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Simonverse #3
Leah on the Offbeat
Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction (2018)Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2018
About the author
Becky Albertalli
18 books20k followersBecky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (film: Love, Simon), The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat. She is also the co-author of What If It's Us with Adam Silvera. A former clinical psychologist who specialized in working with children and teens, Becky lives with her family in Atlanta. You can visit her online at www.beckyalbertalli.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 10,668 reviews
April 28, 2018
I swear, people can’t wrap their minds around the concept of a fat girl who doesn’t diet. Is it that hard to believe I might actually like my body?
I LOVE LEAH BURKE.
I don't actually see how it's possible not to. She's hilarious and badass and sarcastic and moody and totally potty-mouthed. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and give my awkward, chubby teen self this book.
If you've had enough of the depressing gloomy world we live in and want to read something uplifting, unapologetically nerdy, with just the right amount of romance and Harry Potter references, then I highly recommend Leah on the Offbeat. I found it funnier than Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, with better dialogue, characters and relationships than The Upside of Unrequited, and it didn't hurt that I just related to Leah so much more.
This book has everything you need from the perfect high school senior rom-com: a tight group of hilarious and charming friends, prom and all that goes with it, a will they/won't they , and that perfect but somewhat melancholy high that comes with endings and new beginnings. But, on top of all that, Albertalli just does a great job of normalizing queer relationships.
It's not always easy to come out and, of course, some people are jerks but it's so... not a big deal in this book. Girls like boys like boys like girls like girls. And sometimes characters identify as neither girl nor boy and that's cool, too. Like I said, I so wish this book existed when I was in high school.
The romance here was just perfect for me. Becky Albertalli's books are largely driven by the dialogue, which makes for some great banter. And when it comes to romance, banter is everything to me. Leah and Abby just warm my heart. They are so freaking adorable. But I also really appreciate how Leah's self-worth is not tied into the romance. Sure, she has moments of insecurity - who doesn't? - but she is mostly happy with her body, without needing validation from others.
Other things I loved: the relationship between Leah and her mom (aww); Garrett constantly being, as Leah puts it, "a fucking slightly adorable doofus"; that Leah is a drummer; the cuteness that is Simon; Leah's colourful terminology ("prehistoric dickwads" was a personal fave). And, like, everything else.
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September 30, 2018
Besides the romance and catching up with Simon, nothing else seemed to happen? This story had so much potential, from Leah coming out to her friends to her complicated relationship with her mom to the bittersweet feelings surrounding graduating high school. None of these were really delved into.
Instead, we got a rushed romance that felt forced. I loved that we got bi rep, but I couldn't get fully on board with the couple especially considering the timing of it.
Was it just me or was almost every character's personality off? This is most apparent with Abby and Nick, but even Simon felt like a strange fanfic version of himself. On top of that, the character development was almost nonexistent. Leah is a pretty unlikable character, which I love to read about - if there's an arc.
To sum up my feelings: AGH I wanted to love this book because we need more f/f romances, but I had many issues with it.
Instead, we got a rushed romance that felt forced. I loved that we got bi rep, but I couldn't get fully on board with the couple especially considering the timing of it.
Was it just me or was almost every character's personality off? This is most apparent with Abby and Nick, but even Simon felt like a strange fanfic version of himself. On top of that, the character development was almost nonexistent. Leah is a pretty unlikable character, which I love to read about - if there's an arc.
To sum up my feelings: AGH I wanted to love this book because we need more f/f romances, but I had many issues with it.
March 27, 2019
3/5 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I finished this book in ten hours with some breaks in between. And I'm not saying that because it was so irresistible and I couldn't leave it down and I wanted to see how the plot was going to unfold, no. Because this book was extremely underwhelming, couldn't even compare to its predecessor and it felt like the most flat thing I have read in a long period of time. If it was on its own, I would feel better about it, but a comparison is inevitable. Especially when the book is surrounding the same fucking characters from the previous one. You know the drill.
Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
I wanted to love this book so fucking much. When it came in the mail, I was so excited to start it. Kudos to the graphic designer who made this cover. Fucking amazing man. Love, from a fellow graphic designer. I love Becky Albertalli's covers, they all have such a unique artistic style. But anyways, this isn't the point. The point is, this book didn't remind me at all of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It didn't convey in me the same feelings this book did. I was just reading it just to finish it. I didn't have feelings throughout it, not for the romance, not for Leah, not for anything.
Let's start off with that I actually liked.
- I adored the diversity throughout this book, I'm sure many people will learn from this book and receive positive messages from it. I'm very glad of this representation, even though I'm a straight white girl and can't understand their struggles. But I learn everyday from books like this one, too, like all of us.
- I loved Leah's confidence when she wears that motherfucking Beauty and the Beast awesome dress and her dorky boots. I loved how the fact that Leah is overweight isn't considered a problem for anyone. It doesn't happen in real life many times and I'm glad it is portrayed here.
- The gang was my favorite. It's fucking splendid how so many people can be together and have fun with each other. All of them different characters, all of them amazing on their own. I truly love this set of characters Becky has created. And I'm sure she loves them too.
- Simon. Because he deserves a whole section by himself. Because he was the best thing about this book. Can we get a new book with him as the narrator again please? Or a fucking series? Or a tv show? Or a movie trilogy? Can we get Simon and Bram being fucking adorable and just that? SIMON WAS THE BEST FUCKING THING ABOUT THIS BOOK. And that says a lot about it. I want more of this character. Please, Becky, give us more of this adorable, dorky, little peanut who loves Oreos and Bram too much. I beg of you. Half a star i give to this book more because of you, my beautiful gay geek. I LOVE YOU.
- The humor. The author has an amazing sense of humor, and it showed in both of her books. It made the book lighter, more readable. I was chuckling at many moments and one liners. Leah's constant swearing was greatly appreciated by me, a fellow swearing sailor like her. Furthermore, the nerdy references are always my cup of tea in books. Born and raised nerd, what can I say?
And now onto what I didn't like. Oh boy, it's gonna be long. Allow me to elaborate.
- Leah as a character wasn't my cup of tea. I liked her at times and hated her at times. But not like the feelings I got reading Monty from The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, no, the bad ones. She is real, raw and I give her that but also rude and inconsistent. She didn't evolve as a character at all. She got no character development. I didn't like her attitude towards her mother, who was the sweetest woman and she was just trying to help her. and Leah was just being a bitch to her for no fucking reason. Also, the casting of Katherine Langford for her part just didn't fit in my brain? The entire book I was picturing Rebel Wilson in an 18-year-old version as Leah. Sorry not sorry.
- I HATED HER TREATMENT OF GARRETT'S FEELINGS. She was totally leading him on throughout the entire book, and then we didn't even get to find out how she told him about her and Abby. We were just told he has a thing for Morgan. Like... wtf? Garrett is the sweetest, kindest guy, he has a huge ass crush on you, you know for a long time and you just what? Leave him alone at the prom you agreed to go with him? Agreeing to go see him to his game and then leaving him on read? And when he thinks you were there, pretend that you were when you were at your house ignoring all his texts? I hated how we didn't get closure with the whole Garrett situation at the end. I just want to hug him and apologize for her and tell him that he is amazing and that he deserves everything for his dorky, oblivious self. And that love sometimes just strikes with different people.
- The racist comment Morgan made. Yes, it was distasteful. Yes, she shouldn't have said it. Yes, you were right to call her out on it and make her apologize to Abby. But not take it to such serious matters. Not make Morgan quit the band, or end your friendship with her. And you, yourself, have said how her and Anna were there for you when you had no one. And we all know her reaction wouldn't have been the same if the comment was directed to Bram, for instance. It wasn't about political justice or whatever. It was because the comment was directed at Abby. Leah became one of those "woke" people on Twitter, who think they are above everyone else and they these perfect little bunnies who "cancel" people for the most obscure things. I hate that. Let a person apologize. Let them know about their mistake and give them space to think about it and apologize. Just don't fucking put people up the cross for the most inconsequential shit. Just don't.
- The romance. I felt nothing. You need to know something about me. I'm a ship person. With movies, tv shows, books, I ship things so easily and jump off ships without even thinking twice, you wouldn't imagine. And every time I experience something new, I'm always the same kind of excited for a new ship to enter my vast vault of ships. But this one... smash or pass? PASS. Maybe it's because I didn't like both characters as much? Maybe because I was comparing them to Simon and Blue from the previous book? Maybe both. I just couldn't feel it man. And I LOATHED how judgmental Leah was of Abby's "a little bit bi" coming out story. Like please, don't assume anyone's identity just because you have yours figured out. She needed her time, step by step, to realize some stuff. You don't have a right to judge her.
- The ending. I had 20 pages left and I was confused. It's like she didn't know what to write as an ending, how to write the confrontation of what would happen after all the other characters would find out about Abby and Leah and she just... left it there. Hanging. I think the ending should have been done properly. It was a very sloppy, ten minute to write, ending.
Overall, this book was a poor attempt to capture the magic of its predecessor. What can the hype do a person, huh? I'm very curious as to why this book is still so highly rated. It was extremely poor executed, the romance was hollow and uninteresting, the plot non existent and the main character (most of the times) unlikable. I'm very disappointed because I was very much hyped up for this book. Thank the Lord for Simon. I LOVE YOU SIMON SO MUCH.
And till the next one K BYE!
*every time I was reading the word "Athens" I was thinking of the capital of Greece "Athens" where I live, not some place in America I do not know about. Always funny to find weird Greek (but not so Greek this time) references in books. Thanks.
“I can't help it. I'm a Slytherin."
And I'm the worst kind of Slytherin. I'm the kind who's so stupidly in love with a Gryffindor, she can't even function. I'm the Draco from some shitty Drarry fic that the author abandoned after four chapters.”
I finished this book in ten hours with some breaks in between. And I'm not saying that because it was so irresistible and I couldn't leave it down and I wanted to see how the plot was going to unfold, no. Because this book was extremely underwhelming, couldn't even compare to its predecessor and it felt like the most flat thing I have read in a long period of time. If it was on its own, I would feel better about it, but a comparison is inevitable. Especially when the book is surrounding the same fucking characters from the previous one. You know the drill.
Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.
I wanted to love this book so fucking much. When it came in the mail, I was so excited to start it. Kudos to the graphic designer who made this cover. Fucking amazing man. Love, from a fellow graphic designer. I love Becky Albertalli's covers, they all have such a unique artistic style. But anyways, this isn't the point. The point is, this book didn't remind me at all of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It didn't convey in me the same feelings this book did. I was just reading it just to finish it. I didn't have feelings throughout it, not for the romance, not for Leah, not for anything.
Let's start off with that I actually liked.
- I adored the diversity throughout this book, I'm sure many people will learn from this book and receive positive messages from it. I'm very glad of this representation, even though I'm a straight white girl and can't understand their struggles. But I learn everyday from books like this one, too, like all of us.
- I loved Leah's confidence when she wears that motherfucking Beauty and the Beast awesome dress and her dorky boots. I loved how the fact that Leah is overweight isn't considered a problem for anyone. It doesn't happen in real life many times and I'm glad it is portrayed here.
- The gang was my favorite. It's fucking splendid how so many people can be together and have fun with each other. All of them different characters, all of them amazing on their own. I truly love this set of characters Becky has created. And I'm sure she loves them too.
- Simon. Because he deserves a whole section by himself. Because he was the best thing about this book. Can we get a new book with him as the narrator again please? Or a fucking series? Or a tv show? Or a movie trilogy? Can we get Simon and Bram being fucking adorable and just that? SIMON WAS THE BEST FUCKING THING ABOUT THIS BOOK. And that says a lot about it. I want more of this character. Please, Becky, give us more of this adorable, dorky, little peanut who loves Oreos and Bram too much. I beg of you. Half a star i give to this book more because of you, my beautiful gay geek. I LOVE YOU.
- The humor. The author has an amazing sense of humor, and it showed in both of her books. It made the book lighter, more readable. I was chuckling at many moments and one liners. Leah's constant swearing was greatly appreciated by me, a fellow swearing sailor like her. Furthermore, the nerdy references are always my cup of tea in books. Born and raised nerd, what can I say?
And now onto what I didn't like. Oh boy, it's gonna be long. Allow me to elaborate.
- Leah as a character wasn't my cup of tea. I liked her at times and hated her at times. But not like the feelings I got reading Monty from The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, no, the bad ones. She is real, raw and I give her that but also rude and inconsistent. She didn't evolve as a character at all. She got no character development. I didn't like her attitude towards her mother, who was the sweetest woman and she was just trying to help her. and Leah was just being a bitch to her for no fucking reason. Also, the casting of Katherine Langford for her part just didn't fit in my brain? The entire book I was picturing Rebel Wilson in an 18-year-old version as Leah. Sorry not sorry.
- I HATED HER TREATMENT OF GARRETT'S FEELINGS. She was totally leading him on throughout the entire book, and then we didn't even get to find out how she told him about her and Abby. We were just told he has a thing for Morgan. Like... wtf? Garrett is the sweetest, kindest guy, he has a huge ass crush on you, you know for a long time and you just what? Leave him alone at the prom you agreed to go with him? Agreeing to go see him to his game and then leaving him on read? And when he thinks you were there, pretend that you were when you were at your house ignoring all his texts? I hated how we didn't get closure with the whole Garrett situation at the end. I just want to hug him and apologize for her and tell him that he is amazing and that he deserves everything for his dorky, oblivious self. And that love sometimes just strikes with different people.
- The racist comment Morgan made. Yes, it was distasteful. Yes, she shouldn't have said it. Yes, you were right to call her out on it and make her apologize to Abby. But not take it to such serious matters. Not make Morgan quit the band, or end your friendship with her. And you, yourself, have said how her and Anna were there for you when you had no one. And we all know her reaction wouldn't have been the same if the comment was directed to Bram, for instance. It wasn't about political justice or whatever. It was because the comment was directed at Abby. Leah became one of those "woke" people on Twitter, who think they are above everyone else and they these perfect little bunnies who "cancel" people for the most obscure things. I hate that. Let a person apologize. Let them know about their mistake and give them space to think about it and apologize. Just don't fucking put people up the cross for the most inconsequential shit. Just don't.
- The romance. I felt nothing. You need to know something about me. I'm a ship person. With movies, tv shows, books, I ship things so easily and jump off ships without even thinking twice, you wouldn't imagine. And every time I experience something new, I'm always the same kind of excited for a new ship to enter my vast vault of ships. But this one... smash or pass? PASS. Maybe it's because I didn't like both characters as much? Maybe because I was comparing them to Simon and Blue from the previous book? Maybe both. I just couldn't feel it man. And I LOATHED how judgmental Leah was of Abby's "a little bit bi" coming out story. Like please, don't assume anyone's identity just because you have yours figured out. She needed her time, step by step, to realize some stuff. You don't have a right to judge her.
- The ending. I had 20 pages left and I was confused. It's like she didn't know what to write as an ending, how to write the confrontation of what would happen after all the other characters would find out about Abby and Leah and she just... left it there. Hanging. I think the ending should have been done properly. It was a very sloppy, ten minute to write, ending.
Overall, this book was a poor attempt to capture the magic of its predecessor. What can the hype do a person, huh? I'm very curious as to why this book is still so highly rated. It was extremely poor executed, the romance was hollow and uninteresting, the plot non existent and the main character (most of the times) unlikable. I'm very disappointed because I was very much hyped up for this book. Thank the Lord for Simon. I LOVE YOU SIMON SO MUCH.
And till the next one K BYE!
*every time I was reading the word "Athens" I was thinking of the capital of Greece "Athens" where I live, not some place in America I do not know about. Always funny to find weird Greek (but not so Greek this time) references in books. Thanks.
September 2, 2020
inspired by my similar review of Simon Vs, here we go: a list of
every iconic moment of this book
🌸 "I'VE BEEN KNOWN TO DO THAT WHEN IT COMES TO ABBY" IN LIKE THE SECOND FUCKING CHAPTER
🌺 Simon and Leah inventing bro culture
🌸 the fact that Nick and Simon’s college tour list is literally mine subtracting three women’s colleges? the accuracy jesus christ
🌺 Taylor disparaging the tech crew and Nora looking as if she wants to silently implode is my mood
🌸 “Joseph is the bomb.”
“Don’t say the bomb.”
“Joseph is the blizz.”
🌺 Everything Leah’s mom says in this entire book, tbh
🌸 the establishment of Leah’s anxiety and how it causes her to overreact to situations and hyperinflate them in her mind and how fuckening relatable that is
🌺 Apparently, Simon’s dad asked the tour guide at Duke to “please elaborate on the campus gay scene.”
“I wanted to fucking die,” Simon told me.
🌸 Leah wearing gold combat boots, like an icon
🌺 all the Martin Addison hate
🌸 “All my ships kissing - Inej and Nina, Percabeth, a few original characters...” honestly why are we surprised by this it's so in character, Leah has a Ninej shipper personality
🌺 “Mr. Spier, memorizing the Hamilton soundtrack is not going to help you on the AP Euro exam.”
🌸 Garrett being useless and flirty and Trying
🌺 Abby being Maybe Kind Of Cute but Very Straight and Leah being A Bisexual
🌸 But the show was amazing, even with Martin Addison back in commission. Or maybe it’s because Martin was back in commission, as much as it kills me to admit that. I hate when assholes have talent. I want to live in a world where good people rule at everything and shitty people suck at everything. In short: I want Martin Addison’s voice to crack like an earthquake.
🌺 the two times that characters tell other characters they like each other’s boots
🌸 Leah’s baby crush on Simon being totally confirmed
🌺 Dear God and/or Cal Price: please start this show now
🌸 The entire I-aim-to-please-miss-Steel scene
🌺 Leah’s iconic prom dress
🌸 Leah being cute and crushing on Abby and not really getting that she’s flirting and still remaining convinced that she is a total hetero, 100% straight, not at ALL into her
🌺 “Abby is straight as a popsicle stick” girl. no she ain't
🌸 Becky how do you know the gays of this generation so well tf
🌺 the sort of subtextual narrative around Leah's being plus-size and how that affects her mental well-being!! this is something Becky Albertalli has actually talked about a lot in terms of how writing this was emotionally cathartic for her and it really shows and I'm super into it.
🌸 Every Simon and Bram moment establishing them as That Gross Couple
🌺 Can we just talk about the fact of the road trip? Abby asked Leah to go on a road trip with her to tour the college they are both going to, together, and asks her to be roommates and maybe wants to be something more? Gay
🌸 leah: and we're going to be roommates
me: oh my god they were roommates
🌺 “get out your second-most-epic playlist”
🌸 Leah having a heart attack of happiness when Caitlin uses they/them for her friend is such relatable content
🌺 the deep and sheer gay energy of page 178
🌸 Leah dreaming of her future with Abby where they’re just besties and talking about FaceTiming Simon together and eating cookies and I? love love
🌺 “No way. Caitlin’s your friend.”
“Well, she’s my cousin’s girlfriend’s sister's friend.”
🌸 I mean, how can we ever forget they shared a bed
🌺 the fact that the quote “Like, you look at Abby, and she’s the picture of innocence: spiral curls, lavender pajama shorts. But no.” refers to Abby dog-earing Harry Potter
🌸 Leah being one of Those People who is anti-dog-earing
🌺 Bubo Yass and Hue Barkle
🌸 what the fuck is a duck tour
🌺 “Well, my daughter is vegan.
“Totally fine. There are lots of vegan options–”
“I’d appreciate something a little more specific than ‘lots of vegan options.’” like bitch we all know this mom
🌸 the entire conversation about gender segregated dorms
🌺 “I’ve already given up on my hair. My hair is an asshole.”
🌸 ABBY COMPLIMENTED LEAH’S EYES #NEVERFORGET
🌺 the fact that, at page 191, Leah is still confident in Abby’s heterosexuality
🌸 rip Abby’s heterosexuality, never-never. tragic
🌺 “Guys, come meet Abby and Leah? They’re friends with my brother.”
“Just so you know, I’ve literally never met Caitlin’s brother.”
🌸 The fact that Abby overusing literally is completely canon. the most in character thing of all time maybe
🌺 That scene where Leah gets pissed off because Abby looks so “fucking wholesome”
🌸 the fact that Abby notices Leah staring but Leah’s resting bitch face is so bad that Abby goes straight to “why are you looking at me like you want to kill me”
🌺 “I’ve never been more grateful for my resting bitch face. Ever.”
🌸 Abby calling Leah an amazing drummer!!
🌺 drunk Abby is the purest bean and I adore her
🌸 “I want to know who you like.”
“Trick question, I hate everyone.”
🌺 the following Scene… you know what scene I’m discussing
🌸 the idea that Abby is afraid to be a straight girl messing around because of how much her cousin talks about Those Girls and how that's explored as an insecurity Abby has
🌺 the exploration of Leah's insecurity about the same thing, about being an experiment to a girl she likes so much and wants to open up to
🌸 “because you’re so fucking hetero” —pick up lines that have worked for at least one person
🌺 Leah leaving Morgan at that fucking restaurant like the icon she is
🌸 I’m so glad we’re acknowledging Haverford as the iconic Nerd Gay college that it is
🌺 I think I might literally be the only Californian who is aware of the Acela, but I love this Authentic East Coast Culture
🌸 LEAH GETTING COMMISSIONS
🌺 you know I went into this book thinking Leah would be a Chaotic Bitter Bi Icon but actually she’s a useless art bisexual and I love her
🌸 The daily cringe, starring Garrett Laughlin. Today’s episode: Garrett missed the memo about not calling women ladies.
🌺 Abby Suso: smoothest girl in the world
🌸 “I love that prom’s at the nature center. It suits us.”
“Because we’re so naturally awesome?”
“Because our classmates are literally wildlife.”
🌺 Simon and Leah’s brotp scene aaaaah!
🌸 “Simon’s acting weird. It’s like there’s something he’s not telling me.”
“Maybe he’s gay.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that.”
🌺 every moment contained in Pages 255 through 259 in the U.S Hardcover edition of Leah on the Offbeat (2018) by Becky Albertalli
🌸 honestly why did that need to go to shit
🌺 “Of all the fuckin’ days…”
“Okay, please don’t say fuckin’.”
She shoots me a self-conscious glance. “I thought we liked cussing.”
“We love cussing. But we say the fucking g. I don’t want to hear that apostrophe, mom.”
🌸 Leah and Wells finally getting to talk was… so nice
🌺 Leah on the Offbeat spoiler without context: American Girl Bistro
🌸 “A pair of blonde dolls that look disturbingly like Taylor Metternich” honestly does anyone else want a Taylor Metternich spinoff she's such an iconic character for having like, four minutes of pagetime in the entire Creekwood canon
🌺 this meta about Leah's character that means so fucking much to me
🌸 ABBY GETTING A BLACK GIRL DOLL AND NAMING HER HERMIONE
🌺 I… don’t want to talk about the ending. I seriously just loved it. I have never had a non-canon sapphic ship go canon in a further series, in further books, nothing. but my 2015 otp is canon and they kissed at prom and they made fun of how cliche it was and it was just so iconic.
🌸 I actually accept that this was a bit less narratively coherent than Simon and I don’t really care. I loved this so much oh my god
and with that... we're done. ✨check out my corresponding review for Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and have a nice and amazing day
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🌸 "I'VE BEEN KNOWN TO DO THAT WHEN IT COMES TO ABBY" IN LIKE THE SECOND FUCKING CHAPTER
🌺 Simon and Leah inventing bro culture
🌸 the fact that Nick and Simon’s college tour list is literally mine subtracting three women’s colleges? the accuracy jesus christ
🌺 Taylor disparaging the tech crew and Nora looking as if she wants to silently implode is my mood
🌸 “Joseph is the bomb.”
“Don’t say the bomb.”
“Joseph is the blizz.”
🌺 Everything Leah’s mom says in this entire book, tbh
🌸 the establishment of Leah’s anxiety and how it causes her to overreact to situations and hyperinflate them in her mind and how fuckening relatable that is
🌺 Apparently, Simon’s dad asked the tour guide at Duke to “please elaborate on the campus gay scene.”
“I wanted to fucking die,” Simon told me.
🌸 Leah wearing gold combat boots, like an icon
🌺 all the Martin Addison hate
🌸 “All my ships kissing - Inej and Nina, Percabeth, a few original characters...” honestly why are we surprised by this it's so in character, Leah has a Ninej shipper personality
🌺 “Mr. Spier, memorizing the Hamilton soundtrack is not going to help you on the AP Euro exam.”
🌸 Garrett being useless and flirty and Trying
🌺 Abby being Maybe Kind Of Cute but Very Straight and Leah being A Bisexual
🌸 But the show was amazing, even with Martin Addison back in commission. Or maybe it’s because Martin was back in commission, as much as it kills me to admit that. I hate when assholes have talent. I want to live in a world where good people rule at everything and shitty people suck at everything. In short: I want Martin Addison’s voice to crack like an earthquake.
🌺 the two times that characters tell other characters they like each other’s boots
🌸 Leah’s baby crush on Simon being totally confirmed
🌺 Dear God and/or Cal Price: please start this show now
🌸 The entire I-aim-to-please-miss-Steel scene
🌺 Leah’s iconic prom dress
🌸 Leah being cute and crushing on Abby and not really getting that she’s flirting and still remaining convinced that she is a total hetero, 100% straight, not at ALL into her
🌺 “Abby is straight as a popsicle stick” girl. no she ain't
🌸 Becky how do you know the gays of this generation so well tf
🌺 the sort of subtextual narrative around Leah's being plus-size and how that affects her mental well-being!! this is something Becky Albertalli has actually talked about a lot in terms of how writing this was emotionally cathartic for her and it really shows and I'm super into it.
🌸 Every Simon and Bram moment establishing them as That Gross Couple
🌺 Can we just talk about the fact of the road trip? Abby asked Leah to go on a road trip with her to tour the college they are both going to, together, and asks her to be roommates and maybe wants to be something more? Gay
🌸 leah: and we're going to be roommates
me: oh my god they were roommates
🌺 “get out your second-most-epic playlist”
🌸 Leah having a heart attack of happiness when Caitlin uses they/them for her friend is such relatable content
🌺 the deep and sheer gay energy of page 178
🌸 Leah dreaming of her future with Abby where they’re just besties and talking about FaceTiming Simon together and eating cookies and I? love love
🌺 “No way. Caitlin’s your friend.”
“Well, she’s my cousin’s girlfriend’s sister's friend.”
🌸 I mean, how can we ever forget they shared a bed
🌺 the fact that the quote “Like, you look at Abby, and she’s the picture of innocence: spiral curls, lavender pajama shorts. But no.” refers to Abby dog-earing Harry Potter
🌸 Leah being one of Those People who is anti-dog-earing
🌺 Bubo Yass and Hue Barkle
🌸 what the fuck is a duck tour
🌺 “Well, my daughter is vegan.
“Totally fine. There are lots of vegan options–”
“I’d appreciate something a little more specific than ‘lots of vegan options.’” like bitch we all know this mom
🌸 the entire conversation about gender segregated dorms
🌺 “I’ve already given up on my hair. My hair is an asshole.”
🌸 ABBY COMPLIMENTED LEAH’S EYES #NEVERFORGET
🌺 the fact that, at page 191, Leah is still confident in Abby’s heterosexuality
🌸 rip Abby’s heterosexuality, never-never. tragic
🌺 “Guys, come meet Abby and Leah? They’re friends with my brother.”
“Just so you know, I’ve literally never met Caitlin’s brother.”
🌸 The fact that Abby overusing literally is completely canon. the most in character thing of all time maybe
🌺 That scene where Leah gets pissed off because Abby looks so “fucking wholesome”
🌸 the fact that Abby notices Leah staring but Leah’s resting bitch face is so bad that Abby goes straight to “why are you looking at me like you want to kill me”
🌺 “I’ve never been more grateful for my resting bitch face. Ever.”
🌸 Abby calling Leah an amazing drummer!!
🌺 drunk Abby is the purest bean and I adore her
🌸 “I want to know who you like.”
“Trick question, I hate everyone.”
🌺 the following Scene… you know what scene I’m discussing
🌸 the idea that Abby is afraid to be a straight girl messing around because of how much her cousin talks about Those Girls and how that's explored as an insecurity Abby has
🌺 the exploration of Leah's insecurity about the same thing, about being an experiment to a girl she likes so much and wants to open up to
🌸 “because you’re so fucking hetero” —pick up lines that have worked for at least one person
🌺 Leah leaving Morgan at that fucking restaurant like the icon she is
🌸 I’m so glad we’re acknowledging Haverford as the iconic Nerd Gay college that it is
🌺 I think I might literally be the only Californian who is aware of the Acela, but I love this Authentic East Coast Culture
🌸 LEAH GETTING COMMISSIONS
🌺 you know I went into this book thinking Leah would be a Chaotic Bitter Bi Icon but actually she’s a useless art bisexual and I love her
🌸 The daily cringe, starring Garrett Laughlin. Today’s episode: Garrett missed the memo about not calling women ladies.
🌺 Abby Suso: smoothest girl in the world
🌸 “I love that prom’s at the nature center. It suits us.”
“Because we’re so naturally awesome?”
“Because our classmates are literally wildlife.”
🌺 Simon and Leah’s brotp scene aaaaah!
🌸 “Simon’s acting weird. It’s like there’s something he’s not telling me.”
“Maybe he’s gay.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that.”
🌺 every moment contained in Pages 255 through 259 in the U.S Hardcover edition of Leah on the Offbeat (2018) by Becky Albertalli
🌸 honestly why did that need to go to shit
🌺 “Of all the fuckin’ days…”
“Okay, please don’t say fuckin’.”
She shoots me a self-conscious glance. “I thought we liked cussing.”
“We love cussing. But we say the fucking g. I don’t want to hear that apostrophe, mom.”
🌸 Leah and Wells finally getting to talk was… so nice
🌺 Leah on the Offbeat spoiler without context: American Girl Bistro
🌸 “A pair of blonde dolls that look disturbingly like Taylor Metternich” honestly does anyone else want a Taylor Metternich spinoff she's such an iconic character for having like, four minutes of pagetime in the entire Creekwood canon
🌺 this meta about Leah's character that means so fucking much to me
🌸 ABBY GETTING A BLACK GIRL DOLL AND NAMING HER HERMIONE
🌺 I… don’t want to talk about the ending. I seriously just loved it. I have never had a non-canon sapphic ship go canon in a further series, in further books, nothing. but my 2015 otp is canon and they kissed at prom and they made fun of how cliche it was and it was just so iconic.
🌸 I actually accept that this was a bit less narratively coherent than Simon and I don’t really care. I loved this so much oh my god
and with that... we're done. ✨check out my corresponding review for Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and have a nice and amazing day
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April 30, 2018
4.75*
P.S. exciting new video experiment ft. this book coming soon (stay tuned)
P.S. exciting new video experiment ft. this book coming soon (stay tuned)
June 9, 2018
FINALLY A GIRL LIKES GIRL BOOK!!
There are so many YA contemporary romance going around where it's boy likes boy (and that's awesome!) but I'm so happy we get to see a different version. This book was adorable!
The characters were attaching, funny and just angsty enough. If you're looking for a fun summer read, I totally recommend both Creekwood books. It was really nice to go back to this world and continue to explore it. I'm actually sad it's now over!
Recommend it!
There are so many YA contemporary romance going around where it's boy likes boy (and that's awesome!) but I'm so happy we get to see a different version. This book was adorable!
The characters were attaching, funny and just angsty enough. If you're looking for a fun summer read, I totally recommend both Creekwood books. It was really nice to go back to this world and continue to explore it. I'm actually sad it's now over!
Recommend it!
May 21, 2020
3.5 stars (I’m not happy about it either)
This book has caused me a lot of turmoil.
When I was reading it, I didn’t think it would be 5 stars. The ending was my FAVORITE though and that gave me the confidence to give it a high rating.
But even after that, I still was doubtful of the 5-star rating. Certain characteristics about Leah rubbed me in the wrong way, and there was one scene in particular that I outright hated. It wasn’t until I kept talking with friends who had read this and seen others’ opinions that I decided: This was not a 5-star read for me.
(Also I think one of my main worries about not rating this 5 stars while rating Simon Vs. 5 stars was that someone would accuse me of only liking m/m… which is ridiculous because I’m a sapphic person and I’ve also read and loved f/f.)
I’m just… really sad and disappointed right now!! This had the potential to be something amazing but [sigh] there were just really big issues that I couldn’t ignore. I literally rated this 5 stars, wrote a gushy pre-review, wrote a “it’s release day!” and “it’s #1 on the NYT Bestselling list!” review and yet here we are at a 3.5-star rating.
The first problem I had with this that just kept nagging me after I finished it was that, in the wise words of my friend Elise, this was “less narratively coherent” than Simon Vs. The plot was kinda sorta REALLY all over the place—it’s hard to discern a specific plotline in this book—and was also slow at times. (I do think my experience was affected by me reading an ebook though. Pacing always feels different for me when I read ebooks.)
My second issue with this is that there was… hardly any romantic development between Leah and her love interest that took place during the book’s time period? Listen I LOVE the relationship (and even teared up over it at the end) but most of the development happened BEFORE the time the book was set in and it annoyed me. It felt like they had chemistry, lost it, and somehow got it again but only because they had had chemistry before.
If that didn’t make sense, that’s exactly how it felt to read this book.
And then of course, there is a horribly hurtful scene that happened, and I don’t even know how it made it into the final draft with the sensitivity readers Albertalli hired. *slight spoiler warning and CW for policing of sexuality* Basically, Leah’s love interest tells Leah that she feels like she is “lowkey bi”, and Leah tells her that she’s either bi or not, pretty much policing her sexuality.
It is not okay to say that to someone. It is wrong and hurtful to police the way someone identifies, ESPECIALLY when that someone is questioning their sexuality.
Now this might’ve been okay if it had been acknowledged as an issue later on, if Leah had apologized to the love interest about what she said. But it wasn’t. And that’s a huge problem.
I can get Leah’s point of view a little bit in this, as a bi person. It’s kind of like a defensive stance that Leah is taking—“lowkey” bi can read as “maybe not really” bi. And I think bi people especially are told to “pick a side” and that they’re “confused” and that they “aren’t really bi”, just straight at one moment, gay at another. BUT. I personally read “lowkey bi” as “questioning if I’m bi or maybe another label”. That was me when I was questioning. And even if Leah meant it in a defensive way, it was HURTFUL to her love interest and she should have apologized. And she didn’t.
And finally, my issues with Leah herself. She is very abrasive and blunt and pessimistic… and that’s cool. That’s fine. That’s completely okay. But there are so many instances where she treats other people like crap and it’s… not okay. I’m aware that people relate to the way she reacts to certain things (especially when she’s anxious), and that’s valid, but she lashes out at people and is rude to them and doesn’t apologize. A LOT of my issues with this book could have been resolved if Leah would just apologize for her crappy actions. But. she. DOESN’T.
But! This book was not all bad!
I love the humor in Albertalli’s books. Loved it in Simon Vs., and I love it here. Leah’s humor, Simon’s humor, everyone’s humor. I LOVED IT ALL. It is an overall hilarious book and I laughed and smiled over so many things and iconic moments. Albertalli’s sense of humor is really similar to mine and I genuinely adore it. Honestly just read Elise’s review; it’s full of the hilarious iconic moments of the whole book.
Another thing I loved was: SIMON AND BLUE !!!!! I swear my heart burst into millions of 💘💓💕💖💗💝💞 each time one or both of them showed up. They make ME genuinely happy, and each other. They’re so cute. I LOVE THEM.
Other characters I really loved were Abby and Leah’s mom. I’ve always adored Abby and I think her character was quite well-written in this book, and Leah’s relationship with her mom was such a gem!! And I mean… I really did love Leah at a lot of parts. I’m in love with her sense of humor, she says a lot of genuinely hilarious things, and she had so many great parts to her personality that I loved. (It was just the way she sometimes acted towards people and didn’t apologize for hurting them that kind of ruined her character for me.)
Also, Nick deserves to be written better. What happened to him. I LOVE HIM.
Another thing I really liked was that there were a lot of really important messages in here! There’s one scene where Leah immediately shuts down her friend’s claim that Abby got into a college and the friend didn’t, because Abby was black and she was white. Later, when Leah discusses it with Abby, Abby talks about how she has to deal with that kind of thing as a black girl all day, every day. And since Leah is fat, we see a lot of thoughts from her about how others view fat people—Leah questions why fat and beautiful are opposites—and how it makes her view herself—she talks about how even if she likes her own body, someone is always there to tell her not to.
Also: the romance. I know I had issues with its development, and one particular scene, but god if I don’t ADORE THESE TWO together. A majority of my highlights are of Leah and her love interest being cute and gay together. The chemistry between them is kinda wacky when you think about it but also they’re such a perfect couple and I was so engayged in the story that I didn’t really noticed it? I was so immersed with the two of them. And I love the ending. It’s adorable and perfect for these two soft girlfriends. My favorite line is “I mean, she didn’t seem so straight when she kissed me” because that is the ultimate mood.
Anyways. I’m really conflicted about this, because I really enjoyed it but also had some pretty big issues with it? I truly loved the humor and the romance (IT WAS SO CUTE) and a lot of the characters, but I really can’t, in good conscience, give this more than 4 stars, even if I really want to.
Also I’m still salty and annoyed and frankly exhausted about this, so: Before you think that saying a book has a happy ending or not is a spoiler, think about if it features queer characters or not. Think about how queer media in the past and STILL TODAY has ended in tragedy for the queer characters. Think about how queer readers don’t want to read books that have sad endings for people like them. (Also your homophobia is showing because I KNOW y’all wouldn’t be saying this kind of thing about books with an allocishet romance.) And one more thing: You can say you want to discover whether the ending is happy or sad or whatever and that’s perfectly fine. But just keep in mind that if you’re allocishet and you read a book and discover that it’s a sad ending for the queer people, you probably aren’t that affected. Queer people aren’t afforded the luxury of “discovering it for themselves” and not being affected by a sad ending. It HURTS to see a queer character like you not get a happy ending while all the non-queer characters are completely fine and happy.
And (one last thing I swear) HOW THE HELL is saying that Leah gets the girl a spoiler when it’s been promoted as an F/F BOOK by the author herself. F/f book = a major, ENDGAME f/f romance in the book. It’s not rocket science, jesus christ. I swear to god if I said that the boy gets the girl or the girl gets the boy, none of y’all would BAT. AN. EYE. (And even then, you wouldn’t say anything based on the assumption that the boy and girl are both straight. Which is gross.)
All right rant over I hope you all find yourself an f/f book where the girl gets the girl in a happy ending and enjoy!!! And I hope these two lovely girlfriends are having the best time doing gay things and living their gayest lives!!!
:: rep :: fat bisexual female MC, black questioning-if-bisexual black female LI, gay male SC, black Jewish gay male SC, black Jewish SC
:: content warnings :: policing of sexuality/labels, fatphobia (challenged), biphobia (challenged)
This book has caused me a lot of turmoil.
When I was reading it, I didn’t think it would be 5 stars. The ending was my FAVORITE though and that gave me the confidence to give it a high rating.
But even after that, I still was doubtful of the 5-star rating. Certain characteristics about Leah rubbed me in the wrong way, and there was one scene in particular that I outright hated. It wasn’t until I kept talking with friends who had read this and seen others’ opinions that I decided: This was not a 5-star read for me.
(Also I think one of my main worries about not rating this 5 stars while rating Simon Vs. 5 stars was that someone would accuse me of only liking m/m… which is ridiculous because I’m a sapphic person and I’ve also read and loved f/f.)
I’m just… really sad and disappointed right now!! This had the potential to be something amazing but [sigh] there were just really big issues that I couldn’t ignore. I literally rated this 5 stars, wrote a gushy pre-review, wrote a “it’s release day!” and “it’s #1 on the NYT Bestselling list!” review and yet here we are at a 3.5-star rating.
The first problem I had with this that just kept nagging me after I finished it was that, in the wise words of my friend Elise, this was “less narratively coherent” than Simon Vs. The plot was kinda sorta REALLY all over the place—it’s hard to discern a specific plotline in this book—and was also slow at times. (I do think my experience was affected by me reading an ebook though. Pacing always feels different for me when I read ebooks.)
My second issue with this is that there was… hardly any romantic development between Leah and her love interest that took place during the book’s time period? Listen I LOVE the relationship (and even teared up over it at the end) but most of the development happened BEFORE the time the book was set in and it annoyed me. It felt like they had chemistry, lost it, and somehow got it again but only because they had had chemistry before.
If that didn’t make sense, that’s exactly how it felt to read this book.
And then of course, there is a horribly hurtful scene that happened, and I don’t even know how it made it into the final draft with the sensitivity readers Albertalli hired. *slight spoiler warning and CW for policing of sexuality* Basically, Leah’s love interest tells Leah that she feels like she is “lowkey bi”, and Leah tells her that she’s either bi or not, pretty much policing her sexuality.
It is not okay to say that to someone. It is wrong and hurtful to police the way someone identifies, ESPECIALLY when that someone is questioning their sexuality.
Now this might’ve been okay if it had been acknowledged as an issue later on, if Leah had apologized to the love interest about what she said. But it wasn’t. And that’s a huge problem.
I can get Leah’s point of view a little bit in this, as a bi person. It’s kind of like a defensive stance that Leah is taking—“lowkey” bi can read as “maybe not really” bi. And I think bi people especially are told to “pick a side” and that they’re “confused” and that they “aren’t really bi”, just straight at one moment, gay at another. BUT. I personally read “lowkey bi” as “questioning if I’m bi or maybe another label”. That was me when I was questioning. And even if Leah meant it in a defensive way, it was HURTFUL to her love interest and she should have apologized. And she didn’t.
And finally, my issues with Leah herself. She is very abrasive and blunt and pessimistic… and that’s cool. That’s fine. That’s completely okay. But there are so many instances where she treats other people like crap and it’s… not okay. I’m aware that people relate to the way she reacts to certain things (especially when she’s anxious), and that’s valid, but she lashes out at people and is rude to them and doesn’t apologize. A LOT of my issues with this book could have been resolved if Leah would just apologize for her crappy actions. But. she. DOESN’T.
But! This book was not all bad!
I love the humor in Albertalli’s books. Loved it in Simon Vs., and I love it here. Leah’s humor, Simon’s humor, everyone’s humor. I LOVED IT ALL. It is an overall hilarious book and I laughed and smiled over so many things and iconic moments. Albertalli’s sense of humor is really similar to mine and I genuinely adore it. Honestly just read Elise’s review; it’s full of the hilarious iconic moments of the whole book.
Another thing I loved was: SIMON AND BLUE !!!!! I swear my heart burst into millions of 💘💓💕💖💗💝💞 each time one or both of them showed up. They make ME genuinely happy, and each other. They’re so cute. I LOVE THEM.
Other characters I really loved were Abby and Leah’s mom. I’ve always adored Abby and I think her character was quite well-written in this book, and Leah’s relationship with her mom was such a gem!! And I mean… I really did love Leah at a lot of parts. I’m in love with her sense of humor, she says a lot of genuinely hilarious things, and she had so many great parts to her personality that I loved. (It was just the way she sometimes acted towards people and didn’t apologize for hurting them that kind of ruined her character for me.)
Also, Nick deserves to be written better. What happened to him. I LOVE HIM.
Another thing I really liked was that there were a lot of really important messages in here! There’s one scene where Leah immediately shuts down her friend’s claim that Abby got into a college and the friend didn’t, because Abby was black and she was white. Later, when Leah discusses it with Abby, Abby talks about how she has to deal with that kind of thing as a black girl all day, every day. And since Leah is fat, we see a lot of thoughts from her about how others view fat people—Leah questions why fat and beautiful are opposites—and how it makes her view herself—she talks about how even if she likes her own body, someone is always there to tell her not to.
Also: the romance. I know I had issues with its development, and one particular scene, but god if I don’t ADORE THESE TWO together. A majority of my highlights are of Leah and her love interest being cute and gay together. The chemistry between them is kinda wacky when you think about it but also they’re such a perfect couple and I was so engayged in the story that I didn’t really noticed it? I was so immersed with the two of them. And I love the ending. It’s adorable and perfect for these two soft girlfriends. My favorite line is “I mean, she didn’t seem so straight when she kissed me” because that is the ultimate mood.
Anyways. I’m really conflicted about this, because I really enjoyed it but also had some pretty big issues with it? I truly loved the humor and the romance (IT WAS SO CUTE) and a lot of the characters, but I really can’t, in good conscience, give this more than 4 stars, even if I really want to.
Also I’m still salty and annoyed and frankly exhausted about this, so: Before you think that saying a book has a happy ending or not is a spoiler, think about if it features queer characters or not. Think about how queer media in the past and STILL TODAY has ended in tragedy for the queer characters. Think about how queer readers don’t want to read books that have sad endings for people like them. (Also your homophobia is showing because I KNOW y’all wouldn’t be saying this kind of thing about books with an allocishet romance.) And one more thing: You can say you want to discover whether the ending is happy or sad or whatever and that’s perfectly fine. But just keep in mind that if you’re allocishet and you read a book and discover that it’s a sad ending for the queer people, you probably aren’t that affected. Queer people aren’t afforded the luxury of “discovering it for themselves” and not being affected by a sad ending. It HURTS to see a queer character like you not get a happy ending while all the non-queer characters are completely fine and happy.
And (one last thing I swear) HOW THE HELL is saying that Leah gets the girl a spoiler when it’s been promoted as an F/F BOOK by the author herself. F/f book = a major, ENDGAME f/f romance in the book. It’s not rocket science, jesus christ. I swear to god if I said that the boy gets the girl or the girl gets the boy, none of y’all would BAT. AN. EYE. (And even then, you wouldn’t say anything based on the assumption that the boy and girl are both straight. Which is gross.)
All right rant over I hope you all find yourself an f/f book where the girl gets the girl in a happy ending and enjoy!!! And I hope these two lovely girlfriends are having the best time doing gay things and living their gayest lives!!!
:: rep :: fat bisexual female MC, black questioning-if-bisexual black female LI, gay male SC, black Jewish gay male SC, black Jewish SC
:: content warnings :: policing of sexuality/labels, fatphobia (challenged), biphobia (challenged)
May 19, 2018
Edit: This book kept invading my mind and the more I thought about it, the more I felt this hatred towards it.
Bleh.
Pre-emotions:
Please be as adorable as The Upside of Unrequited and Simon Vs.
Post-read-book-emotions:
Update: it wasn’t.
This book was so meh. The story was meh. I felt nothing whilst reading. I liked Leah enough. I mean, I get her anger and how closed off she is. That is me. But maybe that’s what made it harder to connect with the story? I don’t know.
I’m confused right now.
The story felt all over the place. There was no form of consistency. The writing felt empty. Or maybe I just died inside and neither was the relationship convincing. Half the time, Leah spend it by being a little shit, next thing you know she’s in love with her?! Gurl, how?!
Just nope. This book wasn’t for me.
Bleh.
Pre-emotions:
Please be as adorable as The Upside of Unrequited and Simon Vs.
Post-read-book-emotions:
Update: it wasn’t.
This book was so meh. The story was meh. I felt nothing whilst reading. I liked Leah enough. I mean, I get her anger and how closed off she is. That is me. But maybe that’s what made it harder to connect with the story? I don’t know.
I’m confused right now.
The story felt all over the place. There was no form of consistency. The writing felt empty. Or maybe I just died inside and neither was the relationship convincing. Half the time, Leah spend it by being a little shit, next thing you know she’s in love with her?! Gurl, how?!
Just nope. This book wasn’t for me.
Read
April 25, 2021Leah. What can I say? At times I love her, other times I don't get her. I'm glad she got her own novel, though. There was a lot going on in Leah's head that we did not see in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. And of course, with this book, we're invited to revisit all these amazing characters from the previous Creekwood book. And this is the point where my criticism sets in.
The first 150 pages of the book were a bit of a disappointment. They focused much more on the kids from Creekwood than on Leah herself. It almost makes you forget that Leah is the main character of this story. Abby, Nick, Garett, Taylor, Bram and Simon get so much spotlight that they push Leah out of it. It feels as if Becky is a bit too much in love with her characters. But I can't really blame her for that. They are a lovely bunch. However, the same thought occurred to me again toward the ending. Everything is so well-rounded and all the characters somehow found ultimate happiness. Which is amazing, but unrealistic. Trying to get so many characters' background stories between roughly 300 pages is impossible and it flattened they characterisation, in my eyes.
Let's talk about Leah. At times I struggled to connect with her. Her negativity and rudeness were often annoying and seemed to come out of nowhere. She hardly ever apologised. She treated her mother like shit. You might say that she acts that way because she is anxious, self-conscious and insecure, which I wouldn't exactly disagree with. It's still no reason to be a dick whenever something doesn't turn out the way you want it to. And overall, Leah is a confident character, who is outspoken and loves her friends. So, as I said, sometimes I don't get her.
Last but not least I need to say that this is still a wonderful YA novel that freely celebrates diversity in all colours, shapes and orientations. Many people, young and old, will love this book and hopefully also learn from it.
Find more of my books on Instagram
The first 150 pages of the book were a bit of a disappointment. They focused much more on the kids from Creekwood than on Leah herself. It almost makes you forget that Leah is the main character of this story. Abby, Nick, Garett, Taylor, Bram and Simon get so much spotlight that they push Leah out of it. It feels as if Becky is a bit too much in love with her characters. But I can't really blame her for that. They are a lovely bunch. However, the same thought occurred to me again toward the ending. Everything is so well-rounded and all the characters somehow found ultimate happiness. Which is amazing, but unrealistic. Trying to get so many characters' background stories between roughly 300 pages is impossible and it flattened they characterisation, in my eyes.
Let's talk about Leah. At times I struggled to connect with her. Her negativity and rudeness were often annoying and seemed to come out of nowhere. She hardly ever apologised. She treated her mother like shit. You might say that she acts that way because she is anxious, self-conscious and insecure, which I wouldn't exactly disagree with. It's still no reason to be a dick whenever something doesn't turn out the way you want it to. And overall, Leah is a confident character, who is outspoken and loves her friends. So, as I said, sometimes I don't get her.
Last but not least I need to say that this is still a wonderful YA novel that freely celebrates diversity in all colours, shapes and orientations. Many people, young and old, will love this book and hopefully also learn from it.
Find more of my books on Instagram
June 23, 2018
*insert ‘its not you, its me’ speech here* :'(
i think its time for me to break up with miss becky albertalli and this book is what helped me make that decision. the dedication to this basically admits its her writing fanfiction of her own book, and it definitely shows. every other word was some sort of reference, the whole progression of the plot (if you could even call it that) felt forced, and leah was just sooooo unlikable. honestly, i found myself just skimming for only the parts involving simon. and even then, most characters didnt even feel like the same people i met in simon vs. i know this book is the ultimate dream come true for so many fans and i am beyond happy it was everything they hoped for and more, but the execution of this story just wasnt for me.
2.5 stars
i think its time for me to break up with miss becky albertalli and this book is what helped me make that decision. the dedication to this basically admits its her writing fanfiction of her own book, and it definitely shows. every other word was some sort of reference, the whole progression of the plot (if you could even call it that) felt forced, and leah was just sooooo unlikable. honestly, i found myself just skimming for only the parts involving simon. and even then, most characters didnt even feel like the same people i met in simon vs. i know this book is the ultimate dream come true for so many fans and i am beyond happy it was everything they hoped for and more, but the execution of this story just wasnt for me.
2.5 stars
June 23, 2019
“Imagine going about your day knowing someone’s carrying you in their mind. That has to be the best part of being in love - the feeling of having a home in someone else’s brain.”
If you know me and my reviews you also know that I’m not one to beat about the bush so I’ll say it directly and without detour: I really wish I would have loved this as much as I loved “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” but I didn’t and that’s kinda sad. =(
I mean it was a good book and nice to read! There were a few fluffy and cute moments and I loved that we got to see Simon and Blue again. It was nice to find out what happened after the ending of “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” and of course I loved all the HP, Sailor Moon and Fruits Basket references that made an appearance throughout the entire book. Despite all that I somehow still didn’t enjoy this as much as its predecessor though, and I’m sorry to say it, but I think it was mostly due to Leah’s character and her POV.
I know not everyone can be a special snowflake like Simon Spier and that there are characters that have rough edges. No matter how much I tried to keep that in mind, I still didn’t warm to Leah though. There were just too many issues I had with her as a character and they ultimately led me to have issues with the book as well. >_<
Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoyed this! It was entertaining and easy to read and I lived and breathed for all those tiny and sweet Simon and Blue moments. But I guess in the end this was actually the very reason that caused me to give this book only three stars. In contrast to “Simon vs. THSA” I didn’t really feel the romance of the two MCs. Call me picky but if the side characters have more chemistry than the main protagonists of the story it’s never a good sign. Well, at least not for me. *lol*
So yes, I had a good time reading this sequel but I didn’t feel the same magic I felt when I read the first book! XD
The characters:
And here comes the moment when I tell you that you shouldn’t read on beyond this point! If you haven’t read the book yet you’ll be spoiled like crazy, so you better think twice before you continue your journey through my characters section! Take it or leave it, but whatever you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you. ;-P
Leah:
”I think I hate the concept of needing space. What it really means is that the person’s mad at you, or hates you, or doesn’t give a shit about you. They just don’t want to admit it.”
*sigh* I had really high hopes for Leah’s character and since I liked her in “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” I thought that I might like her in this book too. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I found myself disliking her immensely. And this comes from a person who loves morally grey characters and is a huge fan of bookish villains! It’s just… idk. There were so many little things that I didn’t like about her that it resulted in me not liking her at all. For instance I didn’t like how she treated her mom and her boyfriend. I mean damn that poor woman was 35? So only 4 years older than I and according to Leah she shouldn’t be dating? Hell, give your mom a break! 35 is still young and after raising you as a single mom that did everything possible in order to make you happy you could at least try to be nice to her boyfriend! Sure, Leah is a teen and they get annoyed by their parents on principle (;-P), but the things she did and said to her mom? Phew! Not nice! Plus it wasn’t just her mom, she was also rude, presumptuous and unfriendly to other people and I just couldn’t deal with that. It’s one thing to have a bad day or to be in a bad mood, but to take it out on others? Nope. *shakes head* I probably could rant about her for ages but I’ll stop here and continue with the rest of my review. *lol*
”I can’t help it. I’m a Slytherin.”
And I’m the worst kind of Slytherin. I’m the kind who’s so stupidly in love with a Gryffindor, she can’t even function. I’m the Draco from some shitty Drarry fic that the author abandoned after four chapters.
Abby:
”Why do you need a reason?”
“Because it sucks that there wasn’t one. I just wasn’t feeling it. At least not as much as I should be? Like, I’m sad about it, but it doesn’t wreck me, and I really feel like it should wreck me.”
I glance at her sidelong. “You want it to wreck you?”
“Do I want to love him enough that leaving him would wreck me? Yeah.”
I still love Abby and she definitely was a character I could relate to. She always tried to do the right thing and she followed her gut feeling when things got a little bit tricky. You might argue that the way she ended her relationship with Nick was pretty uncool, but then again to end a relationship is never easy. There are always two people and at least one of them gets hurt. It was more than just obvious that she cared about him deeply though and that she was very sorry for breaking his heart. Sure if you’re the one whose heart got broken this doesn’t give you any comfort but at least she was honest to him! I really liked that she always tried to look on the bright side and that she did her best to figure things out. In the end Abby is a really cheerful, compassionate and sweet character and you could read it on every single page! =)
”I guess it’s like, I forgive her, but I don’t really know if I can trust her again. Does that make sense?”
Simon:
”Sorry, Simon, but you’re too precious. If you weren’t gay and taken, I’d totally marry you. And let’s be honest, marrying Simon would be amazing – and not just because I had a sad, secret crush on him for most of middle school.”
I LOVE and ADORE Simon Spier!!! When it comes to that I can totally agree with Leah! He’s just too precious for his own good! *lol* It made me so happy to see him and Bram together and I loved how he interacted with his friends. He’s such a charming character and I would have loved to read even more about him. Aside from the countless adorable moments with Bram, the action with his mobile phone was probably the best thing in this book though! *LOL* I loved that Abby caused his phone to go all “50 Shades of Grey” on April Fool’s Day and Simon’s reaction to his hacked AutoCorrect was priceless!!! <333 XD
”And then there’s Simon in the middle, glancing back and forth like we’re a street he has to cross. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person so nervously attuned to conflict.”
The relationships & ships:
Leah & Simon:
My phone buzzes with a text from Simon. FUCK. My. Life. Leah. Oh God.
“Okay, I better go,” Mom says, setting my yogurt down. “Have fun today.”
I say good-bye to her and turn back to my phone. I can’t fuck your life, I’m monogamously fucking my own life.
Their friendship is so amazing and one of the few things I really liked about this book! <3 Leah and Simon are two very different characters, but this still didn’t change anything about the fact that their friendship is strong! Their conversations and messages felt real and I loved that they understood each other without having to explain anything. It was obvious that they’ve been best friends for a long time and the way they acted around each other was natural and easy. This was a really lovely friendship rep and I was so here for it! <333
”You know I’m going to lose my mind without you, right?”
“Me too,” I say softly, leaning into his chest.
Leah & Abby:
”Are you asking me to prom, Leah Burke?”
“Yes,” I say flatly. “We’re literally standing five feet away from your boyfriend, and I’m asking you to prom.”
She raises her eyebrows, like she can’t decide if I’m kidding. So that’s a twelve out of ten on the awkward scale.
Where to start? *lol* I didn’t ship them and I felt no chemistry between them. Leah had the weirdest thoughts when she was around Abby and I couldn’t help but wonder why Abby fell in love with her. It was easy to understand why Leah was in love with Abby but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t understand why Abby would fall in love with Leah too. I mean would you fall for a person that constantly gives you the feeling that she doesn’t like you? That attacks you for things you can’t control? Hell, even when Leah defended her against Morgan she still claimed that she only did it because Morgan had been racist. Yes, Morgan’s statement was wrong and it was good that Leah called her out on it, but would she really have lost her face if she would have admitted that she also did it because she’s Abby’s friend? Nope! So, why Abby? Sure, you could argue that love is something that just happens, but in Abby’s case this isn’t enough for me. Also where did that romance suddenly come from!? I spent the entire first book hoping that Abby and Nick would eventually find each other and they did. Well, and then all of a sudden Abby breaks up with him? This came out of nowhere and the explanation that she did it because she doesn’t want to have a long distance relationship was so flimsy! I know some of you will argue that she was in love with Leah all along and therefore broke up with Nick but after reading the first book I’m not convinced by this theory. Nick and Abby really were in love and they were a great couple! Feelings change? Yes, they do, but usually not that fast! They were crazily in love in the first book and then this? XD I know I’m ranting here but DAMN IT, I just don’t understand it!!! I’m sure this might be an unpopular opinion but to me it felt like the author wanted to write an f/f relationship and decided that Leah and Abby would do. There I said it! *lol* I’m sorry, but I really wasn’t convinced by their romance and whenever they had the possibility of having a sweet moment Leah’s attitude ruined it for me. >_<
”I had a dream once where she kissed me on the collarbone. Softly and quickly – barely a thing. I woke up aching. I couldn’t look at her all day.”
”So what, now you think you’re bi?”
“You make me think about it.”
My heart skids to a stop.
”You keep running away.”
“You keep finding me.”
The bi & non-binary rep:
”Leah, you would love them. They’re a drummer.”
That casual singular they. It isn’t even my pronoun, but it feels like a hug. Because if Caitlin’s unfazed by her enby friend’s pronouns, she’d probably unfazed by me being bi.
First of all I have to say that the mention and short appearance of a non-binary character was my personal highlight of this book! It’s so damn rare to find a non-binary rep and my heart sang when I read this quote! I love Becky Albertalli for including them in her book and I can’t thank her enough for giving them room!! That was awesome Becky!!! <333
As for the bi rep… I’m sorry to admit that I wasn’t really happy with it. There were a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way and I’ll try my best to explain why I felt the way I did. To some of you this might sound crazy but it really bothered me that Leah had so many crushes. I know some of you will say: What’s wrong with having crushes? And my answer is “nothing”. But in that context with her being bi it just felt like the thousandth repetition of a prejudice I heard way too often. Yes, being bi means that you’re attracted to men and women but this still doesn’t mean that you find everyone attractive!!! Just because you’re bi you don’t have a crush on everyone! Just because you’re bi you don’t “choose” the best of both sexes!! I’m sure most of the readers didn’t even notice those offhand comments about her crushes but I did and it made me unhappy. The thing that truly got me were Leah’s and Abby’s discussions about being bi though. I’m convinced that Becky Albertalli only tried to point out some prejudices and did her best to set them right by Abby and Leah discussing them but for me this didn’t work. Were their conversations important? Yes! Did they make me cringe inside? Double yes! I mean just take this quote:
I shake my head. “Lowkey bi, a little bit bi. Just be bi. Like, come on.”
“What? No.” She draws herself up. “You don’t get to decide my label.”
“It’s not a real label!”
“Well, it’s real for me.” She exhales heavily. “God, sometimes, I don’t even know…”
Whilst I agree with Leah that there is no such thing as “lowkey bi” or “just a little bit bi” I still don’t think that it’s okay to attack Abby like that. I mean that girl is trying to figure herself out and is confused and Leah had nothing better to do than to push her into a certain direction and to tell her that the current definition of her sexual orientation isn’t valid! WTF?! Leah is bi too so she of all people should know how difficult it is to come to terms with yourself! I know some of my friends argued that Leah was insecure herself but the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that I won’t accept that as an excuse. Because NOPE she’s not insecure! I was barely a few pages into the book when she admitted that she’s bi and she even came out to her mother. Of course her friends didn’t know but it was obvious that she was comfortable with being bi. It never felt like she was insecure about it, if anything she was insecure about her feelings for Abby and worried that Abby wouldn’t reciprocate them. Still, just because she’s afraid of being rejected she shouldn’t have tried to label her! (And I’m once again cringing inwardly because I really don’t like the word “label”….) Plus and here comes another thing I didn’t like: When Abby said that she came out to her family I was like: WHAT?! Because let’s face it, to me this felt really unrealistic. Who would come out to their family before even defining their sexual orientation? Why come out to your family when you’re still insecure about who you truly are? This just didn’t make any sense to me. Take it from me: You don’t just come out like that! There are about a thousand questions you ask yourself first! You notice that you like boys AND girls! You wonder why it is like that. You imagine kissing a girl and realize that this feels okay to you. You do internet-research because you want to find out more! Maybe Abby did all that and I missed it but I doubt that she truly questioned herself. And let me tell you this: If you don’t fit into the norm and realize that your sexual orientation isn’t straight you automatically do this! So, this aspect of the story felt really unrealistic to me and since Abby defined herself as ��lowkey bi” right after she admitted that she came out to her family I can assume that she didn’t go through that process yet.
Phew… that was a long paragraph! *lol*
Sorry for the rant but it had to get out of my system. XD
Conclusion:
“Leah on the Offbeat” might have been a page turner but I couldn’t seem to be able to connect to the MC and that took away a lot of my enjoyment. In addition to that I had many issues with the way certain topics were addressed and tackled. I really wish I would have loved this more, but maybe my expectations were just too high after reading “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda”. I’m sure many people will love Leah’s story as well, in my case it unfortunately didn’t work out though.
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Since my library is already hot on my heels I need to read this soon! XD
There’s no way I’m going to give this back before I read it.
It’s even on my Book List 2019, which is such a rare occurrence! (Not a book being on my list but me actually reading a book from my list! *lol*)
So I better get my butt in gear and start reading! ;-)
I have nine days left! Let’s make them count!
Also: I can’t wait to see my babies again! I want to know how Simon and Blue are doing now! And I’m curious what Becky Albertalli has in store for Leah! It seems like not everyone was happy with her story and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll like it or not. =)
The only way to find out is by reading though, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. *lol*
If you know me and my reviews you also know that I’m not one to beat about the bush so I’ll say it directly and without detour: I really wish I would have loved this as much as I loved “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” but I didn’t and that’s kinda sad. =(
I mean it was a good book and nice to read! There were a few fluffy and cute moments and I loved that we got to see Simon and Blue again. It was nice to find out what happened after the ending of “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” and of course I loved all the HP, Sailor Moon and Fruits Basket references that made an appearance throughout the entire book. Despite all that I somehow still didn’t enjoy this as much as its predecessor though, and I’m sorry to say it, but I think it was mostly due to Leah’s character and her POV.
I know not everyone can be a special snowflake like Simon Spier and that there are characters that have rough edges. No matter how much I tried to keep that in mind, I still didn’t warm to Leah though. There were just too many issues I had with her as a character and they ultimately led me to have issues with the book as well. >_<
Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoyed this! It was entertaining and easy to read and I lived and breathed for all those tiny and sweet Simon and Blue moments. But I guess in the end this was actually the very reason that caused me to give this book only three stars. In contrast to “Simon vs. THSA” I didn’t really feel the romance of the two MCs. Call me picky but if the side characters have more chemistry than the main protagonists of the story it’s never a good sign. Well, at least not for me. *lol*
So yes, I had a good time reading this sequel but I didn’t feel the same magic I felt when I read the first book! XD
The characters:
And here comes the moment when I tell you that you shouldn’t read on beyond this point! If you haven’t read the book yet you’ll be spoiled like crazy, so you better think twice before you continue your journey through my characters section! Take it or leave it, but whatever you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you. ;-P
Leah:
”I think I hate the concept of needing space. What it really means is that the person’s mad at you, or hates you, or doesn’t give a shit about you. They just don’t want to admit it.”
*sigh* I had really high hopes for Leah’s character and since I liked her in “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” I thought that I might like her in this book too. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I found myself disliking her immensely. And this comes from a person who loves morally grey characters and is a huge fan of bookish villains! It’s just… idk. There were so many little things that I didn’t like about her that it resulted in me not liking her at all. For instance I didn’t like how she treated her mom and her boyfriend. I mean damn that poor woman was 35? So only 4 years older than I and according to Leah she shouldn’t be dating? Hell, give your mom a break! 35 is still young and after raising you as a single mom that did everything possible in order to make you happy you could at least try to be nice to her boyfriend! Sure, Leah is a teen and they get annoyed by their parents on principle (;-P), but the things she did and said to her mom? Phew! Not nice! Plus it wasn’t just her mom, she was also rude, presumptuous and unfriendly to other people and I just couldn’t deal with that. It’s one thing to have a bad day or to be in a bad mood, but to take it out on others? Nope. *shakes head* I probably could rant about her for ages but I’ll stop here and continue with the rest of my review. *lol*
”I can’t help it. I’m a Slytherin.”
And I’m the worst kind of Slytherin. I’m the kind who’s so stupidly in love with a Gryffindor, she can’t even function. I’m the Draco from some shitty Drarry fic that the author abandoned after four chapters.
Abby:
”Why do you need a reason?”
“Because it sucks that there wasn’t one. I just wasn’t feeling it. At least not as much as I should be? Like, I’m sad about it, but it doesn’t wreck me, and I really feel like it should wreck me.”
I glance at her sidelong. “You want it to wreck you?”
“Do I want to love him enough that leaving him would wreck me? Yeah.”
I still love Abby and she definitely was a character I could relate to. She always tried to do the right thing and she followed her gut feeling when things got a little bit tricky. You might argue that the way she ended her relationship with Nick was pretty uncool, but then again to end a relationship is never easy. There are always two people and at least one of them gets hurt. It was more than just obvious that she cared about him deeply though and that she was very sorry for breaking his heart. Sure if you’re the one whose heart got broken this doesn’t give you any comfort but at least she was honest to him! I really liked that she always tried to look on the bright side and that she did her best to figure things out. In the end Abby is a really cheerful, compassionate and sweet character and you could read it on every single page! =)
”I guess it’s like, I forgive her, but I don’t really know if I can trust her again. Does that make sense?”
Simon:
”Sorry, Simon, but you’re too precious. If you weren’t gay and taken, I’d totally marry you. And let’s be honest, marrying Simon would be amazing – and not just because I had a sad, secret crush on him for most of middle school.”
I LOVE and ADORE Simon Spier!!! When it comes to that I can totally agree with Leah! He’s just too precious for his own good! *lol* It made me so happy to see him and Bram together and I loved how he interacted with his friends. He’s such a charming character and I would have loved to read even more about him. Aside from the countless adorable moments with Bram, the action with his mobile phone was probably the best thing in this book though! *LOL* I loved that Abby caused his phone to go all “50 Shades of Grey” on April Fool’s Day and Simon’s reaction to his hacked AutoCorrect was priceless!!! <333 XD
”And then there’s Simon in the middle, glancing back and forth like we’re a street he has to cross. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person so nervously attuned to conflict.”
The relationships & ships:
Leah & Simon:
My phone buzzes with a text from Simon. FUCK. My. Life. Leah. Oh God.
“Okay, I better go,” Mom says, setting my yogurt down. “Have fun today.”
I say good-bye to her and turn back to my phone. I can’t fuck your life, I’m monogamously fucking my own life.
Their friendship is so amazing and one of the few things I really liked about this book! <3 Leah and Simon are two very different characters, but this still didn’t change anything about the fact that their friendship is strong! Their conversations and messages felt real and I loved that they understood each other without having to explain anything. It was obvious that they’ve been best friends for a long time and the way they acted around each other was natural and easy. This was a really lovely friendship rep and I was so here for it! <333
”You know I’m going to lose my mind without you, right?”
“Me too,” I say softly, leaning into his chest.
Leah & Abby:
”Are you asking me to prom, Leah Burke?”
“Yes,” I say flatly. “We’re literally standing five feet away from your boyfriend, and I’m asking you to prom.”
She raises her eyebrows, like she can’t decide if I’m kidding. So that’s a twelve out of ten on the awkward scale.
Where to start? *lol* I didn’t ship them and I felt no chemistry between them. Leah had the weirdest thoughts when she was around Abby and I couldn’t help but wonder why Abby fell in love with her. It was easy to understand why Leah was in love with Abby but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t understand why Abby would fall in love with Leah too. I mean would you fall for a person that constantly gives you the feeling that she doesn’t like you? That attacks you for things you can’t control? Hell, even when Leah defended her against Morgan she still claimed that she only did it because Morgan had been racist. Yes, Morgan’s statement was wrong and it was good that Leah called her out on it, but would she really have lost her face if she would have admitted that she also did it because she’s Abby’s friend? Nope! So, why Abby? Sure, you could argue that love is something that just happens, but in Abby’s case this isn’t enough for me. Also where did that romance suddenly come from!? I spent the entire first book hoping that Abby and Nick would eventually find each other and they did. Well, and then all of a sudden Abby breaks up with him? This came out of nowhere and the explanation that she did it because she doesn’t want to have a long distance relationship was so flimsy! I know some of you will argue that she was in love with Leah all along and therefore broke up with Nick but after reading the first book I’m not convinced by this theory. Nick and Abby really were in love and they were a great couple! Feelings change? Yes, they do, but usually not that fast! They were crazily in love in the first book and then this? XD I know I’m ranting here but DAMN IT, I just don’t understand it!!! I’m sure this might be an unpopular opinion but to me it felt like the author wanted to write an f/f relationship and decided that Leah and Abby would do. There I said it! *lol* I’m sorry, but I really wasn’t convinced by their romance and whenever they had the possibility of having a sweet moment Leah’s attitude ruined it for me. >_<
”I had a dream once where she kissed me on the collarbone. Softly and quickly – barely a thing. I woke up aching. I couldn’t look at her all day.”
”So what, now you think you’re bi?”
“You make me think about it.”
My heart skids to a stop.
”You keep running away.”
“You keep finding me.”
The bi & non-binary rep:
”Leah, you would love them. They’re a drummer.”
That casual singular they. It isn’t even my pronoun, but it feels like a hug. Because if Caitlin’s unfazed by her enby friend’s pronouns, she’d probably unfazed by me being bi.
First of all I have to say that the mention and short appearance of a non-binary character was my personal highlight of this book! It’s so damn rare to find a non-binary rep and my heart sang when I read this quote! I love Becky Albertalli for including them in her book and I can’t thank her enough for giving them room!! That was awesome Becky!!! <333
As for the bi rep… I’m sorry to admit that I wasn’t really happy with it. There were a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way and I’ll try my best to explain why I felt the way I did. To some of you this might sound crazy but it really bothered me that Leah had so many crushes. I know some of you will say: What’s wrong with having crushes? And my answer is “nothing”. But in that context with her being bi it just felt like the thousandth repetition of a prejudice I heard way too often. Yes, being bi means that you’re attracted to men and women but this still doesn’t mean that you find everyone attractive!!! Just because you’re bi you don’t have a crush on everyone! Just because you’re bi you don’t “choose” the best of both sexes!! I’m sure most of the readers didn’t even notice those offhand comments about her crushes but I did and it made me unhappy. The thing that truly got me were Leah’s and Abby’s discussions about being bi though. I’m convinced that Becky Albertalli only tried to point out some prejudices and did her best to set them right by Abby and Leah discussing them but for me this didn’t work. Were their conversations important? Yes! Did they make me cringe inside? Double yes! I mean just take this quote:
I shake my head. “Lowkey bi, a little bit bi. Just be bi. Like, come on.”
“What? No.” She draws herself up. “You don’t get to decide my label.”
“It’s not a real label!”
“Well, it’s real for me.” She exhales heavily. “God, sometimes, I don’t even know…”
Whilst I agree with Leah that there is no such thing as “lowkey bi” or “just a little bit bi” I still don’t think that it’s okay to attack Abby like that. I mean that girl is trying to figure herself out and is confused and Leah had nothing better to do than to push her into a certain direction and to tell her that the current definition of her sexual orientation isn’t valid! WTF?! Leah is bi too so she of all people should know how difficult it is to come to terms with yourself! I know some of my friends argued that Leah was insecure herself but the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that I won’t accept that as an excuse. Because NOPE she’s not insecure! I was barely a few pages into the book when she admitted that she’s bi and she even came out to her mother. Of course her friends didn’t know but it was obvious that she was comfortable with being bi. It never felt like she was insecure about it, if anything she was insecure about her feelings for Abby and worried that Abby wouldn’t reciprocate them. Still, just because she’s afraid of being rejected she shouldn’t have tried to label her! (And I’m once again cringing inwardly because I really don’t like the word “label”….) Plus and here comes another thing I didn’t like: When Abby said that she came out to her family I was like: WHAT?! Because let’s face it, to me this felt really unrealistic. Who would come out to their family before even defining their sexual orientation? Why come out to your family when you’re still insecure about who you truly are? This just didn’t make any sense to me. Take it from me: You don’t just come out like that! There are about a thousand questions you ask yourself first! You notice that you like boys AND girls! You wonder why it is like that. You imagine kissing a girl and realize that this feels okay to you. You do internet-research because you want to find out more! Maybe Abby did all that and I missed it but I doubt that she truly questioned herself. And let me tell you this: If you don’t fit into the norm and realize that your sexual orientation isn’t straight you automatically do this! So, this aspect of the story felt really unrealistic to me and since Abby defined herself as ��lowkey bi” right after she admitted that she came out to her family I can assume that she didn’t go through that process yet.
Phew… that was a long paragraph! *lol*
Sorry for the rant but it had to get out of my system. XD
Conclusion:
“Leah on the Offbeat” might have been a page turner but I couldn’t seem to be able to connect to the MC and that took away a lot of my enjoyment. In addition to that I had many issues with the way certain topics were addressed and tackled. I really wish I would have loved this more, but maybe my expectations were just too high after reading “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda”. I’m sure many people will love Leah’s story as well, in my case it unfortunately didn’t work out though.
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Since my library is already hot on my heels I need to read this soon! XD
There’s no way I’m going to give this back before I read it.
It’s even on my Book List 2019, which is such a rare occurrence! (Not a book being on my list but me actually reading a book from my list! *lol*)
So I better get my butt in gear and start reading! ;-)
I have nine days left! Let’s make them count!
Also: I can’t wait to see my babies again! I want to know how Simon and Blue are doing now! And I’m curious what Becky Albertalli has in store for Leah! It seems like not everyone was happy with her story and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll like it or not. =)
The only way to find out is by reading though, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. *lol*
June 2, 2018
So, just shut your ears out because you don’t want to hear me scream and rant off like a drunk grandma. I am so furious I want to fling the book right off to space and go hide in Jupiter till the steam evaporates off my ears. I kept turning the pages expecting some good sh*t to happen, and then I reach the acknowledgements page and I was like, the hell, THAT’S IT??? She ended the whole thing just like that??? Usually when I don’t like a hyped book, I’m like - what did I read wrong? But this time I was like, wtf was even right? I’m surprised at the insurmountable amount of swear words filling my brain right now.
Seriously people, I loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and the characters. I was all excited to get back to Creakwood High and relive those damn cute bluques days. But this book sort of totally flipped the characters I so loved, and tarnished the friendships so bad, I don’t know, it was infuriating.
I don’t want to summarize the plot, because if you are going to read this book, you need to read Simon Vs. , [as in, don’t even read this book] and a lot of the plot in this book comes out of the blue and wasn’t even vaguely hinted in the prequel. So I’m going right off to why I loved/hated this book.
💟💚 WHAT I LOVED 💚💟
Like this isn’t obvious. Simon and Blue (that’s a pen name; go read Simon Vs.) were the best part of this book. I LOOOVE BLUE, as in, he would have been my dream boy had I had a heart. After I realized that I wasn’t going to like Leah, it was the only reason I kept reading this book. I lived for the ‘Bluques’ mentions, a.k.a the cutesy, absolutely quirkily-adorable appearances of the golden couple. I started loving Simon even more after this book.
• Also, Leah’s Mom was fantastic (She doesn’t have a name??). She’s my new favorite. I just love the way she treats Leah and I’m terribly sorry that she deserved a better daughter.
• The writing is absolutely hilarious. I would be cracking up at random moments, it was fun at times.
Umm, that’s it? Yup.
💣💥 THE RANT 💥💣
YOU’RE GOING TO ENCOUNTER MANY SPOILERS IN HERE so beware. And also, what I’m going to say might not appeal to many people. It’s totally my opinion and I’m free to have them, as you are free to have yours. Thanks.
Uh yeah, how do I start?
• Leah Burke
Leah was an adorable friend in Simon Vs. and I do still think that she is a good friend to Simon, but, SHE IS THE MOST GODDAMN ANNOYING CHARACTER I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN A WHILE. Ever since Rose Hathaway, I have never had to loathe a character that I initially loved. Simply, Leah was rude to pretty much everyone in her life, she has anger management issues she doesn’t recognize, and she is the most selfish fictional person I’ve had to encounter.
• Abby Suso
• The biggest problem for me with this book was the bisexuality rep. Yeah, it was important but the rep in this book seemed so unrealistic and forced I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
• All through the book Leah is so pumped up and hyper, and I never felt at ease while reading it. The whole book was supposed to be cute and happy and fluffy, but all the time I felt tense and stressed.
• Because, Leah is just so incessantly nagging about everything. She doesn’t exactly whine throughout the book. But according to her, she has the suckiest life in the history of lives that sucked.
• Btw Leah also objectifies her body? I mean I don’t understand girls and their feministic attitude. They are always on edge when men objectify women, but calling their body parts names is alright when they do it? Eek.
• Speaking of women and bodies, this book was also supposed to deal with Leah being overweight. If that happened, I missed it entirely.
• The not so subtle way Leah fought against racism was actually ridiculous. I don’t even know why. It was as if she didn’t know what racism was, but knew it was bad. No acknowledgement – a simple ‘you’re a racist’ and storming off. Typical Leah behavior. I shouldn’t have expected much.
• The inescapable Happily-Ever-After. Good Lord, did I hate that ending! In the middle of utmost chaos and ridiculousness, the lovebirds kiss and unite, and leaving everything aside, leaving every single person hanging in the air, Becky takes us off to the final chapter where they live happily-ever-after.
• Don’t you think I have a reason to be mad there? What happened to Garret that night? How about Nick? Did Leah forgive Morgan after all? When did Nick and Garret and the rest of the gang find out about them? Eh, supporting characters have no role in the book when the lead pair are united I guess.
• Unrelatedly, there were so many pop culture/book references I had absolutely no idea about. This book was all about pleasing the fans. But Becky seems to have forgotten that not everyone has read all the books or watched all the hollywood movies or heard all those pop songs. Sorry, I felt irritated.
Overall, this book is nowhere as good as Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda, and it totally does not deserve the hype. I’m starting to think the five star reviews are all about nostalgia and pining for characters we thought were gone. I really did not enjoy reading this book except for the Simon-Blue part, and since that was very little of what made this book, I don’t think I would’ve missed out on much if I hadn’t read it. I’d hoped for something with real bisexual characters and a realistic approach from Beck Albertalli, but I guess authors are bound to disappoint sometimes, even the best ones.
Read it if you are blindly in love with the characters, and see how they disappoint you.
Seriously people, I loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and the characters. I was all excited to get back to Creakwood High and relive those damn cute bluques days. But this book sort of totally flipped the characters I so loved, and tarnished the friendships so bad, I don’t know, it was infuriating.
I don’t want to summarize the plot, because if you are going to read this book, you need to read Simon Vs. , [as in, don’t even read this book] and a lot of the plot in this book comes out of the blue and wasn’t even vaguely hinted in the prequel. So I’m going right off to why I loved/hated this book.
💟💚 WHAT I LOVED 💚💟
Like this isn’t obvious. Simon and Blue (that’s a pen name; go read Simon Vs.) were the best part of this book. I LOOOVE BLUE, as in, he would have been my dream boy had I had a heart. After I realized that I wasn’t going to like Leah, it was the only reason I kept reading this book. I lived for the ‘Bluques’ mentions, a.k.a the cutesy, absolutely quirkily-adorable appearances of the golden couple. I started loving Simon even more after this book.
• Also, Leah’s Mom was fantastic (She doesn’t have a name??). She’s my new favorite. I just love the way she treats Leah and I’m terribly sorry that she deserved a better daughter.
• The writing is absolutely hilarious. I would be cracking up at random moments, it was fun at times.
Umm, that’s it? Yup.
💣💥 THE RANT 💥💣
YOU’RE GOING TO ENCOUNTER MANY SPOILERS IN HERE so beware. And also, what I’m going to say might not appeal to many people. It’s totally my opinion and I’m free to have them, as you are free to have yours. Thanks.
Uh yeah, how do I start?
• Leah Burke
Leah was an adorable friend in Simon Vs. and I do still think that she is a good friend to Simon, but, SHE IS THE MOST GODDAMN ANNOYING CHARACTER I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN A WHILE. Ever since Rose Hathaway, I have never had to loathe a character that I initially loved. Simply, Leah was rude to pretty much everyone in her life, she has anger management issues she doesn’t recognize, and she is the most selfish fictional person I’ve had to encounter.
🚫 Her attitude towards Garret? Rude. He has a huge crush on her but she never once thought of telling him she wasn’t interested.
🚫 Like, she was literally bouncing him on her knees, teasing him high.
🚫 She was furious at Abby for teasing her, when Abby didn’t even know she was bi? Hypocritic binch.
🚫 The way she lied to Garrett about attending his game, and not even clarifying with him later when Simon advised her to.
🚫 I can tolerate everything, but lying that bad, and not even feeling guilty. NOT ACCEPTABLE.
🚫 You know what her reason was for engaging Garret? She never before felt needed or liked. I. CANT. EVEN.
🚫 She treated her Mom like TRASH. She never allowed her to speak for herself; she never ever gave her a chance to have a life. And her Mom is actually the sweetest person on the planet.
🚫 The way she treated her friends Anna and Morgan. Yeah it was sweet and all at first, but then she drops them off like tissues and isn’t willing to forgive Morgan even when she apologized.
🚫 And she actually compared Morgan to Martin?? Wtf? As if she and Martin were the bestest buddies before Simon happened!
🚫 Also in between all the Morgan drama, SHE TOTALLY FORGETS ABOUT HER OTHER FRIEND ANNA. She doesn’t miss her, alright? But never gave her a chance to explain, never even wanted to acknowledge their friendship.
🚫 Nick. Her conduct towards him and his heartbreak was IMPOSSIBLE.
🚫 I mean, her best friend is having an epic meltdown right in front of her because he was dumped, and all she can think about is how soon she can kiss his ex-girlfriend????
🚫 GOODNESS GRACIOUS. SAVE ME FROM THE POISON OF SUCH FAKE FRIENDS.
🚫 Besides, the number of times she ‘swore to God’ made my head ache.
• Abby Suso
🚫 I used to think Abby was a decent character, and I didn’t exactly hate her as much as I hated Leah, but she came off as a flat character tbh.
🚫 All the time we’re being told, Abby is the perfect girl on earth.
🚫 TOLD, NOT SHOWN
🚫 The way she dumped Nick was bad, but I could understand her reasoning.
🚫 What I couldn’t understand though, was her way of questioning her sexuality.
🚫 This whole thing that goes like, I-am-not-bisexual-but-i-want-to-kiss-Leah-so-I-might-be was really confusing.
🚫 And I wasn’t impressed by the way she avoided Nick and just left him hanging after her and not even caring, even if she said she did.
🚫 I couldn’t care less though, because seriously, Abby’s character was underdeveloped and off-putting.
• The biggest problem for me with this book was the bisexuality rep. Yeah, it was important but the rep in this book seemed so unrealistic and forced I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.
🚫 In Simon Vs., we are introduced to Leah and Abby and they are the straightest people on Earth. But all of a sudden, Leah is bisexual and she has a HUGE crush on Abby and apparently she’s had a crush on her since forever.
🚫 I mean, for someone whose face is so transparent, I can’t believe no one ever noticed it before? At least Simon must have said something, pried at her?
🚫 It’s not like I didn’t know Leah was bisexual before reading this book. But I definitely didn’t doubt her heterosexuality in the previous book.
🚫 After that, we’re again told Abby is bisexual and all of a sudden both of them are so in love with each other for no apparent reason.
🚫 It felt to me as if Albertalli thought ‘Simon’s gay and everybody loves him, so why not make Leah gay too? Oh, she would need a love interest then. I could use Abby.’
🚫 Like I said, too unbelievable and forced romance, it felt disgusting.
• All through the book Leah is so pumped up and hyper, and I never felt at ease while reading it. The whole book was supposed to be cute and happy and fluffy, but all the time I felt tense and stressed.
• Because, Leah is just so incessantly nagging about everything. She doesn’t exactly whine throughout the book. But according to her, she has the suckiest life in the history of lives that sucked.
• Btw Leah also objectifies her body? I mean I don’t understand girls and their feministic attitude. They are always on edge when men objectify women, but calling their body parts names is alright when they do it? Eek.
• Speaking of women and bodies, this book was also supposed to deal with Leah being overweight. If that happened, I missed it entirely.
• The not so subtle way Leah fought against racism was actually ridiculous. I don’t even know why. It was as if she didn’t know what racism was, but knew it was bad. No acknowledgement – a simple ‘you’re a racist’ and storming off. Typical Leah behavior. I shouldn’t have expected much.
• The inescapable Happily-Ever-After. Good Lord, did I hate that ending! In the middle of utmost chaos and ridiculousness, the lovebirds kiss and unite, and leaving everything aside, leaving every single person hanging in the air, Becky takes us off to the final chapter where they live happily-ever-after.
• Don’t you think I have a reason to be mad there? What happened to Garret that night? How about Nick? Did Leah forgive Morgan after all? When did Nick and Garret and the rest of the gang find out about them? Eh, supporting characters have no role in the book when the lead pair are united I guess.
• Unrelatedly, there were so many pop culture/book references I had absolutely no idea about. This book was all about pleasing the fans. But Becky seems to have forgotten that not everyone has read all the books or watched all the hollywood movies or heard all those pop songs. Sorry, I felt irritated.
Overall, this book is nowhere as good as Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda, and it totally does not deserve the hype. I’m starting to think the five star reviews are all about nostalgia and pining for characters we thought were gone. I really did not enjoy reading this book except for the Simon-Blue part, and since that was very little of what made this book, I don’t think I would’ve missed out on much if I hadn’t read it. I’d hoped for something with real bisexual characters and a realistic approach from Beck Albertalli, but I guess authors are bound to disappoint sometimes, even the best ones.
Read it if you are blindly in love with the characters, and see how they disappoint you.
June 16, 2018
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HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT
December 1, 2019
Wow, I really did not enjoy this. I'm probably being unduly harsh because I loved Simon Vs. so much, and did not expect to hate this book as much as I did. Here are some of the reasons this was so agonising to read (BIG SPOILERS AHEAD):
- Just because you have repressed feelings for someone, doesn't mean you're allowed to treat them like complete shit. The book keeps using YA shorthand like Leah's "brain not working/turning into mush" to retcon Leah's general shittiness to Abby in the previous book and parts of this book. I also found the retcon of Leah ACTUALLY liking Abby instead of Nick all this time super cheap, because the previous book is fresh in my mind and I remember all of Leah's outright internalised misogyny @ Abby that never gets addressed once in this book.
- Granted, being horrible about women is something most young girls go through, and something that can be developed with nuance. I would love to have read about Leah overcoming all her unreasonable attitudes towards Abby and them forging a solid relationship! Instead, we're just meant to forget that Leah was ever hostile or jealous. We're meant to just accept that the girls take 1 road trip and had some supposed offscreen bonding experience before Simon Vs. and that constitutes as a romance.
- My main issue with this book is - why does Abby like Leah? Leah spends this entire book being hostile to everyone, including her mother who does nothing by support her. How is the audience supposed to root for her? Meanwhile, Abby is a character I loved so much in Simon Vs., for her warmth and compassion and sense of fun. All of that is pretty much erased here so a black girl can prop up the white protag's story, and it was just really exhausting to read. Even in Simon's book we got a sense of Abby's personality, how she hides behind a veneer of cheerfulness to hide a lot of her problems. In this book, she's literally just here to cry and be beautiful, and we have 0 insight into why she even likes Leah (who has been nothing but mean to her! All she does is be judgemental of Abby's interests and degrades her!) and when she does grapple with her sexuality she's called a "fucking hetero." This is how you know the book is written by a straight woman, lol.
-Becky Albertalli did the classic white YA author thing where they have a random character be racist for no reason just so the main white character can stick up for the poor black person and appear sooooo woke and brave. Yeah, that was corny as fuck, and especially transparent because Morgan was such a nothing character that could easily be sacrificed like this to, once again, prop up Leah.
- It seemed like minimum effort was put into the writing this time. It literally felt like reading (bad) fanfiction where all her characters became total caricatures of themselves. Nick just mopes and throws tantrums the whole book. Simon is turned into some cartoonish ditz who Leah constantly infantilises (Leah constantly gushing over how Simon and Bram are "so adorable" paired with the fact she's a yaoi fangirl who fetishises gay men is so eye-roll worthy!!!!)
- A thing I loved so much about Simon Vs. (and that was emphasised by Love, Simon) was how rich Simon's world was, how the book seemed to live and breathe outside of just his romance. You were invested in all his friends, his family in his big John Hughesian moments, everything. Meanwhile, I've forgotten about pretty much every scene in this book except prom. The friend group that made Simon Vs. so special seemed like not a real friend group at all (Leah describes Nick and Simon as her "best friends" but she barely cares that Nick is a borderline alcoholic in this book and apparently hasn't had Simon over at her house in years??? )
- "Abby likes Harry Potter. That's like saying Mr. Rogers was nice. Reece King is decent looking. You can't just like Harry Potter. You have to be balls-out obsessed with it." This line was so cringe because it reminded me this book was written by a 35yr old woman and that this book is Ready Player One for slash fangirls.
- There were barely any Simon/Bram moments so I couldn't even have moments of relief from the forced romance and Abby's character assassination ugh. She didn't even let them end up being New York City college couple at the end!
- To tie up this whole stinkin' mess with a fanfiction bow, everything gets rapidly resolved after the kiss and every character that could have been upset with Leah/Abby's coupling are miraculously paired off with people they've barely spoken to. Meanwhile, I'm still on the look out for wlw books that don't suck please comment if you have any recs
- Just because you have repressed feelings for someone, doesn't mean you're allowed to treat them like complete shit. The book keeps using YA shorthand like Leah's "brain not working/turning into mush" to retcon Leah's general shittiness to Abby in the previous book and parts of this book. I also found the retcon of Leah ACTUALLY liking Abby instead of Nick all this time super cheap, because the previous book is fresh in my mind and I remember all of Leah's outright internalised misogyny @ Abby that never gets addressed once in this book.
- Granted, being horrible about women is something most young girls go through, and something that can be developed with nuance. I would love to have read about Leah overcoming all her unreasonable attitudes towards Abby and them forging a solid relationship! Instead, we're just meant to forget that Leah was ever hostile or jealous. We're meant to just accept that the girls take 1 road trip and had some supposed offscreen bonding experience before Simon Vs. and that constitutes as a romance.
- My main issue with this book is - why does Abby like Leah? Leah spends this entire book being hostile to everyone, including her mother who does nothing by support her. How is the audience supposed to root for her? Meanwhile, Abby is a character I loved so much in Simon Vs., for her warmth and compassion and sense of fun. All of that is pretty much erased here so a black girl can prop up the white protag's story, and it was just really exhausting to read. Even in Simon's book we got a sense of Abby's personality, how she hides behind a veneer of cheerfulness to hide a lot of her problems. In this book, she's literally just here to cry and be beautiful, and we have 0 insight into why she even likes Leah (who has been nothing but mean to her! All she does is be judgemental of Abby's interests and degrades her!) and when she does grapple with her sexuality she's called a "fucking hetero." This is how you know the book is written by a straight woman, lol.
-Becky Albertalli did the classic white YA author thing where they have a random character be racist for no reason just so the main white character can stick up for the poor black person and appear sooooo woke and brave. Yeah, that was corny as fuck, and especially transparent because Morgan was such a nothing character that could easily be sacrificed like this to, once again, prop up Leah.
- It seemed like minimum effort was put into the writing this time. It literally felt like reading (bad) fanfiction where all her characters became total caricatures of themselves. Nick just mopes and throws tantrums the whole book. Simon is turned into some cartoonish ditz who Leah constantly infantilises (Leah constantly gushing over how Simon and Bram are "so adorable" paired with the fact she's a yaoi fangirl who fetishises gay men is so eye-roll worthy!!!!)
- A thing I loved so much about Simon Vs. (and that was emphasised by Love, Simon) was how rich Simon's world was, how the book seemed to live and breathe outside of just his romance. You were invested in all his friends, his family in his big John Hughesian moments, everything. Meanwhile, I've forgotten about pretty much every scene in this book except prom. The friend group that made Simon Vs. so special seemed like not a real friend group at all (Leah describes Nick and Simon as her "best friends" but she barely cares that Nick is a borderline alcoholic in this book and apparently hasn't had Simon over at her house in years??? )
- "Abby likes Harry Potter. That's like saying Mr. Rogers was nice. Reece King is decent looking. You can't just like Harry Potter. You have to be balls-out obsessed with it." This line was so cringe because it reminded me this book was written by a 35yr old woman and that this book is Ready Player One for slash fangirls.
- There were barely any Simon/Bram moments so I couldn't even have moments of relief from the forced romance and Abby's character assassination ugh. She didn't even let them end up being New York City college couple at the end!
- To tie up this whole stinkin' mess with a fanfiction bow, everything gets rapidly resolved after the kiss and every character that could have been upset with Leah/Abby's coupling are miraculously paired off with people they've barely spoken to. Meanwhile, I'm still on the look out for wlw books that don't suck please comment if you have any recs
May 2, 2018
Unpopular opinion coming up!!
Soooo usually i'm a VERY easy to please reader, and Simon vs. the homosapien agenda is my precious baby,so when Leah's book was out, i IMMEDIATELY started it with zero hesitation and left all the books i was reading.The thing is... i kinda wish i hadn't...? I'M SORRY BUT THIS WAS A DISASTER.
To me, it felt like Leah was a way different character than the one in Simon's book.In this one she was moody, angry all the time at PETTY REASONS AND being bitchy to her mother, who loved her unconditionally and was ready to do anything for her. Also treating Garrett badly...Seriously, if you don't like Garrett THEN JUST TELL HIM FFS!! not to mention how she always referred to him as "only Garrett", which really annoyed me.
AND THE MORGAN DRAMA WAS WAY TOO MUCH EVEN FOR ME. I literally live for the drama, usually im the one starting them too lol but THIS!! It occupied like a quarter or more of the book, and just because one comment??? Just to be clear, I'm NOT implying that what she said was okay, but Morgan said that because she was mad and wretched, people say things they dont mean when they're feeling that way. She also felt reallyyyy bad about it, and Leah took it too far *shrugs*. And as i recall Leah was really mean at some points and no one called her out for it, except her mom thank god.
This is just my opinion, and ik many others have different point of views and love Leah and can relate to her.I really wish i liked Leah too since i was head over heels in love with her in Simon... but i didn't....Okay this review is over, im gonna go and hide now...
Soooo usually i'm a VERY easy to please reader, and Simon vs. the homosapien agenda is my precious baby,so when Leah's book was out, i IMMEDIATELY started it with zero hesitation and left all the books i was reading.The thing is... i kinda wish i hadn't...? I'M SORRY BUT THIS WAS A DISASTER.
To me, it felt like Leah was a way different character than the one in Simon's book.In this one she was moody, angry all the time at PETTY REASONS AND being bitchy to her mother, who loved her unconditionally and was ready to do anything for her. Also treating Garrett badly...Seriously, if you don't like Garrett THEN JUST TELL HIM FFS!! not to mention how she always referred to him as "only Garrett", which really annoyed me.
AND THE MORGAN DRAMA WAS WAY TOO MUCH EVEN FOR ME. I literally live for the drama, usually im the one starting them too lol but THIS!! It occupied like a quarter or more of the book, and just because one comment??? Just to be clear, I'm NOT implying that what she said was okay, but Morgan said that because she was mad and wretched, people say things they dont mean when they're feeling that way. She also felt reallyyyy bad about it, and Leah took it too far *shrugs*. And as i recall Leah was really mean at some points and no one called her out for it, except her mom thank god.
This is just my opinion, and ik many others have different point of views and love Leah and can relate to her.I really wish i liked Leah too since i was head over heels in love with her in Simon... but i didn't....Okay this review is over, im gonna go and hide now...
May 3, 2018
I'm between 4 and 4.5 stars.
When I fall in love with a book's characters, I'm often sad when the book ends, because I want to spend more time with them, and I feel like I've become engrossed in their lives in some small way. So when a sequel comes along, I'm tremendously excited, and of course, I hope it is worthy of the original book.
I absolutely loved Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (see my review), and it was one of my favorite books of 2015. Seeing the movie adaptation, Love, Simon , made me fall in love with those characters once again, so when I heard Albertalli had a sequel coming out, I marked the publication date on my calendar, and bought the book at 12:00 a.m. the day it came out.
Leah on the Offbeat picks up shortly after its predecessor ended, but this book focuses on Leah, Simon Spier's best friend. She projects a tough exterior but on the inside, she's struggling. She's the only one of her immediate circle of friends not to be part of a couple. She's a talented drummer and artist, but she never seems to have enough confidence in her abilities or believe people will think she's talented. And as the child of a single mom, they're always struggling financially, so she doesn't have the freedom her friends do.
Leah's biggest struggle is with herself. Only her mother knows she's bisexual—she hasn't even told Simon, and he's openly gay. She has kept a close friend at a distance because her feelings were getting muddled somewhere between friendship and a serious crush, but her friend doesn't understand Leah's coldness. But if Leah admits her feelings she knows she'll only get hurt, and she could destroy their circle of friends as well.
"But it sucks when life moves along without you. Sometimes I feel left out even when life's moving along with me."
As senior year of high school heads toward its conclusion, tensions are running high as people decide what college to attend (or have decisions made for them) and what that will mean for their relationships. Prom, too, is upping the drama factor, and although Leah would rather just be alone rather than watch the object of her affection dance the night away with her boyfriend, she accepts the invitation of a friend, even though she knows it may be setting up unrealistic expectations for him.
When a relationship is ended, Leah has to decide what to do. Does she finally speak about her feelings and risk it all, or does she just let life—and possible love—pass her by again in an effort to protect everyone? As she keeps getting mixed signals from the one person she wants to be with, she feels utterly out of tune, and it hurts.
"It's like when a song changes key, or starts on the offbeat, or shifts its meter halfway through. It's that hiccup you get in your chest. That tiny huh moment. Like maybe something's kind of wrong. Or maybe something's about to change."
I just love the way Albertalli tells a story, and I love the emotions and heart with which she imbues her characters. Of course as I was reading the entire book, I kept seeing the faces of the actors who played them in Love, Simon , but I didn't find it distracting. I realized just how much I missed Leah, Simon, Abby, Nick, Garrett, Bram, even Martin.
I definitely enjoyed this book but I really struggled at times to feel sympathy for Leah. I realize how much emotional turmoil she was dealing with in terms of her bisexuality and feeling left out, but she really made herself unlikable a lot of the time in the way she treated her friends, her mother, nearly everyone. That being said, I recognized some of her feelings, so it didn't detract from devouring this book.
I also felt a little cheated that Albertalli chose to skip the resolution of one major plot point and just move past it, telling rather than showing what happened afterward. While I understand that perhaps the drama might have dragged down the book, I just didn't believe everyone would have accepted things so positively immediately.
Regardless of those criticisms, this was a tremendously enjoyable and lovable book, and while it didn't quite rise to the level of its predecessor (which is a ridiculously high bar), if you loved her first book and/or The Upside of Unrequited , definitely read this. (But if you haven't read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda , or seen the movie, read that book first.)
Now I can't wait until the fall, when a book co-written by Albertalli and Adam Silvera comes out. So much anticipation!!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
When I fall in love with a book's characters, I'm often sad when the book ends, because I want to spend more time with them, and I feel like I've become engrossed in their lives in some small way. So when a sequel comes along, I'm tremendously excited, and of course, I hope it is worthy of the original book.
I absolutely loved Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (see my review), and it was one of my favorite books of 2015. Seeing the movie adaptation, Love, Simon , made me fall in love with those characters once again, so when I heard Albertalli had a sequel coming out, I marked the publication date on my calendar, and bought the book at 12:00 a.m. the day it came out.
Leah on the Offbeat picks up shortly after its predecessor ended, but this book focuses on Leah, Simon Spier's best friend. She projects a tough exterior but on the inside, she's struggling. She's the only one of her immediate circle of friends not to be part of a couple. She's a talented drummer and artist, but she never seems to have enough confidence in her abilities or believe people will think she's talented. And as the child of a single mom, they're always struggling financially, so she doesn't have the freedom her friends do.
Leah's biggest struggle is with herself. Only her mother knows she's bisexual—she hasn't even told Simon, and he's openly gay. She has kept a close friend at a distance because her feelings were getting muddled somewhere between friendship and a serious crush, but her friend doesn't understand Leah's coldness. But if Leah admits her feelings she knows she'll only get hurt, and she could destroy their circle of friends as well.
"But it sucks when life moves along without you. Sometimes I feel left out even when life's moving along with me."
As senior year of high school heads toward its conclusion, tensions are running high as people decide what college to attend (or have decisions made for them) and what that will mean for their relationships. Prom, too, is upping the drama factor, and although Leah would rather just be alone rather than watch the object of her affection dance the night away with her boyfriend, she accepts the invitation of a friend, even though she knows it may be setting up unrealistic expectations for him.
When a relationship is ended, Leah has to decide what to do. Does she finally speak about her feelings and risk it all, or does she just let life—and possible love—pass her by again in an effort to protect everyone? As she keeps getting mixed signals from the one person she wants to be with, she feels utterly out of tune, and it hurts.
"It's like when a song changes key, or starts on the offbeat, or shifts its meter halfway through. It's that hiccup you get in your chest. That tiny huh moment. Like maybe something's kind of wrong. Or maybe something's about to change."
I just love the way Albertalli tells a story, and I love the emotions and heart with which she imbues her characters. Of course as I was reading the entire book, I kept seeing the faces of the actors who played them in Love, Simon , but I didn't find it distracting. I realized just how much I missed Leah, Simon, Abby, Nick, Garrett, Bram, even Martin.
I definitely enjoyed this book but I really struggled at times to feel sympathy for Leah. I realize how much emotional turmoil she was dealing with in terms of her bisexuality and feeling left out, but she really made herself unlikable a lot of the time in the way she treated her friends, her mother, nearly everyone. That being said, I recognized some of her feelings, so it didn't detract from devouring this book.
I also felt a little cheated that Albertalli chose to skip the resolution of one major plot point and just move past it, telling rather than showing what happened afterward. While I understand that perhaps the drama might have dragged down the book, I just didn't believe everyone would have accepted things so positively immediately.
Regardless of those criticisms, this was a tremendously enjoyable and lovable book, and while it didn't quite rise to the level of its predecessor (which is a ridiculously high bar), if you loved her first book and/or The Upside of Unrequited , definitely read this. (But if you haven't read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda , or seen the movie, read that book first.)
Now I can't wait until the fall, when a book co-written by Albertalli and Adam Silvera comes out. So much anticipation!!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
June 23, 2018
1,5 stars
Guys. I didn’t like this.
I know, I know. I had really high hopes and nobody is sadder about it than I am :(
Pros:
• The diversity.
Cons
• Everything else.
I’M SO SAD I DIDN’T LIKE THIS BOOK. Seriously, I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to love this but that doesn’t change the fact that Leah on the Offbeat just doesn’t compare to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. This book literally had ALL of the potential but it just fell completely flat for me.
***Please note that this review contains MILD SPOILERS. I’ll try to keep it vague and not mention who is involved in the situations, but if you want to be completely surprised about everything, maybe stop reading now.***
First of all, I didn’t like Leah. Or Leah’s voice. Whatever. She was snarky and not in a funny way, mostly she was just condescending and unfriendly to everyone.
1. For one, she’s a real jerk to her mum, who seems like a genuinely nice person. I get that teenagers are not happy when their parents start dating again but Leah’s mum seems like the best and Leah was just being obnoxious most of the time, even belittling her relationship. She doesn't try even a little bit. Seriously, Leah, you’re not a child anymore. You’re going away to college. Just let your mum be happy with her boyfriend while you’re away living your life, she deserves it.
2. Also, what’s up with the whole SJW thing? I do have to admit, I admired Leah for her strong opinions and for the way she stood up for . But at the same time, I felt that she went too far. YES, I agree that that was absolutely not okay but that person apologised and obviously felt very bad about the whole situation. I felt like they actually learned a lesson there but obviously our Leah, who has never made a mistake in her life, didn’t think so. Even though the situation was not about her. It’s like Leah is this perfect person, ready (and entitled) to judge each and everyone around her as if she herself were the measure by which everyone else should be judged. Because she is so perfect. Not.
3. At one point, a person comes out to her, tells her that she was terrified coming out to part of their family, and Leah decides it’s time to call the label that person chose “not real”. I mean. Seriously? Instead of being supportive and understanding and trying to help them find their way to deal with things, you are going to belittle their feelings and struggles? And that from a person who is struggling herself, who questions whether she should come out to her friends…
4. There is a person in the book who very obviously has a crush on Leah and she knows this. But even though she realises that she should talk to that person and discourage them, she never does. From my point of view, she kind of ends up leading them on ().
And the fact that this was never addressed just annoys me so much. I mean, I get that we are talking about teenagers here who are trying to make sense of themselves and what they're feeling, and that’s going to be messy. But Leah had such a condescending attitude towards everybody and it just was never addressed. There was no character growth at all.
ALSO. Nothing happened. As Warda said in her review , this book literally has no plot and Leah is just complaining the whole time, and sadly, that’s true. The most "excitement" we get stems from the fact that while getting ready for prom Leah realises that she does have a beautiful dress but not a bra to go with it. Or shoes. Or a purse. Or a working car to go to the mall with. Or a mother who will go with her because apparently at 17/18, she has never bought a bra by herself?!?!? THAT WHOLE SITUATION WAS SO UNNECESSARY AND ANNOYING AND WEIRD.
And also, can I just say that
Finally, I just want to stress that there were a lot of great messages in this book but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't like the main character, her non existent character development, or the absent plot. This just didn't work for me.
22 June 2018
PS: I just realised that I think the main reason I couldn’t love this probably is that it felt kind of forced. It’s been a while since I read Simon but none of this felt natural. More like the author wanted to get the most out of the hype around the first book by forcing a sequel with the same set of characters, which didn't work for me.
Guys. I didn’t like this.
I know, I know. I had really high hopes and nobody is sadder about it than I am :(
Pros:
• The diversity.
Cons
• Everything else.
I’M SO SAD I DIDN’T LIKE THIS BOOK. Seriously, I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to love this but that doesn’t change the fact that Leah on the Offbeat just doesn’t compare to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. This book literally had ALL of the potential but it just fell completely flat for me.
***Please note that this review contains MILD SPOILERS. I’ll try to keep it vague and not mention who is involved in the situations, but if you want to be completely surprised about everything, maybe stop reading now.***
First of all, I didn’t like Leah. Or Leah’s voice. Whatever. She was snarky and not in a funny way, mostly she was just condescending and unfriendly to everyone.
1. For one, she’s a real jerk to her mum, who seems like a genuinely nice person. I get that teenagers are not happy when their parents start dating again but Leah’s mum seems like the best and Leah was just being obnoxious most of the time, even belittling her relationship. She doesn't try even a little bit. Seriously, Leah, you’re not a child anymore. You’re going away to college. Just let your mum be happy with her boyfriend while you’re away living your life, she deserves it.
2. Also, what’s up with the whole SJW thing? I do have to admit, I admired Leah for her strong opinions and for the way she stood up for . But at the same time, I felt that she went too far. YES, I agree that that was absolutely not okay but that person apologised and obviously felt very bad about the whole situation. I felt like they actually learned a lesson there but obviously our Leah, who has never made a mistake in her life, didn’t think so. Even though the situation was not about her. It’s like Leah is this perfect person, ready (and entitled) to judge each and everyone around her as if she herself were the measure by which everyone else should be judged. Because she is so perfect. Not.
3. At one point, a person comes out to her, tells her that she was terrified coming out to part of their family, and Leah decides it’s time to call the label that person chose “not real”. I mean. Seriously? Instead of being supportive and understanding and trying to help them find their way to deal with things, you are going to belittle their feelings and struggles? And that from a person who is struggling herself, who questions whether she should come out to her friends…
4. There is a person in the book who very obviously has a crush on Leah and she knows this. But even though she realises that she should talk to that person and discourage them, she never does. From my point of view, she kind of ends up leading them on ().
And the fact that this was never addressed just annoys me so much. I mean, I get that we are talking about teenagers here who are trying to make sense of themselves and what they're feeling, and that’s going to be messy. But Leah had such a condescending attitude towards everybody and it just was never addressed. There was no character growth at all.
ALSO. Nothing happened. As Warda said in her review , this book literally has no plot and Leah is just complaining the whole time, and sadly, that’s true. The most "excitement" we get stems from the fact that while getting ready for prom Leah realises that she does have a beautiful dress but not a bra to go with it. Or shoes. Or a purse. Or a working car to go to the mall with. Or a mother who will go with her because apparently at 17/18, she has never bought a bra by herself?!?!? THAT WHOLE SITUATION WAS SO UNNECESSARY AND ANNOYING AND WEIRD.
And also, can I just say that
Finally, I just want to stress that there were a lot of great messages in this book but that doesn't change the fact that I didn't like the main character, her non existent character development, or the absent plot. This just didn't work for me.
22 June 2018
PS: I just realised that I think the main reason I couldn’t love this probably is that it felt kind of forced. It’s been a while since I read Simon but none of this felt natural. More like the author wanted to get the most out of the hype around the first book by forcing a sequel with the same set of characters, which didn't work for me.
June 13, 2018
Okay, so. I didn't hate it. It was a solid YA contemporary - I enjoyed it, I laughed, I found some parts really cheesy, but it's to be expected. The part that's really crushing is that this is the sequel to one of my favorite books of ALL time. Like, I want to be buried with Simon vs. Okay, maybe not, because it'd damage the book, but you know what I mean. There's this feeling you get while reading Simon that you can't really find anywhere else. And Leah completely proves that.
So let me like really talk about what did and didn't work for me in this book. I owe it to myself more than anyone because Simon literally...Simon made me feel like I could be myself. I need to prove to myself that I have reasons to not be in love with this. It actually hurts me to not five star this right now. I loved all the moments with the friendship group, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to make myself reread this for so many reasons.
Leah was my least favorite character in Simon vs. I think I understand her more in this book, but I didn't want to, you know? I genuinely just wanted more Simon moments. Her perspective, I think, was fleshed out, to a point where it didn't feel like it was the same character from Simon's book sometimes. She felt so different sometimes but I can't tell if it's because I'm reading her thoughts or because she's not in a conflict with Simon anymore. I don't know.
The thing that really drove me insane in all of this is how inconsistent it is. IT'S SO INCONSISTENT. I'm not even kidding you. I think I have to explain what I mean in the spoilers tag but like, it drove me insane. I kept getting frustrated and then had to keep telling myself that it was just a contemporary book and that it wasn't that serious but GOD, it hurt. And believe me, you could find so many problems with a contemporary book if you went looking.
I'm just gonna do the spoilers section now, but I think I'd recommend people still read it if they enjoy Simon vs., cos I know everyone isn't me and some people REALLY wanted this pairing. Before I start ranting about that, I just want to say I'm disappointed.
edit: i've decided on 2/5 stars bc they're for simon and his boyfriend bc they're the only good parts of the book WHOOPS i went there
also i didn't talk about this before, but yes, the bi rep is messy. it kind of pissed me off, honestly. here's a reminder in case you need it: bisexuality doesn't just mean 50/50 for guys and girls. it can mean you're into 99% girls but only like 1% of guys and you would still be valid as a bisexual. (bi people can also like non-binary people too, ofc, it just didn't fit why leah was pissed at...the person)
shocking news: sexuality is fluid??
hope someone lets leah burke know this soon! xoxo
So let me like really talk about what did and didn't work for me in this book. I owe it to myself more than anyone because Simon literally...Simon made me feel like I could be myself. I need to prove to myself that I have reasons to not be in love with this. It actually hurts me to not five star this right now. I loved all the moments with the friendship group, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to make myself reread this for so many reasons.
Leah was my least favorite character in Simon vs. I think I understand her more in this book, but I didn't want to, you know? I genuinely just wanted more Simon moments. Her perspective, I think, was fleshed out, to a point where it didn't feel like it was the same character from Simon's book sometimes. She felt so different sometimes but I can't tell if it's because I'm reading her thoughts or because she's not in a conflict with Simon anymore. I don't know.
The thing that really drove me insane in all of this is how inconsistent it is. IT'S SO INCONSISTENT. I'm not even kidding you. I think I have to explain what I mean in the spoilers tag but like, it drove me insane. I kept getting frustrated and then had to keep telling myself that it was just a contemporary book and that it wasn't that serious but GOD, it hurt. And believe me, you could find so many problems with a contemporary book if you went looking.
I'm just gonna do the spoilers section now, but I think I'd recommend people still read it if they enjoy Simon vs., cos I know everyone isn't me and some people REALLY wanted this pairing. Before I start ranting about that, I just want to say I'm disappointed.
edit: i've decided on 2/5 stars bc they're for simon and his boyfriend bc they're the only good parts of the book WHOOPS i went there
also i didn't talk about this before, but yes, the bi rep is messy. it kind of pissed me off, honestly. here's a reminder in case you need it: bisexuality doesn't just mean 50/50 for guys and girls. it can mean you're into 99% girls but only like 1% of guys and you would still be valid as a bisexual. (bi people can also like non-binary people too, ofc, it just didn't fit why leah was pissed at...the person)
shocking news: sexuality is fluid??
hope someone lets leah burke know this soon! xoxo
August 13, 2018
I really loved Simon book, I really wanted to enjoy this one even though I already went in it a bit wary because Leah wasn't my favourite character from the first book (the girl on girl hate etc).
I hoped things will be addressed, and it sort of was but not in a way that justifies anything.
Leah is even more bitter, angry, mean, unreasonable and insufferable to everyone around her in this book than before.
I wanted to relate to her, and technically I could on many accounts, but BOI.
This book is about a girl who is happy with her body and how she looks like. Except that she's not, and she then continues to also hate on everyone around her that are a different body type from her.
She treats her friends horribly without ever explaining why and they keep trying to be nice to her. Bless them. They did their very best to keep her happy and included but she kept pushing herself away and then calling them out on it instead. At one point she straight up says she's happy her friends are miserable because they'll "know how she feels"... Wow, what a "great" friend.
The whole plot was bitter, nothing was dealt with, she continued to be mean until she found love and this ended up being the 'love changes it all' story, RIP all single people because apparently in order to be nice to others you need to find a relationship.
I've disliked this character a lot, and the message this book sends doesn't sit well with me.
*Edit: also!! She uses another character simply for making herself feel wanted, she toys with this character, never explaining her true intentions AND that never bites her in the butt. I felt so utterly sorry for this person, who tried so hard and I'm sure got hurt so badly, and it NEVER get's addressed.
Pluses: it did made me giggle few times and there were a lot of Harry Potter references :) I finished the book because we also got some glimpses of Simon & 'blue', and those guys are cinnamon rolls.
Believe me, I realise this is supposed to be representative of a lot of things but just because there's rep in the book doesn't make it automatically good and this is a prime example.
Hope I don't have to get into my own experience growing up or my sexuality, or body shape etc to validate my opinion, which seems to be the case when you don't like something with rep.
I'm always glad to hear somebody found value in books I didn't, if that's you - that's amazing. This one wasn't for me, however.
I hoped things will be addressed, and it sort of was but not in a way that justifies anything.
Leah is even more bitter, angry, mean, unreasonable and insufferable to everyone around her in this book than before.
I wanted to relate to her, and technically I could on many accounts, but BOI.
This book is about a girl who is happy with her body and how she looks like. Except that she's not, and she then continues to also hate on everyone around her that are a different body type from her.
She treats her friends horribly without ever explaining why and they keep trying to be nice to her. Bless them. They did their very best to keep her happy and included but she kept pushing herself away and then calling them out on it instead. At one point she straight up says she's happy her friends are miserable because they'll "know how she feels"... Wow, what a "great" friend.
The whole plot was bitter, nothing was dealt with, she continued to be mean until she found love and this ended up being the 'love changes it all' story, RIP all single people because apparently in order to be nice to others you need to find a relationship.
I've disliked this character a lot, and the message this book sends doesn't sit well with me.
*Edit: also!! She uses another character simply for making herself feel wanted, she toys with this character, never explaining her true intentions AND that never bites her in the butt. I felt so utterly sorry for this person, who tried so hard and I'm sure got hurt so badly, and it NEVER get's addressed.
Pluses: it did made me giggle few times and there were a lot of Harry Potter references :) I finished the book because we also got some glimpses of Simon & 'blue', and those guys are cinnamon rolls.
Believe me, I realise this is supposed to be representative of a lot of things but just because there's rep in the book doesn't make it automatically good and this is a prime example.
Hope I don't have to get into my own experience growing up or my sexuality, or body shape etc to validate my opinion, which seems to be the case when you don't like something with rep.
I'm always glad to hear somebody found value in books I didn't, if that's you - that's amazing. This one wasn't for me, however.
April 29, 2018
4 stars!!!
How much did I love Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli?? SO FREAKING MUCH!!! And the main reason I loved it so much was Leah Burke. She is a boss. She’s my hero. I just fucking loved her! I liked her in Simon’s book, but she really shined in her own book. What I love most about Leah is she is unapologetically herself. She never pretends to be someone she’s not and she shouldn’t have to. She is awesome just the way she is.
And also a shout out goes to Leah’s mom. I flipping loved her. She was hilarious and she and Leah together were a hoot! My mom and I are only 16 years apart so we always had that fun, growing up together relationship, and I could definitely relate to Leah when it came to that. Their banter was great and I loved that they were both so open with each other.
Overall, this was a fantastic follow up to Simon. I recommend it to all of you who have read and loved Simon. Honestly, I would 100% recommend reading Simon before this. It could technically be read as a stand-alone, but it would be so much better if you read them both! If you’re looking for a fun, hilarious, quirky, and romantic YA read, pick this one up!
How much did I love Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli?? SO FREAKING MUCH!!! And the main reason I loved it so much was Leah Burke. She is a boss. She’s my hero. I just fucking loved her! I liked her in Simon’s book, but she really shined in her own book. What I love most about Leah is she is unapologetically herself. She never pretends to be someone she’s not and she shouldn’t have to. She is awesome just the way she is.
I swear, people can’t wrap their minds around the concept of a fat girl who doesn’t diet. Is it that hard to believe I might actually like my body?I loved the friendships in this story, and of course the romance. Honestly, I had no idea who Leah’s love interest would be. I’m so happy that wasn’t spoiled for me, so I’m not going to spoil it for anyone else! I was surprised, but it was perfect. I loved how different the two girls were, but how they just worked. College roadtrip, sketches, Harry Potter, and PROM. Need I say more?
And also a shout out goes to Leah’s mom. I flipping loved her. She was hilarious and she and Leah together were a hoot! My mom and I are only 16 years apart so we always had that fun, growing up together relationship, and I could definitely relate to Leah when it came to that. Their banter was great and I loved that they were both so open with each other.
“Of all the fuckin’ days…”
“Okay, please don’t say fuckin’.”
She shoots me a self-conscious glance. “I thought we liked cussing.”
“We love cussing. But we say the fucking g. I don’t want to hear that apostrophe, mom.”
Overall, this was a fantastic follow up to Simon. I recommend it to all of you who have read and loved Simon. Honestly, I would 100% recommend reading Simon before this. It could technically be read as a stand-alone, but it would be so much better if you read them both! If you’re looking for a fun, hilarious, quirky, and romantic YA read, pick this one up!
May 2, 2018
not to be dramatic but i liked this better than simon vs.
it's not that it was objectively more intriguing, or had a better plot. because honestly it didn't. but this felt so realistic and heartfelt and so very ME... i just loved it.
i'm not going to ramble about the plot or characters. but i want to point out how much i loved leah. she was so sarcastic and dramatic and had actual flaws. she got angry and would storm off. like... we stan a realistic queen. i think we often get annoyed when ya contemporary characters have personalities like this but i think we just need to take one long ass look at ourselves and realize we're not perfect and that we're probably more like these characters than we'd care to admit.
i will say, much like simon, i wish that the ending wasn't as abrupt as it was. i wish that the romance has blossomed just a taaaaad earlier on. and i would have liked to see just a little more development on the part of leah. it seemed like we got a lot of life tidbits about other characters but leah was just a background character in her own story. but then again, aren't we all?
go read this if you like sarcasm, sass, and representation. this was fantastic.
*****************
a very gay buddy read with sass queen ✨ & pale pal ☁️
it's not that it was objectively more intriguing, or had a better plot. because honestly it didn't. but this felt so realistic and heartfelt and so very ME... i just loved it.
i'm not going to ramble about the plot or characters. but i want to point out how much i loved leah. she was so sarcastic and dramatic and had actual flaws. she got angry and would storm off. like... we stan a realistic queen. i think we often get annoyed when ya contemporary characters have personalities like this but i think we just need to take one long ass look at ourselves and realize we're not perfect and that we're probably more like these characters than we'd care to admit.
i will say, much like simon, i wish that the ending wasn't as abrupt as it was. i wish that the romance has blossomed just a taaaaad earlier on. and i would have liked to see just a little more development on the part of leah. it seemed like we got a lot of life tidbits about other characters but leah was just a background character in her own story. but then again, aren't we all?
go read this if you like sarcasm, sass, and representation. this was fantastic.
*****************
a very gay buddy read with sass queen ✨ & pale pal ☁️
January 7, 2021
EDIT TO 3 STARS (jan 7th 2021): this is my most popular review by far, so i don't think i can bring myself to delete it; additionally, i don't want to just....erase how happy this book made me when i first read it. but for a good while i've wanted to change this review, because on reflection there's a lot of things i dislike about this book, and i felt a little uncomfortable having this up when it isn't how i feel about the book any more. so my solution is to keep the original review below and just have this disclaimer at the top. so, disclaimer: this book is okay, but it's not the 5-star book i thought it was. i am also not the same person i was when i wrote it (i am not bi, it turns out!) so that reflects this change too. if you think it will mean a lot to you, it probably will, because it meant a lot to me. it doesn't any more. i have a lot more gripes with it now the rose-tinted glasses are off. that's all. thanks!
-------------------------------------------------------------
so here's some things you should know about me before i get into this:
- i'm bi, and was scared to come out to friends irl for so long, even though the ones i would've told are LGBTQ
- i'm. well. not on the skinny side of the weight spectrum
- i am pretty bad at dealing with emotions and can sometimes come across too blunt
- i doubt my own talents and abilities
- unrelated, but i'm writing this while very tired
so you can probably see why this book made me feel so SEEN. i thought simon vs made me feel comfortable with who i am, but then its sequel came about and HOO BOY. god damn, y'all. something about seeing so many aspects of myself portrayed by a main character in a book like this made me tear up when i finished reading this. i've never really felt that way before until leah burke came along. that's something that i'm going to hold close to my heart for a long time.
and not to be cheesy as shit but this book also made me feel like....everything might work out for me like it kind of did for leah, y'know? like, maybe one day i'll go to a college i love and get a girlfriend and come out and people will be okay with it and i'll feel brave enough to be proud of the things i'm good at. and i don't think a book has ever made me feel that way before. so thank you, becky. thank you for simon, but thank you most of all for leah <3
-------------------------------------------------------------
so here's some things you should know about me before i get into this:
- i'm bi, and was scared to come out to friends irl for so long, even though the ones i would've told are LGBTQ
- i'm. well. not on the skinny side of the weight spectrum
- i am pretty bad at dealing with emotions and can sometimes come across too blunt
- i doubt my own talents and abilities
- unrelated, but i'm writing this while very tired
so you can probably see why this book made me feel so SEEN. i thought simon vs made me feel comfortable with who i am, but then its sequel came about and HOO BOY. god damn, y'all. something about seeing so many aspects of myself portrayed by a main character in a book like this made me tear up when i finished reading this. i've never really felt that way before until leah burke came along. that's something that i'm going to hold close to my heart for a long time.
and not to be cheesy as shit but this book also made me feel like....everything might work out for me like it kind of did for leah, y'know? like, maybe one day i'll go to a college i love and get a girlfriend and come out and people will be okay with it and i'll feel brave enough to be proud of the things i'm good at. and i don't think a book has ever made me feel that way before. so thank you, becky. thank you for simon, but thank you most of all for leah <3
July 16, 2018
I wanted so badly to love this, but I clearly did not :( this honestly didn’t even feel like Becky Albertalli to me. It was a decent enough book, but so many of the scenes felt lazy or underdeveloped and the relationship felt SO forced. I’m hecka bummed.
January 6, 2022
Not to be overdramatic, but … I FOUND THE NEW “Okay? Okay.” OF YA CONTEMPORARIES, GUYS.
*
All I hear in my head when I see Leah on the Offbeat is girls like girls like boys do, nothing new. (If you catch the reference, ily.)
Also, it’s confirmed that there will be more Simon & B in this book (!!!), can I get a hELL YEAH.
“You keep running away.”
“You keep finding me.”
*
All I hear in my head when I see Leah on the Offbeat is girls like girls like boys do, nothing new. (If you catch the reference, ily.)
Also, it’s confirmed that there will be more Simon & B in this book (!!!), can I get a hELL YEAH.
♫ gal read with 🍊 & 💃🏻 & buddy read with 👦🏼
June 5, 2018
“I hate when assholes have talent. I want to live in a world where good people rule at everything and shitty people suck at everything.”
I really, really wanted to love this book. It was one of my most anticipated 2018 releases, and I was so excited to get this story from Becky Albertalli. For me personally, seeing a bisexual girl in a mainstream book I knew people would read really means a lot. Unfortunately this fell very very flat to me, and I’m going to be straight up here and acknowledge this may not be my most unbiased, objective review. I brought a lot of my ideas and hopes of what this book, and what Becky Albertalli would write, into this book and I think that played a part in my disappointment.
I’m going to start with the positives. I LOVED LEAH AS A MAIN CHARACTER SO MUCH. Her voice absolutely shone in this book and it dragged me into the story. Leah is a bit straight up and brash but I totally loved it, and it’s nice to see girls in YA getting more diverse, complex personalities that transcend archetypes. She, and this book in general, was also hilarious which is of course a massive plus. I seriously don't get why everyone's hating on her so much?? Like she's cool as fuck! (TEA. if she was a boy y'all would love her but people just HATE FEMALE CHARACTERS)
As with all Becky Albtertalli books, this was very readable. Once you started with this one, it was very hard to put it down. Albteralli infuses her works with such life and fun that you can’t help fall deep into the story. Her books are un-putdown-able.
But here’s where I get to my first issue. Compared to other Albtertalli books, I found so many parts of this book a slog. A lot of this book revolved around drama and fights and other friendship group messiness I just really could have done without. And here’s the thing: from any other author I probably wouldn’t have minded. But I expected something fluffy and fun and I just feel like instead I kinda got misery and it was annoying. I found the drama really upsetting at times.
On that, I also felt like a lot of Leah on the Offbeat felt clunky and out of character. I often felt like aspects of Leah, including Leah’s and Abby’s backstory and how some of the characters interacted, was super out of line with Simon Vs. I want to put a note here that I saw Love, Simon before reading this and that could have influenced by perceptions. But I still felt like, overall, some of the events and drama felt really, really out of place.
“Imagine going about your day knowing someone’s carrying you in their mind. That has to be the best part of being in love- the feeling of having a home in some else’s brain.”
One big aspect of this book for me was the bisexual rep. I was curious to see what it would be like and how the main f/f ship would be handled.
I’ll say first of all I generally enjoyed the rep, up until about 3/4 through. Leah was bisexual on page, which was nice. Leah spoke about her crushes and ships and the way she mentioned both men and women was really cute. I loved that she shipped both Ninej and also Percabeth. I also liked the discussion around coming out, and how it was uncomfortable, maybe even more so since her friends were out. I also think her being bi made so much sense with Simon Vs (idk how yall missed it but like,,, she literally is the person who introduced simon to queer fanfiction and you all actually thought she was straight??)
The f/f ship was cute, and I liked how it developed. The way that Leah spoke about the girl she was into was so soft and sweet, and it was really nice following how their relationship developed. Plus, the epilogue gave me LIFE. But again, I felt like so much of the potential aww’nesss of the relationship was ruined by the drama. The angst and mess wasn’t balanced enough for me so it was just annoying. I also HATED the first kiss and how it played out. I also think it was disappointing how many interactions with the main couple were fraught with misunderstandings and miscommunication.
And as mentioned earlier, 3/4 through something happened which I really didn’t like. This was the discussion between Leah and her LI about being bi. I’m going to link Marianne’s review, because she goes into it more depth and echoes what I think about this scene.
This scene was very unsettling to me. I understand what it was trying to do – point out that bisexual girls aren’t just in it for LAUGHS but that we’re actually genuinely queer, not straight girls messing around. But this scene really missed the mark. It upset me a bit, and I think it’d definitely hurt questioning people. I also think it’s just kind of wrong. Being “lowkey bi” is valid. The implication is that she’s a bit into girls, and you know what, if you’re a girl who likes girls only a little bit, that is VALID. I think this scene really, really missed the mark. And I’m actually really surprised and shocked it passed so many sensitivity readers.
“I'm basically your resident fat Slytherin Rory Gilmore.”
Okay, so yeah I didn't love this book, but I don't think it's bad either. It just isn't what I wanted from this book. I feel like if I reread it I might like it more upon rereading. But for me this had too many elements I didn't want and not enough I did. (OKAY FORGOT TO NOTE BUT, SIMON AND BLUE ARE CUTE)
I don't think people should be deterred from picking this up. Becky Albertalli writes good books, this one just wasn't for me and not everything came together in a satisfying way for me.
(on a salty side note, some of y'alls reviews for this book are disgraceful and y'all don't deserve gay girls bc you don't treat them right.)
September 29, 2020
1.) Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda ★★★★★
2.) The Upside of Unrequited ★★★★
3.) Leah on the Offbeat ★★★★★
3.5) Love, Creekwood ★★★★
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JUST FREAKING WONDERFUL SJHBFKSJDHFBKSDHJF
2.) The Upside of Unrequited ★★★★
3.) Leah on the Offbeat ★★★★★
3.5) Love, Creekwood ★★★★
--------------------------------------------------
JUST FREAKING WONDERFUL SJHBFKSJDHFBKSDHJF
May 17, 2018
Bumping this down to 3 stars
Here are some issues I had with this one:
-Leah's story picks up towards the end of senior year when the whole school is buzzing with prom and the official start of "this is the last time we'll all be together" that leads up to graduation. While it was super nice to see Leah back with the gang from Simon vs. it almost felt like the story was more focused on them and not Leah. I'm not sure if the point of this was to emphasize that Leah sometimes feels like an outsider to her friends or that everyone else's lives are moving along perfectly without her but if it was I think it kind of failed to do so because it definitely made the story feel a little all over the place.
-Leah is a very difficult girl to connect with. She is very much the type of person that when something goes wrong she shuts down and as Leah's mom says "burn everything to the ground". However, I felt like some the reasons she got angry were a little too juvenile. I'm aware that she's a teenager in high school with insecurities and anxiety but I mean when something isn't going your way that doesn't give you the right to be hurtful to your loved ones. Pair that with the fact that I went to this already not liking her and it was much easier for me to roll my eyes every time she got pissed off rather than sympathize with her. Also, I've mentioned this in other reviews but I absolutely HATE when people are mean to their parents. That's an instant dislike from me.
-Leah saying her love interest couldn't label herself as "a little bit bi" when clearly said love interest was confused on her sexuality. THAT'S A HARD NO. Just because Leah has her sexuality figured out does not give her the right to decide someone else's label. And when she pulled that shitty line of "you can't be a little bit pregnant, you either are or you aren't" my eyes damn near blew out of my head. Needless to say, that left a VERY sour taste in my mouth afterwords.
-Very minimal if any character development? I mean, Leah was just the worst at times to her friends and family but they just let it slide and continued to let her be a shitty person 90% of the time.
Things I'm on the fence about in this one:
-The love interest in this story. I don't know guys, sometimes I liked it, sometimes I wasn't feeling it, other times I had big issues with who it was. I was definitely surprised though. NO SPOILERS!
-The ending. It seemed like a perfectly happy end but I also felt it was a little unrealistic and VERY rushed. As I was nearing the end of the book I'm not gonna lie I was starting to sweat a little to see the end rapidly approaching but know that there should have been a lot more going on.
Things I loved in this one:
-I was actually super happy to have the gang all back together again. I know I kind of complained about it in #1 on the dislike list BUT it was a lot of fun to see what was going on in the Creekwood High world, and what Simon and the gang would be up to once high school ends. I just wish it wasn't so heavily focused on everyone else instead of Leah in the beginning.
-Leah's mom was an actual riot and I loved her. If my mom wasn't so amazing I might actually really want Leah's mom to be my mom.
-Leah curses literally ALL THE TIME and it's so nice to have a YA character with a vocabulary as extensive as mine ;)
-Leah doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks about her size and loves herself and I seriously wish that was me.
-The mentions of Harry Potter are always appreciated and Leah thinking she's the worst kind of Slytherin because she's in love with a Gryffindor is honestly the cutest.
-Lastly, Leah standing up, pointing out, and fighting for Abby when Morgan made an inappropriate and ignorant racial comment. I loved that Leah refused to be a bystander in that situation.
Overall, I didn't hate this one but in no way did I love this either. While Leah does have her flaws it was nice to see inside her head and get an idea on who she really is vs. the tough facade she puts on majority of the time. Unfortunately, I'm sad to see some of my favorites go, but I honestly don't think Leah will really be that missed.
Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Here are some issues I had with this one:
-Leah's story picks up towards the end of senior year when the whole school is buzzing with prom and the official start of "this is the last time we'll all be together" that leads up to graduation. While it was super nice to see Leah back with the gang from Simon vs. it almost felt like the story was more focused on them and not Leah. I'm not sure if the point of this was to emphasize that Leah sometimes feels like an outsider to her friends or that everyone else's lives are moving along perfectly without her but if it was I think it kind of failed to do so because it definitely made the story feel a little all over the place.
-Leah is a very difficult girl to connect with. She is very much the type of person that when something goes wrong she shuts down and as Leah's mom says "burn everything to the ground". However, I felt like some the reasons she got angry were a little too juvenile. I'm aware that she's a teenager in high school with insecurities and anxiety but I mean when something isn't going your way that doesn't give you the right to be hurtful to your loved ones. Pair that with the fact that I went to this already not liking her and it was much easier for me to roll my eyes every time she got pissed off rather than sympathize with her. Also, I've mentioned this in other reviews but I absolutely HATE when people are mean to their parents. That's an instant dislike from me.
-Leah saying her love interest couldn't label herself as "a little bit bi" when clearly said love interest was confused on her sexuality. THAT'S A HARD NO. Just because Leah has her sexuality figured out does not give her the right to decide someone else's label. And when she pulled that shitty line of "you can't be a little bit pregnant, you either are or you aren't" my eyes damn near blew out of my head. Needless to say, that left a VERY sour taste in my mouth afterwords.
-Very minimal if any character development? I mean, Leah was just the worst at times to her friends and family but they just let it slide and continued to let her be a shitty person 90% of the time.
Things I'm on the fence about in this one:
-The love interest in this story. I don't know guys, sometimes I liked it, sometimes I wasn't feeling it, other times I had big issues with who it was. I was definitely surprised though. NO SPOILERS!
-The ending. It seemed like a perfectly happy end but I also felt it was a little unrealistic and VERY rushed. As I was nearing the end of the book I'm not gonna lie I was starting to sweat a little to see the end rapidly approaching but know that there should have been a lot more going on.
Things I loved in this one:
-I was actually super happy to have the gang all back together again. I know I kind of complained about it in #1 on the dislike list BUT it was a lot of fun to see what was going on in the Creekwood High world, and what Simon and the gang would be up to once high school ends. I just wish it wasn't so heavily focused on everyone else instead of Leah in the beginning.
-Leah's mom was an actual riot and I loved her. If my mom wasn't so amazing I might actually really want Leah's mom to be my mom.
-Leah curses literally ALL THE TIME and it's so nice to have a YA character with a vocabulary as extensive as mine ;)
-Leah doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks about her size and loves herself and I seriously wish that was me.
-The mentions of Harry Potter are always appreciated and Leah thinking she's the worst kind of Slytherin because she's in love with a Gryffindor is honestly the cutest.
-Lastly, Leah standing up, pointing out, and fighting for Abby when Morgan made an inappropriate and ignorant racial comment. I loved that Leah refused to be a bystander in that situation.
Overall, I didn't hate this one but in no way did I love this either. While Leah does have her flaws it was nice to see inside her head and get an idea on who she really is vs. the tough facade she puts on majority of the time. Unfortunately, I'm sad to see some of my favorites go, but I honestly don't think Leah will really be that missed.
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September 11, 2018
couldn't be more disappointed.... I'm so relieved to be done with this atrocity of fan service masquerading as a novel... RTC if I can bring myself to dedicate any more of my time to think about all the flaws of this book.
July 30, 2018
“RIP Leah Burke. She died of acute awkwardosis.”
3.5 ⭐️
So this was thoroughly enjoyable! I loved being back in Creekwood with the gang! Leah was one of my faves from Simon Vs and she was super relatable.
I didn’t love this one as much as Simon Vs, I’ve seen other reviewers say it reads like fan fiction, and I can definitely see that. To swap a characters sexuality from one book to another seems strange, but equally it happens and is understandable and believable at the same time.
The best thing about Leah is that she is real. She is angry, flawed and cares deeply about her friends. Whenever she flipped out or felt awkward, her behaviour resonated with me.
“When I’m mad I escape. It’s what I do. I stalk out of rooms and storm down hallways and disappear into bathroom stalls. Because if I stay, I’ll lose my shit at someone.”
The ending was as expected, massively cheesy. But overall I enjoyed this quick, happy read.
3.5 ⭐️
So this was thoroughly enjoyable! I loved being back in Creekwood with the gang! Leah was one of my faves from Simon Vs and she was super relatable.
I didn’t love this one as much as Simon Vs, I’ve seen other reviewers say it reads like fan fiction, and I can definitely see that. To swap a characters sexuality from one book to another seems strange, but equally it happens and is understandable and believable at the same time.
The best thing about Leah is that she is real. She is angry, flawed and cares deeply about her friends. Whenever she flipped out or felt awkward, her behaviour resonated with me.
“When I’m mad I escape. It’s what I do. I stalk out of rooms and storm down hallways and disappear into bathroom stalls. Because if I stay, I’ll lose my shit at someone.”
The ending was as expected, massively cheesy. But overall I enjoyed this quick, happy read.
December 24, 2021
Leah wasn't my most favorite character in the first book, so I had this on my maybe-pile for so long before giving it a shot. But I ended up falling in love with these nerdy goofballs from Shady Creek.
Leah was just so sarcastic and savage. Her inner monologues made my day. I liked the fact that she was so effing real and relatable.
Garrett's one sided crush on Leah was so adorable. I'm kinda hoping there will be a book for him and Morgan (I'm with Leah when I say I still can't believe it!!!).
Leah's and Abby's mutual crush, love or whatever it was, was too cute for words. The perpetually moody asshole and the school's resident sweetheart finding themselves in the same corner. Ahh, the joys of first love!
But..
But....
Simon and Bram are still my OTP!
Leah was just so sarcastic and savage. Her inner monologues made my day. I liked the fact that she was so effing real and relatable.
Garrett's one sided crush on Leah was so adorable. I'm kinda hoping there will be a book for him and Morgan (I'm with Leah when I say I still can't believe it!!!).
Leah's and Abby's mutual crush, love or whatever it was, was too cute for words. The perpetually moody asshole and the school's resident sweetheart finding themselves in the same corner. Ahh, the joys of first love!
But..
But....
Simon and Bram are still my OTP!
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