Love IRL
Love IRL
Wednesday September 5, 8:45 AM
Alex surveyed the classroom and chewed his lip in contemplation. He had thought the class would be full. But it was already 8:45 and there were only ten other students in the room, scattered around on uncomfortable chairs and their too-small desks.
Alex grumbled as he squirmed in his seat, trying to write with his left hand on the offensively right-handed table. His mind wandered briefly to the conversation he’d had on RandoChat the previous night and debated whether he wanted to contact Dorian when he got home.
As the teacher droned on, Alex picked up his pen. He chewed the end of it and glanced around the room taking in his classmates.
On one side of the room was Man-Bun. He and his friend were talking in hushed voices. Man-Bun’s friend didn’t notice when the teacher glared at her before continuing his introduction.
On Alex’s right was Ponytail. She had glasses and was furiously writing notes in a little pink book, her pen scratching back and forth across the page.
Sitting at the back of the classroom, far from the teacher, was Too Cool for School. His feet were up on the desk and his arms crossed over his chest. He was probably asleep behind his sunglasses. He had long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and a smirk lingering on his lips.
Love, IRL is part of Lorimer’s “True Love” series that the publisher describes as “diverse romance for today’s teens”. In this short novel, Alex has moved to a new school and has just begun an online relationship with “Dorian”. Alex is quite shy in real life and is only just becoming comfortable with his sexual and gender identity, that of a trans boy who is attracted to other boys. As Alex and “Dorian” get closer online, Alex becomes confused when he begins to have feelings for a boy in his English class, a boy he has named “Too Cool For School”. Readers of Love, IRL will be compelled to find out whether Alex and “Dorian” ever meet in real life and if Alex’s crush on “Too Cool for School” comes to any fruition.
I recommend Love, IRL to readers who enjoy realistic fiction. The plotline moves quickly, as most high/lo novels do, and the online chat sections are realistically done. The author has written a sweet romantic story about two teenagers, and the fact that it is between two boys is almost incidental. That being said, young LGBTQ+ youth will easily be able to see themselves reflected within the story.
Sarah Wethered has been a teacher-librarian at New Westminster Secondary School for 21 years, and she lives in New Westminster, British Columbia. She is currently on leave as she serves as president of the New Westminster Teachers’ Union.