whosfernn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A beautiful story about teenage love and longing (plus how it's possible to be friends with your exes). Totally going to read the sequel if I get chance!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime
Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Racism, Death, Medical content, Sexual content, and Alcohol
ericadawson's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
My caveat is that I don't normally like/read romcoms, but I'm always willing to branch out when I can. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped.
In What If It's Us, we're taken through the month-long romantic journey of a post-office meetcute between Ben and Arthur. I liked Ben, I liked his comparatively chill personality, and I liked that he was chill for the most part. His aloofness being a result of just a nervous nature was nice.
I did not like Arthur. His sometimes annoyingly horny antics and internal thought processes had me cringing through a good deal of his PoV chapters. I can't really root for someone who's so socially unaware that he'll call his Puerto Rican boyfriend "so white" and then buy 36 condoms and brings all of them to his boyfriends house because he wants sex and just assumes his boyfriend is ready. Arthur's flaws aren't flaws that I'm against--but I hate their execution. He lacks self awareness and I'm not really sure he gained it by the end of the book, although the epilogue was nice.
He's also rude, and his frankly extreme jealous had me groaning and rolling my eyes (if your boyfriend and your boyfriend's ex both leave the summer school building because summer school is over for the day, then "why is he (ex-bf) here?" has a painfully obvious answer that is not "cheating"). In general, I found Arthur's voice/writing to be weaker than Ben's overall.
It's a shame, because at first I was really rooting for Ben and Arthur to get together. But what ended up happening was that both of them got more annoying and gave me more secondhand embarrassment after they got together. A Hamilton obsession on top of a JKR/Harry Potter obsession on top of an Obama-worship personality is a lot for two teens in one book. Considering that Hamilton is explicitly racist (why would you make slave owners Black unless you didn't like Black people?), Obama had some serious scandal with his drone strike program, and JKR is.....what she is now, this book was frankly painful to read.
The dialogue was nice at first, if only because I'm more used to the formality of high fantasy writing, but that also got old (mainly on Arthur's end) very quickly as well. Dylan's personality got old as well. I lost patience with the former very quickly, and I really lost sympathy when he basically threw a temper tantrum outside Ben's school over a wild assumption he made.
Can I say this book had potential? I'm not sure. Arthur annoyed me throughout. I liked Ben a decent amount. I really like Sam, but Sam and Dylan came across like adults or at least older teens than Ben and Arthur. Too much second-hand embarrassment for me to really settle in. Three and something stars.
In What If It's Us, we're taken through the month-long romantic journey of a post-office meetcute between Ben and Arthur. I liked Ben, I liked his comparatively chill personality, and I liked that he was chill for the most part. His aloofness being a result of just a nervous nature was nice.
I did not like Arthur. His sometimes annoyingly horny antics and internal thought processes had me cringing through a good deal of his PoV chapters. I can't really root for someone who's so socially unaware that he'll call his Puerto Rican boyfriend "so white" and then buy 36 condoms and brings all of them to his boyfriends house because he wants sex and just assumes his boyfriend is ready. Arthur's flaws aren't flaws that I'm against--but I hate their execution. He lacks self awareness and I'm not really sure he gained it by the end of the book, although the epilogue was nice.
He's also rude, and his frankly extreme jealous had me groaning and rolling my eyes (if your boyfriend and your boyfriend's ex both leave the summer school building because summer school is over for the day, then "why is he (ex-bf) here?" has a painfully obvious answer that is not "cheating"). In general, I found Arthur's voice/writing to be weaker than Ben's overall.
It's a shame, because at first I was really rooting for Ben and Arthur to get together. But what ended up happening was that both of them got more annoying and gave me more secondhand embarrassment after they got together. A Hamilton obsession on top of a JKR/Harry Potter obsession on top of an Obama-worship personality is a lot for two teens in one book. Considering that Hamilton is explicitly racist (why would you make slave owners Black unless you didn't like Black people?), Obama had some serious scandal with his drone strike program, and JKR is.....what she is now, this book was frankly painful to read.
The dialogue was nice at first, if only because I'm more used to the formality of high fantasy writing, but that also got old (mainly on Arthur's end) very quickly as well. Dylan's personality got old as well. I lost patience with the former very quickly, and I really lost sympathy when he basically threw a temper tantrum outside Ben's school over a wild assumption he made.
Can I say this book had potential? I'm not sure. Arthur annoyed me throughout. I liked Ben a decent amount. I really like Sam, but Sam and Dylan came across like adults or at least older teens than Ben and Arthur. Too much second-hand embarrassment for me to really settle in. Three and something stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Racism
eschorrlesnick's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Medical content
booksngrannies's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia and Racism
claire_0_0's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
at times it felt like conflict was made only to be extremely quickly resolved. there were points where things were resolved unrealistically, and it felt like, through some conflicts that felt almost staged, everything seemed to unrealistically work out for the characters. otherwise, the characters and themes were interesting and I was hooked, dispite my eye-rolls at some of the plot points. I probably won't read the sequel, like I didn't read the epilogue. might recommend to someone who likes simple romances and doesn't like conflict, but not for people who like more complex themes and ideas in their stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Toxic friendship
green_amaryllis's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Racism
There are a large number of Harry Potter references all throughout the book.rainbowpridepin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Racism and Sexual content
lchambers394's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a solid, wholesome, easy to read romcom. Arthur and Ben are both extremely likeable, relatable and realistic, and it’s easy to believe that they are two teenagers falling in love. They are slightly messy but both have good hearts and you are drawn into rooting for them. The side characters are equally well-written and adorable, and the dynamics with their friends and parents are endearing highlights. At times the writing felt like it was trying a bit too hard to sound like teenagers, and I wasn’t convinced by how content Arthur and Ben were with the ending (it very much felt like just an invitation for a sequel!). I don’t think the book was anything extraordinary or groundbreaking but I don’t think it intended to be. It was cute and I enjoyed it enough to pick up the sequel! And as a musical fan, I loved the musical references!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, and Medical content
rachelfayreads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Racism
caitlink's review
emotional
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Homophobia