IF I WAS YOUR GIRL

Eighteen-year-old Andrew has felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body as long as he can remember. Narrator Samia Mounts recounts his painful flashbacks of severe bullying, vicious attacks, and a suicide attempt. Mounts eloquently depicts the changes that take place after Andrew’s surgery—when he becomes Amanda. Amanda is timid and uncertain but hopeful as she begins a new life with her formerly estranged father in a small Tennessee town. Mounts expresses the delight Amanda feels as girlfriends accept her and gentle, thoughtful Grant falls in love with her. Mounts provides a bittersweet tone as Amanda blossoms with the tender feelings of first love even as she fears revealing her secret. Her feelings are juxtaposed with her father’s fear for her safety amid the narrow-mindedness of the small Southern town where they live, which Mounts suggests through the judicious use of regional accents. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2016]