Author: Becky Albertalli
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis (Goodreads)
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
My Thoughts
Becky Albertalli has done it again! I can't believe I am saying this but I loved The Upside of Unrequited a tiny bit more than Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, don't worry I know it's hard to believe.
I admire how inclusive Becky Albertalli is when it comes to her characters especially in this story. I feel like it is so important that not only is every kind of person, but also every shape of person, is represented in the book world. Sometimes, people look to these stories and characters to find some sense of self and sometimes people love to relate to characters, and so with such a wide variety of characters it's easy to find at least some aspect of a character to relate to and that is so important to me. I adore every single one of the characters that have come to life in this story!
As for the story, there is so much romance and love and the idea of a crushes and while some of it is cheesy, it's also so real. In the story, same-sex marriage becomes legalized, two twin sisters deal with the struggle of suddenly not being the center of attention for the other and heartbreak is talked about openly. It really shows that love doesn't come easy, and it's not always an easy transition to make in terms of how your friends and family deal with it. I am a true sucker for those cheesy romances though! How could you not be? I love the building up to the moment when the two characters who you want to end up together do! And that building is done so well in this story!
My absolute favorite quote from this novel is; “But it's not quite so raw. You know, when you're seventeen, everything feels like the end of the world. Or the beginning of the world. And that's an awesome thing.” This is so relatable and so true. At this time, everything seems so huge and significant even if it really isn't, and I'm glad that the main character got to experience this. There are so many quotes in this story that can be applied to real life, or at least my real life, and that is so exciting!
I honestly cannot even find one thing wrong with this story! Everything to me seems super perfect, and adorable and I think everybody and their mother needs to read it!
If you had to choose one favorite couple from a fiction novel, which couple would it be? Let me know!