I got this softcover at Barnes and Noble. It's the book that inspired the 2018 film Love, Simon, which has good reviews - I want to catch it at some point.

I thought it would be an advantage to read the novel first, but I have to admit that the writing style is a bit irksome, and the whole plot relies on Simon being (a) terrified to come out - even though his family and most of his friends seem like they'd be cool with it [note: I agree with Simon that it is his decision and nobody else's; it's just that his situation doesn't seem nearly as fraught with peril as those of most scared-to-come-out folks], and (b) completely unable to figure out how to deal with the demands of class clown Martin, who's discovered his secret and is blackmailing him to get Martin a date with Simon's friend Abby.

Now, this kind of romantic-comedy plot gets used a LOT, and it always irks me. It's in the category of "if people would just USE THEIR WORDS, life would be much easier for everybody" - but movies would be a lot shorter, so there's that {wry grin}. Still, it helps if the character's drawn in such a way that you can believe their difficulties in deciding what to do - without becoming too annoyed with them. And I'm not sure the author did that, at least for me... From the movie reviews I'm guessing that they either tweaked the characters a bit or the actors' performances made up for a lot, but I guess I'll find out when I see it!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the book, with some entertaining tidbits.]

I left this book in the Little Free Library inside the YMCA on this beautiful day; hope someone enjoys it!

*** Released for the 2018 Movie release challenge. ***