Love Drugged
2011 STONEWALL HONOR AWARD
2011 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST
2011 ALA RAINBOW LIST OF RECOMMENDED LGBTQ BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
2015 Top 250 LGBTQ BOOKS FOR TEENS
Love Drugged is about a Chicago teenager named Jamie Bates. Jamie's gay, but he's in no hurry to come out to anyone. In Jamie's view, what's the rush? He's only fifteen.
But when a classmate learns this secret, Jamie freaks out. He responds by doing what generations of gay boys have done before him: He begins dating a classmate, Celia Gamez.
Celia is fantastic. She's beautiful, funny, smart. Plus, she's super into Jamie.
Courtesy of Celia's dad, a wealthy doctor, Jamie gets his hands on a new drug - a little blue pill that promises to “cure” gay men. Love Drugged chronicles the weeks and months of Jamie's experiment with these pills, at the same time that his relationship with Celia heats up.
One teeny-tiny problem? The only way Jamie can get more of the drug is to steal it.
And that's not easy to do when the two things standing in the way of Jamie and the drug are Celia and her dad, neither of whom must ever find out that Jamie is gay! Or wait - WAS gay.
Oh, and there's one other thing: Without meaning to, Jamie develops a major crush on an older classmate named Ivan. NOT exactly part of the new plan...
Part comedy, part thriller, part star-crossed romance, Love Drugged examines the dangers of a life constructed almost entirely of lies ... especially the lies we tell ourselves.
Question: Why does Jamie enter into this romantic relationship with Celia?
Answer: Because he is confused and afraid. It’s normal for ANY teenager to sometimes feel confused or afraid - especially if you’re a teen who is lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender. This was certainly true back in the 1980s, when I was in high school. It’s still true now. I wanted to write a story that could explore those feelings in a way that was both meaningful and entertaining. That was my goal for Love Drugged. I hope you enjoy it.
