Thursday, October 25, 2012

“Andy Squared” by Jennifer Lavoie


Age: Young Adult
Genre: Fiction, Gay and Lesbian

Teens Andy and his twin sister, Andrea, live with their parents in a rural town where not much happens. They fill their time going to school and playing soccer. As college application time approaches, the twins are trying to decide where to go to school because, at least in Andrea’s mind, they will stay together no matter what. But Andy is feeling unfulfilled in life: no girl keeps his interest for long and he’s not sure he wants to play soccer after high school. However, life suddenly changes when a new boy, Ryder, moves into town. Andy starts to have unrecognizable feelings for Ryder and before he knows it, Andy is in over his head. Though he is happy to be with Ryder, he lives in constant fear of others finding out their secret. He can’t even tell his twin, but everyone is bound to find out at some point.

The love story in Andy Squared seems plausible enough and the characters feel realistic, but the story itself moves pretty slowly. It wasn’t exactly a page-turner as there was nothing pushing the story forward other than Andy’s self-discovery. The author needed to add some sort of external conflict to keep the plot interesting. I found I wasn’t all that interested in what was going to happen to the characters, and the only reason I kept reading the book was because I rarely stop reading a book I’ve started. So Andy Squared wasn’t terrible, just sort of boring. However, it may appeal to young gay readers looking to find someone like themselves portrayed in literature.

Bibliographic Information:
Lavoie, Jennifer. Andy Squared.  Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books, 2012.


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