Dre and Dean butt heads at first, but soon they begin to have meaningful dialogue that leads them to reevaluate their assumptions about each other. Dean assumes Dre is confident with himself, but really Dre is overwhelmed with worry about not living up to expectations that he fight for all these different causes, when he just wishes to focus on his Dreadful Dressup blog and have his dad back. Dre assumes Dean is a carbon copy of his gun toting, anti-LGBTQ mom, when Dean is really questioning his sexuality and does not agree with many of his mother's policies. This book is also about parents pushing their beliefs onto their children, which can often lead to heartache and pain. Dean must navigate his feelings of disappointing his mother, while being true to himself and his own beliefs. A really thoughtful look at the power of parental disapproval. There is even a character who must hide her own sexuality, or face conversion therapy from her Christian parents. Her character was very much for tearing apart the US political system entirely. I found both Dre and Dean to be complex characters. Dre is flamboyant and cocky in public, but privately he is scared for his family and feels guilty for wanting his father to lose the Presidential race. He often feels he falls short of public expectations; he just wants to be a carefree teenager working on what he loves, but others believe he should be doing more for both the Mexican and LGBTQ community. Dean is just discovering his sexual identity, but we also experience his ADD and incessant need for his mother's approval in everything he does. He finds it hard to be honest with her about her ideas for his future not matching his own. Neither boy saves the other, they work as a team to find their voices. There is a Trump-like third party candidate that they must go head to head with, and they need to show their country that not everything is so black and white or Republican vs. Democrat. This book is about people being able to change for the better, to grow. Sometimes, there are people worth waiting for, whether it is for someone who is uncomfortable with coming out publicly, or waiting for a parent to fight their own ignorance and intolerance to accept who you truly are and love you without constraints. Disclaimer: This book has sparked some controversy, I urge you to read both negative and positive reviews before deciding if this is a book you would feel comfortable reading. Thank you to HarperCollins for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
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