Countdown to 7th May; Keren David!

Hi Guys,
Today I am super excited to introduce you to the wonderfully talented Keren David! (Can I squeee please?)
Keren is here today to talk to you all about bisexuality and her upcoming release, This Is Not A Love Story. I hope you find this post as inspiring and wonderful as I did – and obviously I hope you love her novel too, I personally cannot WAIT to read it!

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Bisexuality

Remember when Tom Daley made that video? The one about his sexuality?

He’d realised he liked boys as well as girls. He shared this with the world, which was obviously a scary thing to do. He seemed vulnerable and nervous, but happy and honest.

Mostly Tom’s announcement was greeted with a flood of love and acceptance. But there were also plenty of people lining up to tell him that he was really 100% gay, as though they knew him better than he knew himself. In fact, Tom made a new public statement a few months later, telling the world that he was definitely gay. It was wonderful that he felt ready to say this, and yet the response from some seemed to reinforce the message that bisexuality wasn’t an acceptable permanent choice.

It reminded me of friend of mine, who found it annoying that when she said she was bisexual, people thought she was trying to find out whether she was gay or straight. When she married a man, people assumed that she was no longer bisexual, even though that remained an important part of her identity.

As John Forde wrote in the Huffington Post: ‘It’s a sad truth that even in our post-Bowie, post-Gaga culture, bisexuality is still viewed with suspicion and confusion. Even within lesbian and gay communities, bisexuality is often dismissed as a temporary pose rather than a permanent status, a form of sexual fence sitting before the neophyte subject acquires sufficient courage to settle into their permanent, essentialist sexual identity.’

I suppose I had this in mind when I created a bisexual character in my new book This is Not a Love Story. In fact my rationalisation came later. He was one of those characters who just sprang fully formed from my head into the book. He let me play around with the love triangle trope that’s so popular in YA romance, and his sexuality is just one aspect of his personality. I don’t believe he’ll ever stop being bisexual, even if he ends up staying with his first real love.

If we clear away our prejudices and the social constructs that ask us to choose groups and not people, then who knows what would happen? That’s what This is Not a Love Story is about. I hope you enjoy it.

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Kitty dreams of a beautiful life, but that’s impossible in suburban London where her family is haunted by her father’s unexpected death. So when her mum suggests moving to Amsterdam to try a new life, Kitty doesn’t take much persuading. Will this be her opportunity to make her life picture perfect?

In Amsterdam she meets moody, unpredictable Ethan, and clever, troubled Theo. Two enigmatic boys, who each harbour their own secrets. In a beautiful city and far from home, Kitty finds herself falling in love for the first time.

But will love be everything she expected? And will anyone’s heart survive?

Goodreads. Amazon UK. The Book Depository.

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Will you be reading this book now?