ALA Booklist (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Paul, a high-school senior and a committed Christian, loves his girlfriend, but worries about the feelings he has for guys. Then Manuel, openly gay, comes to town. Manuel says he's a Christian, too, but Paul doesn't understand how those two things are compatible. As the two become friends, Paul is both attracted to Manuel and repulsed by his feelings, and he continuously prays to be straight. God seems to have another path for him, though. Everyone plays an assigned role here: Paul, the conflicted gay; Manuel, secure in his sexuality; Angie, the confused girlfriend; the prejudiced jocks; the hate-the-sin, love-the-sinner pastor. There's even a throwback to early gay literature when someone almost dies because of his sexuality. Manuel seems the least real. Relentlessly upbeat, he knows the Bible better than most preachers, and is always ready to show the real intent behind chapter and verse. More authentic is Paul's confusion and how he uses the Bible to find answers. His investigation of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, often quoted by homophobes, is particularly eye-opening.

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Pablo (a.k.a. Paul), a devoutly Christian Mexican American, must do some heavy self-reflection after Manuel, who's openly gay, moves to Paul's small-minded Texas town. Though most of the supporting characters are cardboard, readers questioning their own sexuality may see themselves in Paul. Others will likely lose patience with his repeated vacillation between tentative homoerotic fantasy and the ensuing mental self-flagellation.

Kirkus Reviews

Hispanic high-school senior Paul has struggled to overcome his attraction to boys, placing his prayers on slips of paper in an ornately carved "God box" in hopes the feelings will be taken away. He also dates best friend Angie and prays he will soon be sexually attracted to her. A new student arrives at their small-town Texas school, and Manuel comes out on his first day. He shocks the Bible Club by not only professing to be Christian but in more than holding his own in scripture-heavy debates. Manuel and Paul's friends start a GSA and deal with homophobia. After a six-month struggle and a tragedy, Paul realizes he can't love God or anyone if he doesn't love himself. Sanchez takes on the myth that homosexuals are ungodly in this sometimes melodramatic tale. Occasionally reading more like a manual on dispelling homophobic misinterpretations of Bible verse than a novel, this is still an important work about self-acceptance and the meaning of God's love. (Fiction. YA)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Sanchez's (Getting It) latest exploration of the lives of gay teenagers centers on high school senior Paul, a devout Christian teen who lives in Texas with his widowed father, takes his longtime girlfriend out for chaste dates every Saturday and saves written prayers to Jesus in a """"God Box"""" his father carved for him. (""""What would it feel like to have a boyfriend? I wondered.... Almost immediately, a wave of guilt washed over me. Once again I wrote down my same prayer: Dear Lord, please take away these feelings. You know which ones."""") But Manuel, a new, openly gay student who argues that Christianity and homosexuality are not at odds, forces Paul to rethink his stance and reassess who he really is. Some readers may tire of Paul's exhaustive analysis of Bible versus, as he argues with himself, Manuel, his girlfriend and his Bible study group at school, but the extent of his spiritual agony rings true for someone whose lifelong beliefs are being challenged. While the characterizations of Paul and Manuel (who, as he uses the Bible to counter Paul's Biblical arguments against homosexuality, can seem too good to be true) are strong, the secondary characters can seem comparatively flat. But readers seeking well-reasoned and well-researched Christian arguments for accepting gays-not to mention a heartrending coming-of-age story-should readily embrace Paul's journey. Ages 12-up.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Conservative, closeted, and a Christian, Paul has a girlfriend and sticks to the straight and narrow in his small Texas town. He's changed his name from Pablo to appear more American, and he keeps his mouth shut when it comes to hot topics, like who is gay and who isn't-until Manuel, who happens to be openly gay and Christian, wanders in on his turf. The new guy slips easily into the high school senior's mostly accepting circle of friends and his Bible-study group. Before he knows it, Paul finds himself spending more and more time around Manuel, who simultaneously bends his heartstrings and his belief system. The results are a boxing-ring-like philosophical and spiritual debate on the intersection of homosexuality and religion. Sanchez's cleverly diverse characterizations, conversational stylings, and sense of humor lighten this potentially daunting theme. Plus, the brewing romance between the pair-not to mention the dissolution of Paul's romance with his loyally lovable girlfriend-keeps the pages turning during even the most excruciatingly detailed Bible-passage battles between the two warring parties. These rightfully thought-provoking debates-most of which happen either in after-school Bible study or between Paul and Manuel-make Sanchez's latest an intense, necessary addition to the burgeoning LGBTQ teen lit canon.-Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Gay-positive Sanchez, author of Rainbow High (Simon & Schuster, 2004/VOYA December 2003), offers a story here that will resonate with Christian youth who are aware of their own or a close friend's gay orientation. Paul (nÚ Pablo), a senior at a small-town, Texas high school, has been dating his best friend, Angie, for years. When a new-and openly gay-student appears on the scene, Paul struggles with his attraction to Manuel, his inability to feel the same sort of attraction for Angie, and above all, the fundamentalist Christian equation of homosexuality with evil that he has internalized. Sanchez addresses theological interpretations head on but through credible use of teen dialogue and ponderings. Manuel is no less Christian in his convictions than is Paul and encourages his new friend to think beyond the anti-gay Biblical interpretation that Paul's pastor preaches. Angie is as saintly as her name suggests, but there are bullies in the story as well. Manuel's beating at the hands of some football players is stereotypical only because such scenes have been staple in so many young adult novels, but it rings true in terms of the context of this particular story and its setting. In the end, the protagonist not only owns his sexual orientation but can admit to his Mexican heritage and given name, Pablo, as well. Identity-sexual, ethnic, and religious-are each compelling to teens, and this novel treats all three openly and honestly.-Francisca Goldsmith.