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Friday, July 28, 2017

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli ARC Review

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
Format: Physical ARC
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Pub. Date: April 11, 2017
Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. 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. 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 a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

That fresh breeze of diversity you're feeling? It's Becky Albertalli's The Upside of Unrequited. This book is honest, adorable, and so effortlessly inclusive. There is body-image, POC, LGBTQIA+ representation and it's exactly how it should be because . . .


The Upside of Unrequited celebrates being different, loving who you want to love, and just overall accepting who are you are and being appreciated for it. I loved this book so much that I immediately needed to read Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda right after! Now I will forever be on the hunt for everything Becky Albertalli writes. Make sure you guys get your hands on this book as soon as possible because it's so moving and incredibly sweet that no words will ever be able to express the amazingness of it. 


1) The way Albertalli constructs characters is seemingly effortless but unquestionably brilliant. Her characters are so real. If someone told me that they were real people, I would have no problem believing it. I could almost hear their voices and the sound of their laughter as I was reading. 

2) I think that this book is a perfect example how diversity should be included in books—varied representation without it feeling like a diversity checklist. The Upside of Unrequited celebrates being different in every sense of the word. As I said before, all kinds of marginalized groups are given voices in this story, and it's beautiful and touching. 


3) I love Molly's family in this story. They all have interesting personalities and made me laugh so much.


4) I'm not going to spoil the ship, but I just have to say that I ship the endgame couple so hard. They are so freaking adorable from the very beginning—I really wanted more from these two. 

5) I love Molly! I just wanted to hug her throughout this entire book and tell her that she wasn't alone and that most of the people I know have gone through (or are currently going through) what she is. I'd love to be her friend because she's freaking awesome. 


6) Simon's cameos! Ahhhh those were gold, I love that boy so much.


1) At times, the pacing of the book through me off a bit. There were times where it was really slow and then all of a sudden it was moving at breakneck speed. It made reading it a bit disjointed and disrupted the flow of the story for me. 





31 comments:

  1. YES YES YES SO GREAT TO HEAR YOU ENJOYED THIS! It was such a cute and amazing read and I loved the romance and how relatable the characters were. Also I felt it stood out to me from other contemporary YA!

    xx Anisha @ Sprinkled Pages

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    1. Yes! I even hosted Becky on BBTC because I love this book so much! It was super cute and it was the light read that I needed. I'm glad you enjoyed this one too ^_^

      Thanks for stopping by~

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  2. Aw, I loved this book! It was so sweet and I absolutely loved all the diversity and the theme of self-love. It left me dying to read Albertalli's other book, which I seriously cannot wait to read. I'm so excited for her to release more books as well if they are anything like this one!

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    1. I haven't talked to anyone that hasn't loved this one, it's just too cute to resist. If you don't like it, you don't have a soul. I read Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda right after I read this one. It was also super cute but I think I like this one more.

      Happy Reading~

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  3. I'm so glad to hear you loved this book so much! I loved Becky Albertalli's debut and have that one on my TBR, I can't wait to read it. I'm so eager to get to know these amazing, REAL characters! :)

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    1. It's so good! It just makes you smile the entire time you're reading it. I hope you love it as much as I do.

      Happy Reading!

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  4. Eee, yay :D I'm so glad you loved this book Brittany. <3 I haven't read her first book yet, but curious about them both. And ahh, yesss for amazing characters and a sweet book :D You do make me curious about it. Rude :)

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    1. You should read them asap because you're missing out! They are so great. I hope you love them!

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  5. oh yay...I am glad to see that you enjoyed this one so much. I have heard some wonderful things about this book. Although it can be such a pain to read a book that goes slow at times.

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    1. Believe all the wonderful things you're hearing because it's so cute! And yes it can be a pain, but they weren't terrible, so I hope you give this book a chance!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Oh another great review of this book. This sounds like something I would enjoy and I have yet to read her other book. Yep, this author is now on my must read list.

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    1. After reading this one, I immediately read her other book. Both are super cute so you should definitely give them a shot!

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  7. I really loved this one, too! Isn't it just perfect? I found those Simon cameos to be one of my favourite aspects of this one. I do agree with you that the pacing was a little bit slow in some spots, but the story seems to come together. Lovely review! :)

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    1. It was really cute! I couldn't put it down. I'm so glad we both enjoyed this one ^_^

      Thanks for stopping by~

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  8. This one sounds really good! I'll have to add it to my TBR. I don't read a lot of YA contemporary, but this sounds right up my alley. Great review! Love the quotes you shared as well!

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    1. Yes, you definitely need to add it on your TBR! I don't read a lot of YA contemporary either but there are a few out there that are just too precious to pass up!

      Thank you <3

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  9. AHH THIS WAS SO CUTE! I loved it too!! And I totally shipped that endgame couple. What adorable little nerdy cuties. 😍Also the fact that it included pinterest and everything?! It felt really like a book set in TODAY and I loved that so hard. And Simon's cameo made me squee, I won't even deny. I need to reread Simon Vs again!!

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    1. Yes, I totally agree! It felt so current and so important for today's readers! I just loved every second of it.

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  10. Yay, I'm so glad you loved this book too! It's one of my favorites of the year so far.

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  11. I'm yet to read this one but OOOO..It sounds so freaking adorable!! And I LOVE those quotes <3 They give me shivers and I can see this book will be epicly relatable for everyone! Also yay for diversity <33

    Uma@Books.Bags.Burgers.

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    1. It's so freaking adorable that your heart will burst into rainbows, LITERALLY! Definitely check it out ASAP!!

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  12. Stopppp with the Lin-Manuel && Raven-Symone GIFS. I'm fragile, Britt. :( :D I've been dying to read The Upside of Unrequited like no OTHER. It sounds so fun and amazing and just downright adorable, oh my. Plus, DIVERSITY. Fab review!!

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    1. Nooo, I love them so I will forever use gifs of them! I think you'll love The Upside of Unrequited and you should definitely read it ASAP ^_^

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  13. This book left me feeling a bit hollowed out. It was an unexpectedly emotional read. I didn't leave it with the same warm and fuzzy feelings that I left Simon with. But, after reading this book, I feel as if I know myself, or at least my past self, just that little bit better. That's not a bad feat for a book.

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