Straight expectations / Calum McSwiggan.

Title :

Straight expectations

Author:

McSwiggan, Calum, 1990-

Format:

Books

Summary:

When frustrated seventeen-year-old out and proud gay Max wishes himself straight, his life is turned upside down, but on his journey to get the life he took for granted back, he finds the love story he thought he would never have.

Max has always been out and proud, but lately his small school is full of happy, straight, couples. It's everything he's ever wanted for himself, but there are few queer boys to choose from. Frustrated, he lashes out at his best friend, Dean, wishes he had what everyone else has, and that they'd never been friends. Max wakes up to find his wishes have come true: his feelings for boys have vanished. And so has Dean. Now Max has a girlfriend, but his life has been turned upside down. He sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the love story he thought he'd never have. --

Language:

English

Audience:

Ages 14 to 18. Union Square & Co.

ISBN - ISSN:

9781454951650

1454951656

9781454951667

1454951664

Physical Description:

270 pages ; 22 cm

Subject:

Gay teenagers -- Fiction.

Wishes -- Fiction.

High school students -- Fiction.

Gay men -- Fiction.

LGBTQ+ people -- Fiction.

Identity -- Fiction.

Dating -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

High schools -- Fiction.

First Title value, for Searching:

Straight expectations / Calum McSwiggan.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Library	Audience	Home Location	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Bracewell	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	MCSWI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Ring	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	MCSWI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Scenic Woods	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	MCSWI	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Vinson	Teen/Young Adult	Fiction	Teen Book	MCSWI	Searching... Unknown

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On Order

Summary

If you were granted one wish, what would it be?

Seventeen-year-old Max has always been out and proud. But every time he looks around his small school, he sees straight couples everywhere. It's everything he's ever wanted for himself, but there are few queer boys to choose from. When his frustrations get the better of him, he lashes out at his best friend, Dean, and wishes he had what everyone else has. And he wishes they'd never been friends.

Max gets more than he bargained for when he wakes up to find his wish has come true--his feelings for boys have vanished, and so has Dean. And he got exactly what he wanted . . . a girlfriend. With his school life turned upside down and his relationship with his family in tatters, Max sets out on a journey of rediscovery to find a way back to the life he took for granted, and the love story he thought he'd never have.

Author Notes

Calum McSwiggan is an LGBTQ+ writer, advocate, and award-winning creator who is passionate about gender and sexuality, queer politics, and LGBTQ+ history. Whether sharing his own personal experiences or using his platform to tell the stories of others, meaningful storytelling is at the heart of everything he does. His travel memoir , Eat, Gay, Love was published in 2020. Straight Expectations is his first novel. He lives in London, UK, and you can find him on Twitter and Instagram at @CalumMcSwiggan.

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

A heat-of-the-moment wish comes true and causes a gay British teen to wake up straight. Out and proud Max Baker is hoping to get through his last year of high school by serving as fashion consultant for his school's theater department and managing his incurable crush on soccer player Oliver Cheng. Max's best friends, Dean and Alicia, seem to have their futures figured out. Max, on the other hand, is uncertain about what comes next, and he dreams of having the high school romance that many queer kids miss out on. Dean and Alicia are more than happy to help set Max up with Oliver, even if it means embarrassing Max in the process. But when they push too far, and the matchmaking plan fails, the ensuing argument culminates in Max's wishing to be "normal." He wakes up the next day to find that it's more than his sexuality that's changed: He has different friends, his parents are no longer divorced, and, worst of all, Dean has vanished. The story hinges on Max's being upset enough to wish away his current circumstances, but the catalyzing event feels exaggerated and unbelievable, making it hard to buy into the premise. Max is white; Oliver, Dean, and Alicia are all people of color, and through them, Max is made aware of the ways he has privilege due to his race. A clever concept that misses the mark in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

When 17-year-old Max (very gay) has a terrible fight with his besties Alicia and Dean, he feverishly declares to Dean, "I wish we were never even friends." Be careful what you wish for: the next morning Max wakes up in a parallel universe, where there seems to be no Dean, and, oh god, he's straight. Worse, "It isn't just my sexuality that's changed, the whole world has changed." His divorced parents are now back together; he and Alicia are now a romantic couple, and Ollie--who he was crushign on in the real world--now has a crush on him! Max is desperate to find Dean, who doesn't seem to exist in this universe. With a clever premise, McSwiggan does an excellent job of answering all the questions that Max suddenly encounters with wit (a messy-haired character looks like a Bichon Frisé that got trapped in a car wash) and panache. The result is a highly readable lark.