To be fair, if this the only book I read about the 1980's AIDS crisis and the prejudices towards the Queer community, then I would be all over the book. In fact, I did tear up a little bit when there were some people that passed away. However, I had read another book with extremely similar themes of what makes a family, acceptance of lifestyles beyond the 1950's norm, and it was an adult book.
However, as a young adult book, this is a fantastic book to introduce high school kids to that portion of our history about the inequities of the health system towards a certain population, as well as the acceptance. I was touched by the friendships and love story. And, I feel like the personalities of the students were pretty spot on for their age groups. Definitely a YA book for our shelves.