To say we have mixed feelings about this book is probably a very fair statement. So, we discussed and we figured the best thing to do in reviewing this book would be like so: split the review into factors that we liked, and factors that we didn’t get along with. The caveat of course being that these are our personal opinions, so please don’t let us put you off this book unnecessarily!
There’s one thing Jay Collier knows for sure—he’s a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural Washington town. While all this friends can’t stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, Jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to-do list of all the things he hopes to one day experience—his Gay Agenda.
Then, against all odds, Jay’s family moves to Seattle and he starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time ever, Jay feels like he’s found where he truly belongs, where he can flirt with Very Sexy Boys and search for love. But as Jay begins crossing items off his list, he’ll soon be torn between his heart and his hormones, his old friends and his new ones…because after all, life and love don’t always go according to plan.
From debut novelist Jason June comes a moving and hilarious sex-positive story about the complexities of first loves, first hookups, and first heartbreaks—and how to stay true to yourself while embracing what you never saw coming.
Jay’s Gay Agenda
Jason June
Rep: gay mc, Chinese-American gay li, gay genderqueer side character, gay side character
CWs: vomiting
Release: 1st June 2021
What We Liked
One. Albert has to be the first entry on this list. Albert is both one of the best parts of this book and someone who deserved a lot better than he got. He’s close to a perfect love interest, with how sweet and forgiving he is, while still managing to set down boundaries for himself!
Two. The frank discussions of sex, and actually also descriptions of it. The book does not shy away from those topics even once. Not only in a way that Jay is having sex, but also with multiple talks about how important consent is; how not everyone is ready to and wants to have sex at a similar time; how you really need to be on the same page with your partner, otherwise you just end up hurting them.
Three. Jay being allowed to be messy (although with the caveat that we felt perhaps he isn’t called out on it enough). He makes a lot of mistakes, and he’s very far from perfect. But then, so are all of us. Especially teens, who are still learning and growing into themselves, and actually figuring out what kind of person they want to be.
Four. The genderqueer representation, in the form of Max. Max does more than just simply appear in the story, he also plays a big role. And even more importantly: he openly talks with Jay about his gender identity, what it means, how it shapes his day-to-day life.
Five. Another important topic the book tackles is poverty. Jay’s best friend Lu has financial problems, which just get worse & worse as the book progresses. Those problems are never overlooked, never portrayed as something that should be only whispered about. On the contrary, Jay’s Gay Agenda shows that poverty affects every aspect of a person’s life, from the things they can afford to their personal relationships.
Six. Stereotypes. With the premise that Jay used to be the only gay kid at his old school and then later with introduction of a whole group of gay teens, the book had a lot of room to talk about stereotypes about gay people. Because yeah, sometimes they’re just harmful (especially if perpetuated by cishet people), but sometimes they can be affirming, they can make you feel like you belong to something greater.
Seven. Probably the greatest aspect of the book: it does a great job of showing that every conflict has two sides, that no one is ever really 100% wrong or right. It mostly comes into play near the end, when Jay figures some things out for himself, and when he explains his motives to people around him. But he’s not the only character allowed to share their perspective. For each problem the book introduced, there are two sides clearly shown.
What We Didn’t Get Along With
One. The cheating. Perhaps this is a bit of a cultural disconnect, but having discussed this, we’re both of the opinion that once Jay has agreed to date Albert, him going to have sex with Tony is cheating. None of this “defining the relationship”. You’ve agreed to a date, you’ve used that exact word, and you haven’t discussed either exclusivity or non-exclusivity. From our point of view, all of this constitutes Jay cheating. So the whole situation, coupled with the fact that absolutely everyone saw this as okay, and the only issue being that Jay hadn’t told Albert? Made it quite hard to get through at points.
Two. It would be fair to say there is a balance to be struck between letting gay characters be sexual, and having pretty much all of their attraction relate to sex. To us — and we would stress that it’s to us — a lot of this fell into the latter case. It’s good for teen books to be sex-positive, don’t get us wrong! But there’s more to being gay than just sex.
Three. Jay is, to be harsh perhaps, a pathologically selfish liar at times. He lies not only to Albert, but even to his best friend. And the lies just keep adding up and up. In the beginning he doesn’t even seem aware of the fact he’s doing anything wrong – he’s just trying to have the best time possible. Thankfully, at some point he does realise he crossed multiple moral lines and he does make amends. Until that moment, his actions make it very difficult to root for him, though.
Four. The style is, of course, very much a personal preference, but it never really feels like it’s a teenager speaking to us through these pages. The language is awkward, the catchphrases outdated (“ohmigawd” is used 21 times, which is 21 times too many, from our perspective), and the jokes barely ever land. Also it’s almost hilarious that in a book this open about sex, which is considered an adult topic, eighteen-year-old Jay always uses the word “frack”. Again, to each their own, but for us personally it was the polar opposite of what we see as good writing.
Have you read this book? What do you think?
