Gay the Pray Away

By: Natalie Naudus

Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn't know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she's ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.

Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.

Publicly, the girls are close friends-holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance-until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.