sexual exploration with a thread of magic, but the story becomes bogged down by Sam's inconsistent pronoun usage around his drag friends and his repeated and willful mistreatment of Tom?outing him in public, throwing away his testosterone. Tom's presence serves more as an object lesson that privileges cisgender over trans experiences. At its core, the narrative contains a solid exploration of the meanings of love, giving readers a stable thread to follow through Sam's eventful summer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)