A Best Friend Kind of Book: Full Disclosure

Born HIV-positive and adopted by a gay couple (Dad is Latinx; Pops is Black), high school junior Simone Garcia-Hampton has known all her life that she has to take medication faithfully to maintain her health. Life, though, is becoming more complicated now that she, the student director of the school musical, has fallen for stagehand Miles. Like her, Miles is Black and loves music, musical theater, and ice cream. When does she tell him about her HIV status? She’s haunted by her boarding-school girlfriend’s betrayal – the reason she had to transfer for her last two years of high school. Making things more complicated are Simone’s two best friends, Lydia and Claudia, who are trying to figure out who they are sexually – Lydia, like Simone, is bisexual but currently has a boyfriend, and Claudia is asexual but in a relationship with a girl – and resentful that Simone has dropped them to be with Miles all the time. When anonymous threatening notes appear in Simone’s locker and home mailbox, she doesn’t know who to blame or what will happen when her secret is out.

Camryn Garrett wrote Full Disclosure at the age of 17, and the novel captures the voice, dialogue, passions, and dilemmas of teenagers today. Simone thinks about sex all the time, and while her HIV status adds a level of complication, readers will identify with her desire to connect, enjoy an intimate relationship, and do the right thing by the people she loves. Trust, and knowing who one’s friends really are, lie at the heart of the high school experience, as does wanting to find a place and be respected for one’s skills and competence. In creating a character who struggles with these issues, Garrett builds her own kind of trust as someone whose writing is authentic and whose storytelling is thoughtful and insightful. In every way, this is a best friend kind of book.

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