What if you lived above your queer tattoo shop and your new next door neighbor right across the hall was a pastor? And what if he was super hot? And what if you were raised by Evangelicals, are now an atheist disowned by your family and have a really complicated relationship with organized religion? Well, you'd be Seth in Covet Thy Neighbor.
What if you were a pastor who was run out of his last town for helping a gay teen in the middle of the night and now you work a lot with homeless and otherwise marginalized queer youth? And what if your relationship with Christianity was also complicated but you choose to focus on the beautiful parts? You'd be Darren.
This book made me laugh and happy cry. I have it tagged as Inspirational because religion is a major part of the story, but it was really affirming because neither of them changes their views and they find a way to be together anyway. Seth even volunteers at the church and remembers the good parts of growing up in a church community - except this time he can do things like help a trans homeless girl. (That was the scene that made me cry.)
This book was recommended to me by Andrea in our big 2019 Pride Recs for the Ripped Bodice Bingo post, and I've since recommended it to two other people. Consider this my recommendation to everyone. It's a shorter book and it certainly grapples with some things that may be hard for some to read, but it reminded me that love is everywhere and that two people who seem to be opposites can find a sort of harmony they never expected.
Suzanne borrowed this book from Hoopla via her library.
Content Warnings: homophobia, Christian bigotry, past disownment by family