Lies My Girlfiend Told Me

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters is about a young woman coming to terms with the fact that her girlfriend who just died lied to her about everything.

Alix Van Pelt is having a great junior year. She is in love. Since the school ski trip, she has been dating Swanee Durban - one of the most popular girls in school and star of the track team. But six weeks into their relationship Swan dies. Alix is destroyed. To get some closure she goes to Swan's house and goes into her room for a memento. When she finds Swan's phone, she sees new texts. How can someone not have heard about the death. And who is telling Swan she loves her?

Alix begins to investigate who "LT" is from the phone. LT seems to think she is dating Swan. It seems there is someone Swan lied to more than she lied to Alix. Liana Torres goes to another school almost an hour away.

Alix and Liana have a lot in common. If they can work together they may have a chance to unravel the lies Swan told each of them.

Peters is well known for her young adult novels featuring GLBTQ characters. Lies My Girlfriend Told Me is not so much about Alix and Liana being lesbians, their families accept them from the first page, but the story of grief and renewal. This is Peters' best book yet.

Peters, Julie Anne. (2014). Lies My Girlfriend Told Me. New York: Megan Tingley Books.

It's Our Prom

It's Our Prom (So Deal With It) is the latest queer YA novel by Julie Anne Peters. It is about the relationships between three people who have been best friends for years - Azure, Luke, and Radhika. Told from alternating points of view betwenn Azure and Luke, It's Our Prom is the story of two people who are both in love with their best friend (Radhika) and have dreams of taking her to the new, alternative, prom.

When the school principal asks Azure to be on the prom committee, based on a letter written the previous year about how proms are not inclusive, Azure begs Luke and Radhika to join her in the planning. There are differences of opinion about what the prom should be - from the traditional model that tends to exclude both by economic factors and a heteronormative expectations - to a prom that is almost free to attend and has a drag show and no king and queen.

As the committee works out the details, and the budget, readers learn about the lives of Azure and Luke. Radhika is more of a mystery as there is obviously something going on with her, but she is not telling either of them.

Peters is known for her young adult novels that help young queer readers see themselves in the stories. This book is of the caliber you would expect from her. However, I found it odd that there were two times when the characters mention company that is anti-gay. Once when pizza was ordered from Domino's - whose owner is vehimitly against the GLBT community- and once the characters were watching Fox News. Why, out of all of the possible companies, would you promote two anti-gay comanies unless it was to point out their policies? It seems strange.

Peters, Julie Anne. (2012). It's Our Prom. New York: Little, Brown and Co.

Rage: A Love Story

Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters addresses the problem of abuse in teen relationships in the story of two young women who fall for each other.

Johanna has had a rough life the last few years. Her sister moved away and her mother died. She is not really interested in school though she is just a few weeks from graduating. She is only excited about two things - her job at the hospice where her mother died and Reeve Hartt.

Reeve's life makes Johanna's look like Disneyland. As their lives begin to intersect, Johanna wants to help Reeve in any way she can. Reeve is a complicated character whose many layers make her both fascinating and frightening to those around her.

Peters captures the feelings of first love - desperation and ache - in a way that is both familiar and like watching a slow train wreck. She does not mirror a stereotypical look at abuse, but create two characters who are complex, who have flaws, and who are in tough situations that do not excuse their behavior but attempt to explain it.

Peters, Julie Anne. (2009). Rage: A Love Story. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Define "Normal"

Continuing on the Teen theme... Julie Anne Peters' book Define "Normal" is a look at teen peer counselling. Antonia is assigned to counsel Jazz, a punk. Antonia doesn't think that they have anything in common and can't see how they will accomplish anything.

As time goes on they discover they have more in common than they could have imagined. When the tables are turned and Antonia needs someone to talk to, Jazz is there to help. Soon these two seemingly opposite teens become good friends.

Peters has a gift for making her characters likable and draws the reader in almost instantly. She also writes teen queer fiction that is fabulous!

Peters, Julie. Anne. (2003). Define "normal". New York: Little, Brown and Company.