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robinks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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
5.0
This was such a cute story, with a fun cast of characters (that the voice actors brought to life beautifully). The conflicts between the guys and their feelings were so realistic. I can’t wait to listen to the sequel, especially after the epilogues!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content, Alcohol, and Mental illness
caroline_peacock's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
thebookpaiges's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
wildatheart1339's review against another edition
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cursing, Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Alcohol
thetinysnail's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
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
Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Racism and Sexual content
whosfernn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.25
A beautiful story about teenage love and longing (plus how it's possible to be friends with your exes). Totally going to read the sequel if I get chance!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime
Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Racism, Death, Medical content, Sexual content, and Alcohol
bumblemee's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This was really, really sweet - no highlight for me, but I enjoyed reading it. I liked Ben and Arthur, even though the latter is a little overdramatic, but hey: he's a teenager and a theatre kid, so I guess that's fine. I connected with their interests in creative writing and theatre and liked how they involved the other in their interests.
I must say that I didn't get that invested in the romance, something didn't really click with me. Idk, I didn't really get why they fell for each other, but I did enjoy them as a couple? Can't explain that very well, I think.
All in all a sweet book to read if you're looking for a lighthearted romance with loveable characters. Though, if you are someone who wants to avoid books that contain a lot of Harry Potter references, you should skip this one because there's a lot of them, as well as mentioning appreciation for JKR (book was written before that women unmasked herself though).
I must say that I didn't get that invested in the romance, something didn't really click with me. Idk, I didn't really get why they fell for each other, but I did enjoy them as a couple? Can't explain that very well, I think.
All in all a sweet book to read if you're looking for a lighthearted romance with loveable characters. Though, if you are someone who wants to avoid books that contain a lot of Harry Potter references, you should skip this one because there's a lot of them, as well as mentioning appreciation for JKR (book was written before that women unmasked herself though).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual content
catdoof's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Not only was there an obscene amount of pop culture references (here’s a game, take a shot everytime, you won’t even be alive after), the characters are unlovable, cliche, and their issues not relatable, stupid, and lead to literally no where. The book was incredibly frustrating to get through and I constantly found myself rolling my eyes. Moments that were obviously supposed to be emotional and hard hitting generally were not, leading to eye rolls. This book reaches. A lot. Not worth a read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
ericadawson's review
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
My caveat is that I don't normally like/read romcoms, but I'm always willing to branch out when I can. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped.
In What If It's Us, we're taken through the month-long romantic journey of a post-office meetcute between Ben and Arthur. I liked Ben, I liked his comparatively chill personality, and I liked that he was chill for the most part. His aloofness being a result of just a nervous nature was nice.
I did not like Arthur. His sometimes annoyingly horny antics and internal thought processes had me cringing through a good deal of his PoV chapters. I can't really root for someone who's so socially unaware that he'll call his Puerto Rican boyfriend "so white" and then buy 36 condoms and brings all of them to his boyfriends house because he wants sex and just assumes his boyfriend is ready. Arthur's flaws aren't flaws that I'm against--but I hate their execution. He lacks self awareness and I'm not really sure he gained it by the end of the book, although the epilogue was nice.
He's also rude, and his frankly extreme jealous had me groaning and rolling my eyes (if your boyfriend and your boyfriend's ex both leave the summer school building because summer school is over for the day, then "why is he (ex-bf) here?" has a painfully obvious answer that is not "cheating"). In general, I found Arthur's voice/writing to be weaker than Ben's overall.
It's a shame, because at first I was really rooting for Ben and Arthur to get together. But what ended up happening was that both of them got more annoying and gave me more secondhand embarrassment after they got together. A Hamilton obsession on top of a JKR/Harry Potter obsession on top of an Obama-worship personality is a lot for two teens in one book. Considering that Hamilton is explicitly racist (why would you make slave owners Black unless you didn't like Black people?), Obama had some serious scandal with his drone strike program, and JKR is.....what she is now, this book was frankly painful to read.
The dialogue was nice at first, if only because I'm more used to the formality of high fantasy writing, but that also got old (mainly on Arthur's end) very quickly as well. Dylan's personality got old as well. I lost patience with the former very quickly, and I really lost sympathy when he basically threw a temper tantrum outside Ben's school over a wild assumption he made.
Can I say this book had potential? I'm not sure. Arthur annoyed me throughout. I liked Ben a decent amount. I really like Sam, but Sam and Dylan came across like adults or at least older teens than Ben and Arthur. Too much second-hand embarrassment for me to really settle in. Three and something stars.
In What If It's Us, we're taken through the month-long romantic journey of a post-office meetcute between Ben and Arthur. I liked Ben, I liked his comparatively chill personality, and I liked that he was chill for the most part. His aloofness being a result of just a nervous nature was nice.
I did not like Arthur. His sometimes annoyingly horny antics and internal thought processes had me cringing through a good deal of his PoV chapters. I can't really root for someone who's so socially unaware that he'll call his Puerto Rican boyfriend "so white" and then buy 36 condoms and brings all of them to his boyfriends house because he wants sex and just assumes his boyfriend is ready. Arthur's flaws aren't flaws that I'm against--but I hate their execution. He lacks self awareness and I'm not really sure he gained it by the end of the book, although the epilogue was nice.
He's also rude, and his frankly extreme jealous had me groaning and rolling my eyes (if your boyfriend and your boyfriend's ex both leave the summer school building because summer school is over for the day, then "why is he (ex-bf) here?" has a painfully obvious answer that is not "cheating"). In general, I found Arthur's voice/writing to be weaker than Ben's overall.
It's a shame, because at first I was really rooting for Ben and Arthur to get together. But what ended up happening was that both of them got more annoying and gave me more secondhand embarrassment after they got together. A Hamilton obsession on top of a JKR/Harry Potter obsession on top of an Obama-worship personality is a lot for two teens in one book. Considering that Hamilton is explicitly racist (why would you make slave owners Black unless you didn't like Black people?), Obama had some serious scandal with his drone strike program, and JKR is.....what she is now, this book was frankly painful to read.
The dialogue was nice at first, if only because I'm more used to the formality of high fantasy writing, but that also got old (mainly on Arthur's end) very quickly as well. Dylan's personality got old as well. I lost patience with the former very quickly, and I really lost sympathy when he basically threw a temper tantrum outside Ben's school over a wild assumption he made.
Can I say this book had potential? I'm not sure. Arthur annoyed me throughout. I liked Ben a decent amount. I really like Sam, but Sam and Dylan came across like adults or at least older teens than Ben and Arthur. Too much second-hand embarrassment for me to really settle in. Three and something stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Racism
hales_1243's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content