Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Pre-Order  Publishes 5th June 2025
From a Stonewall Honor-winning author comes a bighearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds. 
 
It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. 
 
Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS. 
 
Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance ... until she falls for Reza and they start dating. 
 
Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs. 
 
As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart - and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known.
 
Perfect for fans of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, The Black Flamingo and If You Still Recognise Me. 
 
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"Like a Love Story honours the activists who fought for equality and freedom for LGBTQ+ people in the late 1980s - a fight that continues today. Nazemian weaves multiple themes of identity into a story of family, friendship, and romance, facing hate and indifference with love and strength." - Dean Atta, author of The Black Flamingo
 
"A gorgeous, heart-wrenching book that explores love, loss, and forgiveness in all of their many forms. Abdi Nazemian deftly shows how we can only move forward by examining and embracing the past, and how anger and injustice can pave the way for a better and more hopeful future." - Robin Benway, author of Far from the Tree
 
"A love letter to queerness, self-expression, and individuality (also Madonna) that never shies away from the ever-present fear within the queer community of late 80s New York ... made me feel so full of hope, love, courage, pride, and awe for the many people who fought for love and self-expression in the face of discrimination, cruelty, and death. A book for warriors, divas, artists, queens, individuals, activists, trend setters, and anyone searching for the courage to be themselves." - Mackenzi Lee, author of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
 
A Time Magazine Best YA Book of all Time.