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A review by shaylee_reads
What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
2.75
Ratings:
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐.75/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Gay MMC and LGBTQ+ SC
Tropes: MLM Relationship
Content Warnings: Light Swearing, Light Sexual Content (Not Graphic and FTB), Minor Homophobia.
What If It’s Us co-written by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera is the first book in the contemporary YA duet What If It's Us and follows Arthur and Ben. One day when Ben is trying to ship a box to his ex-boyfriend, he runs into Arthur who is only in New York for the summer. They instantly click and Arthur is convinced that it's the work of universe and that they where ment to meet that despite the fact that get separated before Arthur can get his number or even his name. Despite the fact that he has no idea where to even start to find the mystery box boy, Arthur is determined to find him.
This was my sixth read in my pride month read-a-thon and just like almost all the other books I read last month it had been sitting on my shelf for a while but unlike all the others I'm not all that upset that it took me so long to start this book.
When I had bought it, it just had come out (which was in 2018) I had literally no drive to read it and I had only really bought it because it was co-written by Becky Albertalli and I have enjoyed all the other books I have read by her.
Sadly my love for Becky Albertalli wasn't enough and I ended up being disappointed in this book. It's not that this book was bad persay, I actually enjoyed the romance enough to buy the next book not even ten minutes after finishing it but that was actually kind of the only reason I picked up the second book.
The saving grace of this book was the romance, if it wasn’t for the relationship between the main characters I would have quickly DNF’ed this book but I had enough interest in the romance to not only finish the first book but to read the next book in the duology. I had really liked Ben and Arthur together and the authors did a really good job of showing young love and how precious it can be.
An unpopular opinion of mine when it comes to this book is that I really liked the ending. It showed that just because something is going to come to an end that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience it well you can. I feel that we stop ourselves from doing something that we really want to do for fear of being hurt which causes as to miss out on some really great experiences in our life, and I loved how this book showed a good example of what could happen if we just listened to our heart despite the fact that we might get hurt.
I loved how the ending showed that sometimes relationships come to an end and that's okay. Just because the relationship has to end one day doesn't mean that, that relationship was pointless or something that you shouldn't do. Not ever relationship has to or is going to last forever but that doesn’t mean you shouldn't enjoy that relationship or get to know that person while you can because you never know what kind of experiences you are going to get from it or how the future will change.
The main reason I'm giving this book such a low rating was because I felt like the ages of the characters didn't match with the story they where trying to tell. It felt as though the author's where trying to tell a mature story but because of the age of the characters, it just came of cringey and out of place. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking that they where around the age of 18 but then they would mention that they are 16 or that they are in highschool and it would just take me out of the story.
It also felt like the characters were trying to act a lot older than they where and it came off in same way a 12 year old tried to act older than they are which just gave me a lot of second hand embarrassment.
That whole thing was just to say I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the characters where in college instead of high school.
Another reason I didn't love this book was because I didn't really gel with the writing. All of the other books I have read by Becky Albertalli I have enjoyed but I've only read one other book by Adam Silvera and I didn't really enjoy it… like at all but I had hoped that I would like this book even though Adam Silvera is one of the authors.
Honestly, this book just felt like it was trying way to hard. Again it just felt like the authors where trying to make it more mature and funny but it just came off very… for lack of a better word… young.
Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next because I'm invested in their relationship and I want to see how their story ends but ultimately I wouldn't have been that upset if I had never picked up this book.
Plot:⭐⭐⭐/5
Writing:⭐⭐/5
Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Overall:⭐⭐.75/5
Romance:❤️❤️❤️❤️/5
Diversity: Gay MMC and LGBTQ+ SC
Tropes: MLM Relationship
Content Warnings: Light Swearing, Light Sexual Content (Not Graphic and FTB), Minor Homophobia.
What If It’s Us co-written by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera is the first book in the contemporary YA duet What If It's Us and follows Arthur and Ben. One day when Ben is trying to ship a box to his ex-boyfriend, he runs into Arthur who is only in New York for the summer. They instantly click and Arthur is convinced that it's the work of universe and that they where ment to meet that despite the fact that get separated before Arthur can get his number or even his name. Despite the fact that he has no idea where to even start to find the mystery box boy, Arthur is determined to find him.
This was my sixth read in my pride month read-a-thon and just like almost all the other books I read last month it had been sitting on my shelf for a while but unlike all the others I'm not all that upset that it took me so long to start this book.
When I had bought it, it just had come out (which was in 2018) I had literally no drive to read it and I had only really bought it because it was co-written by Becky Albertalli and I have enjoyed all the other books I have read by her.
Sadly my love for Becky Albertalli wasn't enough and I ended up being disappointed in this book. It's not that this book was bad persay, I actually enjoyed the romance enough to buy the next book not even ten minutes after finishing it but that was actually kind of the only reason I picked up the second book.
The saving grace of this book was the romance, if it wasn’t for the relationship between the main characters I would have quickly DNF’ed this book but I had enough interest in the romance to not only finish the first book but to read the next book in the duology. I had really liked Ben and Arthur together and the authors did a really good job of showing young love and how precious it can be.
An unpopular opinion of mine when it comes to this book is that I really liked the ending. It showed that just because something is going to come to an end that doesn't mean you shouldn't experience it well you can. I feel that we stop ourselves from doing something that we really want to do for fear of being hurt which causes as to miss out on some really great experiences in our life, and I loved how this book showed a good example of what could happen if we just listened to our heart despite the fact that we might get hurt.
I loved how the ending showed that sometimes relationships come to an end and that's okay. Just because the relationship has to end one day doesn't mean that, that relationship was pointless or something that you shouldn't do. Not ever relationship has to or is going to last forever but that doesn’t mean you shouldn't enjoy that relationship or get to know that person while you can because you never know what kind of experiences you are going to get from it or how the future will change.
The main reason I'm giving this book such a low rating was because I felt like the ages of the characters didn't match with the story they where trying to tell. It felt as though the author's where trying to tell a mature story but because of the age of the characters, it just came of cringey and out of place. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking that they where around the age of 18 but then they would mention that they are 16 or that they are in highschool and it would just take me out of the story.
It also felt like the characters were trying to act a lot older than they where and it came off in same way a 12 year old tried to act older than they are which just gave me a lot of second hand embarrassment.
That whole thing was just to say I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if the characters where in college instead of high school.
Another reason I didn't love this book was because I didn't really gel with the writing. All of the other books I have read by Becky Albertalli I have enjoyed but I've only read one other book by Adam Silvera and I didn't really enjoy it… like at all but I had hoped that I would like this book even though Adam Silvera is one of the authors.
Honestly, this book just felt like it was trying way to hard. Again it just felt like the authors where trying to make it more mature and funny but it just came off very… for lack of a better word… young.
Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the next because I'm invested in their relationship and I want to see how their story ends but ultimately I wouldn't have been that upset if I had never picked up this book.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, and Sexual content