"There was a pause in the conversation. My mother gazed at the hydrangeas in the middle of the table, her lips slightly parted as if at any moment she was going to start telling the flowers what they were, explaining their function on the planet. My father stared out at the backyard, his body jiggling slightly from the way he was bouncing his leg under the table. It was a nervous habit of his, something that always made him look like a kid. It coupled well with his momentary speechlessness.

Then I said it.

'Mom and Dad, I'm gay.'

My mother sat up a little bit straighter. Her lips were moving, but she couldn't find the words. My dad shook his head and looked at his lap. Of all the moments, this is the one where our house chose to be silent. No air conditioner kicking on. No ice tumbling in the freezer. No barking dog or Jehovah's Witness ringing the bell. No telephone call or Food World commercial with its annoying jingle. Nobody said anything for a long time and then I said, 'Tell me it's okay. Tell me that it doesn't matter.'"

Dade Hamilton is killing time during the summer after his high school graduation, just waiting until he can leave his small Iowa town, and go off to college in Michigan. He is also dealing with the fallout from his break-up with Pablo, the school's hot athlete, and someone who used Dade for sex, even though Pablo insisted that didn't make him gay. As Dade sorts through his feelings about Pablo, and ultimately himself, he meets Lucy, an outspoken lesbian, and Alex, an older boy who begins a relationship with Dade. Dade's parents are also going through a very rough patch, and on top of all of that, a nine-year old girl has been abducted from town, and her disappearance hangs over everything Dade thinks and does throughout the summer.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. Burd writes well, and there are some great descriptive passages sprinkled throughout; he also hits dialogue very well. But the plot and character development left me wanting a lot more. The coming out scene (quoted above) is strong, as are the relationships that Dade tries to have with his parents, both pre- and post-coming out. I also appreciate the fact that Burd presents both positive and negative sides to romantic relationships (homosexual or otherwise). Still, the plot line with Pablo veered between abusive and creepy, with a quick ending that didn't really resolve anything. I also would have loved to have seen much more character development in Lucy - she's someone who probably deserves her own book, in which to stretch out and roam. Overall, I think this is a good addition to the YA LGBTQ field, if only because I'm always on the lookout for titles that deal with these issues honestly. I think this book does that, but the story itself left me wanting a lot more.