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Brady Rae

Loved so much!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2023

Verified Purchase

Thank you HarperTeen and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I think Riley Weaver Needs A Date To The Gaybutante Ball is my favorite Jason June novel to date! Riley Weaver lives in a very queer friendly town in Washington and home to a chapter of the Gaybutantes. A group of young LGBTQIAP+ people who have frequently gone on to do amazing things. Riley had wanted to be a Gaybutante since forever and this is his year! But when a cow masc gay guy says the no gay guy wants to date a femme gay guy Riley might just risk it all to prove him wrong, with the help of his friend Nick and his friend and fellow Gaybutante Sabrina he’ll set out to find a cis gay guy as a date for the Gaybutante ball. But will things be as easy as he thought? The book is charming, sweet, and hilarious! While at the same time taking a hard look at the toxicity and stereotypes that can exist within the LGBTQIAP+ community. I love that Riley is so sure of himself and comfortable in who he is! I love that books like this are coming out now and showing young queers that they can be comfortable in who they are! I’ve never felt comfortable completely exploring the style that Riley does but I have pursued makeup and I’ve never felt beautiful until the first time I did it! There’s a lot to Riley that I would like to see in myself so I can only imagine how much of an impact this book is going to have on younger generations! I highly recommend reading and I can’t wait for my physical copy to come!

L. Brown

Oh my heart

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

Jason June is kind of the human equivalent of a warm hug, so I adore this book on principle. It helps that it’s also very very good. Riley is a flawed but good MC, and the book’s discussion of how beautiful you are regardless of what some idiot chooses to think about your level of attractiveness to them, is awesome. It is a very real discussion about gatekeeping, transphobia, and friendship that ends with a big ole bow on top. I may have cried.

Kat H.

If this book isn’t on your TBR it should be!

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book was everything I hoped for and more! I really wish the Gaybutantes existed. Yes I know their are Pride centers, but honestly I would think something like the Gaybutantes would be fantastic for today’s kids.
Riley sets everyone on their butts as he proves there’s not one right way to gay. That’s the best message ever.

Shocked...Shocked!

So delightful, so insightful

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

This is the sweetest teen-looking-for-love story, keeping it light while touching on some important things about bigotry and perception of others. Especially awesome is Riley's discovery that we don't always recognize the assumptions we make about other people, no matter how much we hate when others make assumptions about us. Beautifully written, very funny, utterly adorable.

K. Jones

Definitely pick this one up for your library!

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023

Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball was such a fun, heartfelt read. Riley is faced to confront his ideas about gender, femininity, masculinity, and relationships when he angrily enters into a bet with a masculine gay classmate who says that gay men don't want someone feminine. Riley sets out to prove him wrong while documenting his journey on his podcast. One of the things I loved about Riley was that he leads with his heart and this sometimes gets him in trouble -- he doesn't know how not to be himself and unfiltered and this gets him in trouble sometimes. This felt very real and reminded me of The Feeling of Falling in Love by Mason Deaver -- a lot of similarities in the two where it focuses on misadventures of love and what the characters learn along the way. The characters are allowed to be imperfect and because of that we learn with and from them; I loved that about both books. I also loved that this was about relationships of all kinds -- mentoring, friendship, romantic love, attraction, platonic love, parental love and expectations, etc. While I don't think I'd teach this book, I'll definitely include it in my library and can't wait to recommend it to high school students! I think many teenagers will see themselves in these pages.

Ashlee Cernoch

Jason June did it again

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2023

Some spoilers in review
Jason June did it again. A fantastic story of a queer teenager trying to overcome bigoted obstacles.
Riley Weaver has waited not so patiently for their junior year in order to join the ranks of the Gaybutantes, a society of queer individuals very similar to a fraternity. Members of the society typically go on to do great things through all of their connections and Riley can't wait to get out this small town.
Important fact, Riley is femme and ends up in a bet with a masc boy named Skylar that a masc gay would never date a femme because they're gay to date boys not boys that dress like girls 🙄 if Riley can't get a masc boy to ask him to the Ball at the end of the season he has to drop out of the Gaybutantes

Immediately I knew Skylar had a crush on Riley but I expected that that was why he made the bet and not as a result of but I still knew it was going to happen. I also called Nick, Riley's best friend being in love with him but the journey there was still adorable.

I loved the way that there was no sugarcoating the bigoted comments from Riley's podcast community or any of the other stupid people in the story.

Riley is a queen and the Gaybutantes sound like such a fun group, I wish it was a real thing

Ellis

Spectacular YA!

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2023

Riley Weaver… is just a tremendous YA book, that happens to focus on the LGBTQ+ community, but is a great read for any human with emotions (that would be all of us!). I really loved the way Jason June breaks down stereotypes for all the ways humans present - cis, queer, masc, femme, gender-fluid, and everything in between - to show how similar we all are, instead of focusing on the differences. We all deserve love and support from our relationships, and it’s high time we all realized it!