Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners/besties/soul mates/brain twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both young adult and adult fiction, and has produced ten New York Times bestselling novels, including Beautiful Bastard and Sweet Filthy Boy from Gallery Books. Their books have been translated into more than twenty-three languages. You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com, or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram. You can find more of my reviews of Christina Lauren's works here.
Three years ago, Tanner Scott's family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah. But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High's prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can't resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity. It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.
I have wanted to read this book forever, especially when I was in high school and it had just come out! But then this book disappeared from my mental foreground, and it wasn't until Riveted offered this one as a free ebook during the month of June that I finally got around to reading it, and I'm so glad I did! So, first off a thanks to Simon & Schuster for offering this as a free ebook during the month of June!
What I instantly adored about this book was how it was framed—Tanner has to write a book for this class called the Seminar, and Autoboyography is indeed that book. Yes, it definitely sounds a little cheesy, but trust me, it's so wholesome and well-done that you sort of forget after a while the meta nature of it. Nevertheless, what makes this framing so special is how much heart and emotion there is in Tanner's narration. It really does feel like one is reading a high school boy's autobiography, which makes this book's emotional center all the more special, and all the more powerful.
Christina Lauren depicts so many things in this book carefully, and with a big heart. They touch on pretty much everything—being queer in a supportive household, being queer in an unsupportive household, what it's like to be queer and in the church, sibling relationships, awkward friendships, cringey high school experiences, and more. One of my favorite things they depict, though, is the struggle with faith and organized religion, especially when it directly conflicts with the modern world and modern beliefs. This sort of argument, between organized churches and accepted social practices, is fascinating to me, because the words and language to describe it are so difficult to grasp. Even then, Christina Lauren really captured the emotional heart at the center of this dialogue, and because they were able to do that, they were able to give Sebastian and Tanner a very worthy ending to their story.
Lastly, and what felt so incredibly important to me while reading, was how Christina Lauren wrote Autumn's and Tanner's relationship. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely so many other important things in the book that needed to be depicted well and strongly—the whole list up there is heavy and necessary, for sure. But Autumn's character really spoke to me, and so her relationship with Tanner was complicated in its own way. I never once felt like Autumn's arc or her friendship with Tanner took a backseat in the story, and Autumn proves to be a great friend while also learning how to be a great ally. Tanner, Sebastian, and their respected families are of course necessary and also depicted with heart, but I loved how much Tanner had a supporting friend like Autumn, while also receiving her own space to grow and learn from her own mistakes. Bravo to Christina Lauren for balancing such a complex narrative in such a way so that every single character gets the growth and ending they deserve!
I love Christina Lauren's work, and will definitely be reading more of their stuff in the future. Until then, you can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com, or @ChristinaLauren on Instagram. You can find more of my reviews of Christina Lauren's works here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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