Pretend You Love Me

June 6, 2005
Many of the themes that Peters mined in Luna
appear in this novel, but are more smoothly integrated, making this a more accessible read. For one thing, Mike (born Mary-Elizabeth), who narrates the novel, does not lead a double life, as Luna did. When Xanadu transfers to Mike's small Kansas school, she initially mistakes the narrator for a guy; Mike works out obsessively and dresses in her father's clothes (he killed himself two years ago). Mike, who "acknowledged" she was gay but doesn't embrace it like her male best friend, Jamie, falls hard for the troubled newcomer. The author creates a vivid backdrop in rural Coalton, and it's refreshing that residents accept and even embrace Mike, donating money to send the star softball player to an exclusive camp ("I never, for one day, felt judged or excluded or persecuted in Coalton"). Mike is a unique and realistically complex character, and while she wants to go to camp, she initially resists the town's charity. Her fallout with her morbidly obese mother doesn't seem quite severe enough given the two years of silent treatment she's received, and her own confused feelings towards her father at times seem forced. While Xanadu never becomes as real or as likable as Mike, the author convincingly paints Mike's physical attraction to Xanadu, as well as the heroine's descent into drinking as her obsession with the straight girl grows. Ultimately, readers will root for Mike and will come to understand her pain and need for love. Ages 12-up.

June 1, 2005
Gr 10 Up -Mike Szabo must deal with more than her share of problems in this engaging, angsty novel. Her alcoholic father committed suicide, her obese mother has given up on life, and her no-good brother has driven the family plumbing business into the ground. To make matters worse, Mike falls deeply in love with a new girl in their small Kansas town. Bad-girl Xanadu has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle after getting into serious trouble dealing drugs. She befriends Mike instantly, though she's undeniably straight, and Mike suffers when Xanadu starts dating. Mike copes by working out at the gym, fixing her neighbors' plumbing, leading her softball team to a winning season, and occasionally binge drinking with her friends. Throughout the novel, she struggles to come to terms with her sexuality -while she is attracted to girls, she doesn't want to label herself, and objects when her gay best friend, Jamie, tries to do so. The people of Coalton are accepting of Mike and Jamie, but eventually Mike realizes that she will need to leave her small town in search of a first relationship, and that her athletic talent might give her a way out. Despite the multitude of difficulties the protagonist faces, the story never slips into melodrama, and all of the issues are handled with sensitivity and compassion. Xanadu sometimes threatens to become a stereotype as the exotic, sophisticated outsider who is also manipulative and selfish. Overall, though, readers will root for Mike in this heartfelt coming-of-age story." -Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2005
Gr. 8-11. Ah, the ambiguities of sexual identity. Most readers, on first encountering Mike, will presume Peters' first-person protagonist is a boy. They will be wrong. Mike is an iron-pumping, softball-playing girl who has way too much ugliness in her life. Her alcoholic father has committed suicide; her mother, who can't cope with life, is morbidly obese, and her brother is a surly slacker who has let the family plumbing business go down the drain. But then Mike meets Xanadu, a new girl in town with a sordid past, and falls head over muscle tee in love. Only problem? Xanadu is straight and no amount of wishful thinking or self-delusion on Mike's part will change that--which is why her endless pining for Xanadu grows a bit tiresome. That said, gay-straight attraction is seldom treated in GLBTQ fiction, and there's no arguing with the honest intensity of Mike's emotions. Readers will wish her heartsease.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)