Title: The Inside of Out
Author: Jean Marie Thorne
Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: May, 2016
Daisy is shocked when her best friend Hannah comes out as gay right before the start of the school year – but once she gets over the fact that Hannah told her mom about her sexuality before she told her, Daisy is eager to jump in the ally parade and fight for her friend’s rights. She joins the school’s LGBTQIA club, even though it’s not technically a Gay-Straight Alliance and Hannah is incredibly reluctant, and eventually finds herself petitioning the school board to allow same-sex couples at school dances. Suddenly, she finds herself balancing school work and friend troubles alongside an event that is way too big for her to plan by herself and a college journalist that she may (or may not) have a crush on. It’s all worth it though, because it’s all for Hannah. And that’s what Hannah wants, right?
I liked The Inside of Out for a variety of reasons – it was fun, witty, cute, and had this great sense of adventure forming between the pages. However, while I thought it was good, it wasn’t that good. Personally, I prefer Thorne’s debut novel, The Wrong Side of Right, over this one, but it’s difficult for me to pinpoint the exact reason why. Mostly, even though Daisy was likable and had good intentions, I just wanted her to stop. She was constantly pushing and pushing the members of the LGBT+ club at her school, and when she tried to pretend to be gay, or bisexual, or asexual, or whatever she thought of for certain situations (it changed way too much within the club), she was simply making the entire situation worse for her friends. It was incredibly frustrating to read sometimes, when all I wanted to do was yell at her.
The ending and the way everything sorted itself out did make me appreciate the book more, but not enough for me to gush about it. I would give this book a solid 7/10 stars and would recommend it for teens to read.
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