Teenage drama with a lesbian theme makes for a really appealing read. Boyette shows a special talent with writing characters who are a mix of all possible positive and negative characteristics but all of them believable and people we can empathise with, even when they aren’t particularly shining.

This book has steadfast Lily, coming-into-her-own Molly and experimenting/confused Zia. In a party, Molly meets totally out Lily, the cousin of her classmate hosting the party and ends up kissing her in front of the whole senior year. Thus begins her realisation about her sexuality. Lily transfers to Molly’s school and Molly, who is still in denial, freezes her. At the same time, Molly meets the slightly older, incredibly sexy Zia and finds herself horribly attracted. Between keeping a clearly interested Lily at somewhat of a distance and getting it on with Zia while handling homophobic hate from her erstwhile best friend, Molly’s senior year is quite a landmine. Her supportive parents and protective brother are a soft place for her, though.

This is a well-paced book with thoroughly likeable characters…all the MCs and all the supporting and secondary characters are well etched out and feel real. A nice, light YA, high-school one.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy reading this book.

Molly is in her senior year when she afraid everyone in school knows she a lesbian when she made out with a girl name Lily at a party.

When she goes to school her bestfriend Carmen turn on her because she lesbian and she thinks it's wrong and mad that she didn't tell her and starts to harrass her try to make her like a living hell but when Lily transfer to their school because her old school wasn't as great at accepting Lily decide to form club for anyone who lgbtq but it turns into more for anyone who is different because they want to have more accepting in schools to keep students safe. I like that the kids at school was accepting minor some who wasn't.

I like Molly but I get where she was coming from by getting invovle with Zia because it was easier then being with the one you really want because you didn't want add more to Carmen fire happy she got over that realize who she really want to be wirh was Lily who in my opinion was a saint to wait for Molly.

I love banter between Molly and her brother Luke loved that he was supported from the get go as was her mother and her mother boyfriend. Even though I didn't care for Carmen I like that she apologize.

'What Happens When' is an edgy young adult story.

Molly is forced out of the closet by her alter drunken ego by making out with a girl during a summer party before her senior year. She is dreading school because she knows she is going to face ridicule. This is her senior year journey of gaining acceptance from others and also being able to accept herself..

The level of bullying was pretty outrageous. I'm so naive that I just assume we have progressed far enough that this type of behavior doesn't exist anymore. I'm well enough removed from High School that I can admit that I likely don't have a clue, but it makes me sad if this type of homophobia still happens.

The situations are appropriately amateur for the age of characters. Molly is exploring her feelings for girls and as such, has a raging boy-like libido. The author does a good job of setting scenes with teenage banter to makes the reader feel immersed in a high school mindset.

I'm not so sure that I believe Molly deserved as much acceptance and forgiveness as she received from her friends and family. She was downright selfish. Her actions and decision making were sometimes cringe worthy. Her character was hard to like. She only got a pass from me for the fact that she WAS a teenager and they do stupid things.

I did genuinely like Molly's brother and friend Gavin. They were awesome comic relief throughout the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. It was a very quick read as I finished it in about 4-5 hours. It had a good mix of coming out, humor, and angst. I recommend to people who enjoy high school stories, teenage angst, accepting families, gay activism, and those first-time-all-consuming-crushes-that-are-never-a-good-idea.

<i>I received an ARC through Netgalley from Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.</I>