Reviews

Just like the first book of the two part series, Eye wouldn’t saw there flaws are highlighted, Eye think it’s just there character development, if that makes sense. Which this series does a really good job at highlighting!!!

kaixaron's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

-Still really no story outside the romance. I know it’s a romance but the characters hardly even have subplots. When they do, it honestly feels like they come up because they needed to hit a word count.

-Halfway through the book and Ethan, one of Arthur’s best friends and a decently important character in the first book, has only been mentioned twice. His breakup with Jessie is seemingly unimportant to both Jessie and Arthur.

-Having both of them be in relationships at the start was certainly A Choice considering that it means they spend most of the book emotionally cheating on their boyfriends. (though i guess ben’s whole issue is that him and mario ARENT official but they halfway are so it counts)

-the early chapters are incredibly repetitive from both of them.

-I still can’t tell if Ben’s selfishness is a character flaw the writers are aware of. like in both books he says a lot of selfish things in his monologue but never really seems to be part of his arc at all.

-I see some people saying the characters feel different, I don’t see that. They seem like they’re just as bad as they were the first time. Ben is a selfish asshole and Arthur is just as whiney and cringey.

-Dylan is irritating. I was somewhat fine with him being comic relief occasionally but that’s all he does. Two straight books of him just making the same two jokes (“oh ben youre secretly in love with me.” and “samatha my wonderful lady.”) gets really annoying. If you’re going to relegate a character to comedic relief, at least make the jokes funny. And the Patrick thing. Oh brother. That went on for way too long and never actually reached any sort of conclusion. I guess it was supposed to be funny but it wasn’t, it was irritating and made Dylan seem painfully immature and insecure.

-They both have a strange tendency to mention the skin colours of random strangers they pass by in the street. Maybe that’s to make up for the actual lack of diversity in the main cast. (Jessie being the only black character, and afaik, the only non-white character in general, and even then we only know this because there was a joke about her being compared to Beyonce in the first book. She’s also not in like 80% of this book, despite living in the same apartment as Arthur for the entirety of it.)

-I just can’t get over ben’s big breakout idea being his self-insert fantasy novel. like i cant take that seriously. i cannot imagine him walking into a creative writing class, pitching his self-insert story, and not getting laughed out of the room. if not publicly ridiculed, there would at least be a lot of people who would think its cringe.

-Arthur deserved the bitching he got from Mikey. Mikey should have beat the fuck out of him.

-i will be honest. i thought the literal pride parade chapters were kind of cringey. I think ultimately this is just some strange fulfillment fantasy. From Ethan randomly coming out(????), to the actual parade, even outside of that; to the characters, to the relationships, it just feels like someone very obviously wrote an experience they wished they had.

-It’s still just as painful as the first in terms of pacing. It moves monumentally slow, especially because there’s no subplots either, so it just feels like they’re trying to hit a word count per chapter without moving anything forward. (which would still be hilarious because Ben’s chapters are on average shorter than Arthur’s.)

-BEN SHOULD HAVE MOVED TO LA 😭 There was an actual future for him there and instead he gives it up???? to be with Arthur??? I know he was in love with him but Mario just seemed so much better and he actually had something in terms of his career. Especially all that whining he did about being stuck in NYC???

-The pregnancy and wedding drop was insane and poorly timed. Afaik there werent any hints to it, just that Dylan was acting weird which was starting to get incredibly repetitive but also not really brought up a lot at the same time. I don’t see why Dylan gets to be mad at Ben for not yet telling him about moving to LA but Ben doesn’t get mad at Dylan for hiding that HIS GIRLFRIEND IS PREGNANT, HE’S GETTING MARRIED, AND THEY’RE MOVING BACK.

-75% Of the way through the book and Mario is still in the picture, for some reason. Mikey got booted out just after the half-way point. And now I have to wait for this other relationship to finally crumble.

-They so kindly look back on the first book as if it wasn’t the most awkward and uncomfortable thing I’ve read. Those two have an astonishing lack of chemistry I didn’t even think was possible in a romance.

-3 Chapters left and they REINTRODUCE HUDSON? and give some random beef between him and Ben despite things being fine at the end of the last book? and i COMPLETELY forgot about Harriett. Hudson shows up for one chapter at the VERY end

-The time jumps in the epilogue were PAINFUL because even in both books COMBINED we’d only seen them together for maybe a week. I don’t even think they would actually work long term either but suddenly its four years later despite the book ending only 2 days after they got back together (keep in mind, earlier that day Ben had FINALLY broken things off with Mario, literally chapter 37/40)

liaashryver's review against another edition

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1.0

I am a champion for reading this entirely. Holy gods, thank you for blessing me with patience.

jowithtwoiis's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this book, especially how everything didn't just magically come together and how messy everyone's actions and emotions were, just like real life.

dj68's review against another edition

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4.0

3½, rounded up to 4.

This was fine, even good in places, but nowhere as good as the first one.

I was hesitant to read this, because, even if I was frustrated with the ending of What If It's Us, I thought it was good 'cause *slight spoiler* happy endings doesn't necessarily mean the characters have to end up with a specific person. It's okay to have a good life without having a partner.

I know the characters are teens, though older teens than in WIIU, but there was just too much unnecessary drama - you know the kind, 30 seconds of communication would have cleared a lot up.

It seemed like the authors wouldn't let any of the characters be left behind, so in the last 50 pages or so, EVERYTHING is tied up nicely, they all get their happy endings, yada yada. I don't mind a happy ending, but it's just too cutesy when done like this.

vagabondreader's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

beatricezs's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

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