The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. 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. 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 a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.
My Review
Page Count: 336 pgs./7 hrs., 58 mins.
Genre: YA Contemporary
Narrator: Arielle DeLisle
Stand-Alone Novel
CW: sensual scenes, talks about sex, cursing, teenage drinking
CW: sensual scenes, talks about sex, cursing, teenage drinking
I am in love with this book! I wasn't expecting to connect with Molly so much. There was an authenticity to Molly's narration that reminded me very much of how I felt and acted as a socially awkward teenager, and I think that many readers will be able to relate to the characters. Molly is chubby and has many insecurities. She grew a lot in this novel, and I found myself actually squealing and cheering for her throughout the book.
The representation in this book is fantastic! Molly has two lesbian moms who have been together for a very long time and are happy. Cassie's new girlfriend is Korean-American and pansexual, and there are also African-American and Jewish characters. All are represented in a very positive, welcoming light.
Becky Albertalli has a gift for describing emotions authentically and in a way that captures readers. Her writing is laugh-out-loud hilarious, relatable, and fun. The narrator, Arielle DeLisle, did an excellent job narrating this book. She captured the characters perfectly.
Please, please, go read this book now!
The representation in this book is fantastic! Molly has two lesbian moms who have been together for a very long time and are happy. Cassie's new girlfriend is Korean-American and pansexual, and there are also African-American and Jewish characters. All are represented in a very positive, welcoming light.
Becky Albertalli has a gift for describing emotions authentically and in a way that captures readers. Her writing is laugh-out-loud hilarious, relatable, and fun. The narrator, Arielle DeLisle, did an excellent job narrating this book. She captured the characters perfectly.
Please, please, go read this book now!
“I don’t entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. You have to have a crush on the exact right person at the exact right moment. And they have to like you back. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances. It’s almost unfathomable that it happens as often as it does.”
“Because I have to admit: there's something really badass about truly, honestly not caring what people think about you.”
“There’s just something terrifying about admitting you like someone. In a way, it’s actually easier when there’s no chance of anything happening. But there’s this threshold where things suddenly become possible. And then your cards are on the table. And there you are, wanting, right out in the open.”
“Even if he likes me, I’m not sure he’d like me naked. I hate that I’m even thinking that. I hate hating my body. Actually, I don’t even hate my body. I just worry everyone else might. Because chubby girls don’t get boyfriends, and they definitely don’t have sex. Not in movies—not really—unless it’s supposed to be a joke. And I don’t want to be a joke.”
“So, maybe I should let my heart break, just to prove that my heart can take it.”
ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES: “I'm on the toilet at the 9:30 Club and I'm wondering how mermaids pee.”
Other Books by Becky Albertalli
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 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.
In this sequel to the acclaimed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—soon to be a major motion picture, Love, Simon—we follow Simon’s BFF Leah as she grapples with changing friendships, 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.
She’s an anomaly in her friend group: 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.
Critically acclaimed and bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera combine their talents in this smart, funny, heartfelt collaboration about two very different boys who can’t decide if the universe is pushing them together—or pulling them apart.
ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.
BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them . . . ?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t nail a first date even after three do-overs?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is?
What if it’s us?
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