I was first attracted to this book by the cover and then the storyline that involved sexuality as it is something that many teens grapple with in their young lives, in the end, that's all I loved. The book was not well written, did not flow right, and it was just hard to follow.

I kind of delayed reading this book, that happens with books at times. Well at least for me it does. When I requested it from NetGalley and received it, I was super excited, but life happens and it got pushed father down the TBR list. Last night, as my bedtime reading, it was time to stop the delay. Once I started this book, I could not put it down, I could not fall asleep. In fact, at 2 am, after I finished reading it, I was still thinking about it and not able to fall asleep. YES, it is that good!!! Why did I procrastinate? I wish I had read this sooner and was able to share this review and my feelings about this book sooner!
This is a story of two people, Zee and Art and their lives over the end of one school year and the summer which follows. It is a short timeframe, but so much happens. I know it's a cliche, but I laughed and cried while reading this book in the course of 4+ hours, but I never wanted to put it down. I wanted to find out what happened at the end. Did they end up together and if so where they friends or more? I am not sure how people in the LGBT community feel about this book, but I absolutely loved it!! I hope it is a good representation of what teens might go through when trying to decide whom they love. This book gave me so many feels and I happily give it a 5-star rating. Let me mention, I hardly ever give out 5-star ratings. This is my 86th book of 2018 and this is my first 5-star. That does not mean I did not love other books, that simply means I absolutely, emphatically, more than usually loved this book!

The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy is a thought-provoking look at gender rules and how love can blur those lines even further.

I loved that this book is a good representation of breaking stereotypes and gender tropes that society falls into. I think this is a great book for any teen who feels different. Zee and Art are written as teens. I like their relationship with one another and it shows how important having someone in your life who gets you is so important.

The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy is a lovely book. about the pressures of gender that exist within society. Gender influences a lot of things and gender expression is often valued a lot more then it's given credit for. This book is an exploration of two characters, Zee and Art, who don't necessarily fit into the roles their gender says they should have. This, in turn, causes people to make assumptions about them. Of course she's gay, look at her. Or of course he's gay, he looks like that. These assumptions leave an impact on people regardless of how they were meant in context. Both Zee and Art are questioning their own sexual orientations because of not only how they look, but how people talk to them.

Zee and Art are wonderful character, complex in their own rights with a great relationship. It's a little slow at first, but I found their interactions to be very genuine and realistic. Both are dealing with some pretty intense issues, Zee having just met her birth father after the death of her mother, and Art dealing with his parents' divorce after one became unemployed. They're heavy topics, but they're handled with such grace and nuance that they never felt overwhelming to the core relationship between Zee and Art. My only real qualm with this book was the short chapters that made the first 10% of this book annoyingly difficult to read. But once I got use to the style, I found myself enjoying the story a lot more.

Gender is fluid, but our perception of other people's gender influences them in ways we don't see and I;m really glad a book like this exists that tells people it's okay to be confused and not know yourself, while also stating that you know yourself better then anyone. No one can tell you who or what you are and The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy exemplifies that beautifully

"Everyone assumes that Zee is a lesbian. Her classmates, her gym buddies, even her so-called best friend. Even Zee is starting to wonder. Could they be onto something?

Everyone assumes that Art is gay. They take one look at his nice clothes and his pretty face and think: well, obviously.

But there’s more to Zee and Art than anyone realizes. What develops is a powerful connection between two people who are beautiful in all the ways they've been told are strange. As they explore their own complex relationships to gender, sexuality, and identity, they fall for the complexities they find in each other. With his trademark frankness, B. T. Gottfred delves inside both characters' heads in this story about love and living authentically."



Over the past couple of days, I had the opportunity to preview The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy by B.T. Gottfred. If you've read any of my book reviews to this point, then you know that the description of this book immediately grabbed my attention. And if they didn't win me over, alone, the dedication definitely sold me on reading this book.

"dedicated to everyone who has embraced their own unique, magical mix of feminine & masculine (and olux and xulo) and then embraced everyone else's in return."

And then the book was wonderful. It was consuming. It swallowed me and kept me turning page after page. I was absorbed by Zee and Art. And I identified with them closely. Especially Art. He's hilarious. He's sensitive. He's a good dresser. (I was not a good dresser at 17, like he is. But I am, now.)

I liked how nontraditional they are. Zee is perceived as masculine because she is strong and athletic and androgynous. She love Crossfit. She dresses in a t-shirt and cargo shorts. She's not fussed about her appearance, and her best friend is a guy. All signs point to lesbian, right?

Conversely, Art is beautiful. He's concerned about skincare, he dresses well, he's sensitive. His best friend is gay and he's artistic and not at all interested in sports. Apparently, these things equate to femininity, and thus, Art is clearly gay.

But as The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy unfolds, we learn as readers that there is more to sexuality than that. Things are more complicated. And it's a message people should be told. Because it's true. I am a smart dresser, I am effeminate. I am artistic. I'm a schoolteacher, for crying out loud. So the assumption made about me in school was always that I was gay.

I really identified with Art throughout this book.

But as the characters evolve, we learn about their intricacies and the complications of their life. Zee's mother is very sick as the book opens, and dies within the first chapter. Art's parents are awful and distant. Art's family is awful.

Zee is in love with her best friend, Cam. Art's best friend, Bryan, is in love with him.

It's all very complicated.

Now's the time I point out that one of the things you must keep in mind when you read YA is about intensity. The emotions are intense and amplified. The circumstances are unrealistic and complicated. Everything is very big. Very loud. Very fast. That's just part of the genre.

And, so, The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. The relationship that develops between Art and Zee is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. Starting out, I loved every part of this book.

It was complex. It was inspired.

And then... it wasn't.

For 75% of the book, I was in love. I was involved. I was sold on every aspect of the book.

And then the last quarter of the book went off the tracks for me. It's not even that it was bad. It was just not the trajectory of this book. There were extra complications. There were extra characters who just appeared solely to complicate things. There were extra plot points that weren't necessary.

And 100% maybe this was just me. Maybe this book just didn't jive with me, which doesn't mean it won't jive with someone else. It just wasn't my style of book. Which was so disappointing, because I really, truly loved everything about this book until then.

Thank you, Macmillan, for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"A man who reads effeminate may well be consistently heterosexual, and another one might be gay. We can't read sexuality off of gender." —Judith Butler

Have you ever been subjected to gender stereotypes? That's probably a rhetorical question. Hahaha. I myself have experienced being criticized for not conforming to traditional or hegemonic masculinity. Even though there are many kinds of masculinity, most people prefer only one: the kind that includes athleticism, big muscles, and other "macho" qualities. The same can be said of traditional femininity, which is typically tantamount to outward beauty, gentleness, and silence. In college, I learned about a feminist named Judith Butler. According to her, gender is a social construct or performance. In other words, your gender (behavior) isn't determined by your sex (genitals); males aren't necessarily "masculine," and females aren't necessarily "feminine." Following this logic, I can't help but think that gender stereotypes are stupid. Why? It's foolish to expect or ask people to behave in a certain way just because they have a dick or pussy.

The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy is a novel that powerfully illustrates the latter truth. It's the story of two teenagers who are bombarded by gender stereotypes. Because of their divergent looks and behavior, Zee's and Art's sexuality is always put into question. It eventually comes to a point where they themselves aren't sure of their orientation. However, as Zee and Art become closer, they realize that gender is not as solid as people want it to be.

It was my first time to read a book by B.T. Gottfred, so I was pleasantly surprised by his humor and candor. He didn't sugarcoat anything in this supposedly YA book. The emotions and conversations of the characters were raw, and the love scenes were pretty graphic. Hence, although this book features YA characters, its content is for a more mature audience. I personally did not enjoy the explicit scenes, but I commended the author for deviating from the norm, just like his characters. I plan to read more of his novels, so I guess I should prepare myself. Haha.

Zee and Art were unquestionably quirky and fascinating. I had never encountered such a weird yet perfect couple. Zee was turned on by Art's effeminate looks and behavior, and vice versa. There were times when I was so confused because I didn't know if they were straight, gay, or bisexual. Seriously, there were so many mixed signals, and it was impossible to label them using gender stereotypes. In the end, it occurred to me that that was probably the author's intention. Zee and Art were in love with each other, so what was the point of labels?

In addition to gender discourse, this book had lots of family drama. Zee suddenly met her biological father after losing her mother to cancer, and Art's parents separated after one of them became unemployed. I found their problems to be of equal magnitude, but I was particularly invested in Zee's dilemma. She had a lot of hang-ups to address before she could start a relationship with her dad. That being said, I loved Art because he was selfless enough to set aside his issues and help Zee attain reconciliation.

Overall, I gave The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy 4.5 stars because it was very funny and insightful. Readers who are familiar with Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity will definitely enjoy it. Art and Zee powerfully illustrate the fluidity of masculinity and femininity, so this book is perfect for anyone who hates gender stereotypes.

The book was nice, very attention grabbing as well. It was a little confusing as chapter to chapter switched from Zee to Art. But other than that i really thoroughly enjoyed the book.

This book was nothing short of interesting. I really struggled getting into it and seriously considered DNF at around 6%, but I was glad that I pushed through. The body of the book--about 30% to 80%--was really good; I was thoroughly invested. But the beginning and the ending really dragged the book down. The narrators had rich voices, clearly well-developed, and both likable in their own ways. While Art was exhausting, Zee was cool and collected, striking a good balance. There were some shockingly unrealistic elements that pulled me from the story, but it was overall a good look at love and the fluidity of sexuality.

"The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy" is a hard book to like. It is hard to pin down exactly what I found distasteful about it, but it left me feeling uncomfortable. Not because the characters were questioning their sexuality or learning about who they were. I am an advocate of LGBTQ+ literature and firmly believe that we need more good books in our stores and libraries...but the key word there is "good." I cannot say that this was a good book. The voices of the two main characters did not feel authentic and throughout the whole book it felt like the author, B.T. Gottfred, was simply trying too hard to make the characters and the story work and be what he wanted no matter what. My library will still probably buy this book and I would recommend it because I know there is an audience for it, but I also hope that young readers will read it with an understanding that it is not real life. 2/5 stars.

The beauty of this book is the accessibility in which it presents the myriad of shades that make up gender identity and sexuality.

Told from the viewpoint of Zee, a "handsome girl" and Art, a "beautiful boy," Gottfred takes the reader on an interesting journey, as the two high schoolers attempt to figure out their sexualities amidst a backdrop of disappearing and dying parents.

Sounds bleak, right? Actually, no. Somehow, this book is a paradox in itself. It's lighthearted and difficult. It's funny and heartbreaking. It's silly and serious. I loved Art's voice; he is the kind of character that you just want to be around. I really liked how their respective journeys of self discovery weren't some "aha" moment. It felt like they would be rediscovering, exploring, contemplating for much longer than the span of the book.

I am apprehensive to shelf this as "young adult" and "young love" because it's definitely deep and advanced. The writing is a little more advanced, but there's lot of sex. MATURE STUDENTS ONLY!

The only criticism I have is the living situation at the end. Felt like a cop out. However, this book is 100% worth the read :)

I completely loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the honesty, I even loved the little bit of cringing that had to be done through the cringe worthy spots which is saying a LOT. (I am too empathetic to be able to handle watching people embarrass themselves, and this book is full of that.)

I also really like how stereotypes are mentioned, followed AND broken ~ because we are all unique. But I mostly loved how they are also questioned and explored. The idea that not everything, or everyone, needs an understood explanation is refreshing.

I've already got all the other books by this author on order. Yay me! Can't wait to get these into the hands of some very appreciative students.

Here's what happens every time I get a B.T. Gottfred book from NetGalley:

It starts out with a great hook, I get mildly conflicted, but I'm already in love so I stay awake for half the night and read the thing in two sittings. Then I finish and the conflicted feeling returns and eventually I forget all the details but remember the characters.

Every time, my freewheeling, non-censuring self stops for a second and asks, "But is this book YA?" I think my sticking point is that the people buying YA are either 10-13 year olds, or people past the demographic portrayed in the story.

I love that Art and Zee are characters exploring complicated gender identities and non-traditional sexuality. Representation matters. And I love that they can live through their experiences and stay open to various interpretations of the term "a couple"; just knowing that options other than marriage or binary relationships exist is important, especially for teens trying to figure themselves out.

I wish stories like this had existed when I was growing up. I just have found these stories to be a hard sell to the people that could use them, too involved for those younger, and too uncomfortable for those older. I am glad they exist, though.

I'm really torn on how to review this book. It is unusual in that I nearly gave this the "Do Not Finish" treatment, but decided, because I enjoyed the writer's style so much, that I would continue through. My favorite character was Art, who was simply delightful in his passion for life and his desire to be cool. Zee was certainly an interesting character, but in my opinion, was not always likable. She seemed to be attuned only to her own interests and worries and completely intolerant (and unappreciative) of how others struggled through their own low points in life.It felt like if she watched someone drowning, she would be put out and irritated that the drowning victim splashed water on her while they struggled for air. Later in the book though, Zee seemed to become less intolerant and more accepting. My biggest problem with the book though, was that I felt claustrophobic being surrounded nearly 100% by LBGT characters. Seems the few straight characters either died off, slunk away because they were disgusting people, or were weak, forgettable and not worth the time it would take to get to know them. Being a straight person, the thought crossed my mind that maybe LBGT readers might feel this way when they read a novel that doesn't include a single POV of anyone who represents anything remotely related to LBGT issues and concerns. So, that's something to think about. Who's going to bother reading a book if there will be nothing there to relate to or connect to one's own life?
Regardless, I did very much enjoy the writer's style and ability to create characters that could incite emotion within the reader. By the time I finished the book, I felt it's purpose to readers is mostly entertainment as I was never entirely clear about the actual plot or reason for the book.

I really enjoyed the novel until the ending. I felt it was unrealistic and caused me to lose interest.

In a lot of ways, this book felt like a car wreck: the lack of control, the inability to tear your eyes away. On one level, I think that it's important to write queer stories not only about kids and teens who understand their identities, not only about coming out or figuring out how to date, but about being confused and questioning and squirrely with labels. But this particular book had a lot of aspects that turned me right off.

First, I found Art to be A LOT. If he mentioned one more time that he was absolutely hilarious or had one more breakdown because Zee didn't text him back, I think I would have lost it. It toned down a little in the later parts of the book, but I found his dramatics to be mostly dramatically annoying. (And I didn't think he wasn't actually funny enough to justify all the times he mentioned it.)

On the other hand, I found Arshad, Zee's dad, to be extremely flat as a character. His dialogue was stilted, and he was so calm and patient that he came off as nearly emotionless. I also didn't think that the comparison between him (Iranian, recovering addict, extremely generous, has a trans girlfriend, doesn't seem to be at all bothered that every time Zee asks to meet with him, she freaks out and leaves after five minutes) and Michael (works at a church, withholds Zee's money, at least transphobic, seems to have appointed himself her guardian but doesn't really look to actually care for her) is neither subtle not particularly well-interrogated. It's unclear to me generally why Zee's mom was in a long-term relationship with Michael at all, particularly if she trusted Zee to take care of herself and didn't see her as needing a "stable" parental figure.

And speaking of which: Zee's "love" for Cam - also pretty inexplicable. He spent the first half of the book being a generally bad friend (barely present when her mom died, someone she had little in common with other than liking pizza and baseball) and the second half lusting after her and crying when she didn't pay him attention the same way his ex did. It made even Zee's explanation at the end that she had confused loving him as a friend with being in love with him ring false as there seemed to be very little at all to love about him even as a friend.

I also found Zee's repeated insinuations of superiority because she isn't like "other girls" to be tired, especially in conjunction with her referring to other girls as "chicks." The former is unfortunate, especially in a book about progressive ideas of sexual identity, and the latter felt inauthentic to modern teenagers, as did the continual reference to penises. (My impression of teen culture is there's a lot more slang in reference to genitalia, and using "penis" over and over ["my penis liked it" "my penis was getting excited"] felt very formal).

And speaking of the sexual component: I can accept that Zee was uncomfortable with her feelings for Art and that was why she made up weird reasons to do semi-sexual stuff with him while pretending it was platonic ("I've seen girl friends shower together in movies, so I'm sure this will be fine" - not sure what movies you're watching, but I don't know of a person in the world who would think through that logic and decide it was plausible enough to work). I don't like it, but I don't have to like all the choices characters make. But the basis of their relationship, that Art hung around and was supportive and called her "my queen" and "my goddess" long enough that she became attracted to him really bothers me. It feeds into a negative stereotype that girls will eventually want to have sex with you if you put off nice guy vibes and hang around them. That's not only untrue, it's a woman's prerogative not to be attracted to someone even when they're a good friend, or to be attracted to them and choose not to have a relationship with them. The main narrative presented here leads to a dangerous sense of entitlement in boys and young men.

Also, why did Zee keep referring to Art as "kid" or "the kid" during sex or while thinking about having sex with him? It's uncomfortable, and especially odd because he's at most two years younger.

Anyway, someone in the queer community should probably parse the gender role and sexuality stuff a little further and with more knowledge and specificity, but this book bothered me too much and on too many levels for me not to give some commentary.

This book grabbed my interest right from the beginning. Told in alternating chapters, each character tells their story. It is a pretty raw, bold book on the LGBTQ experience.
The main character finds themselves being drawn back and forth between two very different people while trying to figure out who they are. Their experience is something both sad and beautiful.

The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy by B.T. Gottfred
Courtesy of NetGalley.com
Publication date May 8, 2018

The premise of this book makes you want to like it -- non-judgmental self-discovery should be everyone's luck to have. However, in order to get there, these characters took us on a shallow roller coaster ride of stereotypes. I liked the main characters as people, but everyone else around them played to the message instead of the story. If I suspended disbelief and went with the flow, I enjoyed the story, the struggle, the humor, the self-deprication. Granted, I'm not a teen in 2017-18, but I really wonder how authentic the thoughts and dialog were as opposed to being manipulated to convey a message. I understand it is fiction, so this book provides a point-of-reference for jumping into a dialogue with teens about gender issues. Teens reading this as fiction will enjoy it; teens hoping for a template for a self-help guide will be disappointed.