The Upside of Unrequited
The Upside of Unrequited - Becky Albertalli
Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.
There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?
Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:
Let me start off by saying this is honestly one of the first books that I could relate to on so many levels. The writing is beautiful, the characters are relatable and the characters are diverse! I haven't read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda so I didn't compare it to that. A lot of people have compared it to Simon.. but I HAVEN'T SO I THINK ITS AMAZING!
Let me also start off by saying that this book is very diverse. The majority of the characters are part queer or POC. In this day and age, it ticks all the boxes of diversity and it makes me feel happy! The 'theme' of this book deals with anxiety and love. We follow Molly who has had several crushes but none of them has given the love back. She's a cute, relatable, Pinterest loving and caring character to follow. The writing for her character and her interactions are adorable and like I keep saying, relatable. We finally have some real dialogue and that is definitely 3 STARS right there. There are also lots of messages that are being conveyed in this book. The majority of them are about growing up. Molly already loves herself so her development throughout the book was something special as it didn't focus on her body image. Some of them are also about not impressing anyone, only yourself while also having a blast of a time. Another amazing message that was conveyed in the book was the parenting. Molly's mums were basically there for her all the time and letting her know that she can do anything at any age and there is no stopping you.
The Characters in this book are something else! EVERYONE WAS AMAZING AND ADORABLE! Molly is a romantic and she just wants to be in a relationship because everyone around her was in one. She saw it as a way of growing up.. so she ended up with lots and lots of unrequited crushes. I've never had many crushes throughout my life, but reading about her struggles were relatable because nobody likes being rejected. Another character I loved was Reid! I know I've had several book boyfriends but Ried is the most realistic boy I have read in a book for a long time. If you've read the book then you know why I love him so much. The way his clicks with Molly when they first meet is adorableeee!! So, therefore, he is at the top of the list because of realism over fantasy any day in my book.
There was definitely a comedy element in this book and it was amazingly light-hearted. The humour between the characters was funny and it had me giggling at times. I heard that Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens was nerdy and funnier but since I haven't read it I can't compare. In my opinion, this was the perfect combination of funny and nerdy!
Thank you, Becky Albertalli for creating this amazing book because it's one of my favourite books and it means a lot to me. I also read this book in one sitting so what does that tell you about how much I loved it! ahahaha. I seriously hope that if you haven't read this book that you do.
