I absolutely adored this book! Kate In Wating is a sweet, tender and emotional story about friendship, crushes and high school musicals. I binge-read this cutie, so smitten by the wonderful characters and fun and charming story.

The story follows best friends Kate and Anderson, who do just about everything together; drive to school, audition for the school musicals, even crush on the same guys... But they’d never let anything get between them. At least not until Matt, their mutual summer crush, suddenly starts in their school and stars the musical. The problem is that the crush turns into something much more, for both of them, and that it might end up destroying Kate and Andy’s apparently not-so-indestructible-anymore friendship.

This book is one of Becky Albertalli’s absolute best! It’s up on my top together with Simon vs. It was so cute and fun, and I loved the musical theatre references and all the representation, but most of all the wonderful, fleshed out characters. I loved that the main focus was on the friendship between Kate and Anderson, and not on the romance. I also loved the wonderful group of friends, and the sibling relationship between Kate and her brother Ryan.

I do have two minor complaints though. The first one is the repetitive use of the word, and the perfunctory labeling of characters, as ‘fuckboys’. I don’t mind the word as such, but the excessive use of the word was quite annoying, and it’s not like Becky Albertalli to put labels on people simply based on who they hang out with, so I was quite disappointed by that aspect of the book. My second complaint was that Matt felt a bit flat and one-dimensional as the object for both Kate’s and Anderson’s crushes. He was really sweet, but his character wasn’t explored enough for us readers to really get to know him.

But those minor complaints set aside, this book was such a delightful and entertaining YA rom com with so many other amazing characters to root for! Anderson was such a sweetheart who immediately stole my heart, and Kate was so relatable in her doubts and anxiety and felt so fleshed out and authentic in the way she alternated between being selfish and jealous and being supportive and wanting to put Anderson’s happiness before her own. And her bantering with Noah was so sweet and hilarious! Honestly, I just wanted her to see Noah instead of Matt the whole time… Next to Kate and Anderson he was my favorite character!

All in all, this was such a delightful, sweet, adorkable and wonderful YA story about first love, friendship and stage fright. It was full of humor, witty conversations, hilarious situations and relatable characters with so many flaws, over-the-top feelings and vulnerability, showing the problems to navigate through high school while being true to who you are. Highly recommended!

Rating:
4.5 dazzling stars rounding up to 5

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Becky Albertalli

It was such a happy surprise when Becky Albertalli gifted us with this wonderful novella addition to her Simonverse.

I loved the chance to hang out with all the wonderful Simonverse characters again (Simon, Bram, Leah and Abby and the others from Simon vs, The Upside of Unrequited and Leah on the Offbeat) and to meet them all in their respective colleges, getting glimpses of their lives through the emails they send to each other.
 
I really enjoyed that this book was staying true to Simon and Bram’s origins with the emails, and I also really, really enjoyed the references to the characters and places in some of my other favorite books such as The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, THUG, What If It’s Us and Dear Martin.
 
Love, Creekwood was such an adorable and addictive read! I read it in one sitting with a goofy smile all over my face. If you loved Becky’s other books and her adorable characters, then you’ll definitely want to read this gorgeous novella too and find out what’s going on with them all!

Rating:
5 stars

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Becky Albertalli

This political rom com follows the two teenagers Jamie and Maya as they are paired together for a political campaign and their journey on social social activism and political awareness paired with personal problems and family drama.

Jamie is the very definition of adorkable; awkward, shy, clumsy and cute and with political ambitions that seem somewhat unachievable as he is a choke artist when it comes to speaking in public. Once he even got so nervous that he threw up on a politician during an interview…

“Let’s face it. Some people are meant to change history. And some people are meant to change out of their vomity interview clothes.”

(This quote reminded me a lot of another of my favorite books, Red, White & Royal Blue, but compared to that book this one has a heavier focus on the political parts, especially the practical aspects of passing bills and canvassing voters etc.)

I immediately fell in love with Jamie. He’s so goodhearted, so self-conscious, so perky cute and considerate. I could definitely relate to his social anxiety and how the thought of making a toast at his sister’s bat mitzvah clouded the whole Summer. Speaking of his sister, she was just wonderful. So sparky and outspoken and always making fun of Jamie in a loving way. I absolutely adored their affectionate relationship.

Maya is a Muslim girl who is having the worst Summer dealing with her parents’ break-up and her best friend abandoning her for a new university roommate, and who agrees to do the political campaigning solely to get her parents to give her a car. At first, she’s too preoccupied with the crises in her life to think about anything else. Especially as her parents don’t want her to date anyone she’s not serious about and certainly not someone who isn’t a Muslim. But when an Islamophobic bill is threatening to be passed and antisemitic images are being glued to cars, she and Jamie find each other in their political awakening and the desire to make a change.

I really loved Jaime’s and Maya’s cute banter and how they built their friendship from the ground up. To paraphrase Jamie, I loved their “slowmance” and the very, very, slow friends-to-lovers trope and how they got to know more about each other’s cultures and being receptive at the same time.

Both the characters and the story felt very realistic, especially when it came to the political climate, the tension and hatred beneath the surface and the simple black-and-white attitudes to complex problems. Which frankly is very scary and makes you fear for the future of our world. But luckily, the passion and how much the characters wanted to make a difference made up for that.

All in all, Yes No Maybe So is a cute and charming love story which deals with some heavy issues such as antisemitism, Islamophobia, cultural differences and family difficulties, but that is also light and fun with a lot of bantering and satiric dialogues. And the best of all is that it leaves you feeling hopeful and believing that anyone can make a change.

“There is hope. Hold it tight, and keep fighting.”

Rating:
4 stars

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​Author info:
Becky Albertalli
Aisha Saeed

What If It’s Us was one of my most anticipated releases this year. The collaboration between two of the greatest YA authors today and the plot raised my expectations sky high. Unfortunately though, I was quite disappointed.

It wasn’t that it wasn’t good. It was. It was very cute, fast-paced read, with a lot of enjoyable New York scenery and pop culture and Broadway references, in a story about two teenage boys meeting at the post office in NYC and their efforts of finding each other again because maybe “life really isn’t like a Broadway play? But what if it is?”. It was just that it could have been so much better! Especially the characters.

The story was told from different POV:s, alternating between Ben and Arthur. Normally, I like this set-up, but here I found a bit unnecessary, and unfortunately I didn’t fully connect with the characters. Arthur was a bit over the top and Ben was always talking himself and Arthur down and reflecting on how Arthur was too short and not being chill, which after a while got a bit annoying. I also missed a bit of chemistry between them too; it wasn’t Broadway magic between them, which I had hoped for.

On the other hand, I really adored some of the side-characters. Especially Ben’s friend Dylan and his hilarious, awkward “future-wife”-way of jumping way ahead in a relationship. Jessie seemed to be a really good friend, and Samantha was an adorable character with a big heart.
​
I also really liked that the story was a bit softer and sweeter, more quiet somehow, than most YA books. It was about Ben and Arthur and their little part of the world, which was enough. And the representation was great, the main characters are a gay Puerto Rican and a gay Jewish with ADHD who is obsessed with the musical Hamilton, yay to that! And even though I would have liked some more swoon-worthy magic between Ben and Arthur, the authors did a great job in describing the insecurity you feel about doing things for the first time (first date, first kiss etc.) in such a realistic and adorable way that it made your heart ache.

“I am actually dead. There’s no other way to explain it. I’m sitting in fucking Herald Square, holding hands with the cutest boy I’ve ever met, and I’m dead.”

I really, really enjoyed the descriptions of the dates all over New York and the pop culture and fanfiction references.

But, besides my problems with the main characters, I also have to say that I found the ending thoroughly dissatisfying. I just really, really wanted to love this so much more than I did. But that’s got more to do with my extremely high expectations than the book, and if I hadn’t read anything by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera before, I’m sure I would have thought that it was a really cute and sweet YA story.

Rating:
3 stars

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Becky Albertalli
Adam Silvera

This book is a standalone, but it felt a lot like a sequel to Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which made me so happy! And even though it didn’t convey in me the same feelings as Simon vs did, it was still so wonderful to be back in my beloved Simonverse again that I binge-read it in a couple of hours!

The main character in this cute book is Simon’s friend Leah Burke and plot-wise, this book takes place one year after the events following Martin’s blackmail of Simon and Simon and “Blue” becoming a couple. To be honest, there isn’t that much of a story in this book though, it’s mostly focusing on what everyone is up to this year and their plans after graduation (lots and lots of graduation angst!). I also have to admit that I didn’t really connect with Leah. Her character sometimes came off as really mean and selfish and with double-standards. But on the other hand it was so refreshing with her sarcasm and humor and badass attitude and that Becky allowed her to be a totally messy person with all her flaws. There were also some scenes that I found a bit problematic from a queer perspective. And to be honest, the romance felt a bit forced. There were not a lot of cute moments between them, except for the adorable scene in the end, but I want more to really invest in them as a couple. But I still love Becky Albertalli’s writing style, it’s so good and addictive! I also love all the diversity in her books, and that we got to see a f/f-romance.  But what I loved absolutely most was getting to read about Simon again. Every time Simon appeared, I got this goofy, happy smile all over my face. There were so many cute scenes with them, and Blue’s promposal must be the best ever, it was pure literary perfection!

So a little bit of mixed feelings for the book, but nevertheless it was a good story with a great mix of feel-good, romance and friendship and serious topics like racism, bisexuality, the coming-out struggle, body insecurity and more. But most of all, I loved it for giving me more of Simon and “Blue”! 
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Rating:
4 stars

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Becky Albertalli

This book is part of Becky Albertalli’s wonderful Simonverse, with crossovers from the characters in Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which made me so happy and warm at heart, that I could recommend this book for that reason alone! In addition thereto, it’s wonderful character-driven cute and relatable story about sisterhood, family, body image, and first love. 

I love this book so much! It’s such a beautiful addictive love story, it’s so honest and real and full of diversity, charm and feelings. From the very first page, the story just pulled me in and I could not put it down. I read it feverishly and finished it in one sitting, immediately wanting to go right back at re-read it all again! 

In short, it’s about sixteen-year-old Simon who has not yet come out as gay, but is trying to figure out how and when to tell his secret without the big drama.

“Sometimes it seems like everybody knows who I am except me.”

Instead, he shares his thoughts and feelings with his email friend “Blue”. The relationship with Blue grows more and more serious, and Simon soon wishes to know his real identity. But when the emails falls into the wrong hands, Simon gets blackmailed by his class mate Martin to fix him up with Simon’s friend Abby, and Simon’s life starts to get even more complicated.

The way Becky Albertalli writes is simply amazing. This is such a fast read, I felt like I was flying through this book (even though I tried to slow down, not ever wanting it to end). I loved the way you got to know Simon and Blue via their email correspondence and I also really enjoyed the mystery element of trying to figure out Blue’s real identity (even though I have to admit I kind of guessed at an early stage…).

And the characters, Simon, Blue, Abby, Leah and all the others, I don’t even know where to start… These characters are what made the story! I adored every single one of them as the story unfolded. Simon is quirky and sweet and has so much humor, sarcasm and sassiness you just love him immediately. And his friends were so amazing; sweet, fun and supportive. I also have to say something about his parents. The way Becky Albertalli portrayed them was so refreshing, that she allowed them to be both supportive and flawed, that their need to make a big deal out of something and be super-supportive and open-minded actually was the thing that kept Simon from coming out to them.

About ‘coming out’, Becky Albertalli really nails it when she makes Simon turn this around and say things like

“I actually hate when people say that [they feel secure in their masculinity]. I mean, I feel secure in my masculinity, too. Being secure in your masculinity isn’t the same as being straight.”

and

“Don’t you think everyone should have to come out? Why is straight the default?”

I could go on forever about how wonderful and amazing this book is, but all I really want to say is… go READ IT! It’s one of my all-time favorites ever! I love everything about it; the story, the characters, the beginning, the ending, the writing style, the humor, the emotions, the… everything! Just writing and thinking about it now brings on a big smile all over my face and makes me want to pick it up and re-read it right away.

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Becky Albertalli