Riley Weaver Needs a Date to the Gaybutante Ball was a fun young adult romp through small town gay life for a junior in high school. I initially picked up this book because I thought it would be a fun, light read during #PrideMonth 2023. While I had a hard copy, I ended up listening to it via an ALC provided by @librofm .  

 

Riley, a junior in high school has dreams of getting out of his small, rural hometown as a femme gay guy. The best way out of his small hometown is by gaining membership to the Gaybutante Society which has launched several queer kids into the arts, activism, and pop culture. Riley feels that it is a perfect match for him. However, Skylar - a gay athlete and Riley’s contemporary has other thoughts. Skylar doesn’t believe that gay guys want to date femmes and makes a wager with Riley, that he won’t be able to find a masc gay guy to ask him to the gaybutante ball at the end of the new member season. Is Riley able to find such a date? Is Skylar who he says he is? What does it mean to be labeled femme and gay? 

 

Overall, I thought this was a funny romp of a book. One thing that I kept having to remind myself based on the plot and characters was that this was marketed as young adult. In some ways it felt more middle-grade to me and felt like it might find a larger audience there. However, I thought this was a fun, easy-to-read departure from my normally more serious reads. 

 

3 Stars!