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"I expect that countless teens and adults will appreciate Wind’s courage and the generosity of his supporters who made this book possible."
After years of bullying at school, 19-year-old Julian is depressed. He sees a glimmer of hope after meeting the similarly out-of-place Romeo at a party and sharing a kiss with him. The only problem: Romeo has always identified as straight and he hangs out with a group of intolerant guys. But as the two begin to fall in love, Julian finds strength he never knew he had.
When Romeo’s old friends come after the couple, a vicious fight puts both Julian and Romeo in the hospital. The two boys decide to take a stand for their right for respect.
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| Signage at Pasadena's Art Night! |
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| scenes from a panel - left to right: Brandy Colbert, me (!), and C.B. Lee |
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| More scenes from a panel |
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| Each of us with our queer YA books! |
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| What a great conversation! |
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| Just one of the amazing posters celebrating LGBTQ athletes that filled the teen room at the Pasadena Public Library |
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| The West Hollywood Library event, with their YA librarian Dione Surdez |
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| scenes from a signing |
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| new friends |
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| tried and true friends |
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| The San Gabriel Valley Pride authors tent |
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| More signing fun |
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| books for all! |
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| Waiting backstage while I was introduced |
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| Me on stage at Highways |
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| Reading! |
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| The evening's mascot |
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| Celebrating with good friends! |
On the surface, Romeo has it all: success on the basketball court, a group of friends, and the beautiful Rosie. Deep down he knows something is missing: all he feels for Rosie is friendship. Everything changes when he shares a kiss with openly gay Julian at a party. Despite their obvious attraction, Romeo is less sure of himself than ever, and leaves without even telling Julian his name.
With Rosie’s support, Romeo begins exploring his sexuality—and ends up running into Julian again. Realizing how little he knows about other sexual orientations and gender identities, Romeo begins to see the world in a whole new light, and he and Julian begin to fall in love. But his homophobic friends and family can’t accept him as gay. After a violent confrontation with one of his old friends, Romeo becomes determined to prove that his love for Julian is real and right.
"The mission of the BookLife Prize is to discover, cultivate, support, and celebrate great works of unpublished or self-published writing by independent authors."
Reading this young adult novel one feels the angst and anguish Wyatt faced when disclosing world shattering information, both about Lincoln, and himself. This novel is one of the seminal books of this year, and will be for decades. It is the modern gay version of “Are you there god? It’s me Margaret”. It should be mandatory reading in history, government and English classes as a way to open minds, reduce homophobia, improve the self-esteem of LGBTQ teens and start dialogues about sex and sexuality in health classes. —David Pisarra
To get your FREE audiobook, buy your copy of Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill today, October 2, 2018, between 9am-10am Pacific or between Noon-1pm Pacific here:
leewindbook.com
take a screen shot of your receipt/transaction, and facebook message, twitter message, or email me at leewind (at) roadrunner (dot) com. Make sure to include your email so I can send you the digital audiobook files in November!
And thank you!
