It's September of 1989, and Reza is beginning his senior year, having just moved to Manhattan from Toronto "by way of Tehran." His father is dead, and Reza's mother has remarried a wealthy Iran-born businessman. Reza has no intention of stepping out of the closet: he can't forget that he comes from a country that punishes homosexuals.
At school Reza meets the fashion-forward and ample-figured Judy, who finds him dazzling. Judy's best friend, the out-and-proud Art, picks up on her crush. When Reza's stepbrother brings Art, his science-project partner, home to study, Art goes to Reza's room to warn him against leading Judy on. He also gives Reza a Madonna CD. So begins Reza's infatuation with them both, even though he starts dating Judy, not Art. Two months into their relationship, following Judy's botched attempt at seduction, Reza finally comes out to her, admitting his attraction to Art. Reza finds the courage to confront Art about his feelings, which are ultimately reciprocated, but the romance costs them their friendship with Judy. The couple has another problem: although Reza is happily paired with Art, he's terrified at the prospect of intimacy. While Art considers Judy's gay activist Uncle Stephen (who is battling AIDS) his "spiritual father," Reza sees the man as a warning that gay sex can mean a death sentence.
Like a Love Story, Abdi Nazemian's socially real--very real--young adult novel, makes a compelling case that there's a psychic cost to fearing sex. The book has too many comic book homophobes and Islamophobes, and the comic book aspect is reinforced by the frequent use of ALL CAPS, but Like a Love Story is an absorbing drama that doubles as a gay-history primer. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author