Any story that starts with “will you GOAT to prom with me” has got me hooked. The main character may think that’s an awful pickup line, but I’m all over that shit 😛 This was a totally approachable piece of contemporary YA f/f with a happy ending, relatable and familiar characters, and girls in formal wear looking stunning.
The main character of Prom and Other Hazards has been in love with her best friend for years. She doesn’t come out when the best friend comes out as bi, because it’s in the context of the friend telling her about the great time she had kissing…. some other girl, on vacation. We still need stories where teens are afraid to come out to their crushes because it’s a super common and relatable experience but it’s nice to read a YA where the fear is just “what if she doesn’t like me that way” instead of “what if she doesn’t like girls that way.” Sometimes it’s nice when the stressors in an LGBTQ+ character’s life are things that happen to straight people, too.
In order to afford a suit rental for prom, the protagonist ends up working for the rental place, and I loved the zany depictions of her teenage male customers. I wonder if it’s really like that during prom season at a suit rental shop? The author made it sound totally believable.
It’s a well-structured story, with a plot twist that threw me for a loop exactly where it would have if this was a teen movie. Luckily, I knew this was from a LGBTQ+ publisher and I was therefore guaranteed a happy ending! I enjoyed watching the girls conquer the plot.
