A review by readivine
What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera

3.0

Actual rating is 3.5 (I decided that I can't round up to 4 stars if it isn't on the dot 4 stars)

"What if we rewrite everything we expect from happy endings?"

This was one of my most heavily anticipated books of 2018 and while I did not really loved it, it was still an enjoyable read! It's really the year of 2ogayteen! Harry Potter and Hamilton fans will surely love this because of the endless references!

What If It's Us, may come across as a cringey and too romance centered for some, but I think this book just really wants to give the reader community a fresh yet recurring pattern on young love in all its facets. I was rooting for this book in the first few chapters and was halfway raising my skeptical eyebrows, but I realized in the end that the authors just wants to convey what young love really is in this modern world. It's not a perfect love story but it strives to be one. This also represents a lot of LGBTQ issues without glossing over it and I love that we get to see a healthy environment for LGBTQ here in this book.

What I actually find to be slightly problematic or not fit to my liking is of my own views, so please please please don't flake on me if I didn't entirely love this book. Here are some of those:

Spoiler

Sometimes I can't help but cringe with how super romance-centered this book is. SURE IT'S A YA ROMANCE BOOK, OK I KNOW GUYS. But honestly, sometimes it just gets way too overboard because it's not just with the main leads there's a throng of couples also in the background. And while it may be a wonderful setup because readers can reflect that there are multiple faces of love, it was overwhelming for me. Sometimes I just need to read more about the characters separately without thinking of each other all the dang time. Yes they have their own moments but it was lacking for me. Honestly, I just felt that it was over the top sometimes and I need a breather from it.

Aside from the said spoilers, I think this book was excellently written and could appeal to a lot of young readers because it accurately reflects how technology interweaves with our lives so seamlessly. The dialogues may not be that perfect and could come off as pretty bland and overrated, but I honestly love Arthur's POV's more and if it wasn't for him, I really don't think I could power through this book! I think this will be perfect for readers that wants to feel the thrill of first love and how it works differently in other people.