Rating: ★★★ Blurb: Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it. Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them? Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated. Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited. But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third? What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough? What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play? But what if it is? Goodreads Link (Spoilers review below) To sum it up, What If It’s Us left a bittersweet taste that wasn’t at all surprising. From the get-go, Albertalli’s and Silvera’s narratives intertwine as smoothly as peanut butter. With the voices of both Ben and Arthur rarely clashing stylistically, it easily lets the reader learn about each character without having to adjust to each perspective. However, over time, Albertalli’s storytelling skilled seemed to become more inconsistent with how Arthur was originally written. With the easygoing and innocent boy from Georgia soon downward spiraling into someone who can’t seem to stop talking about the latest trends in gay porn and dropping the f-bomb every five seconds. Obviously, characters can grow, but not so much out of themselves that they become someone else in the span of ten weeks. This change of writing toward the end of the book leaned me towards wanting to make me get over with it. Going back to the actual content of the story, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted throughout the Ben/Arthur relationship as to whether I liked it or not. Ben seems to come off as completely different during their first date, and while we’re still getting to know the characters, many of the scenes that took place during the do-over dates seemed to create even more issues. The main thing I’m most surprised of how glossed over it feels is the off-handed racist comment Arthur makes towards Ben. The topic only seems to be mentioned for a page or two before being fully dismissed, which was surprising considering how self-conscious Ben seemed to be of his heritage. All these factors put me off to the relationship, not really making me want to root for them, even after the awesome yet infuriating introduction of the two trying to find one another. With that being said, the entire beginning portion of the two meeting and going to craigslist and Instagram was really enthralling. It was what made me persist through the book and was ultimately my favorite part of it. The other thing I truly enjoyed was the boys’ fight after the loss of the Hamilton tickets. It felt the most realistic of the fights they’d had thanks to its fantastic dialogue. On the topic of Hamilton, the book was just so overflowing with references that I was actually put off by it to some extent. Pop culture is pop culture and it is always evolving, but I distinctly remember the Hamilton craze and many of the other things as brought up in the book and reading it doesn’t take me back in time. If anything, it feels like the novel has already become dated and so I think that the pop culture should have been peppered in, not soaked in them. To wrap this up, I will say that I did appreciate how the two characters seemed to flip towards the end with how they approach the dating world, that little trope is always a favorite for me so bonus points for that! It may have sounded like I just was loathing reading every page of this but I really did find it to be an entertaining and fun read. I always love to see more diversity, both in having more LBGT+ fiction and mixed couples and authors. What If It’s Us at first felt like another ‘what is the universe trying to tell me’ YA cliché, but left as something you should give a peek to if you see it on the shelf.
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