Autoboyography by Christina Lauren Review

Autoboyography | Christina Lauren | Simon & Schuster | Pub: 9/12/17

“In summary: love and respect, but only if you’re willing to live by their rules… and if not, then exclusion is the only answer.”

I have been reading so many fantasy and mystery books lately that I needed a change of pace. After receiving Autoboyography in the mail from a giveaway win, I decided it was just the change I needed.

Tanner is a bisexual male who moved from California, land of the accepting, to Utah, land of the Mormons. Tanner has to close himself back up for fear of how the people of Provo will treat him. His family knows about him and accept and love him but are just concerned about how he will be treated. He hasn’t even told his best friend.

So now in senior year of high school, he signs up for the Seminar. It is a class where you write a book in 4 months. Tanner’s semester is turned upside down when Sebastian is announced as the Teacher’s Assistant for the class. Sebastian was in the class the year before and got a book deal. Sebastian is also ridiculously hot, and Tanner feels himself falling for him.

Unfortunately, Sebastian is Mormon, is the son of the Bishop and is not gay. Sebastian and Tanner work together on Tanner’s manuscript and Tanner feels things he definitely shouldn’t but, can we really help who we love?

THIS BOOK RUINED ME. My heart was twisting the entire time. It was interesting to get a peek into Mormon life and into the life of a bisexual person. There was so much pain and it is so not okay that there are people who think that love and marriage and sex is just between a man and a woman. We can’t control who we love and how we feel. We’re not supposed to.

It was hard to see Tanner’s family being so supportive and loving and then to see people just cringing at the thought.

I loved this book until the very end. It leaves me wanting a bit more. I need a little more closure but otherwise this book was absolutely incredible. Highly recommend.

Synopsis (Credit: Goodreads)

Fangirl meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this funny and poignant coming-of-age novel from New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren about two boys who fall in love in a writing class—one from a progressive family and the other from a conservative religious community.

Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.

But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.

It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.