None of the Above

Cover image and synopsis from Goodreads:

A groundbreaking story about a teenage girl who discovers she was born intersex... and what happens when her secret is revealed to the entire school. Incredibly compelling and sensitively told, None of the Above is a thought-provoking novel that explores what it means to be a boy, a girl, or something in between.

What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?

When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She's a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she's madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she's decided that she's ready to take things to the next level with him.

But Kristin's first time isn't the perfect moment she's planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy "parts."

Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin's entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?

This was the most recent pick for one of my book clubs and I was really looking forward to reading it.

Once I got into this book, I couldn’t put it down. Kristin’s story was so interesting – I learned a lot from this book – and I needed to know how the story would end. What would she decide to do about school? Would she talk things out with her friends and would they make up?

I really liked Kristin’s relationship with her father. They clearly loved each other, and she kept trying to protect him by hiding things or keeping things from him. I could understand why she was doing that, and I remember being a teenager – sometimes you don’t want to tell your parents about something if you think it will hurt or upset them.

Overall, this was really good and made for some great book club discussion. Recommended!