Twelve Long Months

by Brian Malloy

From Brian Malloy, acclaimed author of the adult novel The Year of Ice, comes a smart, funny, heartfelt novel about being a straight girl who's completely fallen for a gay boy.

Please believe Molly Swain when she tells "Never fall in love with a gay boy. And whatever you do, don't move to New York and invite said gay boy to live with you, to make a fresh start in a new city. After all, that was what I was trying to do. Yeah, I'm only eighteen, which is, as my father says, not old enough to know your head from your ass, but still, I should have known better. After all, I was valedictorian."

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, College, Realistic Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Thanks for stopping by! My novels are The Year of Ice (St. Martin's Press), Brendan Wolf (St. Martin's Press), and the young-adult novel Twelve Long Months (Scholastic). I regained the rights to my first two novels from St. Martin's Press, and have re-published them under my own imprint.

My books have been a Book Sense pick, a New York Times "New and Notable" title, and a Booklist editors' choice, and have won the Minnesota Book Award and the American Library Association's Alex Award.

My new novel is After Francesco (John Scognamiglio/Kensington).

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the thing that really made this novel for me was Molly's voice. It's so real and it was easy to relate to her and her insecurities. I remember all to well, having the same feelings about myself that Molly felt. Insignificant... average.... never good enough, although unlike Molly, I didn't have the intelligence or strength to leave home and attend a prestigious college.

I loved the message that this novel held... that you can't help who you love, and that sometimes the love of a friend can be just as meaningful as the love of a significant other.

The supporting characters of Molly's two friends were fantastic. I loved the the dynamics of their own relationships with their boyfriends..... Molly wasn't the only one that couldn't figure it out. Those two girls needed some help! They may not have known what a healthy relationship was, but I think that Molly's friends helped her come out of her cocoon of self doubt... she evolved into someone with more self confidence and someone that was finally comfortable in her own skin, even if things didn't work out in the way she wanted them to. She accepted what she had and made the best of it. Something that I know a lot of people wouldn't be able to do. The girl has guts!

So... we've got great character development, an awesome story and an enjoyable read. Add it to your reading piles!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molly has had a major unrequited crush on her chem lab partner for ages, and when he plans to move to New Jersey to work for his uncle as a house-painter, she is delighted that he will be so close to her in NYC where she will be attending Columbia Univ. However, Mark is non-committal about hanging out, other than to ask if he can occasionally crash in her dorm room if he's in the city too late to catch the last train. Molly soon finds out that Mark is gay and is heartbroken and angry, although Mark had never led her on. Her new girlfriends urge her to be his friend, and she finally comes around. She eventually starts dating another physics major, Simon, only to have Simon fall in love with Mark!

While this is another in the genre of girls bemoaning the fact that the boys they like turn out to be gay, there is better character development, and the strength of the friendship of Molly and her two girlfriends who always make time for each other despite their romantic relationships is a nice change.

[AquaMoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has been on my to-read list for a while now, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It's a wonderful story about friendship and acceptance and growing up.

It is May of Molly's senior year of high school, and she is in love with her lab partner, Mark. But Mark has a secret. A secret he doesn't dare reveal to anyone in their rural Minnesota town. Flash forward to fall. Molly is starting college in New York City. Mark is living near the city as well, working for his uncle's business. Then comes the fateful night Molly and her friends decide to go to a gay club just for kicks and because there they can dance with boys without any strings attached. While wandering off on her own, Molly sees a familiar face in the crowd: Mark's. Suddenly, Mark's secret is out. He's gay.

After getting over her initial shock, Molly accepts Mark's lifestyle choice and their friendship deepens. In order to help her get over the final remains of her crushed crush on Mark, Molly begins dating Simon, a physics student in her weight training class. What she didn't expect was to fall in love with this new boy. A boy who, after several months of dating, reveals he's also gay--and also in love with Mark (a twist I sort of saw coming).

Despite her bad luck in the boy/romance department, Molly forms very close bonds with two girls in her dorm. Girls who help her come out of her shell, gain confidence, and start to become who she truly is supposed to be. Although Molly's relationship with Simon doesn't survive the big revelation (they can't even remain friends after what happened), her bond with Mark becomes closer. Through her experiencies, Molly learns what it's really like to have friends--and to be a friend.

[Silver · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am thrilled that there are more books for young adults and teens with gay characters. I hope the amount keeps growing and that books address all types of issues with being gay (or being related to someone who's gay or being friends with someone who's gay, etc).
I understand that this book wants to take the perspective of the girl who finds out her biggest crush is gay and how she reconciles herself to him, but it just falls short from a girl perspective. In the beginning of the story, I love Molly. Her voice is real. Then, she happens too fast. She loses any endearing quality that made her unique and gets shoved into a stereotypical mold--she doesn't sound real to me anymore. I did like when she went back home for winter break--I felt her again. But the New York Molly--just didn't buy it. I longed for an alternating view point. Mark, Simon, Lily, Jessie--a differing view to give Molly's more life.
I'd still read more of Brian Malloy. I want to read The Year of Ice just from the reviews I've read.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time with this book. It should really have only taken me 3 days to read...it took me over 2 weeks. I just could not relate to the main character. She was so boring and I didn't care anything about here.

By the middle of the book, I could predict the storyline, though the surprise with Simon was a twist. Her friends drag her to a gay bad for fun. Shock, shock, she runs into Mark there, the boy she has been pining for. Can't there be a more creative way to find out someone is gay? The book did pick up a little bit after that, since I think the author was just writing to get to that point and 'the big reveal'.

Her friends were two dimensional. I had no idea why any of them would want to hang out.

It ended with the girl unlucky with love, pretty much. Okay...since we are reading it as the girl, since this is first person, how about giving us a good storyline? The boys seemed to be doing great.

I think this book would have been a lot better if it was done from the pov that the author really wanted to write about: The guy's view.

[Romina Dávalos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Everyone should defentely read it because it shows you how the live coarse can change. The story is basically about this girl that moves into new york for university and so does his high school crush. There, they develop a good friendship not knowing that the man is actually gay!! Its really interesting how this girl tries to live her live again afronting other problems she has daily and trying to survie in the lights of NY...

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Malloy's depiction of a straight, college girl was impressive, and the ending truly made my heart sing. I have only one complaint about Brian Malloy - he hasn't written enough books.

[Shelby Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not *bad* but it wasn’t great either. The first half was very relatable and captured girl in love with a clueless boy very well. The second half was rough and a hard read. It’s very 2000s coded. There’s nots of terms and topics that are written in a very 2000s manner.

[Mitchell Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

First surprise: I didn't know this was young adult. So I put on my rarely used YA goggles and forged ahead.
Second surprise: Excellent writing, original storytelling and a great conclusion.

[Kali]

11-17-10
I'm pretty far in this book, I'm almost done. So far, I think its really good. The one thing that makes me keep reading, is knowning the fact that Molly is from Le Sueur, Minnesota. A young girl of big dreams and high hopes of making a success living in New York going to school at Columbia. She's a very intellegent girl, didn't have many friends in high school but now that she's off away at college in another town she can be herself and not have to worry about getting judged. It almost seems that she's happier in New York living her own life the way she wants to without her mom or dad nagging on her. Her dad's a semi truck driver who's always gone while her mom works at a fast food restaurant and her little brother has been getting himself into some trouble now that Molly's away at college. Molly does her own thing, she's very independent, even when she's around her friends and 'the boyfriend' Simon. Still a great book, I love reading it.

12/1/10
I loved it. The book was so different from what i thought it would have been about. It had a major turn in it and it kept me reading! i was done reading it in like 4 or 5 days, but it took me forever to edit my review because we had a short week last week at school and thanksgiving break. If there was another sequel, or another book after it within the same story line, i'd read the whole series! This girls life changed in a good and bad way. Some things went the way she wanted, and some things didn't. She's a really smart girl with goals and dreams for her future and she's on her way to success, but with all these boy distractions it'll be a little complicated. It doesn't help that her parents didn't want her to move to New York because it's so far away from her home town of Le Sueur Minnesota.

Totall love the book !!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for making me laugh out loud a few times. Otherwise, this was painful to read.

The narrator never shut up about her weight through out the whole damn novel--I understand she's a teenage girl but I've heard women with eating disorders complain less about their weight. Her boyfriend turns down her offers of sex? "It's because I'm fat, isn't it!?" Her crush rejects her? "OMG I feel so fat!" If I knew this girl in real life, I would have have told her to SHUT UP. I can't believe how distracting all the fat talk was.

Not to mention some of the characters seemed entirely unreal. I could never ever believe the parents of a brilliant young woman would never ask about her college plans until the day she graduates. Yes, you read that right, this girl wants to deal with string theory and quantum physics, and her parents apparently never talked to her about it. It basically goes like this: "Hey so btw, I'm going to New York for college. k?" and her parents respond with: "No way! Well, ok. That's cool."

/facepalm. I would never believe such a thing would happen in the real world. I mean, I'm not even brilliant, but my mother bugged me from the moment I entered my sophomore year to start thinking about college.

The idea for the story was interesting, I mean, I always enjoy reading about gay/lesbian novels. But this one just fell so flat. Annoying, unreal characters and too much complaining from what should have been a very cool and strong main character. Oh well.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molly Swain is smart when it comes to books, not so much when it comes to boys. She’s been in love with her school lab partner Mark for months but can’t muster the courage to tell him. It seems like fate when she discovers that he too will be leaving Minnesota for New York City in the Fall, she to attend Columbia and he to work for his uncle. When Mark comes out to Molly, she’s shocked but supportive, and slowly learns to appreciate that friendship with Mark is the best he can give her. While the book is successful and enjoyable on some levels – Molly is a well-developed, sympathetic character and her relationship with various family members is well drawn – other aspects do not ring as true. For example, Molly, basically friendless in high school, immediately (as in the day she moves into her dorm in Columbia) finds two best friends who take her under their wing, give her a makeover, and pay for all of their girls’ nights out. Mark, the object of her misguided affection, is not as well developed, so it is hard to understand what Molly sees in him. Malloy’s depiction of Molly’s emotional journey is gratifying and the book offers a positive take on a different kind of girl meets boy story, but some of the plot points and uneven characterizations detract from the overall reading experience.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by YA Librarian Elizabeth for TeensReadToo.com

Molly is in love/obsessed with her chemistry partner, Mark - but Mark has a girlfriend.

Mark lives on a farm, he is an artist, he cheats off Mallory's tests, doesn't show up for plans when he says he will, and basically is unavailable and constantly mysterious - which makes Molly's crush hard to bear.

Molly does not have many friends and is considered nerdy. She is going to Columbia college in New York City in the fall to study physics.

When an unexpected opportunity arises and Molly sees Mark vulnerable, a true friendship sparks between them.

Everything changes when Molly goes to college and meets two rich, glamorous New York City girls. They teach her about fashion and makeup and expose her to the party scene of New York. She also gets her first boyfriend and begins to forget about Mark. Meanwhile, Mark is having problems living back in Minnesota, and comes to New York to visit Molly - and soon everything she believed in is turned upside down.

A great read, filled with well-defined, lovable characters. You really feel for Molly and Mark and their struggles, and it will keep you guessing as to what will happen with everyone. A great story for those who like reading about the emotions of first love, first disappointments, and the friends who play a big role in your development.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A week ago this book was awarded the Minnesota Book Award for young adult literature. I picked it up right away because it beat out some other books that I really liked (ie; "The Black Box" by Julie Schumacher). I was also interested because it was another entry in the quality GLBT genre. As I have many kids looking for books in this genre, I am always looking for things to recommend to them!

I thought this was wonderful! Nerdy girl falls in love with a luscious, brooding boy. Boy allows only friendship. Both graduate and move to the NYC area. Boy eventually, reluctantly, reveals his homosexuality. Girl falls for boy #2 (another nerd), accepts boy #1 as her friend only. New boy falls for gay friend. As one of the character says, "Oh what a tangled web we weave." The requisite friends (the 3 E's) are there for moral support, but have their own love issues. The adults, though good people, supportive of their kids, are conveniently back home. There is a unique aspect to the book, yet many universalities - we all try to figure out what love is about, and we all learn about ourselves in our relationships with others.

This reads smoothly, easily, quickly. I couldn't put it down. I looked forward to reading it each evening!

[Anica L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had me bawling! When I had originally found it while skimming through the library shelves, I spotted the book and grabbed it quickly, only having a couple more minutes to get an SSR book before class; and not really examining or flipping through the book to see what it was about. After actually sitting down, and looking at the cover page and title, it seemed to me like it would be just another one of those lovey-dovey, melodramatic love stories, but as I slowly progressed into the story I found that there was actually more more to it than met the eye. While it was indeed a love story, this book in particular had some pretty crazy and completely unexpected plot twists that made me want to break down in tears; simply because the writing seemed so realistic. Although I really wish Malloy had explained a little more what happened at the conclusion instead of abruptly ending the story, it was still a great read and kept me hooked reading for hours and hours on end!

[Marci T · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, Twelve Long Months is about a boy and a girl who come from a small town in Minnesota who aren't even friends, only lab partners. They end up going to the same college in New York City, and immediately the girl thinks she is destined to be with him, until she finds out his biggest secret, that he's gay, which no one back home knows. This relates to the society today because we could have many gays at our school who are uncomfertable to come out, just like the boy Mark. Personally, I loved reading this book and i would reccomend it to others. There were pages where it wasn't too thrilling to read, however the entire book as a whole was great. The audience for this would probably be high schoolers and older, people who are trying to figure out who they are and what college they want to go to. The writers language was very effective to me, I enjoyed the book a lot.

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I REALLY wanted to like this book, but I don't think I did. I'm still undecided, I guess. I loved the concept. (Molly has been in love with Mark all through high school, but he's totally out of her league. Molly leaves small-town Minnesota for Columbia University, and to her delight, Mark moves to the Big Apple, as well. Mark confesses to Molly that he's gay. Molly tries to fall out of love with Mark, while still trying to be a good friend to him.) I just had trouble with the execution. Maybe it was the fact that I just wasn't that crazy about Molly. The "twist" did take my by surprise, but I liked it, and I thought it was appropriate.

Revision: I've made a decision - I didn't like this book. It would have been an okay library book, but I'm bummed that I spent money on it.

[Suhara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing a brilliant story that when you fall in love its really hard to fall out of love even when you know they'll never feel the same about you however after a few rough turns the unthinkable happened you finally find someone you love who loves you back (well that's what he said) supposedly and when you finally think life is perfect you get told some disturbing news you just DON'T want to believe and break up with your boyfriend (who you loved) and stop talking to your best friend who is a boy cause of what happened you blame him. But obviously there has to be a happy ending and the boy right at the beginning who she loved but didn't feel the same way does love her but in a different way and that's what's important cause finally at least he loves her <3

[Mrs. Lahti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to read this book after hearing about it at a YA Lit Conference. It's a quick, easy read, and I think it will appeal to teens who are interested in the complexity of relationships and possess an open mind. The narrator, Molly, is a likable character, who is in love with a guy named Mark. When they both leave their small town in Minnesota for New York City after graduation, Molly is hopeful of their future together. However, Molly soon discovers Mark's secret; he's gay. Over a span of twelve months, their friendship grows stronger, and they build relationships with other people as well.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a girl who has unfortunately gone through Molly's situation (aka unwittingly falling in love with a still-in-the- closet gay man) I was drawn to reading this book. I felt Molly's reactions were portrayed appropriately, putting your hurt aside in order to be a friend. There is also the typically question of 'Do I just turn men gay?', am I so undesirable, etc. Her social awkwardness was endearing, but I did wish a few more things could have been followed up a little better (the madcow comic and Marc's future were very hazy). Altogether a good read with a good look at what unrequited love is like for a young woman.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molly, the soon to be high school valedictorian in her small town of Le Sueur, MN, just found out that she was accepted to Columbia in New York City. Molly is a good student, heavily into science, and has a major crush on her mysterious science lab partner Mark. Molly discovers that they will both be going to New York after high school graduation. When she figures out that she is entire wrong for Mark, even the wrong gender. While at Columbia Molly makes good friends and discovers a lot about herself. The beginning was very shallow and it took to about page 100 to start pulling me into the story. Their is some sexual content to be aware .

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story about friendship, love, and how life can change when you leave your small hometown to go off to college in the city. Part of this story has been told before, but the character development in this story is very strong. The relationship between Molly and Mark is beautiful, as it changes from unrequited love to a beautiful friendship that is stronger than the dating relationships they both encounter in their first year away from home. The friendships between the three girls is also refreshing, deep and free of the drama that plagues some YA novels (and many actual teenage friendships). Recommended for high school or older.

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I like the layout of the book, where each chapter is a month, and the book take course in a year, hence the name. Secondly I like that the book was more realistic than most love stories, because usually about 90% of the times, the author would end with the main character being with the love of his/her life, with he/her being with someone that he/she did not like at the beginning, or just basically the main character end up with someone, but the thing is in real life not everyone has that chance, and even less likely for us to be with and only with our first love, or with someone we like in general, making the book all the more realistic.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Molly's personality from the very beginning the book. The way she felt about her unrequited love is very close to how I felt from my own personal experience. This book teaches you how you can maintain a relationship after finding out someone you care about is gay. Not only that, but I found myself laughing out loud one page, and smiling in sympathy the next. The one thing I didn't really like about this book was the twist at the end that didn't seem very realistic to me, but nonetheless, it is a fantastic read.

[Amanda C · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first looked at this book i thought that it was going to be the best book ever and it actually was.Molly Swain a regular teenager who has been in love with mark.Her lab partner.The day has come graduation day and also the day she finds out that her crush is moving away to New York City to help his grandparents with a job.Molly is in luck because she is moving to New York City also for college. It must be fate right? But........ mark has a secret that he has kept to himself for years.His parents dont even know yet.But Molly finds out his heartbreaking secret while in New York.

[Courtney Wyant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly and truely loved this book. Although it sucked that Simon was gay along with Mark..... If only they would end up with each other it would have been great but still is one of my favorites. I could fall in love with the book itself and i find myself ALOT like Molly in more ways than not. I even look like her same skin color eye color freckles just across the nose but my lips are lighter than hers

[Rebecca]

Another on the YA bender, found at the thrift store for $2, yes just two dollars! This was fun and fast and a way to live out the enjoyable fantasy of going to college in NYC. And somehow the ending was just so lovely and sweet in a way that's hard to articulate. But poor Molly...two closeted guys in a row? This book felt a little unkind. I demand a sequel where she gets to actually fall in love.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's just say that I was very suprised by this book, and no, I had no clue where it was going most of the time. However, it was a good story, and sorta sad at times. I loved the few few pages, because in real life, how many girls can say that they don't feel like that once or twice durring school? "I love him and I have no idea why." Come on! Story of my life!

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good - sometimes Molly's ignorance bothered me, but I had to think back to what I was like when I graduated from my small town in Minnesota like Molly. Was I so different? I also related to her problem of falling for guys who aren't into girls. Sigh. The book flowed, but it didn't have punch or oomf. All in all, okay and not too shabby.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unique--written from viewpoint of a female, teen protagonist, by a (presumably) middle-aged male. And somehow managed to pull it off realistically. An easy read, Twelve Long Months managed to capture the complexities of adolescent/young adult relationships (both straight and gay) without being too complex itself.