ARC AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: Queer as a Five Dollar Bill: By Lee Wind

Release Date: November 26, 2018
Publisher: I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the hell do I read?
Format: Audio
Length: 8 hours 56 Min
Narrator: Michael Crouch
Genre: YA, LGBT
Buy: Audible | Kindle

Synopsis: 

Wyatt is 15, and nobody in his homophobic small town of Lincolnville, Oregon, knows that he’s gay. Not even his best friend (and accidental girlfriend) Mackenzie. Then he discovers a secret from actual history: Abraham Lincoln was in love with another guy! Since everyone loves Lincoln, Wyatt’s sure that if the world knew about it, they would treat gay people differently, and it would solve everything about his life. So Wyatt outs Lincoln online, triggering a media firestorm that threatens to destroy everything he cares about - and he has to pretend more than ever that he’s straight.... Only then he meets Martin, who is openly gay and who just might be the guy Wyatt’s been hoping to find.

Review:

I loved this book.  What a great melding of history and fiction.  The quotes and letters that Wyatt uses as reference to why he believes Lincoln was in love with another man are true and can be found in many books about Lincolns life.  I had never heard these rumors but when I actually went to the internet and found that there are quite a bit of writing on this I was stunned.  

Set in a small town that is devoted to Lincoln, Wyatt is given the assignment of a book report on Lincoln.  He is supposed to write this as a blog. When the librarian gives him a reference book of letters between Lincoln and another man, he finds himself and his feelings on the pages.  Wyatt is gay but is scared to come out in such a small town so he thinks by outing Lincoln he will gage the temperature of the town.  This backfires big and what his posts set off could send the whole town spiraling downward, not to mention taking his families "Lincoln slept here bed and breakfast" out of business. 

This is great coming of age novel with a unique history lesson.  It is about tolerance, and love, and ultimately about being authentic and courageous.  Wyatt is all of those things even though he doesn't see it right away.  The narration was great, I actually couldn't stop listening to it I was so pulled into the story.  

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Disclaimer: I received this book through netgalley.com from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.