Minority of One by B.A. Binns

I don't usually read self-published books, but this one caught my eye.  It was promoted on yalsa-bk as the ARC being free on NetGalley so it was an easy book to get access to.  The author lives in Illinois AND the book is about a gay black teenager.  What's not to like?

This kind of book DOES need to be published by a major publishing house.  I gotta admit that it needs some cleaning up and editing with the plot storylines.  I don't know how those editors to do, but they are really good at taking books like these and making them better.

Neill is the gay black teen boy who lives with his older brother.  He's being pushed into the medical field by his brother, but Neill isn't sure that's what he really wants.  Neill has just ended a relationship with Carl because Carl's family didn't approve of him being gay. And as much as Carl tries to be straight, it just isn't working.

Sheila is the white girl who has just moved to Chicago with her mother, who she is sure doesn't really love her.  Sheila is tough and solid, and she hates to be falling for the ladies man Julian.

All the characters are real and there is a great sense of Chicago--I enjoyed noticing familiar places and things as I read. 

There is a solid backstory about the parents that falls into place, although some of the events at the end are too dramatic for me.  However, I could see a reluctant reader eating this up.

I'm hoping the dialogue cleans up in print version--things ran together on my Kindle and sometimes the voices of the characters weren't distinct enough for me to know who was speaking.

By the way, this book does stand alone in the Farrington High series--no need to read the first two. Reminds me of the Bluford series as each book focuses on a different character.