Christina Lauren

Autoboyography

Dione Jansen

Joub

THIS BOOK HAD ME BAWLINGGGGGGGGG. Was not ready for chapter eight but no words can describe how I read this at the perfect time

The characters were amazing and their journey was so good!!  

Brittany Peterson

Loved this book!!! 

Such a good LGBTQIA2S+ story!! 

The characters were amazing and their journey was so good!!  

Bria

They never fail to write a good ass book. I need a tv series, a movie, merch. This book is so good and deserves it all.

kelsey

okay, FINALLY writing a review for this one.

listen, objectively i know this book doesn't really deserve 4 stars more like a ... 3 but i relate way too much to give it less than 4

i apologize in advance for how long this review is, i just need to finally get these thoughts out

 "you're family knows?"
"yeah."
"and they're fine with it?"

the way tanner is so shocked at that acceptance breaks my heart. but i've never related to anything more. i too grew up in a mormon family. i still live with them. almost every day i hear a thinly veiled jab about being gay. (they don't know, im still deeply closeted.) but every thing they say feels like a jab at ME specifically. i understand this on such a deep level.

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. 

GOD, THIS. there's actually a policy in place that if u come out or ur child comes out they will be stricken from the official church record (so no more heaven for u....) and is ostracized. imagine actually ostracizing ur own child. kicking them out and never speaking to them again. IT'S DISGUSTING. and unimaginable for me. how could you hate someone for something as simple as being themselves????

im kinda gonna hit all the points that resonate with me.

the mention of the family: a proclamation to the world. it's a real fucking thing and yes it does say that "marriage is between a man and a woman" and basically says that woman are really only here to be wives and childbearers. it's gag-worthy.

i VIVIDLY remember when gay marriage was made legal in 2015. i had known by then that i was at the very least attracted to girls. and i knew deep deep deep deep down that i would never be happy with a man, but my internalized homophobia from this religion was so strong that i still didn't think i was a lesbian. and hearing the speech they gave at church the sunday after made it so much harder for me. it took another 3 years for me to accept that i am in fact a lesbian. 

the speech was the most ugly, hateful thing i'd heard from them. but it was wrapped up in a neat little bow like THEY were the victims. they basically announced that this had been "satan's doing" and that he was successful in "tearing apart the sanctity of family and marriage". i felt so utterly awful and wrong in that moment.

"i think... i've always liked guys. i mean, i know i have. i'm not even attracted to girls. i keep praying i will be at some point."

this scene rips me apart every time i read it, because SAME. i wished and wished and wished that someday i'd feel that attraction to men. it ALWAYS makes me cry.

his easy smile in the photos of him on the wall at home (where he has to hide one of the biggest things about himself)

GOD.... all you have to do is replace "he" with "she" and it's literally about me. and now i've started tearing up writing this review. 

"sometimes i wonder whether it's god or the church that feels the strongest about these things."
"my opinion? a god worthy of your eternal love wouldn't judge you for who you love while you're here."

god, this this this this this. why should a god that lets wars and wildfires and diseases run rampage have any say in who i love? why should a god that lets wars happen in HIS NAME have any say?

the way "marriage is between a man and a woman" is drilled into you, the way they preach that more than "do not judge or you too shall be judged". for people who preach kindness and that only god can judge they sure do a lot of it.

but it does make me wonder briefly what it's like for LDS kids living in towns where they aren't the majority.

you feel stupid. like you've been tricked into being the most morally right person when in fact your family is just judge-y as hell and has NO right to speak on others.

"you have so much space in your heart for your church, but does it have space for you?"

THIS BREAKS ME EVERY TIME. for the longest time i liked church, loved it even. then i grew up. i learned its faults, i learned the lies. i decided i didn't have any love for it anymore. 

"we used to have these inspirational quotes around my house. i remember one that said 'family is a gift that lasts forever'. there's no asterisk though saying 'but only under these specific conditions'. [...] those saying are supposed to be inspiration, but they mostly feel like someone standing over your shoulder, passive aggressively reminding you where you fall short or why your tragedy is for the greater good, all in god's plan."

lol this whole fucking paragraph really sums it up. having a (historically inaccurate white as fuck) jesus portrait in your living your watching you.... it's fucking exhausting. you never feel good enough.

imagine, he thinks, worrying that your family would be separated from you for all eternity. imagine truly believing that god loves all his children, except when they love each other the wrong way.
to think god loves the trees, his brain paraphrases from a book he read once, but condemns that blossoming thing they do in the spring.

this about sums it all up. what kind of god condemns love? what kind of god creates you, puts you on earth and then hates you for who you are? what kind of religion says god makes no mistakes when creating you, then tell you how you love is wrong?

it's just fucking heartbreaking, seeing it, reading it.

one psa: the suicide rates and homelessness rates in LGBT mormon teens is HIGH. especially in utah, the heart of mormon religion. they also still believe in using conversation therapy. they believe that being gay is "having unpure thoughts" and that you have to go to your local bishop and confess your sins. it makes me sick to my stomach. i refuse to ever go back there.

sometimes you feel no other choice than to hide who you are. i relate to that, so much

The Myth Echo

Pre-review: I'm gonna read this as a queer LDS (Mormon) teenager, and get back to you on it. But actually I am so excited to read this bc never see my religion and my identity in the same character. I am begging that both aspects of Sebastian are represented correctly!! I might even learn some stuff, who knows

Post-Review: Sebastion, ilysm. I connected to Sebastion in ways I didn't know were possible. I absolutely love him as a character even if he had his moments. This book left me with a hole in my heart and I expect a gift-card for therapy any day now. This book was truly amazing. Like actually the church and what we do in it was scary accurate. (view spoiler)[ I LOVE how this story did not end with Sebastion deciding to step away from the church, and instead not going on his mission. (view spoiler)[ The way Sebastion's family is described is like my family which I find comforting and weird abt. I honestly don't know how I am supposed to just go on with my night after reading this. This book is actually so good, and anyone who likes queer romance will love this, LDS or not.  (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Julia Moran 

I really loved this book, it's beautiful and I literally read it in two sittings. It's just so bittersweet and I feel very deeply for Sebastian and every person who has to go through something like that I'm sure it's not easy at all.

Olivia

Wow my bisexual heart is so full right now. This book was so beautiful, it had me crying like a baby

The characters in this book are so awfully, and brilliantly young and hella stupid. Which is refreshing! They feel like real people, and that’s what makes it so easy to love them. Great story, great execution. There’s nothing else to say apart from: I loved it, and I loved it and loved it and loved it.

Jeannette Ordas

This is sweet and lovely and everything I want to read during a time of uncertainty and quarantine. I really liked the characters, including Tanner's parents, and the love and heartbreak story of two people with wildly differing backgrounds was great.

Marsha Evelyn

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

I love how this book turned out to be heartwarming, cute and all that sweet story between Tanner Scotts and Sebastian Brother. Tanner's confusion about what book he should read, makes me smile while reading it. 

And when he had crush on Sebastian, it's no other than cute. I love every minute of this sweet story. What a page turner. And how Sebastian admitted he's into boys... and the kiss scene... melts my heart!! Such a beautiful love story halfway. It was also so sad when I realized Sebastian being in denial because he's about to go on a book tour and a mission as a missionary as a bishop's son. It broke my heart to pieces about him and Tanner broke up.

But, it comes by all sweet (maybe the sweetest after he cancels his missionary journey to visits and moves to LA to be with Tanner. What a cute and sweet ending. 10 0ut of 10!

Yasmin H

I loved this book. I found the characters were all very relatable and unique 

Tanner and Autumn are challenged to write a story of their own. Without any inspiration, Tanner decides to make his book autobiographical. But with the added difficulty of making sure he doesn’t out his boyfriend, how will he change the story to somthing fictional?

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.

Alex

I really liked this book!!!!

Very quick read. I could relate to Tanner, the main character, a lot. The way he talks and responds to people felt so real. Sebastian was also such a good character and perfectly portrayed the struggles of growing up queer and religious in my opinion.

Only reason why I did not give it 5 stars is that the last few chapters just felt a bit too short for me? Like I was missing something. And honnestly I just wanted more of these two, especially how they would figure out their relationship while in college. You have a lot of books of queer kids standing up for themselves and choosing for their love instead of their family and I just feel like this book would be perfect to showcase what would come after that.

But overal, great book, great characters and amazingly written.

i’m a fucking wreck. A WRECK.

this was outstandingly heartbreaking for me. it’s definitely a favorite already even though at time this book was so hard to read. my current situation made some of this nearly unbearable and i cried probably 7 times. fuck i’m tearing up writing this??? this was such a good read and i read it so fast... i don’t think i’ve read a book this fast. ever. i want to re read it all over again... i’m heartbroken and happy at the same time and i don’t think a book has effected me this way before.

thank you so much christina & lauren... i usually do not trust people with two first names, but seeing as you are two people its cool. thank you for this story. i am eternally grateful (and emotionally destroyed, but it’s worth it).

some lovely quotes:

”...it still irks me that I’ll probably spend most of my life dividing the people I know into two groups: the people who support me without question and the ones who should.” 

“His mom didn’t ask about Brett or whether he was happy; she asked about his parents, almost like having a gay son is something they have to manage, to explain, to deal with.”

Fátima

Me alegro mucho por el final que tuvo este libro, casi esperaba que pasara todo lo contrario y si pasaba creo que no iba a soportarlo. No ha perdido el realismo de la situación, pero tampoco se ha vuelto totalmente desgarrador —que era lo que yo estaba esperando casi desde que empezaron los últimos capítulos—.

De alguna u otra forma, al leerlo me sentí tan frustrada. Es decir, soy una persona que cree cien por ciento en el amor verdadero, pero que también cree que no todo el mundo va a conocerlo en su vida, porque enfrentémoslo, es prácticamente imposible. Así que, el hecho de que un par de personas lo encuentren, y no puedan vivirlo por culpa de los prejuicios de la sociedad, me frustra muchísimo. Me molesta demasiado. Y leyendo este libro pude profundizar en este sentimiento y entenderlo mejor. 

El hecho de que se trate la religión desde ambas caras de la moneda (los que creen y los que no) también ha sido algo que me ha gustado mucho del libro. Porque, tenemos los dos puntos de vista, así que no se "sataniza" ninguno de los dos. No te dicen que una está en lo correcto y la otra no, te muestra una perspectiva, te deja pensar por ti mismo. Te enseña que son las personas quienes al final del día, deciden lo que está bien y lo que no, para ellos.

Personalmente, sí que creo en Dios. Toda mi vida fui criada bajo la religión católica, incluso asistí a un colegio religioso antes de entrar a la universidad. Y creo. Pero también creo esa misma frase que aparecía en el libro, y que ahora parafrasearé: Ningún Dios digno de tu amor eterno, te juzgaría por las personas que decidiste amar mientras estabas aquí.

Mi mamá siempre me enseñó que si una persona es buena, debería darte totalmente igual su orientación sexual. Y creo que es totalmente cierto. No creo que Dios juzgue a alguien por amar sin hacerle daño a nadie. Probablemente te juzgue por odiar, por señalar y por no aceptar a otros, por usar su nombre como excusa para hacer daño. Tiene más sentido ¿no creen? 

Así que sí, a medida que leía este libro, y que veía todo el dolor por el que pasaba el pobre Sebastian, me sentía impotente. No es justo que un alma tan bonita como la suya tuviese que sufrir tanto, solamente porque siempre le enseñaron que lo que él era estaba en contra de todo lo que era bueno. No es justo. Pero me gustaba como, a pesar de todo eso, él seguía creyendo, sabía que lo que estaban mal eran las reglas de los hombres, sabía que no estaba haciendo nada malo.

Y su amor con Tanner fue lo más bonito que pude leer. La forma en la que se da, porque Tann no es capaz de cerrar la boca y disimular (ay cómo lo quiero, vaya), me hacía sonreír mucho. Parecían tan diferentes, eran las dos caras de una misma moneda, y estaban allí para ayudarle a crecer al otro. Y los quiero, y me duele que les costase tanto ser felices.

Sebastian, my poor baby. Cómo me rompía el corazón. Merece ser protegido a toda costa. Era tan dulce, inocente y noble que este mundo no se lo merece. Y me da gusto que Tanner lo ayudase a crecer y a enfrentarse a sus miedos, y me da gusto que sean ambos escritores y yo sé que eso no viene al caso, pero hombre, tenía que decirlo. Estoy muy orgullosa de ambos, y mi corazón no puede. Ahhhh. 😭😭😭💕💕💕

Also, mención especial para la familia de Tanner porque se merecían el cielo, y para Auddy que siempre demostró ser una buena amiga —lo que hizo por ellos con el libro hizo que se ganara absolutamente todo mi respeto—. Este libro no es sólo romance, es amistad y familia. Y al final, todo es muy bonito.

Kailey Rios

i don’t even know what to say except that i absolutely loved this book. whenever i had to stop reading to do something else, i just kept thinking about when i’d be able to continue. i can very much relate to sebastian’s situation which made it seem all the more real to me and i loved the hopeful but open ending. one of my favorite books i’ve read this year, for sure.


  4.75 stars

Megan Lowe

I loved this book! I don’t know why I haven’t read it sooner, but I’m glad I read it now, it’s a new favourite.
I loved Sebastian and Tanner. They’re great.
I loved the humour in this book, I loved the seriousness of this book, I loved the heartbreak of this book.
If you love YA MM stuff, this is up your alley. Even if you don’t, I recommend you give it a go!

jess

Okay, this book was unexpectedly incredible - adorable, with a wonderfully-written romance and an exploration of some very heavy topics without being too heavy itself. I'm not keen on books with white gay cis boys (who, let's be real, get so much attention in media), but the book was free and ready to be read, so I checked it out, and I am so glad I did so, because I think it was one of my favourite romances of the year. 

I really loved Tanner. He was SO EMBARRASSING. I had my face buried in my hands ON PUBLIC TRANSIT because the second-hand embarrassment was almost too much to take. He is a flawed teenager who makes so many mistakes, and yes, I got angry at him at some points in the book. Tanner was raised with a particular worldview and he can be kind of narrow minded because of it. But for the most part, he was pretty lovable. His relationship with Autumn was really good and sweet; I really loved their friendship. They were so close and are honestly friendship goals; teenagers in YA who know how to communicate! And SEBASTIAN. I didn't know this would be a T.A./student romance going into it, so I'd say be cognizant if you're uncomfortable with that, but they're both adults and Sebastian is only a year older than Tanner, so I was into it once I figured out that Tanner was 18. 

The romance between Tanner and Sebastian was like, ridiculously well-written. Yes, a bit cliche and definite insta-love was going on there, admittedly, but honestly. T.A./student romance, you'd expect it to be a bit clichey. And I'm a bit more willing to let insta-love slide when it's an LGBT romance, but I think Christina Lauren did a really good job of developing their relationship and getting to know each other outside the basal attraction part as well. The romantic tension was amazing; basically, these two boys were precious and so real and learning to navigate uncharted territory. I would love to protect Sebastian from everything. 

Because Autoboyography does deal with the intersection of religion and sexuality, and Mormonism is rather less understood than Christianity and somewhat more hostile to LGBTQ people (which is the subject of most books which deal with both topics). I feel like - even though Tanner did have some preconceptions - Mormonism was treated with respect and I learned a lot about it. Tanner did learn to respect the church and its importance in Sebastian's life, but it's recognized that it does have problems, but it didn't end completely on a sour note. Watching Sebastian go through coming out was heartbreaking, though, especially seen from the point of view of Tanner, who's openly bisexual. I loved Tanner's parents though and how embarrassingly proud they were of his bisexuality. And I loved how Tanner was so comfortable in his bisexuality. The bi rep in this one was SO GOOD; my bisexual self is singing its praises. 

All in all, this was a very fluffy read that does have its heavy parts, and if you're looking for a very well-written m/m romance, this is the book you want. 

This review and others can be found on my blog!

Charlotte 

Shan

Cathy

IS NO ONE ELSE CONCERNED WITH THE FACT HE'S HIS TEACHER????? ANYONE??

I liked it, the start and middle was amazing! A really cute romance book but I found the end a little tacky and predictable, but overall it was a great read.

Prisha Bhanushali

Mijs Franssen

This is the 6th time that I have read this book. I will never stop loving this book. It is so heartbreakingly beautiful, funny and loving and everything I have ever wanted. Themes like religion, self acceptance, friendship, family and love make for such a great read. I can’t possibly write a proper review on this as my feelings for this book are so big 🤍 
I’ll just say that these authors did such a good job, and in the back of the book you can read how they made the story and find sources, books and films on the subject.

It will always be a unending number of stars from me 🥰

Magda Silva

Loved it. It was a great book even do Sebastian sometimes stroke a nerve but I liked him but Tanner and Autumn were pure gold :)

illa

welp I’m crying... I love this book so much.
The casual bisexual represtation! The way sexuality is discussed! The conflicts! The friendships! The romance! 
I did also like how it acknowledged homophobia in the way that it did. It's hard, especially with a strict family religion. It dealt with it realistically and I respect that.

Autoboyography

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