The Upside of Unrequited is pretty much a perfect book. I have not a single complaint, I loved everything from the writing to the characters to the story to the beautiful and extremely strong feels!

I was practically enchanted by The Upside of Unrequited - and I think one of the reasons was because I just understood Molly so very well. How she was a serial crusher, but never dared to completely put herself out there and try to see if the guy liked her back. From the safety of distance, she could crush and feel the butterflies, but make sure she'd never get hurt. And while I didn't think of it that way when I was her age, now, I think that may very well have been what I was doing, too. I was crushing on guys for various reasons, but I never went any further than finding out what their name was.

All the different relationships were so realistically depicted, and The Upside of Unrequited showed that a good YA can have parents present, and that two moms can be more awesome than a more traditional family. That twins can be similar in some ways and extremely different in others. There were strong friendships, strong family relationships, and new and old friends who got to meet as well. The vibe of getting to know oneself is one that Molly, especially, shared throughout the story, and I really loved to be with her for that self discovery.

Questioning change, understanding the necessity of it, while also seeing how tragic it can be is another very strong theme of The Upside of Unrequited. When we're on the cusp of adulthood, there are many changes, and some of them are really good while others are really scary. Both Molly and Cassie felt and tasted those changes, and they reacted to them differently. But they also reacted to them in quite similar ways. They both saw their own point of view first, then, with some help, they managed to take a step back an see things from the other's perspective as well.

The story is from Molly's point of view, and it's written mostly in first person perspective, past tense. There are a lot of dialogues, and text messages with emojis, too, to make everything more realistic. All the characters are well fleshed out, and I just feel both so happy and a bit nostalgic and sad at the same time now. The Upside of Unrequited is definitely a must-read, an amazing YA novel that can truly appeal to all ages. Open your mind, and let this fabulous family take you on a small journey of self-discovery, which might also be a trip down memory-lane.

After reading <i>Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenga</i> I had high hopes for Albertalli's new title and she didn't disappoint. Some genuine laugh-out-loud moments are scattered throughout this heart-warming novel. As a narrator, Molly is so relatable and authentic in her emotions and her fears. It's hard not to be rooting for her, even when you wish you could shake her!
The cast of characters is wonderfully diverse and Albertalli's tip of the hat to the 2015 Supreme Court Ruling on same-sex marriage in the US was a personal highlight. A joyous and fun read for readers aged 14+

There wasn't a single character I didn't like. The LGBTQIA+ rep was great. It was the first time I saw written "pansexual" and "asexual" on te page. We also saw some characters from Becky's first book SIMON VS and it was great!
(I'll add the blog review soon)

Becky, I will read all of your books, always!

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda made me squeee, it was adorable and funny and my love for it keeps growing whenever I think about it.

And this book, THIS BOOK. I loved Molly, she reminded me of, well, me. I've found myself in her shoes on many an occasion, and her character felt so truthful and so vulnerable and I was utterly taken with her. And cutie Hipster Will, and Cassie, and oh boy Nadine and Patty are the epitome of cool. And Reid, I'll just sit here and squeee about him and his adorableness.

This book was wonderful! Yet again Becky's writing was honest and funny and super addictive, and I can't fault this book!

I have no idea where to begin this review for THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED because I just simply loved it and I want everyone to pick this book up.
Quite honestly I'm not even sure if I would have picked this book up if Netgalley didn't give me the opportunity to do so. I normally don't pick up much contemporary and really don't request it for reviews BUT I had heard so much great stuff about this already, especially about its diversity, that I thought I would just give it a shot. Getting accepted to review this was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I am so thankful.
I loved how cute and fluffy but at the same time realistic this book was. This is exactly what I need from a YA contemporary romance!

Let's talk about some of the diversity in this book. It is so much that I will not even be able to mention it all and that is exactly how I want all books to be. I am SO HAPPY about this. The main character, Molly, and other side characters are Jewish (and it is #ownvoices). There is a pansexual side character who is also Korean-American. There are multiple other queer side characters. Molly has two moms. She has anxiety and while it is mentioned, especially as Molly is on medication, it is never like she IS her mental illness.
Also Molly is overweight and I also absolutely loved how this was portrayed.
As I said, I'm pretty sure that's not everything but there was so much diversity I wasn't even able to keep track of it.
The feminism in this was also great! So many myths about “womanhood” and the concept of virginity etc. where just completely destroyed in this book. MORE OF THAT PLEASE!

All of the characters in general were absolutely wonderful and I loved the different dynamics in the relationships we see. First of all let's talk about the family dynamics in general. Molly is a twin and this story is a lot about the dynamic between her and her sister Cassie and how hard it can be to maintain a close twin-relationship when other important people come into your life. I really loved how realistic this aspect was and how both character came to terms with it and developed through that.
One of my favourite aspects was ACTUAL CARING PARENTS. Yaaay. I know we all keep making jokes about parents in YA and how, if there are even any, they rarely care and let their kids do whatever. In The Upside of Unrequited it was exactly how I wish it was portrayed more often. Molly's moms were caring and loving, they let their kids have lots of freedom but they were also strict were they had to be and never feared to talk about topics that were a little uncomfortable. In general you could just tell that they were an actual part of Molly's and Cassie's life and that is just wonderful to read about.
But I also loved the friendships and romantic relationships. I really felt like we had some super realistic portrayals in this area as well. When you are 17 you will sometimes be jealous of your friends, be it for their looks, their friendships, their relationships, whatever. That doesn't mean the friendship is over and you can't talk to each other anymore. It is a normal, in my opinion even healthy part of friendships, especially in that age, as long as you acknowledge it. I loved how Albertalli wasn't trying to gloss over these harsher thoughts that can occur in even the strongest friendships.

Finally I just wanna say that I found Molly a wonderfully relatable characters. And no, characters do not have to be relatable to be likeable. And in this case I am sure I would have liked Molly just as much if I hadn't been able to relate to her BUT this just made this reading experience even greater than it already was and I just wanna mention it although this is obviously something very personal/subjective.
I often say how I have problems to relate to characters in fiction. I never know why that is. Maybe because sometimes characters are described as bad ass and confident and beautiful and they know what they are doing or where they are going. And then there's other characters that are described as broken and insecure. And I always feel like I'm in between and that was how Molly kinda felt to me? It's really hard to describe but just the way Molly saw herself but then also how she thought OTHER PEOPLE saw her was so fascinating to me and I could just resonate with so many of her thoughts. Some things she said and thought really spoke to my 17-year old self. Some things she said and thought really spoke to my current, 24-year old self. And that felt absolutely wonderful. Her thoughts sometimes were so real, so emotional, so pure and I couldn't help but actively nod my head, grin to myself or maybe even tear up a little. Molly is a character that has a big place in my heart from now on!

I don't really reread contemporary but I'm already craving to get back to this story at some point. My original rating was 4-stars because I have become a horribly picky 5-star rater. But I have realized while writing this review and also while reading the description again (where I did a *happy sigh*) that this is definitely a 5-star read for me! And it is going on my top books of 2017 list. I am really quite in love with this book right now.

I'm going to start off by saying Becky Albertalli knows how to write a great book! This book was so fricking cute and just a real feel-good book. Although it was cute, it also dealt with quite a few things so it had quite a bit of substance too.

The characters were fantastic. I felt like all of them were very real and fleshed out. The characters were also super diverse which was wonderful. They weren't diverse just for the sake of it either. Molly was a great protagonist. She was also 16 year old me! Like she was so relatable because I had very similar thoughts to her but the one difference was Molly didn't hate her body while I did. It was great that Molly didn't hate her body, it was so freaking nice to read! She was just afraid of what others would think of it. Like can we get more books about fat girls who 1) don't hate their body, 2) don't have an eating disorder and 3) are just out there doing things that other skinny YA protagonists are doing?! That stuff is refreshing!!! Anyways, I loved all of the characters. My favourite was probably Reid because he was so adorable! Can I please find a Reid for myself? Nerdy, cute and chunky... sign me up! Part of what made this a feel-good book was the fact that the characters were a real breathe of fresh air. I mean a pansexual character??!! YAAS QWUEEN!

The story was pretty simple really but it didn't matter because it was all about Molly and the people in her life. This little slice of her life was the story. I also thought the romance bits were so adorable and I'm hard to please when it comes to YA romance. This book was not as funny as Simon vs. but it was still really enjoyable. I found this book very entertaining and I read it all in one day. The writing was great. Albertalli completely sounded like 17 year old fat girl just like she sounded like a 17 year old gay boy in her debut novel. She is phenomenal at getting into these characters and whacking out relatable stuff. Honestly, if Albertalli keeps writing like this, she's going to write some more really incredible novels.

ALSO Simon from Simon vs. was in this for like 2 very quick scenes and I loved it. He's so funny and he was hilarious in his little cameos!

I would recommend this book and I would read more by Becky Albertalli. We need more diverse books like this!

* I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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"I do wonder, sometimes, what people think when they see me."

"I wish there were a secret signal you could use to communicate: HELLO. I AM OFFICIALLY COOL WITH SILENCE."

"If someone says I’m sad, or asks me what’s wrong, or tells me not to cry, it’s like my body hears: NOW CRY. Like a command, even if I’m not actually sad. But maybe there are always tiny sad pieces inside me, waiting to be recognized and named. Maybe it’s like that for everyone."

"He grins. And then he hugs me. It’s kind of a one-armed, sideways, squeezy hug. It’s over before I can process it, but now my insides are one big shaken Coke bottle."

"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."

"There’s something magical about twinkle lights on tree branches."

After Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda, which is one of my favourites, I had extremely high expectations. Albertalli did not disappoint with her amazing writing skills because I was almost clued to my Kindle. Albertalli also has a real skill to make it all seem so real and she knows how to capture the feeling of being a teenager.

The characters were on point. Molly was adorable and very easy to relate to; especially her unrequited crushes were something easy to identify with. It was also very lovely that Molly's family, including her mothers, were very present in the story. The chats and advice they offered were fabulous and the fact that the parents were present in young adult story was something that I don't often see. Cassie, Molly's twin, was the only character that kind of annoyed me a bit but that's because she was one of those people who seem to forget everyone else when they start dating someone, and I have never appreciated people who do that. But Simon made a small cameo! I was absolutely delighted about that because Simon is the best and I just need more him.

The romance was cute and lovely, and I absolutely love how diverse the book was. Albertalli did it all right because the diversity was basically the beautiful sphere of diversity that the real life is full of. Overall the story was very inspirational, adorable and truly enjoyable. It just didn't blow my mind the same way Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda did, which doesn't make this anything less but I guess my expectations were a bit too high.

Do I recommend this? Absolutely. Albertalli's books are not something to miss because they are so real, and basically have everything a good contemporary young adult story needs.

Ce que j’ai aimé ici, c’est encore une fois l’humour de l’auteure. Elle prend les questionnements adolescents dans lesquels on se reconnaît forcément et elle nous fait rire avec une bonne humeur désarmante. On est plongé dans les affres de l’adolescence mais pas une seule fois, on ne lève les yeux au ciel car les pensées de Molly nous sont familières. Qui n’a jamais craint d’être trop bizarre ou différent? Qui n’a jamais regretté de ne pas entrer dans le moule?

Dans le même temps, l’auteure nous montre une nouvelle fois son talent pour nous captiver. Une fois le livre commencé, j’ai été complètement incapable de le lâcher. Je voulais toujours en lire plus.

J’ai adoré suivre les aventures de Molly et de son entourage. C’est un roman LGBT mais il n’est jamais moralisateur. Les personnages sont ce qu’ils sont et voilà. Il n’y pas besoin de s’appesantir sur leur orientation sexuelle et franchement, ça fait du bien de lire un roman où il n’y pas de mal-être. Où il y a de l’acceptation pure et simple. En plus, nous y retrouvons Simon Spier, du premier roman et comme j’adore les clins d’oeil comme celui-la, j’étais vraiment très contente. Quel plaisir!

This was such a fun read and Molly was such a fun character! While she didn’t have a lot of confidence in some areas (kissing boys), she still seem to be confident in knowing who she was – a girl who was crafty, loved Pinterest and loved her family.
Her twin sister Cassie was also a great character and I would have liked to hear more from her…. watching her relationship develop with Mina was great but a bit more detail from the inside of that relationship would have been awesome!
The family relationships were a strong theme and Molly & Cassie’s mums were super cool and the story ending with a wedding was exactly the perfect ending.
If you want a book that covers first love, first kisses, family, friends with a bit of craft and humour thrown in – this book is for you.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Children’s for the ARC via NetGalley.

Sex and relationships are important subjects. Teen boys and girls are especially curious about them. How does it work? How does one get a boyfriend or girlfriend? When is the right time for those two things?

Molly Peskin wants to fall in love with someone and for that person to fall in love with her back very badly, but she’s scared. Her sister doesn’t seem to be daunted by anything; she even got herself a really cute girlfriend in a short amount of time.

Becky Albertalli did a fairly good job illustrating themes such as first love, twin connection, equality, sexuality and coming of age, which is what this book is—a Bildungsroman.

I believe, however, that this novel needed two point of views. One from Molly, which we do have, and one from her twin sister, Cassie, because, although it’s part of the story, Cassie keeps many things from her sister. Seeing unrevealed, private interactions between her and Mina would have added even more dept to this story.

It honestly was enjoyable, because of all the subjects it tackles and its constant fast-pacing. Unfortunately, I did not like the writing at all. I do, however, believe Becky Albertalli writes about/analyses interesting topics using interesting references and detail, but her writing itself did not impress me in any way. It’s not elegant, pretty or special. It’s simple, unsurprising and unoriginal.

Regardless, this is a book I find salient people read, exactly because of all the themes mentioned previously. It’s true that it’s a romance contemporary book, and maybe not ALL that different from the other ones out there, but what’s on the side—LGBT, sexuality, family, confidence—makes it stand out a little more.

The Upside of Unrequited is a fun and heartwarming YA novel about a girl who learns to go after what she wants. Molly is used to doing nothing about crushes, but when her twin Cassie gets a proper girlfriend, both fate and Molly’s friends encourage her to do something about newly met Will. However, there’s also her new coworker Reid and a big event for Molly and Cassie’s mums on the horizon to contend with. Relationships, not only romantic, are affirmed and the difficulty of balancing people in your life is acknowledged in this uplifting book.

Albertalli writes a large cast of characters with diverse backgrounds and lives, making this a refreshing and exciting YA book that accepts that relationships and existences can be both similar and different. Molly is a likeable main character with relatable teenage problems - from her crushes to her worries about weight and her anxiety - and her twin Cassie provides a comparison who suggests that even confident people get worried. The Upside of Unrequited is an affirming and enjoyable book not only for YA readers, but for anybody who wants a light book that offers a realistic kind of diversity in sexuality and race without necessarily being about these issues.

This was a title on my "have to have to have to read" list and I couldn't have been happier the get approved here on Netgalley. Simon vs the Homo sapiens was a huge succes in my small english store and I was overjoyed to announce a new book by Albertalli to my customers. Being overweight my whole life, the subject of staying on the sideline of your own life is well known to me. Better safe than sorry. Who would want someone liek me when my true self is hidden under all the fat? This thoughts are the reason why books like "The upside of unrequited" are so so important. There is no other person inside of you, you are you and people gonna love you if you let them.
While Albertalli takles some nice thoughts and shows how you can be liked if you only be yourself and open, I felt it sometimes stilted. Especially that hipster situation. Why have him flirting with her? There were some things that I found unnecessary. I also waited on Mina to actually reveal that she is love with Molly not Cassie. So many clues were giving to it. She was flirting with Molly when they met, she always complemented her and on top, the most popular girl at a party and known bestie of Mina asked Molly "Oh so you re the new girlfriend!!" and Cassie has to correct her. Why would she assume the fat girl was the girlfriend if not for knowing Minas taste? So yeah, i waited on that to be the huge drama at the end, but no, haha.
Nontherless a very important book that I cannot wait to sell my customers.

Thanky ou so much for approving and letting me have a great time!

After Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda I was so excited to receive an advance copy of this. Molly is a wonderful character, and her slow journey to self-acceptance was warm-hearted yet humorous. Confidently assembling a real mix of characters, this is a book that I'd urge everyone to read.

First of all, thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for this review!

And now for the review itself: what an absolute gem of a book! The Upside of Unrequited is very reminiscent of its cousin, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, in tone - the same joie de vivre that I loved about Simon vs is equally present here, and both books have wonderfully funny, relatable, realistic narrators in Simon and Molly, despite the differences in their personalities and in the obstacles they face.

There were two main aspects of the book that stood out to me. Firstly, the diversity: there were four - FOUR!! - wlw main characters, two of whom were also woc; the majority of the main characters are also Jewish; and the protagonist herself is overweight and takes anxiety medication. Oh, and there’s a brief mention of a trans character! And most importantly, every single one of these things was treated with tremendous respect, which was a wonderful breath of much-needed fresh air.

Secondly, this book is incredibly relatable. It’s not just the pop culture references, or the family dynamics, or the crushes (which, ironically, are probably more relatable for me at 23 than they would have been if I’d read this book at 17, but let’s not get too personal), or even the general teenager experience - the feelings evoked by this book are much more universal than that. The fear of drifting slowly, inexorably apart from the ones you love most; the nebulous longing for something you’ve never had and so don’t even truly understand; the anxiety that comes from comparing yourself too closely to your peers; the comfortable happiness that familiarity can bring; the piercing joy of fleeting, special moments. So many books try to evoke these feelings, and some even succeed, but more often than not, it just comes across as flat and pretentious. Not so with The Upside of Unrequited - it just feels vividly, wonderfully real. True, there were a few points when the Teenage Drama got a bit much for my taste, but all in all, this book is an absolute delight.

THINGS I LOVED

TWINS
As a twin myself, I'm a sucker for them, seriously. This story follows Molly and Cassie as they start to drift apart because of relationships. That whole concept really upsets me, because I would always put my sister first, but I found the complex and messy emotions tied up in this conundrum really realistic. Cassie wants to live her own life and not worry about Molly, and Molly's trying not to be jealous, while also feeling like she's missing out on both a relationship and her sister's life.

ROMANCE
We all knew that Becky could do them, but this one was just as cute. It's slightly harder for Molly to get together with her interest though. He might not be hiding behind a screen-name but there's a lot of miscommunication and there's also this other guy on the scene and things get, let's say, complicated!

ANXIETY
This is the way mental illness should be dealt with, people! It's what we've all been waiting for! A character who has anxiety and is just dealing with it; has completely accepted that being perpetually anxious is just something that she's going to have to deal with (and take medication for) but she's still living her life, and isn't making a huge deal out of it. Molly is not her mental illness. tg.

FAMILY BACKSTORY
The Upside of Unrequited is a little more serious than Simon Vs. It doesn't have quite the same sense of lightness, but I really liked that. These teenagers are real and gritty, and the parents aren't perfect/don't have perfect lives. Molly gets told off and punished like a normal teenager would experience, so thank you, Becky for having present parents that actually impact the story!

Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. I don't think I connected with the characters as much, and I would've liked there to be a bit more emphasis on the female friendships - because they were there but could've been highlighted more! I don't think it's quite as good as Simon, obviously, but that would've been a seriously difficult feat! However, what we do have is still a heart-warming story about finding true love, which is bound to make you feel hopefully and delighted!

I loved this! Almost as good as Simon Vs, with a really lovely, flawed, relatable protagonist.

I requested this on Netgalley because I loved Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens agenda and wanted to read what Becky Albertalli would do next. Sadly, it has fallen a bit short for me.

After giving it some thought, I have pinpointed the reasons I didn't enjoy this so much: it's lacking a strong plot, besides the whole “getting Molly a boyfriend” thing, which couple would be endgame felt too obvious for me, and the main topic about the character isn't as developed and doesn't have a clear conclusion (in Simon it would be his homosexuality, in Molly is her self-image issues and consequent avoidance of romance). Still, this theme was very important and was handled carefully and with a lot of sensitivity.

On the bright side, I loved Molly. She is sweet and slightly awkward, and her relationship with her family was amazing. I feel like Becky Albertalli is amazing at writing family dynamics and loved the topics they brought up, like drifting apart from your family when you get a partner, or still being siblings although they have different parents (this is a bit tricky, they share a sperm donor, but Molly and her twin are from one of their moms, and their little brother is from the other).

The secondary characters were lovable but not very interesting. The same way that we saw how in Simon vs. everyone had their own issues and secrets going on, this was a bit lacking in that sense. And the two boys who were potential romantic interests felt boring to me.

Also there was a line in her first book that sit wrong with me, something about lesbian and bisexual women “having it easier” because men think it's hot. And in The upside of nurequited there is a lot of queer female characters, and the representation is perfect. Something that I appreciated a lot personally is the rebuttal of biphobia. I'm glad the author notices what readers might feel uncomfortable with and makes an effort to correct it.

So overall it was an entertaining read with some great themes, and the writing and teenage voices were perfect, but the romance and plot were slightly underwhelming.