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irisvdn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
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
3.25
I liked this book. Nothing special, just a nice romance book.
I liked Arthur more than Ben though, Ben was a little superficious about Arthurs appearance (height) for example.
I don't know what to think of the ending
I liked Arthur more than Ben though, Ben was a little superficious about Arthurs appearance (height) for example.
I don't know what to think of the ending
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Toxic relationship and Alcohol
reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.75
What If It's Us is a 2018 novel by american authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.
It talks about topics like relationship, friendships and the obstacles these oftentimes face.
The book consists of 37 chapters, an epilogue, acknowledgements and information about the authors.
The plot of this novel revolves around Arthur, a teenager from Georgia who lives in New York City over the summer and Ben, a teenager who is a New York City resident. Both of them are gay and once they meet they're story begins.
This story has so much in it and I loved it so much. I am a total sucker for romances,especially when they are MLM, which made this perfect for me. The way tbis story had its ups and downs and how the consintency made it easy to follow was so good. Furthermore this has been an absolute catcher for my attention. I could ,so often, not stop readingthis and it was hard to put this down.
The characters are just awesome! Every single character had it's own personality, even if they appeared only for a short time. But I did not expect any different from two of my favorite authors. Moreover, this book has a realy diverse cast of characters with multiple LGBTQ+, jewish and latinx characters.
Thw writing was easy to get into and not at all complicated which makes it easy to read this, even for non-native speakers. Fun fact, this was the first English novel I've ever read, so it can also be a great start to get into English novels and books.
The simplicity of the wtiting made it also to focus completely on the story while reading by not having to struggle with difficult words or grammar.
Things I especially liked were the pop-cultural references in the story because I am a huge fan of modern poo-culture. Especially the Broadway and musical references were pure gold, in my opinion. However, there are some references that are by now far out-dated and should no longer be used. I'm looking at you JKR and HP references.
To sum up, this book was an absolute delight to read. Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera are two of my favorite authors and their stories always make me very emotional. I sometimes even shed a tear.
I can only recommend this, but please take note of the content warnings, as usual.
It talks about topics like relationship, friendships and the obstacles these oftentimes face.
The book consists of 37 chapters, an epilogue, acknowledgements and information about the authors.
The plot of this novel revolves around Arthur, a teenager from Georgia who lives in New York City over the summer and Ben, a teenager who is a New York City resident. Both of them are gay and once they meet they're story begins.
This story has so much in it and I loved it so much. I am a total sucker for romances,especially when they are MLM, which made this perfect for me. The way tbis story had its ups and downs and how the consintency made it easy to follow was so good. Furthermore this has been an absolute catcher for my attention. I could ,so often, not stop readingthis and it was hard to put this down.
The characters are just awesome! Every single character had it's own personality, even if they appeared only for a short time. But I did not expect any different from two of my favorite authors. Moreover, this book has a realy diverse cast of characters with multiple LGBTQ+, jewish and latinx characters.
Thw writing was easy to get into and not at all complicated which makes it easy to read this, even for non-native speakers. Fun fact, this was the first English novel I've ever read, so it can also be a great start to get into English novels and books.
The simplicity of the wtiting made it also to focus completely on the story while reading by not having to struggle with difficult words or grammar.
Things I especially liked were the pop-cultural references in the story because I am a huge fan of modern poo-culture. Especially the Broadway and musical references were pure gold, in my opinion. However, there are some references that are by now far out-dated and should no longer be used. I'm looking at you JKR and HP references.
To sum up, this book was an absolute delight to read. Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera are two of my favorite authors and their stories always make me very emotional. I sometimes even shed a tear.
I can only recommend this, but please take note of the content warnings, as usual.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Alcohol
matheo's review against another edition
emotional
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
jstarshine16's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual content, Racism, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, and Transphobia
risemini's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
likes: -diversity
-talks about how being a white passing poc feels
dislikes: -dylan was annoying lmao sorry everyone likes him except me
-i feel like arthur and ben talk the exact same way
-felt like reading a wattpad fanfic
-arthur was a stalker
-ben we get it you broke up with hudson
-talks about how being a white passing poc feels
dislikes: -dylan was annoying lmao sorry everyone likes him except me
-i feel like arthur and ben talk the exact same way
-felt like reading a wattpad fanfic
-arthur was a stalker
-ben we get it you broke up with hudson
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Homophobia
e_reader's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
2.25
I'll be honest, I really wanted to love this book. I'd heard great things about it, and loved Adam Silvera's They Both Die At The End but What If It's Us really disappointed me. Given that I intended to read this book for a few years, I picked it as my summer reading book but I just found myself disliking the majority of the book. At least 70% of the book I had to force myself to get through and in general actively disliked it for the majority of the time. The beginning when they were first meeting was good, and I did enjoy the ending a lot.
I found the characters difficult to listen to. They are both terribly insecure (of course), and Ben spends the first third of the book constantly mentioning his ex boyfriend Hudson, who we are instructed to hate but actually becomes quite likeable. Arthur has more money than Ben, a juxtaposition constantly pointed out, but this results in Arthur saying a lot of insensitive things and then Ben forgiving him. For the first 2/3 of the book, I honestly wasn't sure why these two liked each other. It seems all of a sudden(right around their first kiss) they become compatible and get along very well. Others have mentioned this, but Arthur was so sensitive , for example when he finds out Hudson and Ben have summer school together or that Jessie and Ethan are dating, all despite the fact that both groups tried to tell him multiple time beforehand, that it gets difficult to read at times. Arthur doesn't let someone tell him something important, and then when he eventually finds out he gets upset and makes himself into the victim.
The writing also felt very simple, which some people might like, but I found it frustrating how much the authors didn't let the reader figure anything out for ourselves. Any metaphor was spelled out, any hint at some larger idea was immediately revealed.
Although most of the book was a bit of a toxic relationship example, they definitely had a lot of character growth and the ending portrayed what I felt like was a really healthy continuation of their story that made sense. Was going to do just 2 stars, but the ending bumped it up and extra .25 for me.
I found the characters difficult to listen to. They are both terribly insecure (of course), and Ben spends the first third of the book constantly mentioning his ex boyfriend Hudson, who we are instructed to hate but actually becomes quite likeable. Arthur has more money than Ben, a juxtaposition constantly pointed out, but this results in Arthur saying a lot of insensitive things and then Ben forgiving him. For the first 2/3 of the book, I honestly wasn't sure why these two liked each other. It seems all of a sudden
The writing also felt very simple, which some people might like, but I found it frustrating how much the authors didn't let the reader figure anything out for ourselves. Any metaphor was spelled out, any hint at some larger idea was immediately revealed.
Although most of the book was a bit of a toxic relationship example, they definitely had a lot of character growth and the ending portrayed what I felt like was a really healthy continuation of their story that made sense. Was going to do just 2 stars, but the ending bumped it up and extra .25 for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Racism, Medical content, and Alcohol
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