Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Upside of Unrequited

I always enjoy Becky Abertalli’s books and this was no exception. I found the main character Molly difficult to like but only because she was SO much like me in the most difficult parts of my adolescence—painfully self-conscious, unsure how to be herself around other people, desperate for social approval but also terrified of rejection—basically a whole mess. But her friends love her anyway and the majority of the relationship dynamics portrayed in the book were overall supportive and healthy. And Molly herself has a reasonable amount of self-reflection and growth before the book concludes. I found it a sweet and uplifting quick read.

Content Warnings

claddel's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I so loved this book in the beginning! The diverse cast of characters, the kind of humor, the whole set! I then found the story predictable and at the end it’s all about the boyfriend and a wedding, which didn’t catch my attention. I wanted to read the book until the end, but the last 40 pages I only flew over the text. Overall it was a cute coming of age story but in a way these kind of stories were told a thousand times before, only with LGBTQIA+ PoC Jewish people body positivity. Also I didn’t like the normalisation of antidepressants. I wanted to love this book, but at the end I found it okayish.

Content Warnings

emmaward55's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Painfully heartfelt and empathetic, this was a book that I saw far too much of myself in. I don't think I've processed it enough to really review it yet, but I did love the sheer amount of Sapphic stories happening all around Molly.

The only real change I would have liked would have been to get Cassie's perspective as a dual narrative, both to bring one of the Sapphic romances into the fore and to get a better idea of how Cassie saw the events of the book. I wanted to understand her better! It's not a big deal though, I get that we're meant to feel Molly's isolation and her confusion at certain key points in the novel.

Content Warnings

rayne_1906's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Audiobook 5 hours 36 minutes - I enjoyed listening to this book quite a lot. I liked all the characters, and I didn't find the plot overly unrealistic, which is quite rare for contemporary YA books - they usually contain huge, unrealistic coincidences that the reader is forced to just accept, but this book felt like it could just happen in real life for the most part. I absolutely loved that the characters tied in from Albertalli's other books - I didn't expect it and I was so excited when I realised that the Abby in this book is the same Abby as in Simon vs. the Homosapien's Agenda, and Leah on the Offbeat. One issue I did have with this book however, was sometimes, the same problems were just talked about too much, with too much time until they got resolved, which made it slightly boring in parts. Also, sometimes the language the author used was simply just cringy, and while I realise it is an attempt at humour, just felt more like second-hand embarrassment. All in all though, this was a good book about teenage relationships of all kinds, and I did enjoy it.

Content Warnings

libss's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

More...