In her love letter to her gay “boyfriends,” New York Timesbestselling author Wednesday Martin shows just how an unconditional—and nontraditional—romance transformed the life of a teenage outsider forever.

As an awkward high schooler, Wednesday struggled to find her place in Grand Rapids. Until a handsome senior encouraged her to believe how talented, smart, and wonderfully different she was. Naturally, Wednesday fell for him…He was falling, too. For another boy. Yet this one-sided crush proved life altering, paving the way for a string of “boyfriends” who offered Wednesday something deeper than physical connection.

Boyfriends of Dorothy is part of The Real Thing, a collection of moving, hilarious, and big-hearted essays on the modern realities of friendship, romance, commitment, and love, with art by Geoff McFetridge. Each story can be read—or listened to—in a single sitting.