Becky Albertalli can *do no wrong*. I will read anything she writes, and *Amelia, If Only* totally delivered. I’m not a fandom girlie myself, but the way she wrote that world? It felt so real—I could *see* the K-pop-stan energy.

Amelia’s friend group had my whole heart, and while I *might* have aged out of YA a bit, Becky’s way of describing feelings always hits so hard. Honest, funny, and quietly emotional in all the right places.

Also… if you’ve read *Imogen, Obviously*… the scissors!!! IYKYK.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A very sweet read. I loved seeing Imogen, Lily, Edith, and Tessa pop up again and the issues with Amelia and Natalie being jealous of each other's crushes without realizing was very cute :) Also yay for the ITGO reference!

I'm a big fan of Becky Albertalli's books, and this one did not disappoint. It's like she has a window into teens' minds and is able to so authentically capture their way of being. This book even introduced me to a new word: parasocial. Have you ever fan-girled (or fan-guyed) so hard for someone you've only seen on screens? That's a parasocial relationship. And in this story, Amelia has a huge fan-girl, parasocial relationship with Walter, a YouTube celebrity, and one half of a YouTube show that she loved. While it's fun watching Amelia and her friends traverse the trials and tribulations of this parasocial world, some of the plot developments felt a bit too predictable for me. That said, the teens reading the story should like it anyway!

Amelia, If Only is about a girl named Amelia and her friends --Natalie, Mark, and Zora--who go on a road trip to visit Amelia's online crush, Walter. Amelia has followed Walter online for many years and became a lifelong fan when Walter made a coming-out video that resonated with her. Things I really enjoyed about the book included the tie-ins to Imogen, Obviously, continued conversations about coming out, coming of age, finding yourself, sexuality, and life online. I struggled with the first half of the book because it's a lot about Walter and the concept of parasocial relationships. Amelia feels like she knows Walter at times even while she's aware that it's a one-way relationship through a screen and that Walter, while a person is also an online personality. I appreciated that the story was told not only through narrative but also through DMs, online discourse, text messages, and more. However, as the main characters are on their road trip very real happens -- most of it is build up to the actual events when they arrive at the college and meet Walter in real life. I feel like this was a missed opportunity to build the characters and the connections between them. The second half of the book was great and a lot of what I loved about Imogen, Obviously--the college setting, the conversations about finding yourself and navigating life, the twists and turns, and the internal monologue and figuring yourself out. Ultimately that's why it's three stars for me -- I loved parts of it but the first half felt a bit slow and underdeveloped outside of the Walter developments. The first half felt more like a point -- we can't ever really know people online --than an actual story and it left me wanting more in terms of characters and plot but I also really love Albertalli and her work and the story did redeem itself in the second half. I definitely still enjoyed it and would choose to read it again. I recommend it to anyone who likes Albertali's other books, coming of age stories, or books with and about queer characters. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

4.25-4.5 Stars out of 5

Imogen, Obviously was one of my top reads the year it came out, so I was stoked to be able to return to that world with Becky Albertalli's latest book Amelia, If Only.

Becky has the balance between serious and funny down to a science. I loved this one. We meet Amelia and Friends shortly before they go to prom, when her Bestie's girlfriend breaks up with her, and her favorite Youtuber is putting on a show in their state Amelia decides her best friends must go on a road trip, 1) to meet Walter from youtube, and 2) to keep Natalie from getting back together with her ex.

Albertalli does such a good job in this book exploring parasocial relationships and how we as individuals can become infatuated with those who will follow on social media. Additionally, I loved the exploration of bi-sexuality and how it can often be an exploration to understand your own sexualtiy. I thought it was so well done and will make so many people feel seen.

There was so much to like about this book. It was fun and quirky and had a lot of fun banter moments. I loved our characters and the exploration of different themes. If you've liked any of Becky Albertalli's books, pick this up!!! Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced readers copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Another great one by Becky Albertalli. I had such a good time from beginning to end. i loved these characters. All of them. The whole road-trip thing was great. I loved how Becky twisted it with Imogen and even mentioned characters from another book (not by her). This was all so good. I was truly enthralled from beginning to end. I cannot wait to read this again and again.

becky albertalli never misses. imogen, obviously is one of my all time favorite books and i was so nervous amelia wouldn't live up to it. but it certainly did. becky has quickly become an auto buy author for me.

Amelia is an 18 year old bisexual who is parasocially infatuated with YouTube content creator Walter Holland. When he hosts a meet and greet that is a 5-6 hour drive from Amelia's home, she organizes a road trip to see him with her 3 best friends.

The most interesting aspect of the story is the representation of parasocial adoration. What adolescent hasn't had a crush on a celebrity and thought, "if we could only meet in person, I know we'd be soulmates/best friends". We get not only Amelia's thoughts on Walter Holland; but transcripts of all the social media she absorbs about Walter. It really shows how fans think they "know" an internet personality to the point of a level of ownership over that person's life.

Overall, I struggled with the pace of the novel. The story develops slowly over the course of 5 days. I'd say the first 70% of the novel was a bit of a slog, just listening to Amelia explain how she's not in love with Walter over and over again; or how his coming out video was so important to her.

When they finally arrive at the meet & greet destination, the college attended by Imogen and Tessa from "Imogen, Obviously", the pace finally starts to pick up and get more interesting. It's fun when the friend group is enlarged and to get a glimpse of Imogen and Tessa.

All of a sudden, the final few chapters speed forward with bombshell announcements from her friends and Amelia's own awakening about who she is really crushing on. Amelia accepts these announcements, one of which directly affects her future plans, with uncharacteristic ease. It was too much, all at once . Maybe it's supposed to be a metaphor, but the literal race to the finish felt rushed and forced.

I have loved some of Albertalli's other books, but this one just falls short for me.

This was a cute book! It follows a girl named Amelia, who embarks on a road trip with her best friends to go to a meet-and-greet for her favorite content creator.

Amelia was bold, goofy and enjoyable to read about, and I liked her friends as well. None of them are the most fleshed out characters, but they were distinct from each other and they were fun to follow.

The queer representation was great, as I've found to be the case in most, if not all, of Becky Albertalli's books. I loved that almost all of the characters were casually queer and that Albertalli touched on some important topics within the LGBTQ+ community, as she usually does. She has a way of weaving significant issues such as queerbaiting/accusations of queerbaiting into her books in a way that is thought-provoking and meaningful without being too in your face or pulling readers out of the story.

Another super fun element of this book, particularly for fans of Albertalli's previous works, was the cameos. Characters from her two most recent books popped up briefly in this one and it was so nice to see them again.

The plot was interesting as well. It dealt a lot with fame and the parasocial relationships so many people form with their favorite celebrities. For anyone who has read and enjoyed I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman, I'd definitely recommend checking this book out, or vice versa, as they both contain fascinating discussions about fame, fandom, and the intersection between the two.

My only issue when reading this was the romance, or lack thereof. Don't get me wrong, I think Amelia and Natalie were super cute together and I enjoyed the sweet little moments they shared throughout the book. However, in my opinion, we didn't get nearly enough of them. Albertalli's books usually put character development and growth at the forefront while romance takes the backseat but in this book, particularly, there was hardly any romance. It was obvious that the characters liked each other but it was only acknowledged in the most subtle of ways until nearly the end of the book. I would've liked to see more interaction between the two of them rather than so much of the relationship development existing only in Amelia's inner thoughts.

That said, this was a fast-paced, enjoyable book and for those who love Albertalli's writing, or those who love a feel-good young adult contemporary with a small subplot of romance, I'd recommend giving it a try.

*review to be posted on saysmesaysmom.com on 6/10.*

Thank you Harper Collins and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. Freakin hilarious! It’s Prom and Amelia has just asked her favorite YouTube content creator, Walter, to prom. It’s a long shot that he’ll see it. She doesn’t know what it is, she just feels like they would get along. When he came out, his words were the first she’d heard that summed up her own journey with her bisexuality. He seems genuinely sweet. Then her best friend, Nat’s, relationship falls apart at Prom and all thoughts of Walter vanish. That is until she finds out he’s having a meet and greet in a few days not to far from where they live. Her friend Zora is already going there to see her girlfriend. They can roadtrip and there’s not a better way to keep Nat’s mind off her ex-girlfriend, who Amelia does not like. So the three of them, along with Nat’s twin brother Mark, set out so Amelia can meet her favorite creator/social media crush. What will Walter be like? Them connecting is a long shot but not impossible. Also has she never notice how pretty Nat’s hair is? Or how sweet her laugh and dimples are? I think Amelia is probably my favorite Becky Albertalli character yet and that is saying something as I love so many of them! She’s witty, smart, and incredibly lovable! I also love that we get some cameos in this one! Also some references to characters from books by other authors that absolutely had me smiling! Amelia, her friends, and the various supporting characters, especially her little sister Audrey, are all charming! Hilarious, touching, full of the warm and fuzzies, and super lovely! Absolutely recommend Amelia, if Only!

Becky Albertalli is one of my favorite authors and yet I am always surprised by how much I enjoy her books. If you’ve read any of her other books then you know that the characters were hilarious and sweet, the friendships were strong, and the main character was relatable and slightly oblivious. I loved it. But what really stood out to me was how relevant the message of this book was. This is a necessary read for anyone who has ever been a part of any fandom, or even worshipped any celebrity. She does an amazing job of reminding the reader that famous people are really just people, and that personal relationships are far more real and valuable than parasocial ones. This was one of my favorite reads in a long time and I feel that it touched on topics that aren’t necessarily explored all the time.

Aside from the important message of this book, the relationships between Amelia and her friends were so wonderful. The friends-to-romance arc was masterfully done and did not feel rushed or drawn out, which I feel is hard to do with these types of plots. Albertalli did not rely too much on events that happened before the book to drive the romance, and there was crucial character development actually done on the page. I love love loved this book and can see myself rereading it as soon as it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the published for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Becky Albertalli so beautifully captures the bisexual experience, and ‘Amelia, If Only’ is no exception. This is an excellent standalone YA novel that has some minor character/world overlap with the wonderful ‘Imogen, Obviously,’ that returning readers will love and new readers won’t feel alienated by.

In the wake of her best friend Natalie’s break up with her awful on-again, off-again girlfriend, Amelia drags her friends on a road trip to attend her favorite YouTuber Walter’s first event since starting a solo channel. It’s a purely altruistic trip to distract Natalie from her breakup and absolutely NOT because Amelia is A) terrified of Natalie’s ex winning her back and B) harboring a giant parasocial crush on Walter.

As a protagonist, Amelia is a LOT. She’s constantly using humor to circumvent vulnerable conversations and, when she does finally get honest, the switch flips so fast it can give readers whiplash. But she’s also so real. SPOILER ALERT. Because, yeah, allowing your bisexual self to finally own up to a crush on a friend and then immediately losing all semblance of cool because OH MY GOD YOU’RE SO IN LOVE is a canonical experience. Becky doesn’t make the rules of a bisexual coming of age, she simply documents them.

Like its lead, ‘Amelia, If Only’ is also a LOT. It explores the aforementioned crushes, but also: parasocial relationships, the stickiness of shipping real people (especially queer shipping), the transition from high school to college, and the melancholy nostalgia it brings for a chapter you haven’t even started yet. It’s a lot of themes for one book — but Amelia is experiencing it all at once, so why shouldn’t us readers? The result is a smart, relatable, and joyful trip. 5*.

Oh and Becky, PLEASE make the next book about Walter and you know who.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for providing this e-arc.

This was SUCH a fun read! I loved Amelia and her narration and her absolute batshit-ness. I loved Walter, and Mark, and Zora, and Edith, and Natalie, and the glimpse of Tess and Imogen! I love how absolutely useless these sapphics are.

If you like Albertalli’s other books, you will love Amelia, If Only. With bonus references to Imogen, Obviously characters. It has Albertalli’s humor and heart. Loved it.

This pains me to say, but I didn't enjoy this one. The jumping back and forth to YouTube transcripts and comment sections just didn't draw me in, and I skimmed those parts. And I didn't like Amelia, which isn't a requirement for me to like a book, but she was grating.

Nothing says true love like a parasocial relationship with a semifamous YouTuber—or so Amelia figures. So they've never met in person and their only interaction was in the comments section...surely, if their lives overlapped, there'd be...well, not necessarily sparks. But maybe. There'd be a *chance*.

Oh, teenagers.*

You know going into an Albertalli book that it's going to be a fun romp, and this is no exception. The energy reminds me a little of Sophie Gonzales's "The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist"—the way that, in "Perfect Guy", Ivy writes this genuinely terrible fanfic and is perfectly okay with it (still my favourite thing about the book), while here, Amelia throws herself into appreciation of what sounds like a pretty (intentionally, as far as the book is concerned) mediocre YouTube channel and refuses to hear any criticism. It all feels very human, I guess; I love YA in which teenagers get to be average teenagers instead of award-winning prodigies or whatever.**

Anyway, cue a road trip with friends who are browbeaten into submission so that Amelia can finally, finally meet this guy in person. This is set in the same universe as "Imogen, Obviously", so some of those characters pop up again, and it's nice to see how much of this is about friendship as much as it is about relationships. I think this is probably 3.5 stars for me—it's not likely to be one I'll return to—but I'm here for the chaotic energy and the lack of a true bad guy. (Do I think Amelia will last with her paramour? Not really. But it's YA, so it probably is eternal true love.) I wouldn't be sorry to see another book in this universe.

*I mean, I know adults who think this way too. So maybe it's more of an "oh, humanity"?

**I also love YA in which someone is a movie star or secretly a princess or goes to med school at sixteen (though in the latter case I usually end up shouting at the book). I'm like an onion, okay? Onions have layers.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

I was so excited to read Amelia, If Only, but unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me. It was sweet, and I always appreciate a YA novel with strong queer representation and positive adult allies, but I struggled to connect with the story.

A lot of the novel focused on Amelia trying to meet and analyzing past content from a YouTuber she admires, only for the romance to develop with someone else, who, to me, wasn’t fully fleshed out. The friends-to-lovers dynamic could have been explored more deeply, and I kept expecting something bigger to come from all the Reddit threads, YouTube comments, and tweets about Walter Holland, especially the way people were being creepy and demanding of such young public figures, but it never really did. I felt like I was just watching one weekend of their life, without much backstory or a sense of where they were heading next.

That said, I loved the cameos from Tess and Imogen (Imogen, Obviously fans will be happy!), and Amelia’s quick-witted, slightly chaotic humor made for some fun moments, though at times, it leaned into too much. An epilogue showing where the characters end up in college would have been a great addition.

Becky Albertalli writes some of my favorite books of all time.. so I had pretty high expectations. I unfortunately wasn’t able to connect to the characters in this one as much as I have in the past. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC copy.

Becky Albertalli is a long-time fave, so I had pretty high expectations for this book going in, especially considering how much I loved her last book (Imogen, Obviously). While I didn't end up connecting with this one quite as much, I still loved so much of what it was doing: the conversations it was having around celebrity, fandom, and parasocial relationships; the excitement, confusion, fear, and nostalgia that surround the end of high school and the beginning of whatever comes next; the incandescence of the music of Simon and Garfunkel; and, especially, Amelia herself. Amelia is easily the most chaotic of Albertalli's protagonists, with her mind running a mile a minute and her jokes and nicknames coming fast and furious, but was both insanely charmed by her and related to her so much. (Especially when she gets called out for deflecting hard conversations with jokes.) The love story at the heart of all this was very cute and also relatable, with the way it was constantly forcing Amelia to question "am I in love or is it just the fact that we're both queer and single?" Also, I LOVED the cameos we got from Kate and Anderson (from Kate in Waiting) as well as a number of familiar faces from Imogen, Obviously!

I traditionally have enjoyed Becky Albertalli's books. I appreciate the inclusivity she has in her stories and the quirkiness of her characters, but this one, well, it was too much. I had to DNF this at 50% because I found Amelia, the MC, just too much. It felt like she was trying to hard with this one and everything felt extra. Perhaps, I'm aging out of enjoying YA, but between the heavy usage of social media (YouTube, Tumblr, etc.) to talking about parasocial relationships (I didn't even know that there was an official terminology for such things!) and over usage of MILF....like FFS, it just didn't hit for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.