Brian Katcher, October 2009.  Logan’s in his senior year of high school in Boyer, a small, dull Missouri town where he shares a trailer with his mom.  He looks forward to following his sister Laura to Missouri State University, the only escape the family can afford.  Senior year, Brian expects, will be just a holding pattern until college begins.

He’s surprised, then, to find that there’s a new girl in town. She catches his eye right away - she’s tall, with curly red hair and braces, and she dresses far more stylishly than the other girls.  Plus, she’s just different - new to Boyer, new to school, and new to Logan, who got burned by his long-time girlfriend and didn’t expect to find anyone else until college.

Logan and Sage begin spending time together, as much as they can considering that her parents are ultra-strict and won’t let her date, even in groups, even though she’s eighteen.  Logan is confused by this because her younger sister is allowed more privileges.  He’s attracted to Sage and tries to kiss her, and then she tells him her secret: she was born male.

Logan freaks out - runs away, hates her, wonders if he’s gay, feels shame, hopes no one else can tell - the gamut of immediate emotions you’d expect. As he calms down, though, his feelings for Sage change.  He hates her, then he misses her, then he decides he’d like to be her friend.  Ultimately, the two have sex.  Then Laura sees Sage in the shower and the game is up - Logan has to admit he’s attracted to someone with a penis.

The final portion of the book is more melodramatic than the beginning, with date rape and mental hospitals and Sage’s decision to live as a man again.  While this does paint an accurate picture of the difficult lives many transgendered teens lead, I would have preferred the book to focus on Logan’s struggle with his attraction to Sage, and Sage’s blossoming into the woman she wants to be.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense that Sage would decide just before college that she can’t live life as a woman because no one would date her if they knew; she doesn’t appear to consider taking off for St. Louis or San Francisco and finding a life among transgendered young adults there. Still, the story is interesting, the characters appealing, and the rural setting a refreshing change from the suburban hell most fictional gay kids seem to be stuck in. Recommended for all public libraries.