Becky Albertalli

Love, Creekwood (Simonverse #3.5)

Love, Creekwood (Simonverse #3.5)

By: Becky Albertalli

Blurb:

It’s been more than a year since Simon and Blue turned their anonymous online flirtation into an IRL relationship, and just a few months since Abby and Leah’s unforgettable night at senior prom.

Now the Creekwood High crew are first years at different colleges, navigating friendship and romance the way their story began—on email.

Review:

Love, Creekwood is a novella that is a series of emails between the characters from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. You see them during their freshman year of college. It’s cute and angsty since Simon and Bram are going to different colleges. It’s a short read but the ending feels like a set up for the next book. There isn’t one listed on Goodreads, though, so not sure if one’s coming.

Unless you’re a fan of the previous books, I wouldn’t recommend reading this. It was definitely written for fans.

4/5

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Leah on the Offbeat

Leah on the Offbeat

Leah on the Offbeat (Creekwood #2) By: Becky Albertalli

Plot:

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Review:

I was excited to read this for personal reasons and it definitely ended up coloring my opinion of the book. I cannot stand angsty teenage drama. This book was basically angsty teenage drama in book form. I wouldn’t have normally even been able to finish, but I ended up really liking it.

Leah is a perfectionist that isn’t willing to do anything in public unless she knows she’s going to be great at it. She’s hyper critical of herself and ends up coming off as a super bitch. Honestly, Leah was not very likeable. She spends a lot of time not thinking about stuff she should think about. There’s a fair amount of social anxiety there, but she does try and push herself by the end.

The ending was what really sold the book for me. At one point I laughed so hard I cried and I can’t remember the last time that happened. I also, actually, cried for emotional reasons too. It was a really good ending and even though I didn’t like or dislike the rest of the book the ending pushed it up a star rating.

The kids are mostly all in college now so I don’t know if Albertalli is going to do another book. She could probably do one with Simon’s sister as the protagonist, but I don’t really see myself reading further. I got what I wanted to from the series and I’m incredibly grateful for that.

4/5

 

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (Creekwood #1) By: Becky Albertalli

Plot:

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Review:

I decided to read this book after watching and LOVING the movie (review will be posted in February along with a ton of other romance reviews). The movie was the ultimate sweet romance, it had two people falling in love via letters which is how some of my favorite romances start. I was really excited to read the source material.

Simon is gay, but he hasn’t told anyone. When someone posts on his high schools Tumblr account that they’re gay he makes a secret email account and starts emailing them. Romance blooms.

Things get complicated immediately when someone sees Simon’s emails and starts blackmailing him. The blackmailer really sucked at it and honestly that whole line of plot was kind of rarely there, though, he did end up outing Simon who had to deal with the backlash.

The book was cute, but it was definitely a YA novel, with all the angsty teenage drama to go with it. What I loved about this book was seeing different starring characters. Seeing a gay teenager fall in love is unique in this day and age and definitely something to promote and normalize until it’s not a big deal when you see it.

Representation matters!

4/5