Messy perfect

Estranged former friends Cassie and Ben haven't spoken since an incident in sixth grade: after they were caught swapping school uniforms, fearful Cassie insisted it was Ben's idea, prompting their classmates to target him with homophobic bullying until he left for ballet school. Cassie has spent the past four years "focused on being a good student, a good daughter, a good Catholic." But Ben transferring into St. Luke's, Cassie's conservative Catholic high school, throws a wrench in those plans. Upon meeting students from a neighboring public school and learning about their Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Cassie, knowing that St. Luke's lacks one of its own, forms an underground GSA for students from both schools to come together, hoping to use the organization to repair her relationship with Ben. As Cassie learns about queer culture and identity, she strives to promote diversity and inclusion at St. Luke's, contemplates the dynamic between religion and queerness, and contends with her own identity. Boteju (Bruised) employs grounded and informative prose to deliver empathetic examinations of acceptance, guilt, and the pressure of meeting unrealistic expectations in this tenderly affirming novel. Characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 13--up. (Apr.)