Dare, Truth or Promise (Livewire) [Paperback]

Its protagonists are called Louie and Willa, two girls who fall for one another when Willa comes to work at the local fast food restaurant on the same shift as Louie. When Louie's mum finds out about the two of them, all hell breaks lose.

One of my favourite moments is the first night they spend together when neither of them want to sleep in their own beds so they share the floor. All the intimate parts of the book are told really tastefully. It was a really heart-wrenching read towards the end - it's a shame it took such measures before they realised they were strong enough to be together and face the world.

I'd recommend Dare Truth or Promise to anybody, straight or gay, because it's a great book that's less of a story about realising you're gay, and more about learning that love can overcome all the obstacles in its way.

"Dare Truth or Promise" is a touching, moving, funny, searingly honest and genuinely brilliant book, and also quite a brave one. It tells the story of Willa and Louie, who meet and fall in love. Life isn't so straightforward, of course - and the fact that these two youngsters are both girls causes some problems.

What amazed me when I was reading this book was the quality of the writing. There are little subtleties in the writing, some really wry humour, that you simply do not expect to find in a "teen" novel. And, you care about these characters - you want to know what happens to them and whether their relationship, the heart of the novel, will work out. That's because these characters seem very real, as do their feelings. So too do the difficulties of balancing their emotions with the world around them and how their world reacts to them being together, and, well, being lesbians.

There is one phrase in particular that I took away from this book - I think, if you read it, you'll know the one I mean. It has stayed in my mind, and so too has my impression of this novel as a great read, and a brilliant account of lesbian love that I would recommend to anyone - especially young gay women. "Dare Truth or Promise" is truly outstanding, and it's also, in its combination of subject matter, quality of writing and characterisation, and sheer SPIRIT, truly rare.