Walther has done the impossible and made me enjoy overwrought teenage melodrama.
It's just so well done that I simply needed to know if Charlie, Sage, Nick, and Luke got the happily ever after they deserved. There's enough sweetness to give you a toothache and the perfect amount of positive messaging to make you feel good when you walk away after finishing it.
There isn't much complexity to the plot beyond the will they/won't they/just talk to each other element, but it plays out in a way that you really do get enthralled by it. Poor Charlie has the worst relative a closeted gay kid could possibly have. Combine that with unrealistic family expectations and the kid's going to have some deep issues even if he is falling head over heels with his soulmate. I also enjoyed seeing Sage discover that her parents' lives aren't a roadmap to hers. Got to admit that Luke and Nick are a bit underdeveloped next to Sage and Charlie, but they're the heart of the story and get some solid moments.
Overall, it's a perfect light read with positive messaging, enough drama to keep you reading, and a happy ending to help you end with a smile.
Also, on a slight side note, I am so here for a book that portrays well-to-do, private school teens as something other than the horrors of Gossip Girl and the like.

Major thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire for granting my wish to read it on Netgalley!

I LOVED this book! A well-written and engaging look at how real-life relationships can get so messy! I found the story arc of one of the MC's coming to terms with their sexuality very true-to-life and whilst the plot overall didn't throw out any unexpected plot twists, that didn't distract from the engaging prose at all. Absolutely fantastic!

Walther transports her readers to the idyllic Bexley Academy, a boarding school in New England. The story centers on Charlie and Sage, narrating in alternating chapters. They are life long best friends and everyone around them presumes that they may not be dating now, but they will be end game. It's quickly uncovered that there are some very good reasons that they are not meant to be kissing as the credits roll. This ends up being the biggest asset to the novel because you don't quite know how this school year that plot encompasses will play out.

The characters are well-drawn, particularly Charlie's journey to self-acceptance as he struggles to take control of his own destiny on a variety of fronts. Sage's role does tend to be more supporting to his journey, to underscore the pains of young love and duty. This is not necessarily a problem because it gives each of them a purpose, yet keeps their stories tethered together plausibly. This is highly recommended for fans of YA, romance, and coming of age stories.

I was very excited about this book but I also have a number of problems with it and all of them together meant that I didn't actually enjoy it at all.

The first thing is the premise for the characters. The gay boy we get as a main character is deeply closeted and no stranger to internalised homophobia, which brings him to date girl after girl, to prove something to himself. I'm not saying that's not a reality for gay teens anymore but I am saying that it's a very tired trope in literature and one that shows said teens that they shouldn't hope for anything better.

There's also a problem of Charlie's attitude. It's one thing to use girls as beards when you're trying to figure stuff out about yourself, but it's another altogether to treat those girls with very little respect and like nothing more than props.

And as if that didn't make the gay rep in this book poor enough, we get the well-known by us all "we can't date if you're not out". It's just... This is not how it works, folks. This is not what teen stories should be telling LGBT youth.

I wanted to read this book mainly because of the gay characters and got disappointed time and time again, to the point where I would call this rep harmful.

This was adorable and funny and heartfelt and just the kind of read I needed right now. Stories about friendship and romance , friendship during romance and how these two things can effect each other are incredible.
I absolutely loved it

This story was so much fun! I loved everything about it. The characters for me were the best part and I loved every single one of them. I thought If We Were Us was such an original story and the writing was fast paced that kept me interested. If you are looking for a fun, quick read this is definitely the story for you.

I enjoyed this story! If we're talking about just the story and writing, then I would give this book 3 stars, but there was so much that was just plain fun to me, so I had to give it a 4.

The story is about Charlie and Sage who have been best friends since they were kids and everyone thinks they're destined to get together. However, Charlie is drawn to a new kid at school, Luke, and Sage has been getting closer to Charlie's brother Nick.

There was so much to love about this book. I'm a sucker for any "childhood best friends to lovers" trope plus an "in love with my best friend's brother" trope. I also think elite boarding school settings are so cool. Plus it's set in New England?? And teenagers are worried about life after high school and being away from their friends??? And dealing with identity issues??? It had everything that I loved. I think the characters were amazing and really cool and I'm lowkey jealousy of their life and all the fun stuff they do. I loved the friendships portrayed in the story (even more so than the romantic relationships) but I think the romance aspect was sweet, too! Overall, very happy with the story and the ending and I think it was great for a debut novel.

Though I did have some issues! A lot of the issues that the characters faced could have been solved by simply communicating, and it cheapens the actual plot and makes it seem like a lazy attempt at creating conflict. Also, the two main POVs, Sage and Charlie, were so alike (obviously, they are best friends) but there were times when I forgot which POV I was reading from because their internal monologues were so similar. It made me a bit sad because I really enjoyed Sage and I thought she was such a cool girl, but I felt like her POVs, and even her conflicts, were overshadowed by Charlie's. Lastly, the two twins in this story were named Nick and Charlie and I legit could not stop thinking about the iconic Heartstopper couple, Nick and Charlie.

But, in all, these problems were minor annoyances. I still thought the book was great!

This book was absolutely charming, very entertaining, and another boarding school story you MUST add to your collection! By the end of the first chapter, I wanted to apply to Bexley myself.

This author's world-building skills were incredible. I could picture the entire school campus, the hang out spots across the street in town, and every dorm room (Nick's is a sight to behold). I did look up Walther's bio, and it does say she attended boarding school, so she would know what flies and what doesn't. The world of Bexley, right down to its dress-code and other rules, felt very authentic to me.

Now the characters...ugh, my heart! The "flock" friend-group's stories are funny and touching, and I would've loved to read more about them. There are a quite a few characters mentioned, but I found it easy to keep track of who's who. Sage has her girls, Charlie and Nick have their boys, and they all mesh so well together.

And oh, did the couples make me swoon. Luke and Charlie, while they feel an instant connection, are
such a slow-burn that you can't help but giggle and grin when things finally fall into place. I cannot express how much I loved them. And Nick and Sage already have a foundation for their relationship, so you tear up the going gets tough. They too, with their funny phrases, were adorable.

While not involved romantically, I also count Charlie and Sage as a couple. I loved reading about their fiercely loyal best-friendship, how they were always there for each other. It brings a new meaning to the phrase "ride-or-die."

Like real life, the couples had their ups and downs. They had to do a lot of soul-searching to figure out what they wanted, and I think that will resonate with most teens.

I cannot wait to see what Walther writes next, and hopefully more Bexley will come our way! Nick, Sage, Luke, and Charlie might have graduated, but I think the school holds plenty more secrets and stories.

sorry but i can't handle this book anymore. I found it extremely boring. From the beginning I already knew where the story would go. The author introduced so many characters to the book that it seemed unnecessary since I was confused to what relationship they had with our four main characters.
It might not be my type of reading, but if the premise catch your attention you may like it.
thanks to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review

This book was light and a great summer romance read. It was easy to read but had to understand sometimes. Characters were referenced without any sort of acknowledgement of where they came from for awhile and I was also very confused to where the story was going but not in a good way. I think the characters could've been developed a little better and their connections established a little more.

This was sweet and charming and compulsively readable (I flew through it in two sittings), but it also had a lot of depth. I so appreciated the discussion on how it can be really fucking scary, but ultimately so freeing and rewarding, to be yourself and to admit, both to yourself and others, what it is you truly want. The depiction of friendship was great, too— and you know I’m always a sucker for a boarding school book. I really grew to love these characters, and I think lots of contemporary readers will be just as enchanted by Sage, Charlie, Nick, Luke, and their friends as I was. A great debut, and I look forward to reading anything else this author publishes in the future!

I am numb as I am writing this. I am possessed by emotions, my heart is filled and cannot take anything more.
I received an arc approximately 6 hours ago and I started reading it as soon as I could. By the time I was ten seconds in, I knew the story was undeniably going to become my favourite of this year, and I was exactly right.
Apart from that, let’s talk about the book itself. We have Sage and Charlie, best friends since childhood who people believe will end up together at some point, however, Sage likes Nick, Charlie’s twin and Charlie is gay.
Moreover, we have Luke. a new student who immediately catches Charlie’s attention. I cannot begin to explain how consuming their relationship is, most of my notes are about them; they’re adorable, heartbreaking and wholesome.
Whereas Nick and Sage were cute too, not as much as them. Nick made some mistakes that infuriated me but they still produced many screams that came from my mouth.
This book was absolutely perfect. The friendships were SO loyal, it was endearing to read; they cared deeply about each other (I cried many, many times) the romance was engrossing; I was a doomed fool who knew what she had in store yet reacted with wonder every single time.
In brief, the book is a work of art, it’s real and foolish at some points (they could have fixed numerous problems BY TALKING) that you begin to recognize how something can be perfectly imperfect, it’s a 5/5 and it’s obviously going on my favourites from this year.

I was quite excited for this book and started reading it almost immediately after it downloaded on my kindle. But it turned out to be pretty boring. I didn’t find any of the characters likable enough, Sage and Charlie didn’t treat anyone around them properly and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to root for their romances when they were quite rude to their love interests most of the time. The book also had a couple of tropes I don’t particularly like which was a disappointment.

You’ll probably enjoy this more if you want a light hearted book with slightly superficial characters. I like mine with a bit more depth and I found it missing here.

This book was the right kind of addictive. I loved how the characters developed. It was a perfect book to read at the end of the day. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed the character dynamics in this novel. Sage and Charlie are such great main characters and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.

Initially, I was a bit confused as to the set up of the book as it dove in head first (not a bad thing) and the vast number of characters introduced. I would say it takes about 25 pages to fully understand what is going on (even now some terms don't make sense to me but that might have to do with boarding school terminology) and maybe another 50 to get invested. So it is definitely something you need to stick out and not something you get into easily.

I really believed Sage's motivation for not wanting to get with Nick - it's absolutely heartbreaking, her backstory, but it's so believable and one I think a lot of people can relate to.

I had a more difficult time to empathize with Charlie but I will say that as a straight woman I would never understand the challenges an LGBTQ+ person would face and therefore cannot speak on this matter or how he handled his choice. I did love his relationship with Luke, however, and the way they easily fell into one another.

This book was unique and interesting, but I felt that it was a bit immature for me. I do enjoy some young adult fiction, but this one did not do it for me. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, I felt their personalities did not develop well enough. The relationships were interesting, and seemed a good reflection of school these days. I feel that a younger reader may have enjoyed this more than I did.

(Actual rating 3.5 stars.) When I first saw the cover of this book, I immediately liked it! And then I read the synopsis and I was just so excited because it seemed like a fun contemporary read for me. I was right!

If We Were Us is a fun and entertaining read, with similar vibes as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!

What I love most about this book is the fact that it's funny, light-hearted, but can still be very gut-wrenching in some parts. It explored the characters' flaws and issues, and their insecurities and mistakes. It was good to see these characters try to deal with them and overcome them by the end of the book. I also particularly adored the friendships and the dynamics between several characters! There's Charlie and Sage, Luke and Sage, and Nick and Charlie!

I did, however, feel like it lacked in the romance department. I wanted more build-up, I wanted more flashbacks, I wanted more details, especially when it came to Nick and Sage's relationship. Nick claimed he had feelings for Sage even before, but I didn't see that nor did I feel it. I needed romance that's believable, romance that will sway me. But in the end, I wasn't fully convinced. So, I was disappointed about that.

Another thing is that, the writing style was okay, but sometimes it left me confused. Several times in the book, there were references to something or someone or some place or event, but those things/persons/places/events were not explained or given primary details.

On the other hand, I love how this book perfectly captured the ridiculously frustrating stereotype/idea that a girl and boy can't be close friends without having feelings for each other. In the story, it has affected families, friends, the whole Bexley school body. This needs to stop, and this story just proves how bad that mentality can be.

Overall, If We Were Us was an entertaining read! I recommend this book to those who are looking for cute, short reads! (And those who are looking for books that has the same vibes as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda!)

Review on blog to be posted by April 19, 2020.

This novel was such a page turner! I became absolutely engrossed in the lives of Nick, Charlie, Sage and Luke!
It was fun, sad and honest, it reminds me of Becky Albertali’s novels but uniquely K.L. Walthers too!!
I definitely recommend this novel to anyone interested in YA romance.

Wow this debut novel knocked it out of the park with everything I expected this book to me!
Such a great book with writing that made me feel so connected to the characters and e everything they were going through.
I give this book more than 5 stars if I could!

I really enjoyed the lightness to this story the characters were very easy to understand and feel for however I found that they were just a few two many of them and it was hard to keep track of who was who and their relations with the other characters in the story. I did however find that this novel was the perfect book to just pick up, it makes the reader just fall into the story instantly and lose all track of what is going on in the world around them. However at the same time I was expecting more substance to the story I found it a little flat in places and very different from what I was expecting going into this book. This book kept me flip flopping through the whole story so that made it hard to get into. Not my favourite read however it did have some really cute moments
that I really enjoyed, I just wish that there were more of them. I really enjoyed the ending of this book however it was very good at keeping me interested and it was then that I really got involved in the characters. Not to bad overall.