Sapphic Romance: Enemies to Lovers

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen came to my attention through an article in the Sojourners newsletter. Sojourners is a left-of-center interdenominational Christian organization that works towards social and racial justice. 

I’m reading books with religious elements because of my upcoming YA novel Keep Sweet 

I have a YA novel about spiritual abuse that launches this June, so I’m very interested in reading books that intersect with religious practice, both positive and negative. (1)  Here’s how Sojo describes She Drives Me Crazy:

In the queer, young adult novel She Drives Me Crazy, author Kelly Quindlen employs a couple of my favorite romance tropes: A fake-dating scenario and an enemies-to-lovers story arc. But when I first read the novel a few years back, I was also delighted by all the plotlines and character traits I’d never encountered in a sapphic YA romance: The two main characters — high schoolers Scottie (star of the girls’ basketball team) and Irene (captain of the cheerleading squad) — are both Catholic, and, most significantly, their Catholicism is not in conflict with their sexuality. Both Scottie and Irene’s parents are affirming; their queerness is a nonissue for their families and their church.

“THE AUTHOR WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FULL OF QUEER FAITH STORIES” includes an interview of author Kelly Quindlen, and you can find it here. 

She Drives Me Crazy

Religion is in no way central to the novel, but its presence in a story where it is not the main issue or driver of the plot is a nice nod to the idea that queer kids have spiritual lives. 

Scottie Zajac is a high school basketball player whose ex-girlfriend used to go to the same school and play on the same team. They are openly gay. But the ex seems to be more interested in social climbing than in love and friendship. As part of her campaign for attention, she changes schools to play on a more winning team. 

When the two schools come together in a pre-season game, Scottie is humiliated by the loss, but also by her ex’s treatment of her as insignificant. As she leaves after a post-game conversation with the ex, she is distracted. A girl she loathes, Irene Abraham, backs into her, damaging her own car. Their moms get involved and the next thing Scottie knows, she has to drive Irene to school while her car is being repaired. Yes, this is an enemies-to-lovers romance.

The two girls will battle but also come to value each other’s sports and the sort of competition that includes collaboration and team spirit. Irene (and others) help Scottie to see how toxic her past relationship was.

High School Housekeeping

This romance is refreshing in its focus on what a healthy relationship looks like and the family support of both girls as they work to understand what that means. If you are looking for a sweet sapphic romance that doesn’t include underlying issues of family or classmate rejection, She Drives Me Crazy is a good choice. I also enjoyed the discussion of cheerleading. I was never a cheerleader (far too uncoordinated), but I was once a cheerleading advisor for my school. The work and athletic talent rings true

Footnote

1 Keep Sweet is about sexual abuse and violence toward girls. I’ve mention in previous posts that books with sexual violence are now being deemed pornographic and have been removed from many school districts and public libraries. I particularly highlighted this in the post “Whatever is Mentionable is Manageable”and I hope you’ll read that for more details. 

It’s also about spiritual abuse and questioning religious authority, another topic that upsets the book ban folks. However, allowing people to read about things like sexual and spiritual abuse doesn’t promote those things. It gives readers knowledge and helps them to talk about it.