The Upside Of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

I read Simon Vs The Homosapian Agenda last year, and with the release of Love, Simon the movie this year, i figured it was about time i dipped in to Becky Albertalli’s second novel. I enjoyed Simon Vs The Homosapian Agenda but it didn’t thrill me as much i had hoped, actually, i don’t remember much of the novel at all.

All in all, i much preferred The Upside to Simon. I found myself compelled by the story a lot more and wanting to constantly read on. I seemed to have a drag of ‘I’m not really in to this’ when i picked it up a few times, but after a few pages i was back adoring the characters and the romance of it.

I think that’s what i enjoyed most, and i’m putting it down to the fact i was in the mood for a cheesy, fluffy YA romance. The story follows Molly and her twin sister Cassie. Cassie wants girlfriend and Molly wants a boyfriend. It seems as though Cassie does everything before Molly, she knows about sex and orgasms and relationships, and Molly had never been kissed. As the story follows their changing relationship as sisters and their family dynamic changing, we learn more about Molly and her approach to the opposite-sex.

Molly’s interpretation is very similar to mine of the opposite-sex, for very different reasons but i saw a lot of myself in her. Whereas i’ve had relationships with females before, i found myself thinking a lot of the same things as Molly when i found myself in a relationship with a boy for the first time. ‘Wow this is weird is this what this is really like?’, ‘do guys actually think that?’ and everything else that was running through her mind. Having Molly to relate to made me enjoy the story a lot more i think.

The diversity in this book astounded me from the start. In the first chapter we are introduced to this incredible modern family that seems to defy all the lines of YA diversity, and i loved it. I have thought often about cramming in diverse characters for the fun of it, to prove we are accepting with literature. But this family seemed to fit incredibly well as a diverse family and i adored the dynamic of them. If you read this book for anything, let it be the family. It felt very similar to To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han in the way the family was written.

There were a few parts to this book that i didn’t like. The theme of emoji’s felt like it was pushed in a little too hard in order to seem ‘current’ and some of the language choices i didn’t enjoy. It felt as though the author was trying hard to appeal to teenagers. But these were easily looked over in order to actually enjoy the easy reading book.

I’m guessing if you enjoyed Simon Vs The Homosapian Agenda you’d enjoy The Upside Of Unrequited. It’s a very easy read that you can whiz through in a few days if you want to devour a teen romance. It’s a good ‘break-book’ i’ve found. I want to keep trying with Becky Albertalli’s work, but i don’t seem as thrilled with it as the rest of the population. I was hoping this would blow my mind, but i found it to be a just above average YA contemporary.