Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli is a beautiful story about identity, sexuality, queerness, and self discovery, with complex realistic characters and all the witty banter💗.
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I loved reading about that sort of chaotic freedom of being away at college, an adult for the first time. When I read Albertalli’s writing, everything comes to life. The characters are so real and three dimensional. I can hear the pitch of a voice, the cadence of a laugh. There’s the beat of a song, the smell of sweat, energy. The room, the people, they all come to life in a way I don’t always see.
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The relief and catharsis I felt at the end pushed this to a 5⭐️ for me. Not only was this a beautifully written book, it’s an important book. Thank you to @balzerandbray and @netgalley for this digital ARC.
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Imogen, Obviously- Becky Albertalli
5/5⭐️
Pub Date- 5/2/23

This was an automatic read for me because bisexual realization stories are my heart. Imogen is so pure intentioned and I love this about her. I generally enjoy books full of major plot turns and twists, so because of that the book was a little slow to start for me, but if you're a fan of general YA romance, then it will be perfect for you.

This book...it is my everything, now. It's gorgeously crafted, so emotionally resonant, and utterly brilliant. It means the world to me to see thoughts I've had about myself on the page -- and refuted, in a triumphant acknowledgment that queer is queer. I love this book so much.

In a social media graphic for the book, the author describes Imogen as having "queer discourse brainworms", which is a good way to put it. She tries to educate herself about queer issues, but just ends up thinking that there’s only one right way to be queer. She doesn’t feel the same way about girls as she does in her crushes on guys, so she concludes that means she doesn’t like girls at all. Even when faced with obvious evidence to the contrary, she convinces herself that she’s just trying to be bisexual for clout and that she’s a bad person for appropriating queerness.

i adored this book so much. i felt so seen and imogen’s struggle with understanding herself was so relatable. she was me. sometimes crushes aren’t always easy to pin point and sometimes we don’t even recognize we have them. everyone’s queerness is different and i think that’s beautiful. i loved the chemistry between tessa and imogen and the friendship between imogen and lili. would recommend this to everyone, whether they’re questioning or out or straight. this book is for everyone.

Becky Albertalli's "Imogen, Obviously" is funny, sweet, and mind-opening. Imogen's growth throughout the story does not rely on her coming out journey. She also learns to recognize that she is ready to move away to college and that some friendships need to be put on pause. Albertalli deftly uses two main settings—college and Imogen's home—as spaces where Imogen can try on new identities and question which ones are no longer serving her. It's easy to root for Imogen because she is always ready to support others. Once she identifies what she wants, readers will be happy to cheer her on.

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the ARC of IMOGEN OBVIOUSLY!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Brief synopsis; Imogen is straight, an LGBTQ+ ally, and always supportive of the queer people in her life. However, after hanging out with her best friend’s group of queer college friends and having to pose as her friend Lili’a ex-girlfriend, she realizes that she might not be so straight after all.

Oh my lord, this is the queer coming out story I needed when I was in high school/my first year of college. I absolutely ADORED this book with all my heart. I was so hesitant because the first chapter didn’t have me totally hooked, but by the time we meet the rest of the cast of characters and the love interest, I. Was. EXCITED.

Imogen’s coming out process felt authentic, and the experiences she has leading up to the big moment of her realization made me feel seen and made me feel for her. Gretchen’s attitude reminded all too well of some former friends of mine and I wanted to throw her off a balcony. The entire book I was thinking of how to protect Imogen the whole time if I were in that group of friends. I was so angry at Gretchen (and still am tbh).

I loved the college setting and how everyone was so unique in their personalities and in their identities. Their dynamics really made this novel exceptional; it reminded me of my first college friend group, and how close we all were in our supportive little group. Everyone was so well-rounded and the humor and perspectives that they all shared were balanced and realistic.

I legit have nothing more to say about this book other than the fact that I love it so much and will be thinking about it forever. That’s it that’s the review.

Big props to Becky Albertalli for writing another amazing book (and Becky if you’re reading this, come close to New Hampshire so I can meet you and have a copy of IMOGEN signed plz and thank you I love you)

I am choosing to DNF this at a little more than 30%. It is hard to read this book, as the main character has so much anxiety about her every move, and we are put in her shoes. I thoroughly salute Albertalli for this work and for her own journey of sexuality, which I know has resonated with many readers.

I absolutely adored this book. The bisexual rep was incredible, and I really loved that Becky took all her experiences with the book community and the discourse around "queerbaiting" and made something out of it. I've been so angry for her for ages and this really made something beautiful and important out of it. I know there will be readers who won't like it, but they're the Gretchen's of the world.

Anyway, this book was incredible, reminded me why I loved Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda so long ago. It made me really, really happy.

And yeah, sure, it also reminded me of myself. That too.

Truly a slam dunk of a novel, and so grateful to have gotten an advanced e-copy.

Soooo cute! I love Becky Albertalli anyway (although, not so much her last one, but I am thinking I might give it another chance now), but this one was my favorite. Like ugh, be still my heart! Imogen is so relatable, so easy to adore, so earnest about everything . . . she's the kind of character that seems like they would be annoying, and maybe sometimes you're like GIRL, get out of your head, but she really isn't annoying. She's just sweet and cute and real. And the Clea DuVall crush? I feel so seen! She's like me when I was young, Loved this book.

A deep dive on what it means to find yourself. I haven't ever read a YA LGBTQ story like this before so it was a very refreshing take. It really gets you into Imogen's head as she struggles to understand her feelings. A little long for my taste, but enjoyable to read.

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

Definitely lived up to the hype for me great great book. I can't wait to get it on hardback as well.

Even though I enjoyed this book, I didn't fully appreciate it until I learned some about Becky Albertalli's personal journey. Still not my favorite of hers, but enjoyable and I'm glad I read it.

This book was everything. I adored the way Imogen started to see and accept her sexuality. I loved the discourse about if actors/artists/authors should be forced to come out (obviously not!!), and I really connected with Imogen’s arc. It felt like I was reading my own story.

Also: this book gave me my new most hated character in fiction. Gretchen needs to go kick rocks.

I absolutely loved this book. I saw so much of myself in the story and it was beautifully written. Keep LGBTQ+ books in schools!!!! I felt validated as an adult, so it could be life-changing for kids.

I love Becky's books but this one didn't interest me as much. It was filled with so much of the character's doubt and insecurities that I just found it to not be as charming as her other books.

Imogen, Obviously is Becky Albertalli’s most compelling book since Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda. I’ve read quite a few of her other books but this one just got me in a way the others just didn’t.

I love Imogen. She and I share the same kind of overthinking, the same kind of anxiety. She’s much more outgoing than I am but we react in very similar ways. Her internal biphobia is reminiscent of my own, and coupled with the anxiety, is bound to lead to disaster. I particularly liked how she questioned her own identity because her friend Gretchen is like queer personified. Gretchen seems to be under the impression that if you are not visibly queer, if you haven’t known you were queer since you were a tiny child, that you aren’t queer enough. If you haven’t suffered, haven’t been discriminated against, can pass as straight, you aren’t queer enough. Gretchen is that ultimate queer person that I am definitely afraid of, the one who will always question my presence and my lack of ability to talk about queer issues in an intelligent way. She is the person who makes everyone else uncomfortable or afraid to speak up about their own experiences because, if they don’t align with hers, they are invalid.

I love how Imogen spoke about the different kinds of people she is to other people, what they expect of her is different from person to person, and how she was happy to be molded by Gretchen into the person Gretchen imagined her to be. Sometimes that’s easier, especially if you’ve been friends for a while. The world is a scary place and sometimes it’s easier to be someone else so you don’t have to be alone.

When Albertalli spoke about the statistic unlikelihood that every kid in a family would be queer, I found that to be really funny, and completely relatable. How likely is it that all the kids in one family would be queer? Or all the friends in a particular friend group? Pretty darn likely, if you ask me. Both my sister and I are queer.


With the first half of the book spent on campus, we don’t even see Imogen’s home until nearly the second half of the book. I really enjoyed this because it just signaled just how ready Imogen was to go to college and find this new place to be comfortable, with new friends and old friends in a new setting. Lili was so wonderfully supportive, especially as soon as she realized what Imogen might be experiencing. They have a great relationship, one that translates well to college and won’t be left behind even as the characters mature. I’m quite jealous of that.

I wonder if Albertalli had a Gretchen, a specific person in her life who made her question her queerness. The world makes bi people question themselves every day, no matter how you look at it. A woman is in a relationship with a man and she passes as straight. She’s in a relationship with a woman and she’s a lesbian. God forbid she actually marry one or the other, because if she did, she would be either full straight or full lesbian. Bi people can’t exist as bi unless they’re alone, and perhaps even then might express a preference for one gender or another, or have more relationship history with one type of a person.

Here in pride month, I feel Imogen, Obviously brought up a lot of important topics regarding biphobia and just being queer in general. I loved the writing style and the characters are simply amazing. I kind of hope Albertalli writes more in this world, about Lili or Tessa. I highly recommend this book to queer people everywhere. It’s a quick read and would be great for anyone, including younger readers, perhaps middle school and up.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a review! I have been WAITING for this book to come out, and it did not disappoint! Such a cute story!

This is absolutely my favorite book of 2023 so far!

Becky Albertalli, you are an icon (a BIcon if you will) for writing this book. Anyone familiar with this author will understand how significant of a story this is to Albertalli and I am just so impressed. She managed to craft a perfect example of someone discovering their identity a little later in life, in a less "conventional" way than what society feeds us, all the while confronting toxic people who think they have the right to comment on someone else's orientation. It was messy but so dang beautiful.

Imogen's entire characterization was relatable to me, the college setting was super nostalgic, and it really felt like I was part of the new friend group too! If you don't connect with the MC though, there is a good chance you will see parts of yourself woven into the large cast of diverse characters which we love to see. My only minor complaint is that rather than meeting each of the 10+ characters naturally they were all listed at once in the beginning making it difficult to form individual connections.

The romance though? I was literally sobbing, giggling, and squealing with delight. Seriously, I devoured the majority of this book in one sitting and couldn't put it down. ALSO, the little callbacks (Waldo, kissing in the rain, etc) made this story feel even more special than it already was. Such a fun reading experience overall!

If you're looking for a single book to read during Pride Month (or any other month) this is THE one as it centers valuable conversations around queerness and the accompanying online discourse. It is well worth the read and I will be re-reading, my own physical copy that I just purchased, soon!

4 stars!

"Imogen, Obviously" by Becky Albertalli is a coming-of-age bi-awakening novel about Imogen, a staunch queer-ally to all of her friends and family, but who has never once questioned whether or not she is queer. This is the first book I have read by Becky Albertalli, but I can tell what a thoughtful author she is if this book is any indication. In this book, Becky Albertalli is signaling to an entire generation of kids and teens that it's okay to be who you are if you are queer. And of course it is! Homophobes and transphobes need not apply! Be gone with you!! I cried multiple times reading this because I can just tell it's going to be so important moving forward. Albertalli is having such meaningful, deep conversations about inclusivity and individuality and queerness and coming out, but she does so in an easily digestible, competent, and consequential manner. She never talks down to her audience. Adults and teens alike will be able to read and comprehend this material in an honest, eye-opening manner. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer, and hey, maybe you'll learn something about yourself, too. This story shows that no matter who you are, you're enough for the queer community, that you don't need to be one specific thing or one specific person, that it's okay to be different than everyone else as long as you're true to yourself. This book shows that there is always more work to be done as an ally and that we should constantly be checking our own biases and preconceived notions. It shows that it's okay to keep asking questions (as long as the intent is not malicious). It shows that it's okay to keep striving to be a better ally, that we don't get it right on the first go-around. It stresses making sure that conversations don't center on us as allies, but rather on the queer community, and that allies should be more diligent when having conversations surrounding the queer community. I can imagine that Imogen's experiences in this novel have and will mirror those of so many others. I personally loved the inclusion of the internet, texting, and modern slang because it makes the book feel that much more authentic. I loved the characters! Imogen is such an adorable ball of anxiety and emotions and wonderful cinnamon-roll-ness. Tessa is an absolute delight! I loved them together. In fact, I loved all of the secondary friend characters, too, especially Edith (Imogen's sister). Can we get an Edith book, please!? Even Gretchen gets her (horrible) chance to shine because not every person (queer or otherwise!) can be a good friend. As I said, the authenticity is REAL! Please do yourself a favor and read this book. I think it's going to be an invaluable tool for so many people moving forward.

Thank you to NetGalley, Becky Albertalli, HarperCollins Children's Books, and Balzer + Bray for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.