April 1, 2021
A reluctant pageant contestant falls for a newly out track star. Ruby Thompson loves only two things--sleep and her car--but she relies on hookups with lacrosse star Tyler and working at her ex-stepfather Billy's garage to keep her sane between the pageants her mother insists will be their ticket out of the trailer park. When new girl Morgan Matthews runs in front of Ruby's car, leading to a near miss, they get off on the wrong footing--although Morgan is intrigued by how cute she is. Morgan joins Pride Club and navigates her lesbian identity after being forced out of her Catholic school due to her sexuality. Her Division I college scholarship could be at risk depending on the results of her parents' discrimination lawsuit against St. Mary's. Morgan's annoyance with Ruby's attitude soon becomes something more, despite warnings from her track teammates about Ruby's reputation. The girls are from two different worlds--Morgan's family is loving and supportive while Ruby's mother fears her daughter may not be straight--and with so much to figure out on both sides, can they truly make it work? Dugan gives each protagonist a distinct voice and compelling point of view, and readers will sympathize with their challenges as they find their ways to love. Ruby and Morgan are White; secondary characters are people of color, and there is pansexual and trans visibility. A complex and poignant queer romance. (Romance. 13-18)
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April 5, 2021
Morgan, “marginally disgraced track star of the female persuasion,” is starting at a new school because queerness is “against the code of conduct” at her old one. On her first day, Ruby—a lifer beauty pageant contestant whom her classmates see as “trashy” because she lives in a trailer—almost runs Morgan down in the school parking lot, and their attraction is instantaneous. Ruby has had feelings for girls before, but she doesn’t do relationships, and her homophobic beauty queen mother is totally invested in her daughter being a pageant winner, a dream that Ruby no longer shares. Morgan, meanwhile, is no longer interested in being in the closet. Dugan (Verona Comics) gives the high school seniors, both white, solid lines as well as obstacles that are tied to and separate from their feelings for each other. Ruby is the slightly more interesting character, as she tries to balance competing interests (she’s serious about fixing up cars) and navigate what she owes her mother, but the teens’ collisions as they try to determine whether they can turn their attraction into something more solid make for an enjoyable romantic tale. Ages 12–up.
May 15, 2021
Grades 7-10 Elite white track star Morgan is used to fighting for her wins. When she's kicked out of her Catholic high school her senior year for violating the code of conduct just by being an out lesbian, well then that's just another battle to win. But when she starts at her new school, she runs--literally--into Ruby, also white, and with a reputation for trouble. Ruby, whose true love is fixing cars, has been competing in beauty pageants most of her life to please her mother, a former beauty queen who lost her own shot at stardom when Ruby was born. Bisexual but deeply in the closet, Ruby finds herself drawn to Morgan even as she fears what their connection means. And as Morgan finds herself embraced by a group of LGBTQ+ students, the more she wants to shout who she is--and who she loves--out loud. Dugan (Verona Comics, 2020) returns with a nuanced sapphic romance that guides its heroines as they struggle with their identities and discover their voices. An understated yet powerful addition to the canon.
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June 1, 2021
Gr 9 Up-Kicked out of Catholic school after coming out as gay, Morgan lands at a new school hoping to finish out her senior year on the track team in order to secure a spot at a Division I college. This is not an easy task, as her old school has placed several hurdles in her way. Angry about this situation, Morgan is intent on being a force for change for LGBTQIA+ student athletes who face discrimination by their schools. Enter Ruby Thompson, local teen beauty pageant queen and budding auto mechanic. When Morgan and Ruby meet, the attraction is instant but the barriers between them steep. As they grow closer, their relationship is tested by Morgan's desire to be a public couple and Ruby's need to keep her sexuality a secret. Despite a few plot contrivances, this novel succeeds in its portrayal of serious issues coupled with the giddy adrenaline rush of first love. Told in alternating first-person narratives between Morgan and Ruby, Dugan nails the young adult voice. Morgan and Ruby are fully realized and age-appropriately flawed. As they grapple with their feelings and say hurtful things to one another, they also learn from each other and mature along the way. Morgan is cued as white; Ruby is white; there is some diversity in the secondary characters; many characters are LGBTQIA+. VERDICT Perfect for teen readers struggling with their identity, or any teen in search of a satisfying, realistic coming-of-age romance.-Melissa Kazan, Horace Mann Sch., NY
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