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rai's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
mayankamal18's review against another edition
4.0
I had to stop reading a few times because of the jump scares this book gave me. No joke, I felt my heart curving through my throat at times. At other times I was jumping on the bed, at others i was screaming at sentences.
Not a fun sight.
My family already thinks I'm crazy, this book really let that sink in.
Anyhow what I'm trying to say is; i have a certain level of cringe slash awkwardness tolerance and even though this book exceeded it, i still read on.
So i guess it was a good kind of cringe if that's even a thing.
I know this review sounds like a roast, but even though I had to stop reading a few times to recharge from some of the awkward scenes, I still highly enjoyed the book regardless.
Not a fun sight.
My family already thinks I'm crazy, this book really let that sink in.
Anyhow what I'm trying to say is; i have a certain level of cringe slash awkwardness tolerance and even though this book exceeded it, i still read on.
So i guess it was a good kind of cringe if that's even a thing.
I know this review sounds like a roast, but even though I had to stop reading a few times to recharge from some of the awkward scenes, I still highly enjoyed the book regardless.
sianyrou's review against another edition
4.0
Why did I put this book down in 2018 and wait so long to pick it up. It was so good. I love Ben and Arthur as a couple and can’t wait for the sequel now
joanna1905's review against another edition
4.0
Reread #2 - 10/01/19
So as much as it hurts my soul, I had to bump this down to a four stars. I still stand by 100% of my original review but after rereading this after the hype has died down I have to be more honest with myself.
It really pains me to say this but this book was definitely a tad underwhelming. The hype around this book was insane and I think it really just set our expectations a little to high.
Having said that I still think this book is fantastic, while it might not be as incredible as their stand alone works it’s still a really well done book.
I still struggled to tell trouble which boy is which because but It wasn’t quite as bad as did during the first read.
I still don’t understand why Ethan became a trash friend just because he started dating Jess, there was zero explanation for this. Every time Arthur texted him it had nothing to do with Jess and there’s no reason why he couldn’t shoot a quick reply back.
But honestly I think the main issue with this book is that there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between Ben and Arthur. When Ben is thinking about Arthur or talking to Dylan about him, he ACTS so into him. However, as soon as they’re out on a date he acts super distant and doesn’t seem interested at all. It all seems very one sided and it makes me feel so bad for Arthur.
The ending is definitely what I expected from a collab between these two and I think this middle round fit perfectly.
All in all, while not perfect I think this is a super promising start for the first collab between these two (and the first collab either of them have ever done) and I definitely recommend giving it a read if your a fan of queer lit!
————————————————————————————————————
FINALLY YA'LL I'VE BEEN SO DANG EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK!! Becky Albertalli is one of my absolute favourite authors, and I also adore Adam Silvera (though I've only read one of his standalone novels atm, I plan to read the other two VERY soon!!).
I wasn't 100% sure what to expect because while they write similar content (queer ya contemporary novels), they also have pretty different styles. While Becky's books are happy fluffy romcoms that also address super important issues, Adam is pretty different - often incorporating fantastical elements and a penchant for tragic endings (though like I said my knowledge is limited as I've only read one of his books so far). However, due to their friendship, I knew it was probably going to be fantastic, and it was!
Their writing styles worked really well together and made the story flow really seamlessly!
I'm not gonna lie, while I still gave this 5 stars I didn't enjoy it as much as I did SimonVS and Leah, It didn't feel quite like quintessential Becky. But that isn't a bad thing, and to be honest I didn't expect it to be since this isn't a solo work!
The one criticism I have is that at times I would forget whose pov I was reading, I thought that it would be easier to tell the characters apart because different authors usually have different voices, however, there were multiple times I had to double check. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, and I think it was largely caused by the fact that I speed through the book because I was so invested. So when I do my first re-read I will definitely see if I feel the same way.
Something that really surprised me was the lack of confronting social issues. Becky does this pretty extensively in all her works, and really tackles and dismantles lgbtq+, poc, female etc stereotypes and often discusses racism and homophobia. But this was significantly less prevalent in this book. I really loved Ben's identity struggle with being grateful (idk if that's the right word) that he's not a common target for racism because he's white passing but simultaneously never feeling Puto Rican enough. While I can't personally relate I know this is something a lot of white passing poc people go through, so it's great to see that experience represented on paper.
There was one tiny scene where some homophobic dude is rude to them but it ended pretty quickly and once it was over didn't have much relevance to the story. I did also like that Ben wasn't super ballin, heaps of ya stories feature characters that have more cash than most of us could dream of having, so it was definitely a cool aspect.
I do think a key reason for this was because unlike Becky's solos these characters were both out and proud already, so there wasn't much of a self-acceptance storyline. Which is why this feels slightly less impactful than her other work, BUT IT'S STILL FANTASTIC AND IT IS IMPACTFUL! Just not /quite/ as impactful as the others. Which is fine, no one wants the same book a thousand times!
MISSING OUT ON HAMILTON WAS SO TRAGIC AND IM SO SAD ARTHER NEVER GOT TO SEE IT!
The one plotline that I really didn't understand was why Ethan stopped texting Arthur, he blamed his relationship with Jess but I have literally no idea how that was relevant. It seemed like a pretty bad excuse like if he had started dating some other random girl it would have made more sense. But since they were a friendship group and Jess still made time for Arther, it makes no sense why Ethan couldn't do the same.
While I would have liked a slightly more hopeful ending (I'm a sucker for happy endings, what can I say?) I also think the ending was really well done. It made perfect sense with the rest of the book and so I'm not even mad that it wasn't the perfect happily ever after. Because that's unrealistic as heck anyway. Also, the ending was exactly the type of ending I expected from an AlbertalliXSilvera collab, it was happy and sweet but not a perfect happily ever after either.
I know I've been a bit more critical of this book than I typically would be when it comes to Becky, but I did absolutely adore this book! It's a great addition to my collection of queer lit and I can't wait to read it again! It achieved something really awesome, giving a queer couple a really realistic ending. Don't get me wrong I love super fluffy endings, and considering how much tragic queer content is in the world - we need that happy stuff! But it's also important to show teenagers that relationships and love aren't perfect, mistakes happen and everything not working out the way you planned isn't a tragedy.
So it's 5/5 from me and I anxiously await every and all future work from both Becky and Adam - independently or as a team!
What a fantastic collab!
So as much as it hurts my soul, I had to bump this down to a four stars. I still stand by 100% of my original review but after rereading this after the hype has died down I have to be more honest with myself.
It really pains me to say this but this book was definitely a tad underwhelming. The hype around this book was insane and I think it really just set our expectations a little to high.
Having said that I still think this book is fantastic, while it might not be as incredible as their stand alone works it’s still a really well done book.
I still struggled to tell trouble which boy is which because but It wasn’t quite as bad as did during the first read.
I still don’t understand why Ethan became a trash friend just because he started dating Jess, there was zero explanation for this. Every time Arthur texted him it had nothing to do with Jess and there’s no reason why he couldn’t shoot a quick reply back.
But honestly I think the main issue with this book is that there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between Ben and Arthur. When Ben is thinking about Arthur or talking to Dylan about him, he ACTS so into him. However, as soon as they’re out on a date he acts super distant and doesn’t seem interested at all. It all seems very one sided and it makes me feel so bad for Arthur.
The ending is definitely what I expected from a collab between these two and I think this middle round fit perfectly.
All in all, while not perfect I think this is a super promising start for the first collab between these two (and the first collab either of them have ever done) and I definitely recommend giving it a read if your a fan of queer lit!
————————————————————————————————————
FINALLY YA'LL I'VE BEEN SO DANG EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK!! Becky Albertalli is one of my absolute favourite authors, and I also adore Adam Silvera (though I've only read one of his standalone novels atm, I plan to read the other two VERY soon!!).
I wasn't 100% sure what to expect because while they write similar content (queer ya contemporary novels), they also have pretty different styles. While Becky's books are happy fluffy romcoms that also address super important issues, Adam is pretty different - often incorporating fantastical elements and a penchant for tragic endings (though like I said my knowledge is limited as I've only read one of his books so far). However, due to their friendship, I knew it was probably going to be fantastic, and it was!
Their writing styles worked really well together and made the story flow really seamlessly!
I'm not gonna lie, while I still gave this 5 stars I didn't enjoy it as much as I did SimonVS and Leah, It didn't feel quite like quintessential Becky. But that isn't a bad thing, and to be honest I didn't expect it to be since this isn't a solo work!
The one criticism I have is that at times I would forget whose pov I was reading, I thought that it would be easier to tell the characters apart because different authors usually have different voices, however, there were multiple times I had to double check. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing, and I think it was largely caused by the fact that I speed through the book because I was so invested. So when I do my first re-read I will definitely see if I feel the same way.
Something that really surprised me was the lack of confronting social issues. Becky does this pretty extensively in all her works, and really tackles and dismantles lgbtq+, poc, female etc stereotypes and often discusses racism and homophobia. But this was significantly less prevalent in this book. I really loved Ben's identity struggle with being grateful (idk if that's the right word) that he's not a common target for racism because he's white passing but simultaneously never feeling Puto Rican enough. While I can't personally relate I know this is something a lot of white passing poc people go through, so it's great to see that experience represented on paper.
There was one tiny scene where some homophobic dude is rude to them but it ended pretty quickly and once it was over didn't have much relevance to the story. I did also like that Ben wasn't super ballin, heaps of ya stories feature characters that have more cash than most of us could dream of having, so it was definitely a cool aspect.
I do think a key reason for this was because unlike Becky's solos these characters were both out and proud already, so there wasn't much of a self-acceptance storyline. Which is why this feels slightly less impactful than her other work, BUT IT'S STILL FANTASTIC AND IT IS IMPACTFUL! Just not /quite/ as impactful as the others. Which is fine, no one wants the same book a thousand times!
MISSING OUT ON HAMILTON WAS SO TRAGIC AND IM SO SAD ARTHER NEVER GOT TO SEE IT!
The one plotline that I really didn't understand was why Ethan stopped texting Arthur, he blamed his relationship with Jess but I have literally no idea how that was relevant. It seemed like a pretty bad excuse like if he had started dating some other random girl it would have made more sense. But since they were a friendship group and Jess still made time for Arther, it makes no sense why Ethan couldn't do the same.
While I would have liked a slightly more hopeful ending (I'm a sucker for happy endings, what can I say?) I also think the ending was really well done. It made perfect sense with the rest of the book and so I'm not even mad that it wasn't the perfect happily ever after. Because that's unrealistic as heck anyway. Also, the ending was exactly the type of ending I expected from an AlbertalliXSilvera collab, it was happy and sweet but not a perfect happily ever after either.
I know I've been a bit more critical of this book than I typically would be when it comes to Becky, but I did absolutely adore this book! It's a great addition to my collection of queer lit and I can't wait to read it again! It achieved something really awesome, giving a queer couple a really realistic ending. Don't get me wrong I love super fluffy endings, and considering how much tragic queer content is in the world - we need that happy stuff! But it's also important to show teenagers that relationships and love aren't perfect, mistakes happen and everything not working out the way you planned isn't a tragedy.
So it's 5/5 from me and I anxiously await every and all future work from both Becky and Adam - independently or as a team!
What a fantastic collab!
christilee_'s review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! Made me smile and laugh out loud. Definitely recommend.
noahthetransformer's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
elisetu's review against another edition
4.0
Okay. I'm about to get real here's.
What. The. Fuck. did i read? I didnt think i would be this confused and mad at this book. Like, i wanted to throw it. The mix of toxic and cute, what the hell..
.
they fucking break up. WHY?!
im mad at myself cause i bought the second book. I need closure, damn it.
What. The. Fuck. did i read? I didnt think i would be this confused and mad at this book. Like, i wanted to throw it. The mix of toxic and cute, what the hell..
.
they fucking break up. WHY?!
im mad at myself cause i bought the second book. I need closure, damn it.
art1610's review against another edition
3.0
Wow. Just, wow. First book I've read in a few months. I couldn't put it down. I think Ben and Arthur are really cute.
Anyway, I found a lot of stuff hilarious about this book. Like, the dinosaur porn was top notch. Dylan as a character was funny, and Samantha did fail as Nancy Drew, but at least she's Dylan's future wife.
My friend let me borrow the book, it was on me tbr already, and I had completely forgotten the plot of it, but when I saw Dear Evan Hansen on the first paragraph I knew I would love it.
Totally recommend it.
Spoiler
I'm also hoping that they do end up together.Anyway, I found a lot of stuff hilarious about this book. Like, the dinosaur porn was top notch. Dylan as a character was funny, and Samantha did fail as Nancy Drew, but at least she's Dylan's future wife.
My friend let me borrow the book, it was on me tbr already, and I had completely forgotten the plot of it, but when I saw Dear Evan Hansen on the first paragraph I knew I would love it.
Totally recommend it.