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March 16, 2016

Today's Featured Title and Contest March 16, 2016
 

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this spring. Read more about it, and enter our Spring Preview Contest by Thursday, March 17th at 11:59am ET for a chance to win one of five copies of SAVING ALEX: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began by Alex Cooper with Joanna Brooks, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

Today's Featured Book and Contest: SAVING ALEX: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began, by Alex Cooper with Joanna Brooks
When Alex Cooper was 15 years old, life was pretty ordinary in her sleepy suburban town and nice Mormon family. At church and at home, Alex was taught that God had a plan for everyone. But something was gnawing at her that made her feel different. These feelings exploded when she met Yvette, a girl who made Alex feel alive in a new way, and with whom Alex would quickly fall in love.

Alex knew she was holding a secret that could shatter her family, her church community and her life. Yet when this secret couldn’t be hidden any longer, she told her parents that she was gay, and the nightmare began. She was driven from her home in Southern California to Utah, where, against her will, her parents handed her over to fellow Mormons who promised to save Alex from her homosexuality.

For eight harrowing months, Alex was held captive in an unlicensed “residential treatment program” modeled on the many “therapeutic” boot camps scattered across Utah. Alex was physically and verbally abused, and many days she was forced to stand facing a wall wearing a heavy backpack full of rocks. Her captors used faith to punish and terrorize her. With the help of a dedicated legal team in Salt Lake City, Alex eventually escaped and made legal history in Utah by winning the right to live under the law’s protection as an openly gay teenager.

Alex is not alone; the headlines continue to splash stories about gay conversion therapy and rehabilitation centers that promise to “save” teenagers from their sexuality. SAVING ALEX is a courageous memoir that tells Alex’s story in the hopes that it will bring awareness and justice to this important issue. A bold, inspiring story of one girl’s fight for freedom, acceptance and truth.

-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to visit Alex Cooper's official website.

-Connect with Alex Cooper on Facebook and Twitter.
 
Click here to enter the contest by 11:59am ET on Thursday, March 17th.

This is a special newsletter for our Spring Preview Contests, which will mail on select days through Thursday, April 21st. This newsletter is separate from our weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter, which mails every Friday. You can subscribe to that newsletter here.

Don't forget to visit our other websites from TheBookReportNetwork.com: 20SomethingReads.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads.com, ReadingGroupGuides.com, GraphicNovelReporter.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

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