Boyfriends with Girlfriends

March 7, 2011
When Lance starts dating bisexual Sergio, he is not quite sure he believes someone can be "turned on by both guys and chicks" as Sergio claims to be. Meanwhile, Lance's best friend, Allie, starts to question her own sexuality when she is attracted to Sergio's lesbian best friend, Kimiko. Moving between the protagonists' alternating perspectives, Sanchez (Bait) carefully spells out the teens' struggles with different aspects of their sexual identities: Kimiko's mother wishes she would dress and act more feminine, Allie worries that kissing Kimiko would ruin their friendship, and Lance gets upset when Sergio refuses to commit to being a couple ("I guess I'd like to know who my competition is," he says, after watching Sergio dance with both a guy and a girl at the homecoming dance). Readers will appreciate a book that delves into the fraught topic of bisexuality, but they may tire of the characters' constant relationship and identity anxieties, which basically define them. The book's subject matter is more memorable than the stories it tells or the characters who tell them. Ages 12–up.

April 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Lance is gay but has never had a successful relationship. Sergio, a new guy Lance met online, is bisexual, but his only relationship was with a girl. When they set up a "f2f" at the mall, they decide to bring along their best friends, Allie and Kimiko, for support. At the meeting, not only do sparks fly for Lance and Sergio; Allie, who has been dating a guy for two years, and Kimiko, a closeted lesbian, also make an instant connection. The usual relationship issues follow: Lance fears Sergio's bisexuality and lack of commitment; Allie ponders her sexuality and breaks up with her all-too-understanding boyfriend; Kimiko can't comprehend why a "straight," popular girl is attracted to her but gets invested enough to come out to her strict Japanese parents; all works out in the end with no repercussions. Give Sanchez credit for tackling the bisexuality issue; there is a dearth of YA fiction on this topic. However, the plotline is too predictable, with most of the characters living in an all-too-perfect-world of acceptance.-Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2011

A breezy romantic comedy starring two pairs of LGBTQ teens stays pleasantly upbeat but hits a few false notes. Lance has a date to meet Sergio. Lance brings his friend Allie. Sergio brings his friend Kimiko, and two sets of crushes ignite. Lance is anxious about Sergio's being bi. Sergio worries that Lance is too clingy. Kimiko fears that Allie is out of her league. Allie has a boyfriend but wonders if she might be bi... and falling for Kimiko. The third-person narrator switches perspectives with a dizzying briskness, as the four teens flirt, gossip and brood in occasionally cringeworthy teenspeak ("putting the make," "You did a hella thing" and an enthusiastic, "Like, yeah!"). Amid the giddy energy a few serious issues arise. Lance comes to understand his own biphobia; two teens struggle with homophobic parents; the boys (but not the girls) work to decide and agree upon how fast to move sexually. The portrayal of Kimiko and her family is marred by the use of Asian stereotypes: She and Sergio call her rigid and intolerant mother a "Dragon Lady" and refer to her "Samurai face," and Allie's "Japan-geek" fascination with Kimiko's ethnicity is never problematized. Still, readers who can overlook the stereotypes and clunky slang will enthusiastically root for both couples. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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Starred review from March 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* After meeting online, Sergio and Lance make a date to get together in person, bringing along their respective best friends, Kimiko and Allie. The first meeting is sweetly awkward, and while the boys hit it off all right, theres a problem. Sergio is bisexual, and Lance isnt sure he can handle that or whether he even believes it is possible to be attracted to both boys and girls. Actually, there are two problems. Kimiko is a lesbian and crushes on Allie who, though she has a devoted boyfriend, is questioning and finds herself increasingly attracted to her new friend. How will these four engaging kids resolve the mixed messages their hearts are sending to their brains? Leave it to Lambda Literary Awardwinner Sanchez (for So Hard to Say, 2004) to sort it all out. In the process, hes written another innovative, important book that explores, with empathy and sympathy, largely ignored aspects of teen sexual identity. While lip service is routinely given to these aspects in the acronym GLBTQ, there have been only a handful of novels that so plausibly and dramatically bring the nature of bisexuality and sexual questioning to life. Sanchez does both, and in the process establishes welcome possibilities for other authors to explore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)