Hot Boy Summer

March 4, 2024
A queer found family struggles to
navigate interpersonal drama in this meandering novel from Jiménez (Bloodline). The summer after his junior year in San Antonio, Mac Acosta is thrilled to finally have a group of gay friends: his
current best friend Cammy; flamboyant, diva-worshiping Flor; and athletic Mikey. The goal is to maximize fun all summer, including going all-out at an Ariana Grande concert, for which Cammy offers to buy Mac’s ticket when Mac can’t afford it. But intentional snubs and backhanded compliments cause fissures within the group, and Mac grapples with these new dynamics alongside his long-standing friendship with Cammy, his reciprocated crush on Mikey, and his home life with his homophobic, conservative father. When former RuPaul’s Drag Race competitor Valentina announces a public event, it brings the quartet together, but things don’t go as planned. Friendship drama takes the forefront over explorations of issues such as Mac’s financial precarity. Still, Mac’s frenetic, slang-laden narration (“It’s a vibe and a moment. For the reals. And I’m sooo here for it, and I’m #sooo-
verygagged”) is distinctive, infusing this summery romance with reality show flavor. Flor, Cammy, and Mac read as Latinx; Mikey is Filipino. Ages 14–up.

March 15, 2024
A blossoming group of gay friends feel the heat in San Antonio. On the last day of junior year, 17-year-old Mac and his classmates are reading aloud the persuasive letters they wrote to notable people for their AP Language and Composition class. When Flor hesitates, Mikey gives him the encouragement he needs by singing a refrain from Ariana Grande's song "breathin." Mac and best friend Cam join in, Flor's letter to a RuPaul's Drag Race competitor earns rousing applause, and a new friend group is born. Dubbing themselves the Fierce Bitches Club, the four plan the summer of a lifetime. Rule No. 1: "Ariana Grande is everything." Although stan culture can be joyful and validating, the author fails to convey fandom as a means of real connection; the scenes in which Grande's music and iconography embolden the teens' relationships come across as contrived and performative. Beyond the celebrity worship lies a story of family and friendship: Mac is figuring out how to come out to his hot-tempered dad, and temperatures rise as Mac and Mikey get close, while Cam (whose emotional drama wears on the group) competes in a drag showdown with Flor and is ostracized by the others. This overly long work reads like a social media saga, complete with group chat transcripts, hashtags, and gay slang. A heartfelt Pride celebration and the concert of their dreams are sunny spots, however. The cast is predominantly Mexican; Mikey is Filipino. A tribute act that falters. (Fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2024
Grades 10-12 *Starred Review* When Flor and Mikey, the "professional gays" of the junior class, invite Mac to hang out with them, he brings along his longtime queer lifeline, Cammy. The four decide to make the summer before their senior year a celebration of themselves, their queerness, and the #iconic Ariana Grande. Unbeknownst to Mac, the summer also holds changes and challenges in every significant relationship in his life. Although Mac is the point-of-view character, the hot-boy-summer journey is not just his--it's Flor's, too, as she flourishes into her own puro perra fierce self. Mac's narration is a vibe, with every sentence (as he would put it) serving realness with slang, hashtags, and attitude. With colloquial Spanish words and phrases incorporated without comment and character pronouns that shift seamlessly, often within the same sentence, and without explanation outside of the conversational context, Jim�nez has cultivated a space for a very specific group of teens. Outside readers may find the language of the narration to be a frustrating cultural hurdle in more ways than one, limiting potential appeal, but the conceivable impact of Mac's story and voice is immense. Overall, an explosive prose debut for the gays and theys growing up outside of the box, ready to start feeling their French Vanilla Fantasy.

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August 9, 2024

Gr 10 Up-In this unapologetic celebration of teen gay boy pride, Jim�nez explores how social dynamics can influence our identities. Mac Acosta has just finished his junior year and looks forward to spending the summer with his best friend Cam when a chance encounter with two other queer boys in his English class leads to a whirlwind friendship with them. From the beginning, sparks fly between Mac and Mikey, but negative vibes fester between Cam and the rest of the group. Mac wants to stay friends with Cam and pursue these new relationships, but can he stay friends with someone who seems determined to put him and his new friends down? As Mac wrestles with whether being gay means having to dress or act a certain way, he also must figure out whether a seemingly toxic friendship is worth saving. Although the book relies heavily on references to Ariana Grande songs and RuPaul's Drag Race episodes, which might become confusing to those not familiar with the pop culture references, it does a fantastic job of presenting a young boy as his true, authentic self as he determines which relationships are worth saving, and which are not. VERDICT Great for teens who are coming to terms with their own identity, regardless of label.-Amy Shaw

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