"Imogen, Obviously" by Becky Albertalli is a delightful and heartwarming read that not only explores romance but also delves into the complexities of identity and self-discovery. I found myself immersed in Imogen's journey, which is both relatable and deeply moving.

At its core, this book is a light and fun romance, but it goes beyond that to tackle the serious theme of finding one's own identity amidst societal expectations. Imogen's struggle with her sexuality is portrayed with authenticity and sensitivity, making her inner monologue both heartbreaking and relatable. Albertalli's courage in weaving a fictional bisexual awakening story, inspired by her own experiences, adds depth and authenticity to the narrative.

What sets "Imogen, Obviously" apart is its exploration of the importance of being an ally and the journey towards self-acceptance. Imogen's unwavering support for the LGBTQ+ community is commendable, yet her own realization and acceptance take time—a journey filled with doubts, questions, and self-discovery. The discourse on what defines someone as queer is thought-provoking and adds layers to Imogen's character development.

The dynamics between Imogen, Lili, and Tessa are beautifully portrayed, adding richness and depth to the storyline. Imogen's evolving relationship with Tessa, in particular, is filled with humor, warmth, and moments of vulnerability that will resonate with readers.

Overall, "Imogen, Obviously" is a courageous and heartfelt novel that celebrates love, friendship, and the journey towards self-acceptance. With humor, insight, and a touch of romance, Becky Albertalli has crafted a story that will captivate and inspire teen readers.

I loved Becky Albertalli’s previous novels “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” and “The Upside of Unrequited”, so I was so certain that I would love Imogen, Obviously. …and I was right! This book was so sweet, cute, and fast-paced. An overall fun, enjoyable, and adorable experience!

I wish I liked this book, I really wanted to like it, but it just wasn’t for me. I liked the premise but didn’t like the execution and really struggles with the format. While I could sympathize with Imogen and her internal struggles, she drove me crazy with her over thinking of everything. Overall, I found it hard to connect with the story and I found it hard to relate to any of the characters; there were just too many and they felt shallow to me. While I do think this will appeal to the right target audience, I just wasn’t that audience.

I’d like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital copy of this title. This is my honest review and the opinions expressed are my own.

Imogen settled into my heart and warmed me through. I wanted to wrap her in a blanket and tell her everything would work out. Albertalli created the perfect coming-of-age story with a lovable character at the helm who's just trying to figure herself out. Narrator Kinnunen nailed the young, naïve, scared girl unsure of her path forward, making the highs sound high and the lows sound heartbreaking.

I’m actually really mad at myself that I waited so long to read this. Imogen is such a relatable character, and watching her go through every stage of questioning made me feel so seen as someone who didn’t come out until college. Her group of friends felt like a warm hug, and the queer community present in this book is just incredible. Besides Gretchen, she can F off. Becky Albertalli did it once again, a truly amazing story.

It is always such a joy to read anything written by Becky Albertali. I love the character dynamics in this book.

"Imogen, Obviously" is a heartfelt novel following the journey of a bisexual teenager navigating her sexuality. Over the course of a week, Imogen immerses herself in the vibrant world of her friend Lili and her queer friend group. The narrative, is drawn from the author's own experiences, making it resonate authentically. This story not only embraces self-discovery but also celebrates the strength of deep friendships!

While the book offers great representation that many readers will connect with, it's not without its flaws. The rapid development of Imogen's romance wasn’t my cup of tea. The love story unfolds in just a week, which, though passionate, might have benefited from a more gradual build-up. Despite these minor dislikes, "Imogen, Obviously" is still an interesting story of self discovery many will relate to.

This was such an important book. The one I might have needed had I been a teenager today. The one I wish teenagers had had twenty years ago, though I know how impossible that would be. Imogen is delightful to spend time with, like all Becky Albertalli books the characters were all so well-drawn, and it was just so nice to be able to spend time in this world.

Imogen's relatability shines as she grapples with being the presumed token straight friend, a sentiment many can resonate with. While I didn't personally love the bisexual character as the "villain," it reflects a realistic dynamic. Despite this, the book remains a joyous and essential read, offering much-needed representation for queer individuals navigating their identity journeys. Its lighthearted yet authentic exploration of friendship and self-discovery contributes to the broader conversation about diverse experiences. Imogen's journey, though imperfect, adds a layer of relatability to the narrative, making it a valuable addition to literature that speaks to the diverse spectrum of queer lives.

I really love this book! It's amazing, fun, exciting, and has incredible characters. This was my first Becky book and I was very happy that I liked it.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. What drew me to this book at a glance was the cover. Then I read the blurb and knew in that moment I had to see Imogen's journey. She did everything in her power to be supportive and an ally to those around her. Then a little white lie changes an idea that Imogen has about herself. She needs the support of those around her so she can figure it out. This book dealt with a lot of issues and brought topics that young people deal with at that age into the light.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

This is truly Becky Albertalli's Magnum Opus, and I really enjoyed her take on queer spaces, coming out, allyship, and all things queer, awkward, and cute. I'm a stan forever.

An important story and I appreciate the introspection of the narrator; however, it could have been much, much shorter of a novel. I think the characters/plot is better suited for a novella rather than a fulll length novel. Not enough new was introduced into the plot to make reading the length of this novel enjoyable.

<i>"I've always had such a pliable center. I *like* being who people expect me to be. It's not that I'm trying to change who I am. I just want who I am to make sense. In every context. Without any uncertainty or contradiction. Which means pinning down who I'm supposed to be in any given situation and adjusting my feelings accordingly.
Here's a fun riddle: a people pleaser walks into a diner with five other people, and every single one of them wants her to be someone different.
Is that what's happening? People saw me as queer for a week, and it stuck?"</i>

This book absolutely blew me away. The first chapter was a little rough, and I was a little skeptical -- I felt like I was hit with a lot of character names + info and not a lot of context right off the bat -- but once I got into the story (and it didn't take long) I completely forgot.

This, to me, coming in with no knowledge of Becky Albertalli, read as a deeply personal working through of queer identity. So much so, that I paused about 1/3 of the way through and looked up her story. Which...oooh boy, people had a lot to say -- and I was honestly shocked by some of it.

The idea -- both for Albertalli's life and Imogen's story -- that anyone could dictate someone else's queer identity or coming out story is just...awful. Like, we're still here? I get that authors -- perhaps not as much as "higher profile" celebrities -- get people who feel like they're entitled to know all the details of their private lives, but c'mon.

Anyway -- long and short of it: I fell in love with both Imogen and Becky Albertalli, and while I get where Gretchen (the people on the Interwebz) is coming from, they can all sit down and hold their tongues. I will be adding all of Albertalli's catalog to my TBR and I feel this fierce devotion to her now. Like don't come for someone so sweet with your negativity.

Becky is amazing and this book doesn't live down the hype. Becky is great and I'm a fan of her work.

Becky Albertalli is ever fabulous. This is another win. It will make you smile. It will make you cry and it will make you feel. Absolutely adored it!

4.5/5 Stars

Thank you to Balzer + Bray and Netgalley for providing me with an arc of this book.

I love Becky Albertalli’s books and this was my first one in a while. Leading up to this book’s publication I saw becky talk about how much she put into imogen of her own story but I didn’t expect to relate to Imogen as much as I did. I wish I had this book when I was younger as I think it would have nudged me into understanding my sexuality sooner.

Imogen Scott is the token heterosexual best friend and there is no way she could possibly be anything but straight. She is a great ally, never misses a pride alliance meeting, and she always tries to listen to her queer friends. She finally goes and visits her best friend Lili who is newly out and is living her best college life with queer friends but when Imogen arrives she learns Lili told her friends that they had dated and Imogen was bi. Imogen goes along with the lie but slowly she realizes maybe her feelings for Tessa, one of Lili’s friends, goes a bit deeper than friendship.

I was that straight friend in my friend group while the rest of my friends were queer and I thought there was no possible way I was anything but straight. Until I realized my feelings for one of my friends not in my main friend group were a little more than just friendly. After I accidentally came out to my mom, she told me that both her and my dad had been wondering if I was straight considering a lot of things. While I grew up with progressive and queer people around me that didn’t outweigh the amount of heterosexual relationships I saw in the media and in real life. This book would have been life changing to a younger me and even now it made me cry. It is books like these we need more of and need to save from book bans as this book and so many other queer and bipoc stories are life changing.

I loved Imogen and I adored Tessa for how supportive Tessa was when Imogen came out. Imogen was just trying to survive and to figure out who she was but she had to battle both internal biases and external pressures to figure it out. I have never wanted to meet a book character more in real life than gretchen just to provide the find out portion of fuck around. Gretchen was a well done character but a horrible person and this was very intentional of Albertalli and it was perfect. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to fight Gretchen because I do but I do think her characterization was very well done.

This book handles a lot of issues around biphobia and also tackles the question that has been especially prevalent of do Actors need to tell the world their sexuality to be considered for a character. I am of the believe while it is amazing to have queer actors for queer characters, we will never know who is queer and we should not be forcing people out of the closet just because we want the character to be represented by a queer person. It is such a complex issue but the most important thing to remember is these actors are people and they deserve privacy just like anyone else and should never be forced into coming out. I really liked the commentary on these things and it was handled very well.

I highly recommend this for people wanting a book focused on sexuality exploration and coming to terms with being queer.

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books/Balzer + Bray for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Imogen Scott is a senior in high school and is the token straight girl amongst her friends and sister. She’s a bit nervous to visit her best friend, Lili, for the first time at the college Imogen will also be attending in five months, as she’s not wanting to invade Lili’s queer space. Imogen’s in for a surprise though when Lili tells her that she told her friends that Imogen and Lili used to date and that Imogen is bisexual.
As a people-pleaser and World’s Greatest Ally, she can’t help but go along with Lili’s story, even if she feels a bit weird about lying. As she spends the weekend and the following week getting closer with one of Lili’s friends, Tessa, she starts to question whether she’s 100% lying or if she’s 100% straight like she (and her friend Gretchen) has always said.

This book was just a ray of sunshine. Imogen’s brain works similarly to mine, so I totally understood and related to the ramblings and questions about literally everything. I loved seeing how thoughtful she was about approaching queer situations and what went on in her mind when she started questioning her sexuality. I was so glad that Imogen, for the most part, had a super supporting and understanding community around her and the resources for her to figure things out. I loved all of the characters, except for the toxic, discourse-obsessed, queer-gatekeeping, Gretchen, and I hope Imogen never talks to her again.
Becky turned a difficult, public discourse about her own sexuality and turned it into an amazing story that will undoubtedly help anyone who may be in the process of questioning their sexuality or relate to anyone who has gone through this at any age. I definitely felt validated (not that I needed to be), while going on Imogen’s journey of self-discovery. It’s also a great reminder that not everyone’s story and/or experience with queerness is the same, so it’s important to treat everyone with grace and openness, regardless of how they choose label themselves at any given time… don’t be a Gretchen.

This was cute but I don’t really think I was the right audience for it! It was a little young for me.