I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli Published by Balzer + Bray on April 11, 2017
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Source: the publisher
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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?
This book was so freaking adorable!!! Describing a book as “down to earth” like you would a person seems weird, but that’s exactly what this book is – down to earth. The characters were incredible and beyond relatable. The writing was magnificent. And the plot was intriguing and held my attention until the very last page. Becky Albertalli is an incredible story teller. Much like her first book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, this was an adorable coming-of-age story that everyone should read!
For me, Molly is the most relatable character I have ever come across. I don’t talk much about myself or my personal life, but like Molly, I’m fat, Jewish and have anxiety. Those three things alone make her incredibly relatable, but there were other things mentioned throughout the book that made her EVEN MORE relatable. I’m not ready to specifically name/discuss those things, but if you’ve read the book, Molly could be my Personality Twin. I felt like I was her, or she was me, or something like that. She is now one of my favorite characters of all time.
I loved how complex Molly and Cassie’s relationship was. It’s very common in YA novels for the siblings to not get along at all, to despise each other. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen in real life. But sometimes, siblings DO get along. Or get along sometimes, but not always. And I loved that this book showed that. It showed how close Molly and Cassie were, but also showed that siblings can fight and drift and still love each other. It was so refreshing to see and I wish more YA books showed that.
Molly, Cassie, Olivia and Mina are squad goals. Cassie and Mina were adorable together and I loved the way they made sure to include Molly and Olivia in almost everything they did. But I also liked the way they showed the ups and downs of friendship and the whole “balancing friends and boy/girlfriends” thing. Because it CAN be a balancing act and it’s not always easy.
Reid was AMAZING. He was kind, sweet, nerdy and funny. I wish I had a Reid in my life. I loved the progression of his relationship with Molly and how neither one played games. They were very real with each other.
Just like with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I loved that Molly and Cassie’s parents were THERE. Unlike so may YA books where you never see the parents and wonder if the main character even has any, Nadine and Patty were there for Molly and Cassie. They set boundaries and rules and punished the girls when they did something wrong. But they were also fair.
I don’t know what else to say about this book. This review doesn’t do the book justice AT ALL. All I can say is it was effing fantastic and if you don’t read it, you’re missing out. So go buy it and go read it ASAP.