Thursday, June 25, 2020

Book Review: "The Gay Teen's Guide to Defeating a Siren, Book 1" by Cody Wagner

The key to survival is...being gay. At least it is in Book 1 of The Gay Teen's Guide to Defeating a Siren.

Fourteen-year-old Blaize Trales (yep) doesn’t want anyone in his tiny Texas town, including his parents, to know he’s gay. But when he inadvertently outs himself, his parents immediately pack him up and send him to Sanctuary Preparatory Academy, a school that promises to “heal” gay teens.

As if trying to be “healed” isn’t bad enough, and dealing with the usual high school problems—class work, bullying, a crush on someone seemingly unattainable—Blaize discovers that the school is hiding a major secret. Apparently there’s an old enemy at the loose and it’s wreaking havoc, and Blaize might be the only one who can stop it.

Does he have what it takes to save the day?

This was an interesting book, with shades of Harry Potter and dashes of sarcasm. A lot of the story was setting up for the sequel but there definitely was plenty going on.

While I enjoyed the concept of the book, at times it was a little too silly for me. (It almost felt at times like the book should have been accompanied by a laugh track.) I felt like the book just wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. But the fantasy elements were fun, and it was nice to have a gay hero of sorts.

This was definitely an interesting selection for Pride Reads!!

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