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Looking for a funny, heartfelt LGBTQIA+ YA contemporary novel to read this summer? Check out Camp by L. C. Rosen! Scroll for a review!
Title: Camp
Author: L. C. Rosen
Pages: 369 (paperback)
Narration: 1st person (Randy)
Genres: LGBTQIA+ Young Adult Contemporary
Installment: standalone
Tropes: Unrequited love
Randy loves spending his summers at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he can spend time with his best friends, be an actor in the big musical, and where he developed a crush on handsome Hudson Aaronson-Lim. A masc4masc guy, who barely knows Randy at all. This year, Randy arrives at camp as muscular, straight-acting Del due to his plan to make Hudson fall for him. But can Hudson really love him if he doesn’t know who Del truly is?
Will make you yell at your book
You’re one chapter into this novel and you are like: “Oh, honey, no.” Why? Because you know Del’s intentions from the start, his ‘plan’, and you know it can only end in disaster. Because changing yourself inside and out, changing who you are as a person for someone else, for love, will not make you happy.
What really gets you is when you get to know Hudson. To be honest I made wrong assumptions about him in the beginning because previous teenage books teach you that players (or playboys as cabin 7 calls them) are cocky and arrogant as heck. And while Hudson is confident, he’s also incredibly sweet and adorable. Furthermore, he has depth and flaws, and fears that make him real.
Cue you yelling at your book to finally reveal the truth to him before things get ugly. As you are privy to Del’s ‘plan’ all along, the climax is not surprising, but that’s not to say that Camp is boring. Oh, no, you’re constantly on the edge of your seat because this book is a train wreck and you’re an innocent bystander that can’t help but watch it happen. And all the yelling in the world won’t stop it. Believe me, I tried! 😉 However, the way the climax plays out will somewhat surprise you.
He knew I had stars under my skin already, even in the dark. Even not knowing who I was.
Hella Steamy & Heartbreaking
This book is hella steamy for a Young Adult novel and I LOVE it. 😉 Even as a teenager, I never liked the vague descriptions in YA and Camp is one of the only books that checked the box of graphic intimacy. My personal preferences aside, I think it is important for kids to know about same-sex intercourse that isn’t taught in sex education (yet!). Honestly, I can see myself giving this to my kids in the future, not just because of the topic of sex, but because they can learn a valuable lesson from this book.
There is one sentence in Camp that hit me especially hard. (No spoilers, I promise! 🙂 ) It’s when one of the counselors said, “That’s all straight people ever make queer people do.” In reference to making queer people hate themselves. It didn’t make me angry. It made me incredibly sad. It put into words how much queer people have to suffer, because of some heterosexual disgusting-excuses-of-human beings. And because obviously that character never had good experiences with straight people.
Movie Adaptation?
Honestly, Camp needs to be adapted into a movie. No joke, that’s what I thought from beginning to end. This novel needs an adaptation! Not just because this novel taught me new words that are now in my vocabulary, but because the characters are gold (especially George) and you get a small insight into most of them that I’d like to be expanded. So, maybe two movies? Or, wait, a tv show! ;D
Heartfelt, funny, and filled with characters you will absolutely love, this is one LGBTQIA+ Young Adult novel you won’t want to miss.
Did I succeed in making you want to read Camp by L. C. Rosen? If so, you can buy a copy here: Thalia | Amazon USA
