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A review by snaillydia
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
2.0
Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda is one of my favorite contemporary young adult novels. It's sweet, and it's meaningful, without being preachy. It has all you could ask for from an LGBT novel and more.
Everything about Leah On The Off-Beat is obnoxious. As a bi girl in her teens, I thought I would love this, but I ended up disappointed.
Leah is plain bitter. And rude. I understand that she's depressed, but that doesn't excuse her from being an asshole to everyone, from her mom to her friends. She constantly thinks condescending things about the people who care for her. She's the epitome of a stereotype that's considered so cool these days, the "woke" sassy girl. Sometimes she isn't just rude to her friends, she actively screws them over. She says things in her head that just feel like the writer trying to make her relatable. If you strip away the occasional funny line, Leah is just an unpleasant person.
I'm not sure how much sense the romance makes in the context of the first book. But, besides that, the romance was cliche-filled and not in the good way. For me, the chemistry was not there at all. Every time something romantic was mentioned, instead of gushing like Simon and Bram made me, I cringed and pitied other characters. Instead of finding myself in Leah, I related to Nick and Garrett.
We did get to see Bram and Simon a lot, which kind of made me want to read about the events of this book from Simon's point of view rather than have to read more cringeworthy Leah sourness.
Me me big disappointment.
Everything about Leah On The Off-Beat is obnoxious. As a bi girl in her teens, I thought I would love this, but I ended up disappointed.
Leah is plain bitter. And rude. I understand that she's depressed, but that doesn't excuse her from being an asshole to everyone, from her mom to her friends. She constantly thinks condescending things about the people who care for her. She's the epitome of a stereotype that's considered so cool these days, the "woke" sassy girl. Sometimes she isn't just rude to her friends, she actively screws them over. She says things in her head that just feel like the writer trying to make her relatable. If you strip away the occasional funny line, Leah is just an unpleasant person.
I'm not sure how much sense the romance makes in the context of the first book. But, besides that, the romance was cliche-filled and not in the good way. For me, the chemistry was not there at all. Every time something romantic was mentioned, instead of gushing like Simon and Bram made me, I cringed and pitied other characters. Instead of finding myself in Leah, I related to Nick and Garrett.
We did get to see Bram and Simon a lot, which kind of made me want to read about the events of this book from Simon's point of view rather than have to read more cringeworthy Leah sourness.
Me me big disappointment.