10 queer YA books to add to your TBR this Pride Month
Like a Love Story – Abdi Nazemian
Perhaps the quintessential Pride book on our list, Like a Love Story follows three teens during the tumultuous 1980s HIV crisis in New York.
Reza, the son of Iranian immigrants, knows he’s gay but is terrified to come out, and perhaps even more terrified of AIDS and living as his true self; Art is an out and proud artist and photographer living with parents who don’t understand him; and Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who loves her uncle Stephen more than anything in the world.
When Reza and Judy meet, there’s an instant bond between them, but Judy doesn’t realize it’s just friendship, as the two begin to date. Meanwhile, sparks fly between Reza and Art and Stephen is dying of the disease ravaging his friends and lovers.
Amidst the tragedy and loss, can Reza, Art, and Judy learn what it means to love? Like a Love Story is a beautiful testament to the victims and surivors of the early HIV pandemic, providing an important history lesson for young readers with plenty of heart, humor, and Madonna along the way.
The official synopsis reads:
"It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance…until she falls for Reza and they start dating. Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. He’ll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won’t break Judy’s heart—and destroy the most meaningful friendship he’s ever known."
Like a Love Story is available now wherever books are sold.