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Gay the Pray Away

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Gay the Pray Away

By: Natalie Naudus
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
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About this listen

Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she’s ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.

Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.

Publicly, the girls are close friends—holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance—until they are found out. Now, Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.

©2024 Natalie Naudus (P)2024 Natalie Naudus Coming of Age Editor's Select LGBT LGBTQ+

Editorial Review

What if you just realized you grew up in a cult?
At Audible, we’ve long known Natalie Naudus as a beloved narrator. Now, she’s written and performed her own novel that’s heavily inspired by her own childhood in a religious cult. To write it, she imagined what her life might have been like if she’d discovered her favorite narrated novels as a teen. Listening to Gay the Pray Away, I was struck not by the darkness of Valerie’s complicated family situation and the prejudice of her community, but by how the story was shot through with hope and discovery, and how it only takes one person to pull you out of a difficult path. It’s a YA story for those who are looking for the bright side to the darkness in our world. — Melissa B., Audible Editor

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A much needed story

Natalie Naudus is my favourite audiobook narrator. She narrates my favourite book of all time, which happens to be a book of importance in Gay the Pray Away too. So even though I received an eARCof this book I waited for the audiobook to release so I could hear every part just as Naudus intended. It was absolutely worth the wait.

This is a fantastic book, and I know it’s going to help so so so many queer people across the globe. While I didn’t grow up in a Christian cult I did attend an all girls catholic school which has its fair share of homophobia from students and teachers alike. I know several girls who could’ve found hope in this book back then. I hope they find it now, and I hope it helps them to gain a little peace.

Naudus’s writing is lovely—I really felt like I was at the picnic lunch Val and Riley threw together during there “sick” days—and as always her performance is perfection!
Cannot wait for whatever Naudus releases next! Going to tell all my reader friends—queer or not—about Gay the Pray Away in the meantime.

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Loved it 🥰

Just loved it!❤️ Loved it, Loved it, loved it . is the fifteen words? No, ok Loved it!

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