This was such a beautiful and heartbreaking (ultimately in a good way) story that is so important that I hope will reassure people that things do get better. This memoir is written in a unique and fresh way that I think will appeal to readers looking for something new in this genre.

Highly recommend, thanks so much to the publisher for the review copy!

I came. I read. I conquered. I actually didn't come, but I did read and there was quite a bit of discussion of sex in this book. It was interesting and simultaneously awkward at points, like the first line of this review.

There's something to be said for finding yourself as a young, queer, Latinx man in the world. His reflections on trying to protect himself from so many externalized forms of violence and his thoughts around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_nightclub_shooting">Pulse Nightclub shootings</a> were painful but felt real and understandably conflicting. His moments of first love and first distancing, deep friendship, and friendship breakdown were poignant. I feel better having engaged with his thoughts, musings, and experiences.

Big thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this book for free.

I loved this memoir! As a fellow queer Latinx person, I related to so much of Edgar Gomez's stories - the queer longing throughout this memoir is so well-reflected through his personal reflections. He also excellently reflects on the Pulse nightclub shooting and the impacts it had on him and the queer community. Overall, an amazing debut!

This was the memoir I didn't know I needed to read. Edgar Gomez's memoir is at times hilarious and at times a punch in the gut, but so often I found myself thinking, "Oh, I'm not the only queer person who's felt this way." Being a Nicaraguan-American 20-something from Orlando and being a white bi lady from Seattle are wildly different contexts to be queer in, and I love queer memoir because I learn so much every time I read another person's account of how they've survived or thrived or gotten to a point in their journey where they at least felt they could sit down and write a book about it. But my god - the ache to have the straight people you love call you after Pulse to check in, the sterile doctor's office where a disinterested professional who doesn't know a thing about your life labels you "high-risk" without telling you that - I've never read anyone writing about those particular experiences of being a millennial queer. Gomez is gifted in his ability to keep the mood of the book readable throughout - there's plenty of trauma but no wallowing, and so much to think about. His reflections on being the post-AIDS generation of gay men are especially salient: "To go from “If you sleep with someone, you’ll die” to “Just kidding! Be a hoe!” was such an earth-shattering shift that I still couldn’t believe one pill a day was all it took."

HIGH-RISK HOMOSEXUAL by Edgar Gomez is a great memoir!! I was so intrigued to learn about Edgar and couldn’t put this book down. I finished reading this book in two days. Edgar shares candidly his experiences as a gay Latinx man. From his coming out story to his first sexual encounters and coming of age while discovering his queer identity this book took me on a journey of heartbreak, finding community and hope. While reading I was wishing for a HEA ending for Edgar just like in his fave J.Lo rom com. I loved the brutal honesty in this book as Edgar discusses his fears, tensions with his family and trying to find love. I’m so glad to have read this book!
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Thank you to Soft Skull Press via NetGalley for my advance review copy!

A memoir about coming of age as a homosexual Latinix man. From the cultural toxic masculinity from his uncles and his Nicaraguan heritage to hanging out with drag queens in his late teens to being labeled a High Risk Homosexual when he receives a prescription for PREP.

Memoir of a young Latino man coming out in Nicaragua, and then Miami. He offers anecdotes regarding the homophobic culture he was raised in, and his rebellion involving sex with many partners in the era of PrEP, sometimes with condoms and sometimes being risky. I didn't learn much about his personal feelings regarding the events of his life and found the writing, although very emotional, to not inspire in me new thoughts or ideas.

I am hoping to read more work by the author with more depth and awareness.

Thanks to NetGalley and SoftSkull/Catapult for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.