My favourite part of the book was the relationship Brie had with her mother – for years the two of them would sit down together after Brie got home from school and before her mother left for work and watch their favourite soap opera together. In the vein of the soap operas Brie is obsessed with, In the Role of Brie Hutchens packs a punch with loads of plot twists, heartbreaking and heartwarming scenes, a bit of drama, and a whole load of laugh-out-loud moments as the reader learns about Brie’s shenanigans. Would this be her life now? Having to come out again and again and again? Brie felt like she had barely come out to herself yet, and still, her moment was happening at least once a week. One moment when they said the words and came out, and that was that, full stop. It seemed like in the movies or on TV, anytime a girl realized she liked girls, or a boy realized he liked boys, they had one big moment.

Parker, Brie’s best friend, is a supportive honeybee and deserves all the awards – who said thirteen-year-olds can’t have wing women?.

You will want to hug Brie’s dad when you hear of the sacrifices he makes for his daughter.

Catholic school girl falls for other Catholic school girl sounds like a tagline from fanfiction and it is gloriously executed.

Brie’s favourite pastime is watching soap operas with her mother and it’s the cutest.

Juggling her confusing feelings with the rapidly approaching May Crowning, not to mention her hilarious non-star turn in the school play, Brie navigates truth and lies, expectations and identity, and how to-finally-make her mother really see her as she is. But sometimes just looking at Kennedy gives Brie butterflies.

Desperate to make her lie become truth, Brie turns to Kennedy, the girl everyone expects to crown Mary. Worse, Brie has almost no chance to get the job, which always goes to a top student. But when Brie's mom walks in on her accidentally looking at some possibly inappropriate photos of her favourite actress, Brie panics and blurts out that she's been chosen to crown the Mary statue during her school's May Crowning ceremony.īrie's mom is distracted with pride-but Brie's in big trouble: she has not been chosen.

She's going to be the star of the school play and convince her parents to let her go to the performing arts high school. Introducing Brie Hutchens: soap opera super fan, aspiring actor, and so-so student at her small Catholic school. An own-voices LGBTQ novel from the acclaimed author of Hurricane Season, about eighth grader Brie, who learns how to be true to herself and to her relationships with family, friends, and faith.

In the role of brie hutchens