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A review by novelbloglover
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
4.0
Book Review
Title: The Upside of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: YA/Romance/Contemporary
Rating: ****
Review: The opening of The Upside of Unrequited was, we are introduced to Molly Peskin-Suso and her twin sister Cassie at a club where they meet Mina and Molly knows instantly that Mina is the kind of girl Cassie would date unlike herself who has had 26 crushes and not a single boyfriend or kiss. I think this could be related to the fact that Molly is insecure about the way she looks especially where her weight is concerned. One thought I did have in these opening chapters was how the hell can you fit so much rep in? Like seriously we have Jewish characters, lesbian characters, sperm donor babies, POC and much more. After the night in the club Cassie is trying to set Molly up with Mina’s friend Will, but after starting a summer job she meets Reid who she isn't necessarily attracted to but really liked as a person.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the friendship group between the female character is bloody hilarious and I was cracking up at the bikini wax conversation. However, there are more serious notes underlying all this humour, the main ones being Molly fear of being alone and unwanted. The second being the fact that Molly is slightly ashamed of her virginity as she is the last one in the group to be a virgin and single. While Molly doesn't have a boyfriend she is a normal teenage girl and has the same hormonal urges as any another girl. One thing I was really liking about this novel so far is that all the situations and conversations are so real they could literally happen at any point which is very refreshing in YA. Molly is beginning to feel left behind by the others and they make her anxiety worse making jokes at her expense although she is too polite to say anything. However, she feels humiliated when Mina invited them all over only to boot Molly out with Max and Will to make out with Cassie as planned. I really understand where Molly's emotions are coming from, but she hasn't ever given a single person the opportunity to prove her wrong about her insecurities.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Molly is getting on well with Reid at work and is even developing a crush on him. She even confides in him about finding out Cassie and Mina are saying through Facebook rather than from her sister. While Molly feels quite upset by this she has decided that the next crush she has she is going to take a chance by actually telling the person she likes them. There is also a huge upside when Molly learns that same sex marriage has been legalized do her moms are getting married in the summer, but something about the whole situation with Cassie isn't sitting right with Molly.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Molly is feeling very conflicted as she has some affectionate feelings towards Will but seems to have a full-blown crush on Reid, coupled with the fact her sister is falling in love and she feels like she is being pushed out of the friendship group, Molly is very conflicted.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Molly officially decided that she has a crush on Reid and even gets into an argument with Cassie over the fact that she doesn’t want to hang out with Mina or date Will, but things aren’t as smooth as they seem as the beautiful Olivia becomes single and she also seems to have a connection with Reid and the first thing Molly thinks is that she needs to beat Olivia off.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Molly is really torn up over the fact that Reid and Olivia are really hitting it off and she ends up making a fool of herself, but she finally manages to get up the courage to tell Reid how she feels even if it is through text. I also really liked how Will was into Mina the whole time and is in the same position as Molly and can probably understand how she feels better than anyone.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I realised that Molly and Reid are the most adorable thing ever, I was really sceptical going into this novel, but this totally blew me away. I kind of wished they got together sooner so I could see more of their relationship. But the most interesting thing about the Upside of Unrequited is how it doesn’t focus on one type of relationship, it includes romantic relationships, relationship between parents and children, between siblings and between friends. It also has heavy themes of sexuality, finding yourself and homophobia which made this a quite and easy read for me.
Title: The Upside of Unrequited
Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: YA/Romance/Contemporary
Rating: ****
Review: The opening of The Upside of Unrequited was, we are introduced to Molly Peskin-Suso and her twin sister Cassie at a club where they meet Mina and Molly knows instantly that Mina is the kind of girl Cassie would date unlike herself who has had 26 crushes and not a single boyfriend or kiss. I think this could be related to the fact that Molly is insecure about the way she looks especially where her weight is concerned. One thought I did have in these opening chapters was how the hell can you fit so much rep in? Like seriously we have Jewish characters, lesbian characters, sperm donor babies, POC and much more. After the night in the club Cassie is trying to set Molly up with Mina’s friend Will, but after starting a summer job she meets Reid who she isn't necessarily attracted to but really liked as a person.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the friendship group between the female character is bloody hilarious and I was cracking up at the bikini wax conversation. However, there are more serious notes underlying all this humour, the main ones being Molly fear of being alone and unwanted. The second being the fact that Molly is slightly ashamed of her virginity as she is the last one in the group to be a virgin and single. While Molly doesn't have a boyfriend she is a normal teenage girl and has the same hormonal urges as any another girl. One thing I was really liking about this novel so far is that all the situations and conversations are so real they could literally happen at any point which is very refreshing in YA. Molly is beginning to feel left behind by the others and they make her anxiety worse making jokes at her expense although she is too polite to say anything. However, she feels humiliated when Mina invited them all over only to boot Molly out with Max and Will to make out with Cassie as planned. I really understand where Molly's emotions are coming from, but she hasn't ever given a single person the opportunity to prove her wrong about her insecurities.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Molly is getting on well with Reid at work and is even developing a crush on him. She even confides in him about finding out Cassie and Mina are saying through Facebook rather than from her sister. While Molly feels quite upset by this she has decided that the next crush she has she is going to take a chance by actually telling the person she likes them. There is also a huge upside when Molly learns that same sex marriage has been legalized do her moms are getting married in the summer, but something about the whole situation with Cassie isn't sitting right with Molly.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Molly is feeling very conflicted as she has some affectionate feelings towards Will but seems to have a full-blown crush on Reid, coupled with the fact her sister is falling in love and she feels like she is being pushed out of the friendship group, Molly is very conflicted.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Molly officially decided that she has a crush on Reid and even gets into an argument with Cassie over the fact that she doesn’t want to hang out with Mina or date Will, but things aren’t as smooth as they seem as the beautiful Olivia becomes single and she also seems to have a connection with Reid and the first thing Molly thinks is that she needs to beat Olivia off.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Molly is really torn up over the fact that Reid and Olivia are really hitting it off and she ends up making a fool of herself, but she finally manages to get up the courage to tell Reid how she feels even if it is through text. I also really liked how Will was into Mina the whole time and is in the same position as Molly and can probably understand how she feels better than anyone.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, I realised that Molly and Reid are the most adorable thing ever, I was really sceptical going into this novel, but this totally blew me away. I kind of wished they got together sooner so I could see more of their relationship. But the most interesting thing about the Upside of Unrequited is how it doesn’t focus on one type of relationship, it includes romantic relationships, relationship between parents and children, between siblings and between friends. It also has heavy themes of sexuality, finding yourself and homophobia which made this a quite and easy read for me.