Title: None of the Above
Author: I.W. Gregorio
Summary: Kristin Lattimer takes things in stride – literally. She’s a star athlete with a full track and field scholarship awaiting her once she finishes senior year of high school. She has a wonderful father, great friends and a beloved boyfriend who mean the world to her. No one is surprised when she is voted Homecoming Queen – except for Kristin herself and her best friend Vee who was convinced the crown was hers. Kristin had already planned for that night to be special – she and her boyfriend Sam had decided to become intimate. But when their experience turns out to be one of intense pain for Kristin, she goes to the doctor and learns a shocking truth that turns her life inside out – she is intersex.
While she has the outward appearance and features of a woman, Kristin’s internal anatomy and chromosomes are male. Dealing with this diagnosis would be challenge enough, but when her classmates find out, the intolerance of many of her friends sends Kristin on a downward spiral. She stands to lose everything she believes make her who she was and feels that she has no way to get a handle on who she is now.
This riveting book by debut author Gregorio, a surgeon who based Kristin on a patient she had early in her training, brings this rarely-discussed condition to light. Readers will root for Kristin to overcome the struggles brought on by her diagnosis, while also learning more about intersex people and the lives they lead. The story leads to some wonderfully unexpected places and will have you thinking more carefully about what it really means to be a girl or a guy, all or none of the above.
Who will like this book?: Readers of LGBTQ fiction. Anyone who has ever felt uncomfortable in their own skin. Fans of stories about high school friendship and/or relationship drama.
If you like this, try this: Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman. For mature readers, try Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin, Annabel by Kathleen Winter, or Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginedes.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian