I Heard the Pastors Daughter Is Gay

by Luana Reach Torres

Katie North breezes through high school as an undercover nerd helped by the fact that her best friend is the most popular girl in school. Katie has no clue that she's smokin' hot and the object of a few varsity athletes' drool. She's a pastor's daughter--Miss Goodie Two Shoes--and up until now, her number one priority has been graduating with the highest honors. But, everything changes when Katie falls in love for the first time - with a girl. Her world is blown wide open, and everything changes. Will Katie find her true self at the cost of her father's love?

192 pages, ebook

First published August 15, 2012

Reviews

[BJ Lillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories that grapple with the relationship between faith and queerness. In part because they are, inevitably, about the relationship between faith and modernity, one of the great impossible questions of our century and the last. In part because they have no choice but confront questions of gender and sex at the level of the soul—which is, perhaps, the appropriate level.

I found I Heard the Pastor's Daughter is Gay as the English exception in a collection of out-of-print German and Swedish lesbian YA novels (where I also found the lovely Flug ins Apricot ). I try to let serendipity guide a good part of my reading. I love pulling books from little free libraries and big free libraries, yard sale boxes and dollar bins, obscure blogs and the depths of archive.org. I love diving into a discovery without stopping to see what other people have said about it first.

I Heard the Pastor’s Daughter is Gay (the title alone an efficient plot summary) is not as well written as most of the queer YA I read. Some of the dialogue is pretty awkward (though I did catch myself wondering if people say things awkwardly all the time, and it’s just books where conversation flows along so smoothly). The plot is melodramatic and not quite plausible. And yet, for all its flaws, there is an earnest, almost naive quality to the book that really appealed to me. A basic emotional honesty. A lack of pretense, even when the novel is at its least convincing. It's not perfect, but I'm glad I found it.

[Tommie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in the Member Giveaway through Library Thing. The title really threw me, but I thought I'd give it a try. Boy, I'm glad I did! The author, Luana Reach Torres, did a wonderful job at describing what it may be like to be confused about sexuality. As the story unfolds, Katie, a young teenage girl, thinks she is in love with a beautiful girl at school. She struggles with the possibility of being gay and blames it on God. Her father is a pastor, which makes it even more difficult. After running away and becoming homeless, she finally finds her way back to God. But you'll have to read the book to find out which path she takes. This book is very well written, and with short chapters, it is a fast read.

[Becky Hirst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good novel that depicts a story about a young girl who is learning to accept herself and keep her father's love. I also could really feel for the father in this story too, who was learning to accept and love his child unconditionally.

http://www.luanareachtorres.com/

[Mine]

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[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teenager struggles with being gay and loving God. How her friends, family and church react. Ex-gay camp and what she learns.

[Oz. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found it extremely boring. Could be read by Christian gay teens.